Bringing Together "The Beaver Coat" - A Final Act for an Unfinished Plot (Final Draft)

 Brandon Q. Day and Stevan L. Hartman
            THE PROBLEM

After we (the class members- ourselves included- who seem to be pursuing careers in some area of science, as a whole) read The Beaver Coat, we were mostly quite disappointed with the ending. One reader said that he felt that nothing had been gained by reading this play; another reader had a problem with the fact that justice had not been served to the wrong-doer. Because of these reactions, my partner and I were drawn to this play with the idea of seeing if we could create a new ending for The Beaver Coat that might “fix” the play for us and our fellow classmates.

THE PURPOSE

What we hope to gain from this project is to see if an ending that provides closure and a sense of justice for the reader gets a better response from the audience. If some readers do not like our ending, but did like The Beaver Coat after we read it earlier in the semester, why? Will those entering the field of science react more positively to this new ending than those going into fields more abstract such as English and history? Dr. Sheehan talked about the two vastly different receptions of the play, as it was originally performed, and how one group absolutely hated it, while another thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. We want to experiment, and see whether adding a closing, final act with resolution would cause these groups to ultimately reverse their opinions. We will provide hypotheses on the outcomes of our experiment, and work together to engineer an ending that might be found suitable by the audience that didn’t fancy the original ending in order to show the disparity between the two groups of people. 

THE METHOD

Although we reviewed the idea, we did not like the idea of writing an entire final act for The Beaver Coat, simply because we cannot write in the exact same fashion as Gerhart Hauptmann. We believed that if we had attempted this, the audience would be more affected by the inconsistency of the two contrasting writing styles than the actual content and the reception of the new ending. We plan to create a “left-brain-friendly” ending that could be added to the end of the existing play. In other words, our proposed ending will not require any changes to any of Hauptmann’s original content.

 The final act will be centered on Mrs Wolff’s daughter, Adelheid, and her growing displeasure with her chances at actually making it into the spotlight, in addition with her growing teenage-borne rebellion.

After some feedback from the class, we have determined that the most effective method by which to deliver the content of our plot is to show a juxtaposition of two timelines, one featuring the progression of events in Hauptmann’s original version of The Beaver Coat, and the second, overlapping timeline will contain our addendum to the existing plot. The two timelines will be complete with links between the two, where we will visually show the viewer where our events fit into the original sequence of events. It will be complete with justifications and citations from the text that support the plot of the newly drawn-up ending.

                To gauge the opinions of the readers, we will take a poll of the class, who have presumably all read the text, requesting that they answer questions about themselves that will help in determining trends in the audience. We will also ask for their feelings on the new ending. Did you like the original play? Do you like the play more with the ending provided? On a scale of 1-5, how left brained do you consider yourself? Etc.

            Finally, the data will be collected and compared with our hypotheses, any trends and notable evidences will be discussed, all of which will also be presented on the board, if it is available by the time of the presentations. Otherwise, the polling will take place on-site, and the data compiled and presented to Dr. Sheehan at his earliest convenience.

Bringing Together "The Beaver Coat" - A Final Act for an Unfinished Plot

 Brandon Q. Day and Stevan L. Hartman

THE PROBLEM

After we (the class members- ourselves included- who seem to be pursuing careers in some area of science, as a whole) read The Beaver Coat, we were mostly quite disappointed with the ending. One reader said that he felt that nothing had been gained by reading this play; another reader had a problem with the fact that justice had not been served to the wrong-doer. Because of these reactions, my partner and I were drawn to this play with the idea of seeing if we could create a new ending for The Beaver Coat that might “fix” the play for us and our fellow classmates. 

THE PURPOSE

What we hope to gain from this project is to see if an ending that provides closure and a sense of justice for the reader gets a better response from the audience. If some readers do not like our ending, but did like The Beaver Coat after we read it earlier in the semester, why? Will those entering the field of science react more positively to this new ending than those going into fields more abstract such as English and history? Dr. Sheehan talked about the two vastly different receptions of the play, as it was originally performed, and how one group absolutely hated it, while another thought it was the best thing since sliced butter. We want to experiment, and see whether adding a closing, final act with resolution would cause these groups to ultimately reverse their opinions. We will provide hypotheses on the outcomes of our experiment, and present them on the board as well. 

THE METHOD

Although we reviewed the idea, we did not like the idea of writing an entire final act for The Beaver Coat, simply because we cannot write in the exact same fashion as Gerhart Hauptmann. We believed that if we had attempted this, the audience would be more affected by the inconsistency of the two contrasting writing styles than the actual content. So, instead we plan to outline the series of events that occur in our final act and tie each event back to instances in The Beaver Coat in order to prove to the audience that the events we come up with are not just “coming out of left field.” The final act will be centered around Mrs Wolff’s daughter Adelheid. The poster we propose will be a visualization of the sequence of events we propose, what we plan to accomplish with the proposal, and the results of our work. Finally, we are throwing around different ideas for creatively delivering the proposed final act. One idea was having Frau Wolff find Adelheid’s hidden journal, where she finds out she’s been betrayed by her daughter for her chance in the spotlight. Can you think of some other suggestions for a means of adequately delivering our proposed plot-line to the class?

Movie Suggestion: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

            Okay! I’ve caught up on watching this movie: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I’ve been told many times that I’ve been missing out because I didn’t watch this “classic”. Even in the chemistry department, Professor Northrup made a reference to it in one of his questions, and I didn’t get it at the time. Now I get it. Now, I get why it’s awesome.

            There are many trailers on Youtube.com for this film. This link is for the OFFICIAL trailer for the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FhL2-KatRE:

This link is for the MODERN version of this movie’s trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKNDml12Big:

Yes, the official trailer accurately shows how the film was made on a low budget, BUT it's not the props that make this movie. It’s the acting. The modern trailer, on the other hand, is misleading. It makes a first-time viewer believe that this movie is a serious, action film: it’s not. (The modern trailer was probably made by a fan who loves the movie.)

First off it’s a comedy film about King Arthur and his fellow knights trying to find the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is the MacGuffin (the object that organizes/motivates the plot). This film is full of inversions, and it pokes fun of customs and ideas of particular social groups. To top it off, the ending was unpredictable….

***** STOP! DO NOT READ PAST THIS UNLESS YOU WANT THE MOVIE SPOILED FOR YOU. If that doesn’t bother you, proceed.*****

            One of Henri Bergson’s quotes is, “Comic effects are incapable of translation from one language to another, because they refer to the customs and ideas of a particular social group.” In this film, there’s this group called the Knights Who Say Ni. They actually keep sputtering the word “ni” a lot in the film. It is part of this group’s daily language. The word “ni” is foreign to me, and the onomatopoeia from saying it makes me laugh. (I sometimes laugh at funny sounding words… foreign or not.)

            Bergson also said, “The rigidity is the comic, and laughter is its corrective.” For unexpected situations, we may laugh because we had expected something else. Here’s an example. In this film, the knights each go off on their own quest. In Sir Lancelot’s adventure, he finds a letter from someone who is trying to escape a marriage. He thinks it’s a damsel in distress. He goes to save the person, who turns out to be a prince who acts feminine. I laughed because it was supposed to be a princess. Another example would be in the scene with the wooden rabbit. The knights were supposed to hide in the wooden rabbit to enter their enemy’s castle, like the Trojan horse story. However, the knights forget to hide inside. They realize this as the enemy pull’s in their hollow wooden rabbit to the castle.

            Finally, we get to… THE ENDING. I won’t spoil exactly what happens, but it’s similar to the ending in The Beaver Coat in that it was definitely unexpected. The only difference would be that at least the film shows why the storyline ended abruptly. The Beaver Coat and this film had funny scenes but the main conflict was never resolved at the end. Mrs. Wolff wasn’t revealed to the other characters as the criminal mastermind, and King Arthur never got his hands on the Holy Grail. If we watch and analyze this film in class, maybe we can go back to the question of why some storylines like The Beaver Coat and Monty Python and the Holy Grail end abruptly with no resolution.

Ocean's Eleven

Ocean's Eleven stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia and a host of other characters. To summarize the plot, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his old pal Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) hire a team of men, each possessing a criminal specialty, to help them rob a vault that serves three of the largest casinos in Las Vegas. However, Danny has another reason for why he wants to rob these casinos. This reason is because these three casinos are owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) who is married to Ocean's former lover Tess (Julia Roberts). The film is a remake from the 1960 film of the same name starring the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop).
I think that this is a great movie for our class to watch because we can discuss its similarities to The Beaver Coat and possibly The Broken Jug. Some other topics for discussion could be similarities between Danny Ocean and Mrs. Wolff, the question of “Is justice served?” by the end of the film, why does one sympathize with the criminal while watching this film and if not why, the similarities between the supporting characters of the plays and the film, how would someone feel while watching this film if the comedy was completely absent, and could we say this is a “Thief’s Comedy?”

Personally, I think this is one of George Clooney’s best films and, ladies, who does not like George Clooney. The film is not vulgar for all who have a problem with too much foul language and, or nudity. The story is clever, the comedy is smart and witty, and the host of characters is perfect. After all that has been said here, how can one not want to watch this movie?

Movie Suggestion: Christmas Vacation

My suggestion for our movie is Christmas Vacation.

Ok, ok, so I know it's April; nowhere near Christmas.

But this movie can be watched year round! 

For those who haven't seen the movie, it tells the tale of family man Clark Griswold and his plan to have a good ol' fashioned family Christmas. Despite all his efforts, everything starts to go awry, and before you know it, the redneck cousins have shown up, the in-laws are taking over the house, the Christmas tree is burned down, the boss is kidnapped, and SWAT team is in the living room.

The Griswold family reminds me somewhat of the Wolff family. For one thing, they are an average middle class family. They don't really want for anything, but Clark, played by Chevy Chase, just wants a little slice of the good life. He puts a down payment on a pool , but the problem is the family does not have the money and is counting on Clark's Christmas bonus to cover it. However, without warning his employees, the boss has decided to cut the Christmas bonuses this year. The boss also reminds me of Krugeur, in appearance (I pretty much pictured Clark's boss when I read the play) and behavior because of his stinginess. Instead of stealing from the boss, however, Cousin Eddy's misunderstands Clark's comments to mean he want to steal the boss from his home on Christmas Eve. The movie shows the differences between people who have a whole lot and those that are only average.

I feel like the movie is also a comment on society and how wrapped up in the superficial part of Christmas. Everyone gets wrapped up in buying presents and spending a lot of money, when it should really be all about family.

So although it isn't quite Christmas yet, I think that this would be a hysterical movie to watch for entertainment and an interesting movie to try and dissect for the purposes of our class.

 

Movie Suggestion: We're The Millers

Like mentioned in the beginning of the semester, carnivals are times to forget about all realities and societal rules. On stage, every actor puts on a new identity with only one goal, to entertain the audience while having fun.

Very much like the carnival times, We’re the Millers is a movie centered around a family trying to get across the borders of Mexico and back. But wait, they are not there for vacation. Instead, they are there trying to smuggle weed into the United States. They are not a real family either. They are just a made-up family consisting of a drug dealer (David, daddy), a stripper (Rose, mummy), a dorky virgin (Kenny, son) and a run-away girl (Casey, daughter).

It was interesting to watch this family trying to lie their way out of being a fake family while possessing a whole trailer worth of weed. Watching them working their way around each other’s lies and coming up with more lies to cover up for previous lies reminded me of the Broken Jug. Just like how Adam was always busy coming up with lies to cover up his relationship with Eve, the Millers are the exact same chaos of tangling deceptions. In an effort to keep a straight face in front of the public, they became over friendly and even found themselves stuck being friends of another family which made lying and staying on the real goal of smuggling weed even more difficult.

Besides, David’s intentions of smuggling the weed was so that he could pay back his debts and keep his life. Unlike Mrs. Wolff in the Beaver Coat, David has to do what he did in the movie to stay alive, it wasn't an action taken out of the desire for a more luxurious life. It was a crime of necessity instead of greed for wealth. Therefore, I think this would be a good movie to share with the class in continuation of the theme of plays for the past few weeks.

Comedy, Frye's Causes, and The Beaver Coat

The text that has helped me expand on my knowledge about what comedy is Frye's "The Argument of Comedy," which is quite surprising considering it was probably the piece I hated to read the most too. Particularly, I like the four causes presented by Frye, and I enjoy trying to fit the plays we read into the mold Frye has given us.

Just for a refresher, here are the four causes:

1. The Material Cause: the desire and driving force of the main character; mostly it's motivated by the body, i.e. sexual desires.
2. The Formal Cause: the coming to terms with the social order, usually represented in the form of an older wiser character, like an older man; it's the opposing force to the material cause.
3. The Efficient Cause: the natural course of events, usually brought about by a lower more humorous character, like a slave.
4. The Final Cause: the audience's applause and approval validates the final resolution of the main goal.

As much as I like to apply these causes to the play we read for class, I have had a hard time doing it for "The Beaver Coat."  Going through all four causes is fun but frustrating because the play does not fit the typical mold.

1. The Material Cause: Usually this is a bodily desire for sex with someone. For example, in "The Venetian Twins," the material cause was easy enough to spot because it was Zanetto's desire for Rosaura. The desire in "The Beaver Coat" is not for sex, but for wealth and material gain. The main character is not a male in this case either, but Mrs. Wolff.

2. The Formal Cause: As far as I can determine, the efficient cause, the wise older character, in this case is Krueger. His influence doesn't stop Mrs. Wolff's desire for wealth of course, so he isn't a very effective formal cause. A case might be made for Von Wehrhahn to be the formal cause, and although he fits the bill for the highest placed member of society over even Krueger, he in his determination to week out political criminals overlooks the criminals right under his nose. Krueger is a much more likely character to personify the formal cause, but in the end, he goes the same way as Von Wehrhahn and doesn't properly pursue the criminal activity under his nose. If he had only looked more closely at Mrs. Wolff, he would have caught his thief.

3. The Efficient Cause: Here is where I start to run into trouble. As far as I can see, the efficient cause is what is missing in the play. There are lower characters, of course, but they do not bring about any natural course of events. Justice is not done in the play; the efficient cause could even said to be MRS. WOLFF herself. She is a lower level servant like character, and she does push the play to its end, by making the higher level characters not suspicious of her or her family when she is the very person they should be looking at.

4. The Final Cause: The final cause is of course the audience, including myself. Obviously justice is not served to the actual sense that the thief is punished. But perhaps justice is served in the fact that the two members who were supposed to be the efficient cause failed to gain any justice. Their neglegence and the fact that they both failed to open their own eyes to see the real thief in their midst cost them their chance at justice. They deserved what they got and so the audience claps at the end of the play.

Society: The Beaver Coat

At the beginning of the semester, I had been under the impression that comedy, or the comedic process behind it, would in some way exemplify the best (or the ideal) in society. The characters in The Hangover, for instance, practically play the parts of fools, and put themselves into situations that, rather than be exemplified, are meant to be looked down upon, or avoided. In the television series Arrested Development, the funniest situations are when the characters act their worst -- when Lucille suggests the family commit perjury, when George Sr. jumps ship and tries to abandon his family, when Buster defies his mother's wishes and gets his hand bitten off by a seal because of it. All of these actions come from a moral tilt, and the consequences are just as twisted. Because of my exposure to these types of stories, I figured, in the end, the message to society was: don't do these bad things, or you'll look stupid too.

And who wants to be judged like that?

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But in my reading of The Beaver Coat, I noticed something different. We haven't analyzed the text in class yet, so I'm certain there are other elements to this that I haven't even seen yet, but I still recognized something that made me pause. Mrs. Wolff isn't the "good guy." She uses deception and cunning to get her way, and, the important part, she isn't made the fool because of it.

The people who were being taken advantage of were further pushed into a comic role because of the fact that they were being taken advantage of. The moral of the story wasn't telling society to be nice. It didn't say it was a social obligation to be truthful. The Beaver Coat exemplified a sort of weasel-like cunning, without the consequence of being made fun of, or ultimately bowing to a more morally upright point of view.

This fact brought with it a whole new dimension of flexibility within social constructs. If anything, it made me wonder if cunning and deception were considered positive qualities at the time this play was performed. But beyond anything else, it showed me the great range of who (or what) society might call the butt of the joke.