[English] Context Piece - Whose Reality? - A Streetcar Named Desire

[pi]

Just want to see what VN thought of some of my preliminary work on context (btw to all the mhs kids, I didn't write this for the SAC last week). Drawing upon Tennesse William's A Streetcar Named Desire and includes a written explanation. My teacher has commented on it (I am grateful I have such an awesome teacher!), but I just wanted a few different perspectives. Hopefully it is not too bad


“We create illusions in order to cope with reality”


TIME • Science and Lifestyle

SQUARING UP TO REALITY

Most of us live through our lives with little or any thought devoted to those who live a reality of illusion. For the first time in since her break-down, Lucinda Reid exposes the shocking truth of living a life of illusion in an exclusive interview with leading psychiatrist Dr Brandon Williams.
  
The California Institute for the Mentally Ill (CIMI) has seen its fair share of patients who enter the institute with difficulties in facing their reality. From soldiers that have been left traumatised post their duty in the Iraq War, to modern playwrights who have fallen into depression, the CIMI has catered for its wider community for the best part of a century.

A year from today, a 27 year-old Lucinda Reid, famous for her well-acclaimed Oscar-winning role as Blanche in “DuBois Again” (2008), Michael Gutenberg’s critical reply to Tenesse Williams’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire”, was admitted to the CIMI following the production of the film. A year-long examination concluded that Ms Reid suffered from a mild case of schizophrenia, characterised by her seemingly ‘inaccurate’ take on reality, and a severe case of grandiose delusionalism, an illness typically exhibited by a sufferer who does not have insight into their loss of touch with reality; both resulting in an addiction to alcohol. After a year-long absence from the Hollywood arena, we meet with Ms Reid herself, and revisit her case for the first time.  

Dr Brandon Williams: Welcome Ms Reid. “DuBois Again” is a unique film in that it successfully revives a popular classic, whilst maintaining a modern touch. Did you ever think that the film was too ambitious during its production?

Lucinda Reid: Not really. When Michael [Gutenberg] presented me the script, I was amazed at how well it was written. I don’t think I ever had any doubt that the film would be successful. The way Michael has extended the story-line of Tennesse’s play, adding the twist of Blanche becoming pregnant and revisiting Laurel for support, having Stanley uncomfortably present during the miscarriage... The film has a brilliant plot, and although revisiting such a classic is always going to be ambitious, I felt that the aims were reasonable.  

B: Why, of all the professions in the world, did you choose the path of acting? What prompted you to tackle difficult roles of characters such as that of Blanche?

L: The illusions. I think that as a professional, as an actor, we try to the best of our ability to fool our audience, to take them places where they have never been before. We have a duty to cast an illusion over them, so that they see me as not the actor Lucinda Reid, but the character that I am portraying. In the case of Michael’s [Gutenberg] film, you are correct, it was a very challenging role to cast the illusion of Blanche. In the film, she is portrayed as someone who is severely emotionally scarred and a sufferer of post-natal depression following the miscarriage of the child who she claimed as Stanley’s. And to make matters worse, nobody in New Orleans or Laurel believe her. As an actor, to create the illusion that I was Blanche, I felt that I really needed to try and experience life as her. And I think that is the most difficult aspect of truly playing a role.

B: In the reports from the CIMI, you are quoted saying that your time in playing the part as Blanche was very traumatic. Was this due to stress? Pressure? Depression?

L: I think it was more depression than anything else, Brandon. Although, as you would have read in the reports, this had follow-on effects on my mental health. What really got to me during the production were the similarities that I found I had with my character Blanche. As you’d know, Blanche was a life amongst the death and despair of Belle Reve. And through the production, I found that my journey into adulthood was very similar. When I was fifteen, my only sibling, my elder brother Allan, un-expectantly committed suicide. I was devastated, we were very close. To me, Allan was not only a brother, he was a mentor and a friend. As a budding actor himself, it was he I admired and modelled my own acting style on. Unfortunately, depression has been like a plague in my family, and sadly it took over Allan and he claimed his own life. Even today, I don’t get through a day without acknowledging the role that Allan has played in my life. I’ve never really got over it, even now. During my role as Blanche, I found myself dwelling back on thoughts of my brother, and that’s probably what triggered my own depression, drinking problem and subsequent illnesses.

B: Did you think that alcohol could solve your problems of depression?

L: Yes. I used alcohol to mask my depression, to create an illusion that everything was fine. Although this worked in the short-term to an extent, I became addicted. From one bottle, to six or seven, I became dependent on alcohol to solve my problems. Either it was alcohol, or it was painful imagery of dear Allan. In the end, I couldn’t stand either and I was admitted to the CIMI.

B: Vivien Leigh, the actor who played the role of Blanche in the original production of A Streetcar Named Desire, felt that as she acted the role of Blanche, that she became like Blanche. Can you identify with that in your portrayal?

L: Definitely. During and in the aftermath of the production, I found myself losing touch with reality, much like Blanche. I found myself, and I know this may sound strange, but I found myself casting an illusion on myself. A veil of the past was thrown onto my life. Images of my Allan constantly reappeared in my mind. I became plagued with these images during the production, just as Blanche was troubled with the polka music. I think Blanche’s role caused me to recall those images, just as it caused Vivien to succumb to mental illness. The similarities I shared with Blanche inevitably brought those images back and I regressed into depression. However, later, these images drastically changed. They became happier images, my brother buying me my first Barbie doll, him teaching me fake cry, and the list goes on. Although there was this illusion cast over my life, I was enjoying my little vacation from reality when these happier images appeared. And hence, the alcohol, and later on, the diagnosis of grandiose delusionalism and schizophrenia. I was just not in touch with my surroundings at all. Unlike Vivien or Blanche though, I am thankful to the nurses at CIMI and psychiatrists such as yourself Brandon, who were able to lift the illusion on my life. A transformation Blanche would describe as “magic”.

B: Thank-you for your time Lucinda, and we wish hope you can continue cast illusions over us for many years to come.

L: Brandon, it’s been my pleasure.

Dr Brandon Williams

   

 
Written Explanation
In exploration of the context ‘Whose Reality?’, I have written an expository-creative hybrid piece, one that could be published in the TIME magazine under the sub-topic of ‘Science and Lifestyle’, for a general adult cohort of readers. The piece focuses on Lucinda Reid, an actor who portrays Blanche in a sequel film to Tennesse William’s A Streetcar Named Desire. In taking an invented character with similarities to William’s protagonist, I chose to explore the concept of illusions as a scapegoat and replacement for reality.

Lucinda, like her character Blanche, has had a troubled adulthood. I drew on this concept to create a modern and realistic perspective based on emotional struggle. In accordance with the prompt: “We create illusions in order to cope with reality”, the primary focus of the shared emotional struggle between Lucinda and Blanche, was their ability to create an illusion for themselves. In choosing an actor as my protagonist, I was able to extend the concept of illusions to those created by actors as part of their profession and hence, broadening my response to the prompt.

The use of fictional ‘leading psychiatrist’ Dr Brandon Williams allowed me to not only use language in accordance with the TIME magazine, but also allowed me to touch on illusions as a medical condition, again adding a different perspective to my response. Drawing on real medical conditions such as schizophrenia and grandiose delusionalism, I was able to put names to the behaviour suffered by Lucinda and her character Blanche. With Lucinda explaining her illusions as a professional and a patient, and Dr Brandon Williams exploring illusions as a psychiatrist, I hope to show that “We create illusions in order to cope with reality”.



THANKS VN! Any comments/criticism would be much appreciated!

[jane1234]

The actual writing is good... couldn't find any big issues with that

However, I think you could have focused on the latter part of the prompt a bit more, "...in order to cope with reality". It was only at the end where you really started to explore the actress' struggle with escaping her reality with alcohol. You talked a lot about her creating illusions but not so much why she felt the need to. Think that you could even connect her decision to pursue acting as a means to escape her reality. Maybe get her to describe her personal background in a little more detail so that the readers understand why she felt the need to create an illusion to cope; what was so bad about her reality?

Also, if you're going to write for the science section I'd delve into the science aspect a bit more. Just drop a few "side effects" "symptoms" etc in.

"From soldiers that have been left traumatised post their duty in the Iraq War, to modern playwrights who have fallen into depression"... maybe you could give specific examples here? Just to show that you are drawing from sources other than the chosen text...

Other than that it was pretty good!!

Also, feel free to disagree with anything I've said. This is just from a quick read.

PS With the written explanation (not that important because you don't write one for the exam) go into your language choices a bit more. Easy way to pick up extra marks. 

[pi]

Thanks jane1234! Some great points raised!

I agree with my lack of response to the latter part of the prompt, probably should have a 50-50 split between both sections of the prompt. Also, needed more scientific jargon, explanations and examples. Agree there too. With the written explanation, I'm still not completely sure what to do, but I can see that more analysis of 'why I used particular language' was distinctly lacking in my w.e.


Thanks again!



Any other comments/scores/criticisms?

[Water]

Without a doubt, how you constructed the introduction was quite beautiful. In fact, I actually googled "Dubois Again" to check if it their was actually a production of such a movie. Perhaps that was an illusion within itself? An eloquently done one in fact. Though, minor technicalities of "A year-long examination concluded that Ms Reid suffered from a mild case of schizophrenia, characterised by her seemingly ‘inaccurate’ take on reality, and a severe case of grandiose delusionalism, an illness typically exhibited by a sufferer who does not have insight into their loss of touch with reality; both resulting in an addiction to alcohol." Here, the sentence is too long. However, this could be caused by the wordy "insight into their loss of touch with reality; both resulting in an addiction to alcohol." Either way, fragmenting it it perhaps will make it appear more simpler. It just didn't ring, expression wise.

With the crux of your dialogue, the only concern I had with it, is the use of "illusions."  Perhaps by using it so much, it indicated your insecurity? Lack of definition and an attempt to try and impose "the essay topic" on the readers? To recognize illusion as a multitude of things. But illusions can be replaced by other means like "world, universe, imagination, perception" and various other ways in your repertoire.With  subtleties to illusions, this would have lifted your piece of writing, engagingly and expressively. It would also have provoked your readers to think, making your idea appear complex but at the same time, not complex. You are merely just interchanging words, but they provide different insights and images. For example, by changing "illusions" and "world," you are inviting your reader to explore a bigger picture of fantasy and imagination. Isn't that what illusion is all about? The ability to create and to make it appear true.

Of course, any other concerns/disagreements/agreements, feel free to post back.

[pi]

Agree. I think, especially with a w.e., I should have been a bit more open and less direct to the prompt

That intro sentence, looking back on it, is a massive mouthful!

Thanks Water!


Lots to improve on!

[dinosaurs]

year 11 - what is context writing exactly?

[pi]

year 11 - what is context writing exactly?

You write on a 'context' Think of it as writing on a specific theme, referring to both a text, and outside sources. The form can be just about anything, and a straightforward essay is probably not recommended here.