Arthur Miller

[selenak]

Arthur Miller died. Sometimes you have to divorce people from their work in order to enjoy the later, but in Miller's case, I could like and admire both. And he wrote and got his plays staged right until he died, something any author longs for. Miller's earnest psychoanalysis, his tackling of social issues might look old fashioned now, but to me, it was a good fashion. How many writers manage to create an archetype, not just a good character but a true archetype like Don Quixotte, or Falstaff? He did. Willy Loman, chasing the American Dream right into his grave, and his son Biff, the high school star broken by reality. When, in Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, John Wilkes Booth tells Lee Harvey Oswald "I'm an actor, Lee, and a good one, but Willy Loman is not a part I'll ever play" after giving us that quote about respect that haunts salesman, the audience doesn't need a summary of the play, or of Loman's character. We know him. Willy Loman. When Joss Whedon in Restless lets Willow dream about a bizarre production of Death of a Salesman, he expects us to know the real plot of Salesman, and the fact the scenes Willow sees have nothing to do with it. Men and their sales, indeed.

And how many writers have wrought such exquisite revenge on their tormentors? The MacCarthyites will forever be associated with a bunch of hysterical teenage girls from Salem, Massachusetts, whose tactis of diversion become a death trap and a murder spree. Never mind about MacCarthy, though. I saw The Crucible on state several times, most recently in New York, with Liam Neeson as John Proctor and Laura Linney as his wife Elizabeth, and its power still holds in the 21st century, in different (though really that different?) world than the one which inspired Miller. The moment when Proctor's sole chance at stopping the madness, Mary, breaks and returns to the group? It still shattered me.

And then there is Miller the screen writer. The Misfits famously is the film that saw his marriage with Marilyn Monroe break for good. And yet he wrote that part for her which she always wanted, the one not using the Marilyn Monroe persona anymore, and no matter how hellish the condition of its making, she shines in it. Roslyn is a woman, not a girl (as opposed to her other roles), she's not cute, she's divorced, and when she rails at Gable and Clift for what they do. the issue of cowboys, themselves relics of another time, and horses brought to the slaughter becomes so much more. One watches this film and wishes not just that Monroe had played more parts like that but that Miller had written more scripts than the few he did. But then the theatre was his passion, not the movies, and that was probably for the best. Ave atque vale, Sir. You were a great writer and a part of what I admire about America, and you shall be missed.

Comments

[tyreseus.livejournal.com]

Amen. Having studied Theatre in college, Miller has always been a sort of hero of mine. I wonder who will be the next "Greatest Living American Playwright." Tony Kushner jumps to mind, but hasn't had the same repeat success as Miller. David Rabe, Paula Vogel, Wendy Wasserstein, Lanford Wilson? All have made great impacts, but none have achieved quite the same level as Miller yet. It is a sad day.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It's probably going to be Kushner, but as you said - no repeat success, so far.

Looking outside of the US, I don't see a successor that comes to mind, either... David Mamet, hm... not the same. Just not the same.

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

The truh and the matter is , that it's not the same, not because of the quality of the playwrights, but because theatre is not as big a part of the Arts as it used to be. The playwrights are dying, the subscribers are dying... It sucks but it's true. Heroes don't belong in theatre anymore. They belong in film.

[par-avion.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely post, thank you.

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

Beautifully said. I'd like to link to this, if you don't mind.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Not at all. Go ahead. And thank you.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I saw The Crucible on state several times, most recently in New York, with Liam Neeson as John Proctor and Laura Linney as his wife Elizabeth

oooh. . .*is jealous*; though I did see a lovely university production of "The Crucible"; one thing that surprises me about Miller is that, as far as I know, his stage work has not translated that well to film. I thought the 90s "Crucible" suffered from trying to look "realistic," which killed much of the . . . I don't know what word I'm looking for. atmosphere? ambience? and none of the filmed "Salesman" productions I've seen were memorable (unless you count the one in "Restless" -- you men and your . . .SALES!) On the other hand, I think a lot of today's film & TV learned from techniques Miller used in "Salesman" -- everything Alan Ball has written, for instance, seems deeply indebted, both in content and form.

putting Misfits in the queue. . .

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I hear the black and white Salesman is a classic, but never saw it. I did see the one with Dustin Hoffmann and John Malkovich, which was good, but not as vital as a stage production, and I agree with you about the 90s Crucible, so I see what you mean.

(There is an old Crucible, too, for which Sartre wrote the script. Miller saw the start, which showed a lot of crucifixes as befit a French Catholic village but most certainly not an American Puritan town, and gave up from there, according to his memoirs. I never saw it at all, so couldn't say.)

Yes, Alan Ball is definitely Millerian in his subjects and the way he uses past interfering with present in physical form, etc. Perhaps the difference is that Ball does not do direct adaptions but rather uses the techniques for his own stories?

[bimo.livejournal.com]

And how many writers have wrought such exquisite revenge on their tormentors? The MacCarthyites will forever be associated with a bunch of hysterical teenage girls from Salem, Massachusetts, whose tactis of diversion become a death trap and a murder spree.

How true. Back in my school days, history classes used to be rather euro-centric, so the first time I ever heard about the MacCarthy-an witch crazes was when my English Leistungskurs teacher decided to read The Crucible with us.

A very good introduction to the darker side of American cultural history.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

We never reached the 50s in history, so I can't blame my history teachers. But I heard about it in Englisch Leistungskurs, too. Plus the theatre group did the play.

Since hmpf appears to have dropped of the face of the earth and with her my source - do you have any Galactica episodes from 8 to 13?

[bimo.livejournal.com]

Since hmpf appears to have dropped of the face of the earth and with her my source - do you have any Galactica episodes from 8 to 13?

I do. Episodes 8-13, all complete and in perfectly reasonable quality.

If you want them, just let me know whether they should be sent to B. or to your usual place of residence ;-)