Thornton Wilder’s Ordinary Town: An Adaptation Case Study
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Hsieh, Hsin
Abstract
Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) was a Pulitzer Prize winner in two genres for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927), a story about an Italian priest in Peru, and for the play Our Town (1938), which he set in New England, and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), which was bizarrely set in Ice Age New Jersey. Scholars recognize the Humanistic elements in Wilder’s works, which affirm certain values during the wartime. His stage play Our Town, is considered as a work that connects the world with a universal value of ordinary lives. Instead of praising the connectedness, this dissertation aims to offer a Post-Humanistic, alienation reading of Wilder to find out his sense of the “ordinary.” Chapter One investigates Wilder’s letters to find out his connectedness and alienation in his life. Wilder was one of the best writers of his generation, which included the novelist Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald. Scholars read Wilder as a Humanist and considered that Wilder was distinguished from the Lost Generation writers, who pessimistically responded to the world war. Yet, through the investigation of their letters, Wilder was not lost but alienated, which enabled him to pursue the meditation on life from the perspective of alienation. Chapter Two reads Wilder as an adaptor. Being alienated from his America, Wilder adapts from ancient civilization for his works. He was interested in myth, which he considered to be a form that is continuously told. Yet, unlike traditional myths, which are about heroes or significant people, Wilder’s myths are written for the insignificant ordinaries that are alienated in the flow of history. In order to create a timeless stage for the stories of his insignificant characters to be told, he creates a minimalistic staging, which frees the characters from the realistic, confined moment. Chapter Three examines the alienation effect in Our Town. The play is a miniature of the course of life. It begins with an ordinary day in the town in the first act. Emily and George get married in the second act. Emily dies during childbirth in the last act. The Stage Manager, a character, narrates the play. Scholars understand the Stage Manager breaking the fourth wall and connecting to the audience. However, he does not really interact with the audience, but performs artificial connection. This artificial connection prevails in the relationship of the townspeople as well. The townspeople follow the expectation set by the society. The Stage Manager directs the scenes of these “ordinary behaviors,” but when the townspeople’s dialogues stray from expectation, the Stage Manager interrupts them. On a minimalistic stage, the townspeople are allowed to see each other, but they are alienated from each other by the invisible ordinariness. Chapter Four analyzes the screenplay adaptation of Our Town. In 1939, Wilder accepted the request from a film producer Sol Lesser, who asked for consultation for adapting Our Town into a screenplay. Minimalism is essential for the original stage play, but the screenplay is visualized language, with specific scenery. These fundamental media differences provide insights for a better understanding of Wilder’s ordinary town. In the process of adaptation, Wilder argued with Lesser for the scenes that could not represent his idea. Based on their arguments, this chapter concludes that Wilder’s ordinary is the social expectation that alienates the individuals. Chapter Five discusses the film production of Our Town, which was premiered in 1940. The visualized film language changes the message of the play. The camera narrates the film. The windows and frames become the metaphor for the social expectations that confines people. Although the visualization could not fully represent the literal invisibility of the oppression, the visible metaphor actually helps to understand the inaccessible ordinariness in the original play. In conclusion: Thornton Wilder is an alienated writer in American literature. This condition allows him to discover and adapts the foreign sources. In comparison with his contemporary writers, instead of losing faith in humanity, Wilder poses questions against the invisible enemy – the insidious ordinariness.
Subjects
Thornton
Wilder
Theatre
Our Town
Adaptation
Screenplay
Film
Alienation
Type
thesis
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