Free Who is Afraid of Virgina Wolf: The Movie Essay Sample
“Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is a 1966 American drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is an adaptation of the play of the same title by Edward Albee. The movie is based on George and Martha, they are a alcoholic couple and also a long time residents of New Carthage college, the movie revolves around a party night when they invite a new faculty member and his wife at their home for some fun. The lead character Martha was performed by Elizabeth Taylor, who came up as a large, boisterous woman, of early fifties, who was ample though not much fleshy. The greatness of the actress is noted by her physical transformation by gaining physical weight to suit for the role.
2. In-depth- Review
The movie serves as an epic example of an objective storyline based on psychological perspective. In a way manipulation and repeated maneuvering according to run-time occurrences is the main scope of the movie. Another aspect of the movie is that it serves as an intelligent screen presentation of absent characters i.e. a set of characters that never come on stage. The character of Father and Nick there theme inclusion is restricted to the minds and dialect of the main and obstacle characters.
3. Cultural/Political/Social impact of Elizabeth Taylor and the movie.
In consideration of the original role of Martha as in the play, Elizabeth Taylor to some was not the choice one would make for the role at a glance. The role demanded a frumpy, middle-aged lady, yet at the time of the role, Elizabeth was still 32 and to be masses a hot super star who along with her hubby Richard Burton were widely acknowledged as the hottest acting duo in USA at that time. Thus to gear up for the role, Elizabeth had to de-glamour herself which speaks of the seeming professionalism of the actress to say the least. She gained 22 pounds (The Envelop: The award insiders Los Angeles times.) and along with her intriguing onscreen performance she widely aspired her critics and movie-goers by per performance.
On a daily note, most movie makers go to make a movie by picking up a play, altering its scrip to add some drama and glamour and thus blending some known faces to it to live up to the onscreen charisma demanded by the audience. However in the movie “Who is afraid of Virgina Wolf?” Ernest Lehman the screen adaptor, after going over multiple inputs and ifs and buts restricted himself to the original play with as few changes as possible. Marked by strong language and strong on screen performance the movie gathered a lot of critique and controversy as well yet it rose above to be one of the highest grossing films of 1966 and was selected for every eligible Academy Award Nomination. To some said movie was directly responsible for the Motion Picture Association of America abandoning the old system of self-censorship and adopting the film rating system that is still in use today.
A great social aspect of the movie is its critical presentation of a situation when love dies out of a relationship, then how it becomes a pain rather then a comfort for the individuals involved. At times humans tend to keep there emotinal demons conceiled within them, yet liquor and other means of adiction sort of unleash the browsed bear within and thus result in an awkard situation that is filled with multiple specturm of unpleasent sentiments and words. Said situation was presented in an immaculate manner by the great on screen couple indeed. At the time the movie was launched, USA was facing a tough situation in Vietnam War and was witness to wide spread protects in the country, on the contrary a famous marriage-sitcom, The Dick van Dyke Show was on air too.
3. Conclusion
To conclude with “Who is afraid of Virginia wolf?” is one of the most blunt movies on Hollywood and is well known till this date for an outstanding presentation of original play script by a well established set of actors. To describe it to a layman its advertisement depicted “No one under 18 will be admitted unless accompanied by his parents.”