Confabulations

In the NOTES section of the script Ruhl says that Jean tells "confabulations" and that she never calls them lies.


Definition for confabulation:

Psychology To fill in gaps in one's memory with fabrications that one believes to be facts. (psychiatry) a plausible but imagined memory that fills in gaps in what is remembered

this makes me believe that Jean really thought/wanted for the stories she told about Gordon to be the truth, and in that her mind, they were the truth.

Levy Rosenbaum

I am shocked.

I just learned that until this past July, 2012, the crime of organ trafficking had not been tracked and linked to the US.

The convict: Levy Izhak Rosenbaum

The crime? You guessed it.  Organ trafficking.

Similar to Gordon's views, Rosenbaum considered himself a "matchmaker" and a "Robin Hood" for kidneys.  His recipients are all apparently healthy, but Rosenbaum would scam off of poor people in developing countries, buying the kidneys from desperate donors for as little as 10 grand, and selling them at a base price of $120,000.

He claims that although he knew it was wrong, he thought he was doing it for good.  Sounds kind of like our Gordon; starting out because he believes in a cause, in compassion, but of course, the eminent wealth is motivation to continue.

There are people that are on both sides of the fence for his case.  There are those that view him as a monster; someone who scammed other people with no respect for law, dignity, and authority.  Then there are those that see that relatively no harm had been done -- his donors and recipients all seem happy, and he has millions of dollars to show for almost 10 years of organ trafficking.

He faces 2.5 years in prison and about $450,000 in fines.

Can someone be a monster and a savior at the same time?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/levy-izhak-rosenbaum-illegal-sale-kidneys_n_1665927.html

Gordon is the UMBRELLA

In Gordon's lengthy monologue he describes himself as an umbrella to connect people who need organs with people who need money.  Since the entire play utilizes an umbrella motif, I did some research on the historic symbolism that umbrella's hold.

The importance of the umbrella can be traced back to Buddhist beliefs:

The umbrella is carried above an important dignitary or the image of a deity, to indicate that the person or symbol below the umbrella is in fact the center of the universe, and also its spiritual support.

source: http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/symbols/

Umbrella's were also viewed as protective items -- protection from the outside elements.  Gordon does seem to offer protection -- perhaps protection from going bankrupt, and protection from dying.  To those people who Gordon is helping out, Gordon is a savior, similar to that of a deity.   Gordon not only provides protection for himself by finding a successful endeavor, but offers protection for all those desperate enough to seek help on the black market from his business.

This Edward Hopper brought to you by....

This Edward Hopper painting, Automat, reminds me of Jean at the opening of the scene. She looks quite insular to me.

Drinking Bourbon Upside Down

The more I research information about the play, the more questions I come up with! I started researching drinking bourbon upside down because I wondered why it's mentioned in the play twice, once as a hiccups cure, and once as a cure-all method.

The only parallel I could draw was with the poet and alcoholic William Faulkner. After his first (and only) plane flight after WWI, he crashed the plane into the rafters of the hanger, as he was hanging there, upside down, he just kept on drinking his bourbon, unfazed.

Perhaps it's just coincidence, or maybe it's a link to something more...

Bitter:Sweet "Get What I Want"

This song reminds me of the Other Woman.  It's retro, kind of sassy, and has lots of power.

"Let's have a hymn"

Mrs. G asks for a hymn to be sung, and the song she chooses is "You'll never walk alone" -- which is not a hymn.

The song is originally from the 1945 musical, Carousel .  After this, big stars of the day (Elvis, Sinatra, Garland, etc)  covered the song making it wildly popular.

After that, it became the Liverpool "chant" for football games.

Why then, is this the song chosen to be sung at Gordon's funeral, which seemed to be a traditional latin mass?

Paper puns?

ALL THE PUNS I FOUND ABOUT PAPER ARE TEARABLE.

hahaha.

but really,

they all suck.

But I found a good childhood memory to share:

"On the corner of Green and Goethe"

Why green and Goethe?  Ruhl goes to the trouble to put in a stage direction on how to pronounce Goethe, so you know it's not just a random name thrown in there.

After research I have concluded that Goethe must be a reference to the German writer, artist, and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

He published a work titled "Theory of Colours" in which he describes what he believed the nature of colors to be and how people perceive them. 

So, I saw the connection of the color Green, and Goethe's theory, so I researched what he specifically theorized about green.

According to Goethe, the colors yellow and blue are the "first" of primary colors, being the most important.  The color green is a mutual combination of these colors, where no color is dominant, but they are blended equally.  It is a harmony of two important figures.  I wonder then, if the cafe is supposed to be a blending place of two dominant forces, or people, even -- is it where two worlds collide? or two different types of people collide? Thoughts?  

111 Shank Avenue

In 2.1 Jean says to a "business colleague" on the phone that the Gotlieb's address (Hermia &Harriet's) is 111 Shank Ave.  I knew, as everything else in the play, this must have some deeper meaning.  I looked up the symbolism behind the number "111."  I found this little blurb on the number:

111 — Monitor your thoughts carefully, and be sure to only think about what you want, not what you don’t want. This sequence is a sign that there is a gate of opportunity opening up, and your thoughts are manifesting into form at record speeds. The 111 is like the bright light of a flash bulb. It means the universe has just taken a snapshot of your thoughts and is manifesting them into form. Are you pleased with what thoughts the universe has captured? If not, correct your thoughts (ask your angels to help you with this if you have difficulty controlling or monitoring your thoughts). This sign can also signal that your thoughts are evidence of the start of a new cycle in your life and that the thoughts you are having are related to the start of a new cycle in your life. -- http://sladeroberson.com/numerology/the-meaning-of-111.html

Was it the universe who showed Jean a gate of opportunity to change her life through getting to know the Gottlieb's?  Is the end of the play the beginning of a new life with Dwight?

SO then I looked up shank.  The first thing that came to mind was beef shank, since Mrs. G always talked about how much she loved meat -- and that she was almost "anemic"  -- beef shank is the leg of the cow that is extremely tough and full of connective tissue.  It sure does sound like a fitting description.  So am I digging in too deep -- or am I maybe on to something?

Sati

Sati is the Hindu ritualistic suicide where widows would voluntarily throw themselves into the flames as their husband's bodies were being burned.  It was believed that by doing this, women were paying the debt of their husbands sins and would go straight to Heaven. There were seen as virtuous and pure.

I wonder, if Mrs. Gottlieb chose to self-immolate so she could go straight to her heaven to be with her beloved son, where she knew she was waiting for her.  Was she paying for his sins as well? 

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"

Jean's line in 1.5 is a quote from Ralpho Waldo Emerson's Self-Reliance.  The quote in its entirety is:

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

The reason why the entire quote interests me is because it reminds me of the quote she chooses by John Donne in the script about loving each other better than all the "Worthies."  The Worthies could also be called statesmen, philosophers, and divines.  So it seems Ruhl is making similar statements about the perceived and actual importance of "noteworthy" people.  To me, it seems like she is challenging the status quo of what is right, and what is wrong, and how we think about certain issues -- she wants us to open our minds -- to see that not everything is black and white, and that the shades of grey are limitless.

Hermia

Sarah Ruhl did not make any careless choices in her writing.  Therefore, I wanted to unlock the mystery behind Hermia's character name.  By researching the etymology I found that basically 0% of people name their children Hermia (big surprise).  Why then, did Ruhl choose this as the name for Gordon's wife?

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare is the only other work that familiarized me with the name Hermia.  In Greek, Hermia is the female version of the name Hermes, meaning messenger.  It had me thinking about how Hermia was a messenger in DMCP.  She is the one that tells Jean about Gordon's work which is a huge opposition to the man Jean had built in her imagination.

Also, in  A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia learns what it means to hold on to love even when it is threatened.  DMCP's Hermia knew that Gordon had other lovers,  knew he was in an illegal business, yet held on.  She even says at one point that she felt she had married the wrong man.  However, she wasn't going to give up on her marriage, or their love.  Gordon is almost like Lysander; he doesn't stay loyal to Hermia but still she remains loyal to him.  She isn't exactly a hopeless romantic, but she realizes that to love is a choice, not just butterflies in your stomach and wild passions, she chose to love Gordon regardless of his actions, she chose to stay.

Was Gordon a "bad man" for being involved in the organ black market?

When I think about the black market for organ selling I think of horror movies I've seen when unsuspecting young girls meet a handsome boy and they go to a party together, get drugged, and wake up in a bath tub full of ice missing a kidney.

However, this is not how Gordon describes his business. He says that he is an "umbrella" for three people, a matchmaker, if you will.  He finds people who needs organs and introduces them to people who need money.  He thinks he is doing a service to people in need.  But let's think about this for a moment.  There are those who believe that people should be able to sell their organs. The idea is that people should be able to do what they want to their own bodies.  But we see that this is not the case in other forms of legality as well.  Prostitution is illegal in most places, as well as abortion, and teenagers aren't allowed to consume alcohol in the US; the list goes on.  So human beings as a general rule don't really have the freedom to do "whatever they want" to their own bodies.

But here's another argument: because the sell of organs is illegal, it sets the price ceiling of organs at $0.  Therefore, simple economics tell us that this causes a shortage of supply.  Some people believe that if the sell of organs was legal, not only would their no longer be a shortage but the price would be driven down.  

But then, Gordon would be out of business.   Is Gordon the type of guy who would prevent lobbyist from attempting to legalize organ selling to keep his source of income?  Carlotta did say that the business is big... and was not interested in finding an organ given out of love. 

Or is he simply trying to help both people under the umbrella, the one that needs the money as well as the one who needs the organ?  

Things to ponder while I ponder what watch lists I will be on for googling "organ selling."

NIghthawk/Tom's Diner

"in Hopper's paintings there is a lot of waiting going on...They are like characters whose parts have deserted them and now, trapped in the space of their waiting, must keep themselves company."
-- Mark Strand, Hopper

The above quote appears in the "Notes" section of the script.  One of the first parallels I can draw to the script is how after Gordon's death, he was trapped in spaces of Hell, just waiting.  He was waiting for someone to love him the most, and then was waiting in his mother's Hell for her to die.  Additionally, it reminds me of humanity's fear of isolation, and our obsession with our gadgets which keep us at a fingertips length of separation at all time.  When then, do people still feel lonely even when they have the world at their fingertips? Is this digital life not enough? Certainly Jean felt that having a cell phone meant that people became less available. Instead of even making a phone call where we can interact with voices people prefer texting and email to a more personal connection.  Going out with friends is sometimes sharing the silence with the proximity of others while you all text on your phones.  We've become too scared to say things with our voices and far too proud when typing with our fingertips.

The painting above is my favorite Hopper favorite and one that is very popular.  I dissected this painting in art history trying to figure out what it means, but looking at it with new eyes I realize I can interpret it in many ways.  The barista seems like he is about to turn his head to the couple sitting together, and alone is a man.  Isolated.  Outside the town is isolated.  Little light, nothing in the storefront.  Why is it this man is in this diner alone at night? Unable to make a connection to anyone?  Is he dissimilar to Jean, who was trying not to take up space?  Or is he a Gordon, who is jealously eyeing the last bits of lobster bisque the barista is about to hand over to the couple? Is this strange little world where no one exists outside the diner also one where the barista disappears once tragedy strikes and there seems to be no one working there?

A song that reminds me of the play and this particular painting is "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega.  The song is about an isolated man at the diner who longs to make connections with someone else but is ignored. He watches other people connect for just a moment and then returns to his on self-reflection.  He is left with only memories of a time where he felt connected.  Maybe the man in the song, the man in the painting, and Gordon are all those who loved themselves most of all and are left waiting, isolated, unable to connect until someone else reaches out to them first.

Massive Attack -- "Teardrop"

I heard this song on my Pandora not long ago and it immediately became one of my current favorites.  I particularly like the shift from minor to major chords throughout the piece.   I believe this song can be tied to the script in many ways. It is about abandoning simple emotions and making active choices "Love, love is a verb."  It makes me want to explore the motives behind why the characters do what they do, and how their feelings lead them to act.  Also, the lines "black flowers blossom" remind me of how death is not necessarily an end of life, but perhaps a new form of life. Is there a stationary heaven? Can beautiful things come from death? All we know for certain is that death is a fact of life, and that life is too short to fixate on death instead of living. The imagery of teardrops falling into the fire of confession is a beautiful metaphor. The teardrops symbolize truth in our heart that gets twisted in our head, and so water meets the fire and instead of building the fire of truth, it sizzles out and leaves everyone stumbling in the dark - searching for the truth. Why does Jean lie so much? Is she putting out the fire of truth and confession? Is it so bad to stumble in the dark as long as you're happy with the lie?

The Journey Begins

For my senior project at Converse College I will be assistant directing Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl.  This blog is dedicated to research on the script, its characters, its theme, as well as a creative outlet for any audio/visual material I find that I believe to be pertinent to the production.  I am so excited to have the opportunity to work on this piece, and I hope this blog serves its viewers well.