Sam Shepard's Buried
Child represents theatrical realism on the surface, but there are
definitely elements that counter the presentational conventions of
illusionistic realism. The major
incident that comes to mind is the idea that none of Vince's family recognizes
him. For example, Vince enters the house and Dodge claims to have no idea who
he is. It is even more unrealistic when Shelly asks Vince's father, Tilden,
" Is he your son? Do you recognize him!" and Tilden responds, "I
had a son once but we buried him." The way Shepard creates Vince's father,
grandfather, and family to claim he is a stranger is surrealistic and counters
the illusionistic realism the majority of the play portrays. A bit of
complexity arises in the play when talking about the crops in the backyard.
Sheldon claims that there is bundles of fresh corn out back, but Dodge and
Halie say that there has not been corn out there since 1935. In the end of the
play, Halie contradicts herself by saying, " I've never seen such corn.
Tall as a man already. It's like a paradise out there." Shepard portrays
multiple truths, causing complexity and creating a non-illusionistic view. Also,
the attitudes and characteristics of the characters do not fully represent "a
slice-of-life". What I mean by this is that every character has an extreme
personality, creating a world that you do not see everyday. For example,
Bradley has a wooden leg and sticks his hand in people’s mouths, Shelly screams
at people she does not know, and Dodge drowned a baby. Those are just three examples
out of the seven characters, but that already makes for quite an insane and
surreal world. As much as Buried Child represents
illusionistic realism, there are many elements that counter the presentational
conventions.
I completely agree with you. Shepard’s piece does appear to be illusionistic. What’s funny is how the characters contradict this “slice-of-life” illusion because of how dysfunctional they are. As a viewer/reader, there are lots of things left unanswered because Shepard does not establish a sense of truth as you said; he merely provides us with possibilities. However, I wouldn’t say that the characters are people we don’t see every day because Shelly and the Priest seem to be “like us”; they represent the norm from our world, but in the world of the play they are the extreme. I get what you mean though and again, I concur.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out that each character seems to have an off or an extreme personality which contradicts the “slice of life” feel that illusionistic realism is suppose to have. The play it self seems kind of normal, it’s just the characters in it and the way they react to things and present themselves to one another that seems so odd and daunting. This play is so unique in that even amidst what at first appears to be a world we would see everyday, odd occurrences happen that don’t seem to fit with what we would consider to be normalcy.
ReplyDeleteDora I agree, I mean first of all wow what a crazy play right. Yeah I wrote about the same thing about how in what world would a family just completely forget about their son and also in what world would a grown man start acting like a fool doing childish tricks trying to evoke a response from a group of adults. I think this sort of supports your arguement that there are many instances that counter illusionistic realism. I mean how on earth could someone really go out in the yard dig up a dead baby. Thats very real but extremely bizarre.
ReplyDeleteDora!!! I'm so glad that you noticed the strangeness about the cornfield and the fact that they don't recognize Vince. It's so weird! I think it's so strange that Vince starts out so sane, but later he is doing all of these strange things to get them to remember them. It's almost like you have to be insane to be recognized as part of the family.
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