Super Bass

Is Scoop our antagonist?

p.168: Scoop is being introduced as someone who opposes Heidi. This is shown by the way he tells her what she is: ‘You’re being very difficult”. He then tells her what he thinks of her, “You really have one hell of an inferiority complex”. He puts her in a very defined spot by repeatedly using the word ‘you’ when addressing her. The first time he is introduced, he is portrayed as someone who has a fix image of her even though they have just met. It seems as though he tries to push her over the edge by insulting her and questioning her actions. The reason why he’s being so pushy might be that he is trying to get a specific reaction out of her, as it looks like he has a goal in mind when talking to her. Scoop uses words such as ‘obviously’ to define himself as someone who knows better than Heidi herself what she is like: “ I mean, you’re obviously a liberal, or you wouldn’t be here”. The way he talks to her is dominant and rude. He makes her feel inferior to him and makes himself stand out as the alpha male.  What is interesting is that whatever he does and says to her only makes her more attracted to him, which contradicts her feminist image. Scoop also commands Heidi around: “That’s bullshit. Be real. You’re neat and clean for Eugene”. After making her feel put on the spot by him, he directly insults her by saying: “I have absolutely no interest in you. You’ve been incredibly obnoxious and your looks are B-“.  Once she actually tries to make some conversation and is interested in what he says she asks him if he works for a paper and he responds: “Did they teach you at Vassar to ask so many inane questions in order to keep a conversation going?”, shutting her down one more time.

The way Scoop is introduced to the play makes him very well look like the antagonist, even though that doesn’t mean that there is certain chemistry between the two characters. Throughout the play he has the role of contradicting Heidi. They’re opposites, even if they might be in love. By making Heidi dependant of him, he ruins her image of a feminist, as she contradicts her own beliefs by being in love with him after he’s married and has kids. Scoop admires Heidi because of all the strength she puts into her beliefs but he would never marry her. He needs a woman that stays at home and takes care of the kids while he brings home the money and food.

What message does Wasserstein use him to convey?

Feels everything is below him as he grades frivolous aspects that he encounters in life (books, bands, people) below himself. He claims Princeton University wasn’t worth him, and didn’t deserve him. He challenges the protagonist’s Heidi’s opinions, and triumphs over her.

Portrayed as the Alpha Male character who has no fears about walking up to a stranger, and bluntly questioning her is she had sexual intercourse. Scoop keeps Heidi on his hook, even long after his married life, using her as an escape goat once in a blue moon. Heidi too describes him as her “Bad habit who she is addicted too.” The interactions between these 2 characters are very limited, and they only meet by chance once in a blue moon through their friends. The contrast between the confident alpha male Scoop, and the reserved Heidi with an inferiority complex highlights the society in the post World War II era. Heidi is described to be a trivial women, while Scoop is a serious man. The scene where Heidi is unable to get a word in edge wise during the live studio interview in New York due to the intervention of Scoop and also Peter in her opinions. In this era female opinions were considered trivial and worthless, thus leading to the emergence of feminist humans led by Heidi (Humanist, as termed by her). Her lecturing of renowned female artists virtually unheard of today, mimics and mirrors her position in her life and society which she strives to change.

What techniques does Wasserstein use to convey this message?

Wasserstein uses Scoop’s language to convey that women after World War Two had no power compared to men. The use of ‘you’ makes him look like he knows a lot about her and women in general. He pushes her so much with insults and swearwords, that she adapts her language to his’ and uses words such as ‘fuck’. The author makes Heidi and Scoop complete opposites, but by letting Scoop support the feminist beliefs in some ways he portrays and yet choose a woman who doesn’t give such demands, he put women in a light where men are more dominant than them. 

Show Goes On

The film version we saw of A Streetcar Named Desire took a few different turns than the written version of the play. For one, it had a less tragic end because Stella left Stanley, together with the baby, which certainly satisfied all the feminists out there. A violent husband isn’t a place for a woman and her newborn baby! One would say. Blanche’s destiny stays similar to the book. Blanche is taken away by a doctor and her last scene ends dramatically with the words along the lines of ‘I’ve always relayed on the kindness of strangers’. What was really interesting to see about Blanche’s story was that the director chose to leave out the part of Blanche’s dead husband being homosexual. There might be many reasons as to why one would make that choice, even though I think that it takes out a whole big chunk of interesting analysis.  As Tennessee Williams was gay himself, I find that taking out that piece of information ruins a whole part of the story. There seems no valid reason anymore as to why her husband shoots himself after she confronts him.

Because it was a movie, the set was a little different than described in the book, as there were multiple perspectives that the actors could be looked at. A thing that they did very well was that they didn’t show the bathroom either, just like in the book. There are only supposed to be two rooms, the living room and the bedroom, but in the movie there is also some sort of small area at the door, which seems like a practical adjustment to the set, as it creates more privacy.

Stella is portrayed much older than she’s described in the book. Blanche doesn’t look old at all and she doesn’t seem old either when Stanley rips off the cover of the lamp. Stella, who is described as a young, vivid and pretty girl, looks old and almost unattractive.

What was also a little irritating were the stairs and Eunice’s balcony. They don’t correspond at all to what was described in the book. It is possible that it was done for practical purposes, but it ruins the whole idea of an old fire escape staircase across the wall that one imagines when reading the italics of the play.

The movie is a great interpretation of the book, even though it left out some important parts of the actual story.