My First Essay in Ireland

My first idea was to analyze productions of The Plough and The Stars by Sean O'Casey, particularly to compare productions of the play versus the 1936 John Ford-directed film adaptation. There is plenty to analyze, especially because the film is almost a complete bastardisation of the play script by making it one woman's story instead of the story of a community in conflict. The characters are reworked and the ending is changed. I would deconstruct and assess social influences in the United States that may have motivated the adjustments to the perceived conflict and motivations to suit the 1936 US audience instead of the 1926 Irish audience.

I am considering changing the topic of my first essay because the current topic requires gaining access to the Abbey Theatre archives (to see theatre versions of The Plough and the Stars, particularly one done in the 1990s directed by Garry Hynes of Druid Theatre in Galway); I've met the woman who runs the archives and accessing the archives is virtually impossible for a number of reasons. As I would like to finish my essay before the winter break (thus enabling me to enjoy my break), I am contemplating other topics.

The most interesting alternate topic at the moment is exploring the use of a Film Noir aesthetic in theatre in the late-1970s and into the mid-1980s, specifically in The Blue Macushla by Tom Murphy. I was reading different plays by Tom Murphy (not my father) and came across this one that uses the American Film Noir aesthetic to depict Ireland (Dublin?) in the late 1970s. (Ireland joined the European Community in 1973 and there were many economic repercussions. The play was first produced in 1980.)

This bit of interculturalism (i.e. using an aesthetic from US films circa 1930 to tell as story about Ireland in 1980) is fascinating. I am intrigued by the use of a distinct genre as a device to tell the story. It's like using commedia dell'arte characters as the point of entry or using space (a la Star Trek) or the Korean War (M*A*S*H*) to discuss the current social climate. The timing of the (re)use of Noir is interesting because the 1970s were a period of innovation (?) in film use of graphic violence and sex, a period of hedonism and fear possibly linked to the Vietnam War (much like the origins of the Film Noir genre coming out of World War I and the Great Depression as well as the continued use of the genre later in a context of World War II).

There is a certain appeal to the proscribed interactions within Noir: it is also a culture in which vice, deception, and violence are expected while individuals simultaneously hope for an escape or a hero.

The 1980s saw a return to this 'formula' of relating, usually through a lens of nostalgia. (Consider Chinatown in 1974; Pennies from Heaven as miniseries in 1978, as movie in 1981; Frank Miller's work on Marvel Comic's Daredevil beginning in 1981 and on DC's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 1986; The Singing Detective as miniseries in 1986; Blade Runner in 1982; the musical Little Shop of Horrors as a play in 1982, as a movie in 1986; Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988; Batman in 1989; We're No Angels in 1989 which was inspired by a play that was made into a film with Humphrey Bogart in 1955.) If you search on IMDB for film-noir you'll get 99 results. Sort by date and you'll see a lull from 1960 to 1980.

And there has been another resurgence recently. Something about war and corruption makes everyone want to revisit the edgy darkness of smart-talking vamps, wise-cracking reluctant heroes, and henchman with aspirations of eloquence.