A Midsummer Night’s (American) Dream
Through semiotics and representation, Ellen Lauren relates the illusion of the American Dream to the conflict between reality and dreams in her 1930s interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream through the image of Puck as Charlie Chaplin.
In Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, by Stuart Hall, Hall explains that when a person sees an object, they can connect meaning to that object. They see the object, connect it to a concept in their mind, and find meaning in that concept, rather than the object itself (Hall 16). He later explains that people can communicate through shared language, in which a group of people agree that a given object (signifier), has a given meaning (signified) (Hall 18-19, 31). This production of A …show more content…
The decision of the lovers and players in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to escape their problems by going into the woods parallels America’s Dust Bowl migration to California and Hollywood after the Great Depression. Similarly, Puck explains to the audience, at the end of the play, that if they did not enjoy it, they should simply imagine it was a dream. This parallels the way that Americans escaped to the world of entertainment after the Great Depression, looking for happiness (A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Lauren connects these two concepts visually through the costume design of Puck, as well as his physicality. Frank Cermak, who portrayed Puck, wore a Derby hat, had a mustache, and carried a cane throughout the performance. He used similar physicality to Chaplin as well, through bits with the cane, as well as the Charlie Chaplin walk. Through these strong visual choices, Lauren successfully connected the character Puck and the iconic Charlie Chaplin to explore the conflicts between dreams and reality, as well as the American Dream of the 1930s (A Midsummer Night’s
Through semiotics and representation, Ellen Lauren relates the illusion of the American Dream to the conflict between reality and dreams in her 1930s interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream through the image of Puck as Charlie Chaplin.
In Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, by Stuart Hall, Hall explains that when a person sees an object, they can connect meaning to that object. They see the object, connect it to a concept in their mind, and find meaning in that concept, rather than the object itself (Hall 16). He later explains that people can communicate through shared language, in which a group of people agree that a given object (signifier), has a given meaning (signified) (Hall 18-19, 31). This production of A …show more content…
The decision of the lovers and players in A Midsummer Night’s Dream to escape their problems by going into the woods parallels America’s Dust Bowl migration to California and Hollywood after the Great Depression. Similarly, Puck explains to the audience, at the end of the play, that if they did not enjoy it, they should simply imagine it was a dream. This parallels the way that Americans escaped to the world of entertainment after the Great Depression, looking for happiness (A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Lauren connects these two concepts visually through the costume design of Puck, as well as his physicality. Frank Cermak, who portrayed Puck, wore a Derby hat, had a mustache, and carried a cane throughout the performance. He used similar physicality to Chaplin as well, through bits with the cane, as well as the Charlie Chaplin walk. Through these strong visual choices, Lauren successfully connected the character Puck and the iconic Charlie Chaplin to explore the conflicts between dreams and reality, as well as the American Dream of the 1930s (A Midsummer Night’s