November: a Play by David Mamet

[Marina]

A great look at the circus that is modern American politics, done as only David Mamet can. In the process of being interviewed about this play, Mamet "came out" as "...No Longer a Brain-Dead Liberal" (his words, not mine) and became the first major cultural icon to switch sides in such an open manner. So... if the hilarious premise and a chance to read Mamet in book form is not enough for you, read it for the historic significance. Either way, you will enjoy it greatly.

[Steve]

I love the story he tells of the moment he realized he was conservative. Apparently he was riding in the car with his wife and listening to NPR. He was suddenly overcome with emotion and screamed at the radio, "Shut the f**k up!" From there he never looked back.

[Dave]

I loved the charmingly absurd ending, but the first act seemed really dull. I suppose a good performance might've turned it into comedy.
I'm trying to think how standard liberals would interpret it. I think standard conservatives would not eagerly embrace the implications of corruption, but not automatically reject them either. Perhaps a determined liberal could enjoy the play by pretending it is all and only about Bush, though even that take on things must be a stretch for them, since the president is portrayed as holding no actuals beliefs, just a creature of greed and power lust. My impression is that the median liberal thinks that Bush had some genuine (fanatical) but misguided beliefs, whereas Charles could not care less about anything but how much longer he can send people to Bulgaria with a bag over their heads and the budget of his presidential library.

[Marina]

When I started, I thought it could be interpreted as a dig at G.W. Bush since he was so unpopular. But I couldn't for a moment imagine Laura Bush screaming at him about having a library, or the complete lack of humility (or principles). If I had to compare this President to someone on personality alone, it would be Bill Clinton. However, it's clearly meant to be a symbolic character, a President we could have most certainly elected in real life.

I think any but the most humorless conservatives would enjoy this story of corruption and the system where everything is for sale. Plus the most sympathetic character is a lesbian, and that's not even saying much since she's also on a mission to take advantage of the system. Mostly, it's the "throw-'em-all-out" types, politically speaking, who would agree with the message the most.

By the way, there ARE some videos from various versions of the play available on Youtube, as well as some trailers and actor interviews.

[S.J.]

Oh, I'm pretty sure that liberals will have no trouble seeing it as all being about Bush, or even Reagan. As near as I can tell, many of them have given up serious thinking of any kind, and are trying to get by on unexamined and often contradictory emotions. I remember seeing some program about 'The Lord Of The Rings', where one commenter practically giggled as he asserted that the orcs in the story were clearly capitalists. It took me a moment to figure out how he came to this conclusion, since the orcs were clearly anything BUT capitalists.
What I came up with was that he must have been 'taught' that capitalists are evil. Since the orcs were evil, they clearly had to be capitalists. Never mind that the books portrayed a feudal society devoid of capitalism. For this guy, it was simple:
Capitalists=Evil=Orcs.
I'll bet he had a college degree from somewhere too.

[Steve]

Well, that was amusing. Aside from following a president named Clinton, Charles bore no resemblance to GWB. Some of my favorite quotes follow:













Charles: Call the IRS and have him audited back to the day he was born.

Archer: Women...
Charles: No, they have rights, just like regular human beings.

Charles: I always felt that I'd do something memorable- I just assumed it'd be getting impeached.