TGM Adaptation Review

                                                          TGM Adaptation Review
Title of the play: The Glass Menagerie
Author: Directed by Anthony Harvey. Written by Tennessee Williams.
Viewed date: Dec. 15th. 2017
Location: Field House, Cheshire Academy
Major Actors: Katharine Hepburn as Amanda Wingfield, Sam Waterston as Tom Wingfield, Joanna Miles as Laura Wingfield, Michael Moriarty as Jim O'Connor,

  The movie starts from Tom's monologue; he states that this play is based on his memory, so it is not realistic. At the beginning of the play, Tom also sees his sister Laura, it relates to the ending of the play. After the monologue, it is a table scene. Amanda chattered a lot, she demanded Laura to sit,  talking about her life when she was in Blue Mountain. Once she had a lot of gentlemen callers, but after she married to Mr. Wingfield, her life became worse and worse. After that scene, it was the quarrel between Amanda and Laura. When Amanda found out that Laura was not going to the school, she got mad. Because once she wanted Laura to find a job so that she could support herself and Laura. Now the hope was gone. But later on Amanda found another way, which was to find a husband for Laura. The next scene shows the quarrel between Laura and Tom. When Tom tries to write a poem, Laura keeps interrupting him. Then they starts to yell to each other. Laura thinks Tom spent too much on smoking and drinking, but Tom thinks he sacrificed a lot. At the end of the scene, Tom accidentally broke Laura's glass animal. and they stopped yelling each other. The next day Amanda sends Laura out and talks to Tom independently. She asks him to find a gentlemen caller for Laura, so that someone could support Laura and her, and Tom could do whatever he wants. Then, Tom found Jim, his friend in the shoes factory and Laura's classmate in high school. When Laura saw him, she felt nervous. But later on, Jim enlightened her. She felt more confident. When she danced with Jim, Jim accidentally broke her unicorn's horn, and the unicorn looks like a normal horse. But Laura did not care that much, it shows that she transferred from a weirdo to a normal person. Later on when Jim told Amanda that he was engaged, Amanda got mad at Tom. Because her hope broke again, no one could help her to get out of this bad condition. Tom at last fled away from his family. At the end, he saw Laura again; it showed that he could not forget Laura. Major themes that appeared in the play will be family struggles, escape and the change in a person. Family struggles happened a lot in the play, it usually happened between Tom and Amanda. Tom wanted to do whatever he wanted and Laura wanted him to pay more attention on this family. Escape usually represented by Tom and his dad. In the beginning of the movie, we already knew that his dad ran away from this house. We also noticed that Tom always went out in the midnight; and at last he fled away from his family. They all showed the escape from family to freedom. The change in a person was represented by Laura. In the beginning of the play, she was shy, and did not talk with strangers. But at the end of the play, she felt much more confident. The break of the horn of the unicorn showed that she became a normal person.
  In the movie, lighting, costumes, and music concerned as the most effective staging. Because it is a memory, all the scenes has dim lights. At the end of the play the light goes off, I think it becomes a comparison between the beginning of the play. It shows that the family relationship became worse. Costumes played an important role in the play. Especially when Amanda dressed like a young girl when Jim came. It seems like Amanda wants to marry with Jim but not Laura. The costumes emphasize that Amanda hated her life right now and wanted to find someone to support this family. It helps audience to understand characters' thinking. Music is also one of the most important part of the movie. In the monologue, director used a sad music, and it is also the same music director used at the end. It shows that the monologue related to the end. Using sad music can show audience the emotion Tom felt. Even though he left the house, he was still thinking about Laura, and he felt sorry that he left the family. Music was also used by Laura. Laura used music to show that she was isolated. She was in her own world when she played music. She used music as a way to escape. Using music not only helps audience to feel the emotion, but also shows one's condition in the play. Tom was highlighted in the play. Because the music was always played in his part. I think Amanda and Tom was standing in the opposite. Because their costume is different, and Amanda in the play seems brighter than Tom.
  I think Amanda's actor did the best in the movie. Because she created a character who all audience hated. And that's what Amanda supposed to be. Amanda talks a lot and she wants to control every person in the family. And Amanda in the movie always demanded her child, chatter a lot. Like in the table scene, she asked Tom not to eat fast; she asked Laura to sit there. She also mentions a lot her life in Blue Mountain. 
  Overall, it is a good play. It clearly shows family struggles. And the music in the movie fits the scene. But Laura did not look like she was crippled. Probably they wanted audience to know that Laura was just a normal person, but herself did not know it. Watching this movie, I learned that the music could do more than showing the emotion. It could also represents that one is different than others.