Oleanna is a movie about a young college girl named Carol confronting her older male professor named John about understanding his class and his book that he wrote. Carol is failing the class, she goes to his office to try and get her grade improved but while they talk they are continually interrupted as the talk throughout the movie.
In the first act we see the two characters in the professor office. She comes in and starts saying that she does not understand many things in his class and in his book and says that is the reason for her struggles in the class. In the begining the professor never really seems to understand the problem she has probably due to the fact that he keeps getting phone calls about his house that him and his wife our purchasing. They are purchasing the house because John is receiving tenure. The whole first act Carol also interrupts John pretty much non stop. During their discussion John decides to help her but in doing so he really never helps her with her problem but instead he gives his view on education and on life in which she takes everything the wrong way. Also during the conversation we see Carol get very emotional and excited so the professor tries calming her down so he grabs her and sits her down. Then at the end of the first act you are lead to believe that Carol and John are going to get together. Just by the way that they talk about his problems with his wife and it just feels like there is sexually tension between both of them.
Then in the second act we discover that Carol has filed a sexual harassment suit against John. Now John is the one in jeopardy of losing his job and his precious new house. In this act the roles are reversed and he does not understand her. During the final confrontation she provokes him and he starts swearing and telling her to get out then she pulls the final straw and says that he should not talk to his wife that way. So then he beats her up and that is where the movie ends.
Whether Oleanna is a misogynistic play, can be argued either way. It depends on which point of view one sees it from. The play portrays Carol, a woman, as a manipulative character lacking any positive qualities. She is portrayed as a feminist that is out to get her "sexist" teacher, John. Howeve...
"Oleanna" I agree with David Mamet's statement that Carol and John are "both altogether right and altogether wrong". I can see how he can relate to John from a teachers perspective as well as from the standpoint as a man communicating to a woman. John is in a position of an authoritative figure a...
In Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-the-Plow, and Oleanna, Mamet retains a central theme: if men did not have to deal with women, business could operate unhindered. ... Mamet's theme of women being the monkey wrench in the works of American business appears in Glengarry Glen Ross, though in a more subdued form than in either Speed-the-Plow or Oleanna. ... However, the male protagonist in Oleanna would not be so lucky. ... John then tries to relate to Carol as equals, to "take of the Artificial Stricture, of Teacher, and Student' [ ]- (Oleanna 21). ... Indeed, at Oleanna's premi...
Oleanna, a two-hander play, is set in a college professor's office. The professor, John, is only partly interested in his students. He has tenure and a new house on his mind. The student, Carol is not that bright and can"t understand his course. John tries to help her. But Carol takes the expression...
The main introduction in this essay is to point out the different character's personality, the internal and external issues and what causes the conflicts between them. Bringing out the violence that occur in the characters environment. Both the external and internal conflicts are going to be analyze...
Literature can create a large impact by expressing ideas and truths into society. Because of the fast-paced world we live in today, many people don't have time to sit and read for large amounts of time, so that's where the media fits in. There are always books and plays being made into movies, and...
Cate Blanchett has whirl-winded into Hollywood, stealing the hearts of most of us and leaving us struck with awe. Since her multi award-winning role in Elizabeth, (directed by Shekhar Kapur) in 1998, she has become a household name,and the roles just keep on coming. Blanchett's newest film, The Ship...
What is a play? Is it simply a novel acted out on stage? Is it a movie performed live? Many people would think so but that is because true theater is sometimes lost due to the extravagance of the Broadway musical. A play is much more of its own art and can not be so closely compared to film or other forms of literature. ...