Sexual Harassment as It Is Presented in Oleanna by David Mamet - Movie Review Example

Essay, English Topic: Sexual harassment as it is presented in “Oleanna” by David Mamet. The important issue handled by David Mamet in “Olenna” is about him and her. The man and his strong position with authority! The woman and her weak position but with a different kind of authority and power of her physical assets! That is how the author articulates the man-woman relationship in the first part of the play. The woman knows where her strength lies and she uses the weapon of physical charm and sex to subdue the man with whom she has/created issues. She loses the sense of proportion and pursues the plan to destroy the power-structure-support of that individual to see that he is humbled. The scientists may cross the moon, beat the stars, but probe they must the mystery behind the motives of the woman who is out to destroy the character of a man! Olenna movie also has been rightly hailed as “An 80-minute Prize Fight.” The concerned he and she in the above paragraph are Professor John and his student Carol respectively. In the present scenario I am on the side of John (Professor).The literal meaning of the word carol is ‘song.’ Her presence generates the melodious song in the heart of the Professor. But he is not the discriminative appreciator of that music of love. He does not know how to handle the tender feelings of love. In love-dealings too he desires to exercise his arrogance and authority. In the musical splendor of orchestra, the Professor inducts the muffled drum (sexual overtones) to spoil the show. With his wrong and faulted interactions he loses a glorious opportunity to build a beautiful and hearty relationship. Once the downward spiral in their mutual disposition begins, it gathers momentum and all hopes of retrieval are dashed to the ground. Sexual feelings turn to sexual attraction, sexual attraction turns to sexual scheming, then its turns to sexual harassment and finally it results in violent sexual explosion! That was expected of a character like John right from the beginning when he was unable to express coherently in the presence of Carol. Carol had approached him with a plan and she had the hidden agenda. The relationship between the two is due to failure of communication but what is important is why that failure occurred. With the sexual thought currents dominating the thinking process, John was unable to express properly. That was very true about John right from his first interaction with Carol and since women have the ability to spot the negative feeling in the men with whom they interact, Carol was suspicious but happy about the intentions of John right from his first glance. John was delivering the thoughts on her psyche and she was at the receiving end. When the questions by John are vague and ambiguous the answers too would of the same type. Nature-wise John and Carol are poles apart and as such the confusion about their relationship gets mystified. Both of them have ego problems. John has the normal ego of the males, and the ego related to his position. When the foundation of their relationship was sexual viewed from the approach of John, it would be rather impossible for them to establish normal and healthy connection. As such Carol’s confusion and hesitation in the interactions with John was not conducive to their healthy relationship nor was her plan to develop such a healthy relationship. The wise saying goes, ‘the fox says that the grapes are sour’, when it could not reach up to the bunch of grapes after repeated jumps. Similarly, even after many psychological maneuverings, John could not get what he expected from Carol and then he availed the option of accusing her on one count or the other. As such they are not the flawed characters, certainly not Carol, as she had come with plan of duping the Professor. In the first page of the play they engage in conversation and the communication is incoherent. When the heart is throbbing due to agitation in mind which is beginning to entertain sexual thoughts, John utters sentences like “…..what can I do….? (12) and “What don’t you understand?”(12) The second sentence is grammatically incorrect and that the Professor of John’s caliber commits such mistakes is pointer to the confused state of his mind and his sensations in the presence of Carol. The first action by Carol as depicted in Scene I indicates that Carol is not at all that novice. Otherwise, why should she come to John’s Office to discuss her personal problems, though academic in nature? She meets her male professor privately. She has received a failing grade on a paper. In such a situation, her healthy option was to study hard and to get the passing grade at the next examination or discuss the issue with the Professor in the open class. The fact that she chose to seek a private audience with John indicates that she is implementing the hidden agenda to get the things done from John. It is reasonable to presume that she has done her homework, in consultation with some of her friends in the college and John will be amenable for such an option and he can be obliged to do something about the failure grade. Because he “likes her,” he bends the rules and decides to give her an “A” if she agrees to meet with him to discuss the material, one on one. Their talks become private and sometimes disturbing. He touches her shoulder on several occasions, urging her to sit down or to remain in the office. Certainly it is not her individual initiative and she must have some knowledge about the weak points about John. John too must be an experienced hand in tackling girls in such situations and he shows initial reluctance to talk to her. It appears to me that John is using his bargaining power systematically and so is the case with Carol who is using her feminine charm calculatedly. Both are beginning to outsmart each other. After the initial hassle, John reluctantly agrees to talk to Carol, though he states that he is in haste to move. She beseeches him to help her comprehend his class. She states that the books he allots (one of which is a textbook he himself has written) and the class discussions are over her head and she cant understand the subject matter. He mockingly listens to her plight and interjects her questions with personal stories and by answering the continually ringing phone. He does not care much and seems to enjoy her helplessness and he must have already planned his final reaction to her submissions and as such he does not pay much attention to her pleadings. John knows that the conclusion to the issue will be on his terms as such why he should worry about the details? As such his response is calculatedly cold. John has succumbed to the temptation and Carol has won the first round, what if she has to shed some drops of tears! Carol continues with her pre-planned dialogues, gives her suggestions to make the subject easy for her (and probably for others students as well), but John is still not interested to engage actively on this topic and finally Carol uses her final weapon of crying, and John thinks that this is the right time to intervene and he compassionately (perhaps amorously) puts his arm around her shoulder to sympathize with her plight and expresses his willingness to tutor her. Both have accomplished their respective objectives. John probably thinks that he has moved one step ahead in seducing Carol, and Carol thinks that she has scored one point in the game of trapping him. It is reasonable to assume that Carol has worked to a plan. Breaking down and crying is a powerful weapon with women to get the things done. But her real motive does not seem about getting tutorial assistance from John. The balance of male-female power shifts in the second meeting. Carol knows that John has committed an impropriety, rather she has allowed him to commit that impropriety and now she accuses him of sexual harassment. It will create problems for him in his career. Yet John is indifferent and tries to pacify her by trying to convince that she has misconception about his disposition towards her in the previous meeting. The ball is in the court of Carol and she has the upper hand. Carol is in the mood of confrontation. She informs him (this should be interpreted as her threatening posture) that she has the support of “The Group” in her compliant. John has realized by now that he is trapped and finds it tough to dissuade her from pressing the sexual harassment charges, he seizes her arms to demand her attention, prevents her from leaving and tries to convince her about his stand. She screams and rushes out of his room and at this juncture the Scene II ends. In Scene III, she arrives dressed in manly style and her grasp of language is complete. She offers to drop all charges, but conditions imposed by her and the Group would apply. It hurts the ego of John that he is pressurized to change the syllabus of study. He is driven to the wall but he is not willing to concede the ground. He seems to have lost his mental balance and begins to beat Carol. In the final minutes of the play he stands over her trembling, holding a chair over his head, ready to bang it on her. He stops short of this final act, puts the chair down, returns to his desk, and begins to waddle papers while Carol says, “Yes. Thats right. … yes. Thats right.” During their final dialogue, the professor is packing up his office. He has been dismissed. He invites the student back to make sense out of why she ruined his career. Carol has now become even more powerful. She spends much of the scene pointing out her instructor’s many failings. She declares that she is not for vengeance; instead she has been encouraged by “her group” to take these actions. This clearly proves that right from the beginning Carol was the chosen agent of the plan finalized by “The Group” to destroy the career of John and “The Group” has been indulging in trade unionism. Conclusion: This is a play related to sexual harassment and gender politics. In the present case, Carol has utilized gender to her advantage, by deliberate scheming. She has trapped Professor John to commit certain improprieties and it seems to be a case of fabricated sexual harassment charges to gain control on the situation. Carol knows that in the conditions prevailing then it is easy for her to be vindictive towards John, once she traps him in the area of sexual harassment. She is part of the bigger plan against the forces that are inimical to John, for the reasons not fully explained in the play. Carol-card is used by those forces and everything happens so quickly and methodically as in Scene I, II and III as it is part of the meticulously planned operation. Works Cited Mamet, David. Oleanna. Dramatists Play Service, Inc.; Acting Edition, 1998); Print Cronenberg, David (Director) Oleanna (1994) – IMDb, Massachusetts www.imdb.com/title/tt0110722/ Read More