As Coriolanus is a tragedy centered around the downfalls of pride I began thinking about where the title characters source of pride originated. As I did this I came to question whether or not Coriolanus could actually be held fully responsible for his unfortunate pitfall. After all, it was his mother who raised him and cultivated in him a hyper-sense of pride that leads him to put himself above others. If Coriolanus was raised in such a way did he ever have the hope of being a well balanced individual? These questions caused me to think of this tragedy more broadly. Perhaps the greater tragedy lies not in the downfall of Coriolanus himself but in the downfalls of a society that cultivates the kind of pride that divides and breeds contempt for others.
strange as it may be, the conflict portrayed in Coriolanus made me think of one of my favorite John Hughes movies The Breakfast Club. Andrew, one of the main characters, like Coriolanus, has an overbearing father that instills in him a sense of pride that leads to contempt for others which causes him to abuse his fellow classmates. Now, I'm not suggesting that I write a paper on the parallels of Coriolanus and John Hughes movies (though that could be kinda cool) but I use this piece of cinema as an example to show that perhaps there is a research paper about Shakespeare and the role pride plays in contemporary society.
"If I lose my temper you're totaled, man"
Anyway, I realize that this is a pretty underdeveloped idea but if anyone has any thoughts or ideas I would love to hear them.
I think something important to reflect on though is the fact that in the end we all have a choice to breed that pride within us, or to push back from how we were raised. Which is a big thing in the Breakfast Club, especially in the final song "when you walk on by, will you call my name." And it basically comes down to are we gonna choose today to become different people and change? Or allow our home life, or other outside circumstances affect us the rest of our lives?
ReplyDeleteI can tell you right now that there's buckets of potential in this topic--it's been written about all over the place already. Where I really think you're on to something is the specific connection to The Breakfast Club. Maybe you could do something about tropes that Shakespeare solidified and people still use today, or specifically how many pop culture characters are descendants of Coriolanus without knowing it. Maybe. I don't know. Go with it!
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps talk about several instances of this theme. I'm sure there are others out there...
DeleteOne place to look might be TVTropes. It lists common trends among works of art (more than just TV shows), which, in turn, have lists of other areas where these tropes are used.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheBreakfastClub?from=Main.TheBreakfastClub
(I would have posted links to specific pages, but I don't know what aspects of the character you wanted to focus on. Good luck, and be warned; TV Tropes is a terrible timesuck!)
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DeletePaul... David... you guys are awesome! this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping I would get. I would have never thought to pursue my crack-pot 'breakfast club idea' in this way. Now Im way pumped to do some more research and see what I can find. Thanks for your ideas!
DeleteDO it!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the nature vs. nurture argument. Is it really Coralinus' fault if he acts that way or is it his fault if he doesn't change. I think it would be hard to argue completely for either way. I think it also might be hard to make an argument that people will disagree with. I wonder what Shakespeare would think about Coralinus and his actions . . .
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your perspective! I really like the 'nature vs nurture' idea that is something that has always fascinated me but for some reason I hadn't fully made the connection with my play until I read your post. Thanks!
DeleteI like how you want to broaden your research into an exploration of films on related topics. And I think you have a very insightful approach. From what you've said about Corilanus it sounds like a very self-destructive sort of pride. Maybe you could write about the pride/destruction connection? And maybe show how it works on a societal level in literature and film?
ReplyDelete