Joe Orton and the Counter-Cultural Movement in the 60s - Essay Example

JOE ORTON AND THE COUNTER CULTURAL MOVEMENT IN THE 60'S The focal point of this paper is to look critically at Joe Orton's plays, including Loot, Entertaining Mr Sloane, and What the Butler Saw, and situate them within the context of the Counter Cultural / Youth Movement in Britain in the Swinging Sixties. At the same time it would be looked upon how the plays are anti-authoritarian and challenge the patriarchy, especially that of patriarchal family. Alongside, several other contemporary and relevant aspects such as the Abolishment of Censorship in 1968, the Decriminalisation of Homosexual Practice between Consenting Adults, the Second Wave Feminism, etc would also be taken into account. The life styles of the 1950's through the later 1960 have emerged as fallout of the booming economy that is represented by the generation of 'baby boomers'. The hardship during the days of the Second World War gave birth to the newest possible philosophies that state it is obvious to follow the trend of open market economy with all its perception of high yielding materialism. This hard cored materialism and pro life oriented attitude was previously known in the western world but now it came into a maximized form which sociologist refer as a pro active action against the mass destruction and insecurity of the last great war. The latest philosophy was to obtain as much as possible that life has to offer. Every social aspect changed with it and along with it changed the world around them. Plays and writer were no different. Colours became more vibrant and approach became more outrageous to keep up with the society. Joe Orton's plays were a product of this period. The funny side of this approach was however different from the basic perception of the life styles of the 1950's through the later 1960 were a confluence of conflicting philosophies. As it was mentioned earlier that the idea of materialism was at its had hitting best but alternatively the simplicities of eastern philosophies, specifically Indian philosophies, were highly acclaimed though it was concentrated within a certain group of people. As a result, the poets and the writers, as least a section of them, who took their inspirations from life and society it self, inclined themselves towards the approach of simplistic formations of art forms. (Fletcher, 135-9) It is a well known fact and it has been shown time and again by many literary historians and researchers that the main targeted audience were the baby boomers who had all the opportunities to take all the advantages of almost any and every marketing gimmicks. But Joe Orton's plays had their own vibes even though they supported the antiestablishment norms of the time. Joe Orton was born in 1933 at Leicester and is famous for his social satires in modern playwright history. His career actually span only five years from 1964 to 1967 but within this short time he amused, shocked and outraged the audience with his prolific sense of black comedies that are predominantly scandalous in nature. His major plays include The Ruffian on the Stair, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot, The Erpingham Camp, The Good and Faithful Servant, Funeral Games and What the Butler Saw. During his short term as a successful playwright Joe Orton depicted in his plays what was going around in the outer world but he presented them in his own unique manner. (Fletcher, 221-26) Entertaining Mr Sloane was first presented on 1964 and this play appears to be a sexual innuendo with the treatment of a dark presentation. Here we find the characters indulge themselves in murder and rimes associated with murder with little or no repent at all. The sexual approach appears to be reflecting the course of action of the 1960s and ethical values are just not entertained at all. More in alignment with the context of the antiestablishment principals the characters are not will the authority to bring or reach to the aspect of justice but they are more concerned with the living and tend to extract the most out of life. At this point Entertaining Mr Sloane works as an antiestablishment manifesto by overlooking the need and laid down principals of the authority in form of law and order. (Lamb, 98-101) The relation among the characters also depicts the revolt against the traditional values of norms but accepts the freedom of will with more aggressions. In fact, in terms of relation, the playwright just places the relation in the midst of the narration without actually clarifying the true nature of the relation. In the play the playwright never attempts to clarify the relation between Ed and Sloane and leaves the conclusion to be interpreted by the audience. Counter Cultural / Youth Movement along with abolishment of censorship in 1968, the Decriminalisation of Homosexual Practice between Consenting Adults, the Second Wave Feminism all juxtaposed to form a huge cultural turmoil during the era. As an example the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's as this would serve as the conceptual and strategic model of the main objective. Alongside, variations in definitions of social and racial justice and strategy were equally important along with re evaluation of the authority of the church. In this context the play Loot becomes extremely relevant with the movements. As in his previous work, in the script of Loot we find that this play is a dark farce to its extreme. The main victim or target of this play is the Roman Catholic Church and penetrates this institution with high dose of satirical aggressions. This attitude is aligned at par with the contemporary notion about religion and the playwright was right on the audience's nerve when he scripted this topic as a means of attack. However, it should be mentioned that not only the institution of Roman Catholic Church was attacked but there were other elements to this play that made fun of death and the social attitude towards it. The playwright also depicts the police force and questions their integrity thereby whipping every traditional and institutional values of the time. This play narrates the activities of Dennis and Hal who are thieves by profession. This black farce then depicts shocking scenarios where the audience finds that the son is hiding the loot in his mother's coffin. Thus Orton places the material values of money over death and narrates it through the angle of one of the protagonist of the play where the loot becomes more important than the demise of an emotional relation thus in his own way Orton tries to break free of all relations and examines the perception of the English values of the 1960s in a rather dark and cruel manner. It is needless to say that the movements of the era were acting on the mind frame of the playwright. (Lamb, 241) In this context the idea of social justice became very relevant as it was because the probable meanings it has for various contingents of the Civil Rights Movement. Similar important aspect is the three fold arguments that dealt with tactics employed by various factions (i.e., SCLC, SNCC, Black Power) of the Civil Rights Movement along with several other activities like the Antiwar Movement, American Indian Movement (AIM), Women's Movement, sexual orientation related movements like the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgender (GLBT) Movement and last of all the Green peace movement and the Animal Rights Movement formed a single force of unrest during the era of the 1960s and everything was directed towards the ideology of anti establishment psyche. Everything that took lace during this period, and not just in Britain, put an exemplary mark on the walks of life. (Fletcher, 23-24) Similarly, sexuality and the institution of marriage was also was seen from a different perspective during the 1960s. Given the many problems that are associated with marriage, it is not so surprising that many young people in Western societies- which, to a great extent, now values individual fulfilment over traditions- have become disillusioned with the institution of marriage. This has resulted in the surging of non-traditional social structures. Divorce used to be quite rare, but now, it is extremely common. In fact, half of all new marriages in the UK were ending in divorce. Men and women tend to divorce their spouses for different reasons. Women can claim a variety of reasons for seeking a separation from their spouses. Such reasons include physical, emotional, or mental abuse, heavy substance abuse, infidelity, sexual problems, or lack of support. Men seeking divorce from their wives complain of nagging, a dull sex life, or meddling in-laws. Women usually are more dissatisfied and find more fault with their marriages than men do. It must be added that the majority of men and women do eventually remarry. However, remarriages often fail as well. Divorced women with higher incomes and educations frequently delay remarrying, and many of these successful women never remarry. Remarriages tend to be more gratifying for the husbands than for the wives, just as is the case with first marriages. Another growing sexual trend during the 1960s was unmarried heterosexual cohabitation. Cohabitation is actually a very old practice. Hundreds of years ago, Peruvian Indians practiced it to give the man's family time to assess his mate's ability to handle both household chores and field work. Many Americans, however, view "living together" as being a "less-than-reputable" arrangement. This view is slowly changing as cohabitation becomes more and more common. (Magnet, 86) Sociologists describe five types of cohabitation relationships. They were temporary, casual, convenience relationships. In this arrangement, a man and a woman share the same residence because it is advantageous do so. 2. Affectionate, going-together relationships. Here, the couple resides together because each partner enjoys the other's company. 3. Trial marriage. 4. Temporary alternative to marriage. In this scenario, the couple intends to marry. They are simply waiting for a convenient time to do so. 5. Permanent or semi-permanent alternative to marriage. Here, the couple has a long-term, committed relationship. Although the relationship is similar to marriage, there are no legal or religious sanctions involved. (Border, 334-335) In this context another play by the playwright becomes extremely important in understanding the values of sexuality in the society of 1960s England. This play is called What the Butler Saw. This play, What the Butler Saw is another highly rated work of Orton. This play is regarded as a dry humour and this appears in every part of the play. Orton formulated this play in two acts and ventures into the disturbing facts that is accustomed with the social attitudes relating to sexuality. It can be mentioned that in a way this play is more about a man woman relationship and the psyche of the two sexes are depicted under the frame work of depleting traditional values. In this play the traditional beliefs of sexuality has also been enumerated a "Graeco-Roman hallucination". (Lamb, 199-203) If taken into the movements of its time including various developments of sexuality and free sex it would appear to stand its ground of supporting the norms of anti establishment and Counter Cultural / Youth Movement in Britain. Not surprisingly, the young people in the UK began most accepting of cohabiting. Generally, cohabitants have lower rates of religious affiliation, are more likely to be urbanites or suburbanites, are liberal, and often engage in "unconventional" behaviours. Although cohabitants often consider themselves to be androgynous, studies have shown that this perception is not completely true. They were still performing household chores in the traditional way. However, during the same timeframe Betty Friedan was publishing her famous text in 1963 called The Feminine Mystique and challenged the woman's role as homemakers and provided a huge momentum to already established but somewhat diminishing woman movement along with empowering the feminism beliefs as a second wave of liberation. (Berkowitz, 289-90) Logically enough, among all these symbolic expressions of justice or in other words the basic and intricate influence of these movements were reflected upon different mediums like music, art, literature, plays and fashion. There was no way to avoid this phase and Joe Orton's plays were no different. Being a sensitive person by nature it was impossible for him to overlook these movements as supported full heartedly and this is reflected in his plays like Loot, Entertaining Mr Sloane, and What the Butler Saw. References: Magnet, Myron; Modern Sex: Liberation and Its Discontents; National Book Trust; 2006 Fletcher, R; Beliefs and Knowledge: Believing and Knowing; Howard & Price. 2003 Lamb, Davis; Cult to Culture: The Development of Civilization on the Strategic Strata; National Book Trust. 2004 Berkowitz L; Pain and aggression: An Analysis of Post War Movements. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1993 Border, S; 1960: Fire of the Mind; National Book Trust. 2002 Read More