Author |
Message |
Ocean_islands
Member
09-07-2000
| Friday, February 11, 2005 - 4:54 pm
Once again a thread that disappeared ..... This thread is to memorialize writers of all nationalities who have passed on .....
|
Ocean_islands
Member
09-07-2000
| Friday, February 11, 2005 - 4:56 pm
Arthur Miller Arthur Miller, 89, widely regarded as one of the greatest American playwrights, whose works included oft-performed classics "Death of a Salesman," "The Crucible," and "A View from the Bridge," died of congestive heart failure Thursday at his Roxbury, Conn., home. Here, he is pictured with one of his wives, Norma Jean Baker of California.
|
Carrly
Member
09-28-2000
| Friday, February 11, 2005 - 5:23 pm
Yes, another of Marilyn's ex-husbands is gone. He made us look at ourselves through his plays and books and movies, with his insightful development of characters. How many actors have made his "Willie Loman" come to life? Who remembers how he wouldn't cooperate with McCarthy and his blacklists in the fifties? When I told my daughter-in-law of his death, she didn't know who I was talking about at first. How sad. What playwright today can compare to him?
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Friday, February 11, 2005 - 5:51 pm
Carly -- Have no fear -- every single student that graduates from our high school knows who Arthur Miller is. We spend a good portion of their sophomore English class reading The Crucible and talking about its political commentary on McCarthyism. He was an incredible storyteller!
|
Ocean_islands
Member
09-07-2000
| Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 8:33 am
It's kind of amazing that no playwright that I know of has taken on the issues that are occurring in America today as Miller did in the 1950s.
|
Carrly
Member
09-28-2000
| Saturday, February 12, 2005 - 7:34 pm
Ocean, that is so true. Look at the most popular shows on Broadway...revivals, rewrites, etc. You see the same trend in television programs. (Although I really enjoyed Wicked and it's twist on the Wizard of Oz. Who knew why the Wicked Witch of the West hated Dorothy!) Can't think up an original premise for a show? Just retread an old one. How many CSI's and Law and Orders are out there? Or, this is my major pet peeve, when an author dies, the publisher keeps the "franchise" and has someone write in the style of the famous author and his books go on forever. I first noticed this trend when Alexandra Ripley wrote the sequel to Gone with the Wind with the author's estate's permission. Then others started doing it. For example, when Lawrence Sanders died and someone else started writing the Archie McNally series of mysteries. There is also someone writing as Louis Lamour. People in the fifties didn't have such immediate access to the news as we do today, so we needed an Arthur Miller to make us aware of the issues in our society. Now we want plays to take us away from reality, give us respite from the ever-present fear of the unknown.
|
Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Monday, February 14, 2005 - 7:52 am
I think Tony Kushner might be taking on issues like Miller did. Angels in America is a very good, if not great, play about social justice and his Homebody/Kabul is a prescient piece of writing that just needs an editor.
|
|