oleanna critical essay

J.K. Curry Theater/Speech MSU-Northern Note: This paper was given at the Third Annual Conference on Intellectual Freedom, April 1997, Montana State University-Northern I would like to begin with the premise that sexual harassment poses a real and significant threat to intellectual freedom on campus. As most of you know, sex discrimination is illegal in employment and education as a result of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments. The courts have established sexual harassment as a form of prohibited sex discrimination. Though victims and perpetrators may be of any gender and sexual orientation, harassment is most frequently directed at women, often with the intent or result of discouraging their participation in a work or educational environment. Guidelines developed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1980 define sexual harassment as Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment; submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting the individual; or such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment ( Academic Freedom 64). Further, the guidelines for an educational environment state that Sexual harassment consists of verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, imposed on the basis of sex.that denies, limits, provides different, or conditions the provision of aid, benefits, services or treatment protected under Title IX (Dziech and Weiner). Beyond the legal considerations, those of us who work in higher education and have an interest.
Drama is perhaps one of the most significant forms of human entertainment preserved throughout the centuries by scribes. Since approximately 500 B.C. drama produced such renowned authors as Euripides, William Shakespeare, and today’s David Mamet. Mamet, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed-the-Plow, wrote Oleanna, an extremely controversial play, involving sexual harassment and power. Instead of using conventional sexual harassment scenarios which continually made front page news during the early 90’s (Clarence Thomas vs. Anita Hill), Mamet elects to centralize the subject of sexual harassment within the relationship of a college professor (John) and his student (Carol). Even though it is apparent to the audience that John is a genuinely nice and honest man who enjoys power and authority he possesses as a college professor, his ability to be extremely naпve in such a delicate situation (private one on one meeting with a student of the opposite sex) is his ultimate downfall. John demonstrates his kindness and sincerity when he tries to comfort Carol by revealing secrets from his past, during their first initial conversation. By sympathizing with his student, John tries to build a foundation for communication: I’ll tell you a story about myself. (Pause) Do you mind? (Pause) I was raised to think myself stupid I was brought up and my earliest and persistent memories are of being told I was stupid (15-16). JohnТs consideration towards others inevitably leads to his demise. The communication barrier which is initially broken when John become extremely open, revealing a story from his past, leaves him vulnerable to manipulation from outside influences. Throughout the play, power becomes a significant characteristic in John’s personality. During John and Carol’s first private meeting in John’s office, he demonstrates both his power and superior.
An interesting approach to write about regarding the sexual harassment in Oleanna is to discuss it in terms of what it means to have power.  The drama shows how sexual harassment is a condition of power, and it has as much to do with power as much as anything else.  In Act I, Carol sits in John's office and lacks power.  She is unable to understand the world in which she operates, a world in which John and others operate with ease:   Nobody tells me anything.  And I sit there in the corner.  In the back.  And everybody’s talking about “this” all the time.  And “concepts,” and “precepts” and, and, and, and, and, WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?  And I read your book.  And they said, “Fine, go in that class.”  Because you talked about responsibility to the young.  I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS AND I’M FAILING Carol lacks power in the First Act.  She does not come to John's office because of a Socratic notion of wishing to enhance an intellectual dialogue.  She lacks the language to even participate in it.  This is seen in the fact that the language between both John and Carol is stilted and interrupted.  The only coherent element relayed is that Carol is completely lost in the course and everyone else speaks a language foreign to her: No.  No.  There are people out there.  People who came here.  To know something they didn’t know.  Who came here.  To be helped.  To be helped.  So someone would help them.  To do something.  To know something.  To get, what do they say?  “To get on in the world.”  How can I do that if I don’t, if I fail?  But I don’t understand.  I don’t understand.  I don’t understand what anything means and I walk around.  From morning ‘til night: with this one thought in my head.  I’m stupid. It is clear that the background in which sexual harassment operates is one in which language has failed to authenticate voice.  The result is that there a.
Oleanna David Mamet The following entry presents criticism of Mamet's play Oleanna (1992). One of the most controversial plays of the 1990s, Oleanna provoked fierce debates about sexual harassment and gender politics. Written during the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas sexual harassment scandal, this play about a female student accusing her male professor of sexual impropriety divided audiences between those who were angered by what they perceived as fabricated sexual harassment charges used as a tool to gain power and those who viewed the image of a scheming, manipulative woman as an attack on the right of women to defend themselves from improper sexual advances. Biographical Information Mamet was born in Chicago and raised in a Jewish community on the city's south side. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mother in Olympia Fields, a Chicago suburb. As a young man he was a busboy at Second City comedy club and worked at the Hull House Theatre. He attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York for a year and then enrolled in Goddard College in Vermont, where he studied literature and drama. Mamet taught for one year at Marlboro College in Vermont, where he wrote his first play, Lakeboat (1970), which his students eventually staged. After working at a variety of jobs, Mamet returned to Goddard as a drama instructor, and he wrote an early version of Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1974). In 1972 Mamet returned to Chicago and formed the St. Nicholas Company with actor William H. Macy. During the 1970s several of Mamet's plays—including Duck Variations (1972), Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo (1975)—enjoyed successful and critically acclaimed productions in New York City. American Buffalo and Sexual Perversity each won an Obie award for distinguished playwriting. In 1977 Mamet and actress Lindsay Crouse married. They had two.
CORRECTION TO THIS ARTICLE: A Nov. 1, 1994 review of the film Oleanna incorrectly gave the name of the female character throughout the review. She is named Carol, not Oleanna. William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt in Oleanna. Oleanna Written and Directed by David Mamet Starring William Macy and Debra Eisenstadt. Loews Copley Place. By Teresa Esser Staff Reporter This film begins quietly and slowly, with a male professor and a female student alone in the professor's office after hours. The student, Oleanna, has come to ask for extra help and to inquire about her grade. The professor agrees to give her some extra tutoring and promises her an A for her final grade if she will visit him in his office a few more times. Oleanna protests, asking why a professor would even suggest such an arrangement. Because I like you, the professor says. Exactly what the professor likes about Oleanna is left up to the viewer's imagination. She is neither attractive nor flirtatious, and her drab, bulky clothing is more maudlin than seductive. The only thing that Oleanna does in the professor's office is listen to him ramble, interrupting him every now and then to ask questions about his big vocabulary words. This film is about the relationship between professor and student and their struggle for intellectual dominance. When the movie starts the professor is in control because Oleanna has come to him for knowledge. Oleanna lacks power and self-esteem: First, because she cannot understand what the professor is talking about; and second, because she lacks a constructive outlet for her fear and anger. The one thing she can do is sit on the edge of her seat and scribble down as much as possible. The film is meant to start out like a relatively typical interaction between teacher and student. Unfortunately, this relationship degenerates rather quickly. At some point between the first and second.
Oleanna Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections: This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion on Oleanna by David Mamet. Oleanna is a short three-act play surrounding the consequences of miscommunication between a male college professor and his impressionable female student. In Act One, Carol drops by her John's office, her professor. She is looking for guidance, as she is failing the class and is desperate to do better. When the curtain rises, John is on the phone with his wife Grace arguing about the house they are buying now that John has been offered tenure. John cuts the conversation short so he can address Carol, who sits across from him listening to the entire conversation. Now that she has John's attention, Carol complains that no matter what she does in John's class, she can't seem to get ahead. She's doing everything John has asked her to: she bought and read John's book, she shows up for class, she takes notes, but there's something in the language that she can't quite get a handle on. When it's clear that John doesn't have time to engage in a long conversation with Carol, John tries to dismiss her but Carol breaks down into tears berating herself as stupid. John attempts to console Carol by speaking plainly to her, dropping all pretense of the professor-student relationship. When Carol composes herself, she asks why John has put aside his important meetings to speak with her. He answers, because I like you. John's casual conversation continues as he benevolently offers Carol an A for her work thus far. He says she can start the course over and that grades don't matter. What matters to John is awakening her curiosity about the subject. He says that as long as she comes for regular meetings in his office to discuss class.