There's certainly a lot one can say about the Heidi Chronicles, and a lot of things have been said in class about it. I did like the set (which I thought looked more symbolically like a hangman game than a picture frame), and I liked the omnipresent music and how it lightly complemented the mood of the scene without being so blatant that it was overbearing. Even so, I cannot honestly say that I am a fan of the play as a whole.
I thought it was without direction, discernible theme, or overall message. I know the ending is somewhat ambiguous, probably on purpose, but it frustrates me that the final scene does not put a capstone on the play like it should. If either the rest of the play or the ending was opaque, I would be fine with it, but it wasn't. I spent the entire time reading/watching it wondering exactly what the author was trying to tell me about... something... as a woman. Perhaps I was just not in the right mood to be exposed to the story.
Possible "morals of the story":
1. Feminists can't be happy.
2. You can't have it all as a woman.
3. Heidi expected too much too fast from her life as a feminist.
4. Feminism is more about the right to choose your path than "having it all".
5. Don't make the same mistakes that Heidi did, being too preoccupied with her status as a woman and forgetting to live her life according to what she actually wanted.
6. The depth of womanhood knows few bounds, but the bounds are delineated by men.
7. Wasserstein only wants "equal time and consideration" for women.
I know that in whatever people read or see, they bring different backgrounds to it and therefore get something different out of it--individual differences in the audience can change the art piece that is interpreted. Therefore, I suppose there might not be any way to agree on what the message of the play was, but mostly it just depressed me.
Note: It's certainly interesting that in the painting she mentions, The Beheading of Holofernes, the woman committing the act is named Judith. Coincidence?
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I like number 6. Number 7 is a very good point, and one of the flaws of many radical feminists--a society in which women have supreme authority over men is just as bad a society in which men have authority over women, in my humble opinion.
ReplyDeleteI did not make that connection between Judith and Judy, but that is crazy! Maybe Heidi spent all her life associating with the quiet observers that show up in her lectures, and she wants her daughter to be bold and unafraid like Gentileschi's Judith.
i liked the set too. I didn't get the whole concept of it when I watched the play, but after the director explained how it's supposed to represent Heidi's mind it made more sense
ReplyDeleteI think this play can be frustrating, because it isn't really obvious what Wasserstein is trying to say with it. Is she just reflecting on her observations/experiences of the past? Is she trying to point out that it isn't possible to hold onto your ideals and be completely satisfied in life? I think you were able to pick out some good points from the play, but ultimately, it might just be up to the viewer to decide what to take away from it.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with you that an individual's perception changes based on their own backgrounds and prior experience. That's what makes art so awesome. You can read reviews of a work, but you really never know what you're going to get until you see it for yourself.
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