Life and Works of David Mamet - Essay Example

David Mamet Biography World-famous screen and playwright David Mamet was born in a Jewish neighborhood in the south of Chicago, Illinois on November 30, 1947 (Lahr; “Notable Playwrights”). Mamet grew up with fond memories of stickball being played in the street in his hometown. His mother and father got divorced in 1958, and Mamet had to move to the suburbs to live with his mother and her new husband. The childhood that Mamet spent was not only filled with memories of his parents’ divorce but also that of other forms of “emotional terrorism” that, according to some experts, manifested in his writings (“David Mamet,” Theater Database). Some of the writings that are believed to have been influenced by the turmoil in Mamet’s childhood include the play The Old Neighborhood, which is about childhood abuse and resentment, and The Cryptogram, which is about a young boy whose parents separated (“David Mamet,” Theater Database). His interests in theater began when he was just a teenager. It was at Hull House Theater and at Second City, the famous and rich Chicago improvisational sites at the time, where Mamet worked and gained influence in his language and style of writing. It was also at this time that Mamet’s stepfather inflicted physical and psychological abuse on the Mamet family and thus the theater became for Mamet a sort of catharsis and one way by which he could forget domestic problems (“Notable Playwrights”). As a young boy, Mamet also acted in television shows and this was made possible by the director of broadcasting for the Chicago Board of Rabbis who happened to be his uncle (“Notable Playwrights”). After majoring in theater and literature in Goddard College in Vermont, he started getting famous. In fact, his first play Camel was written as a college thesis requirement at graduation and was staged in 1968. The mid-1970’s was, nevertheless, the best time of his career for it was during this time that he was able to write the most number of theatrical masterpieces, among which were the plays Sexual Perversity in Chicago and American Buffalo. Overall, Mamet has written more than 30 plays, numerous sketches, poems, essays, children’s plays, a number of Chekov’s adaptations, a book about directing a film, and over a dozen screenplays (“Notable Playwrights”). Important Achievements In fact, every piece of work by David Mamet was an achievement, except perhaps for the screenplay for The Postman Always Rings Twice, which was considered his “least successful effort” (“David Mamet Biography”). Among his most successful plays were Glengarry Glen Ross, his play which gave him the Pulitzer Prize in 1984, the two Obie Awards in 1976 and 1983, and two New York Drama Critics Circle Awards in 1977 and 1986 (“Notable Playwrights”). Screenplays of David Mamet that contributed to the success of Hollywood films were also among his most important achievements. Aside from The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1981, Mamet also wrote the screenplays for The Verdict in 1982, The Untouchables in 1985, House of Games in 1987, Things Change in 1988, Homicide in 1991, Glengarry Glen Ross in 1992, The Spanish Prisoner and Wag the Dog in 1997, The Heist in 2001, and Hannibal in 2001 (“Notable Playwrights”). Nevertheless, perhaps the greatest success of Mamet was in his style of screenplay writing especially in using the accurate form of the American vernacular, through which he illustrates behavior (“David Mamet Biography”). Language was Mamet’s tool in explaining the relationship between public issues and private individual desires as well as its effect on the individual’s courage or spirit (“Notable Playwrights”). This means that Mamet excellently used language in demonstrating the human spirit vis-à-vis public issues. Among the public issues discussed in plays include the demythicized forms of “commodity fetishism, sexual negotiations and exploitations, botched crimes, physical assaults, fraudulent business transactions” as well as the presence of casual sex in the midst of the absence of love (“Notable Playwrights”). Moreover, Mamet was able to successfully portray in his plays the conflict between corruption and the moral values of the protagonists. Most importantly, through the effective use of language, Mamet was able to successfully capture the anxieties of the general individual to which everyone can relate themselves to (“Notable Playwrights”). This means that the plays written by Mamet were ultimately realistic and thus were easy for the audience to relate their own lives to. Other conflicts that were successfully illustrated by Mamet in his plays were civic sense and moral duty VS personal interests, self-doubt and insecurities VS self-awareness and self-responsibility, and inner forces such as the failure of self-reliance and obsession with money VS sense of fulfillment and immorality. All these Mamet was able to portray using a brutalizing type of language that successfully unmasked the heroes’ primal insecurities, thus giving David Mamet the honor to be called “a theatrician of the ethical” (“Notable Playwrights”). The language that Mamet used in his plays was alive in that its rhythm serves as the thing that determines how people behave. In short, through the use of language by the characters in Mamet’s plays, one is able to determine how these characters behave and what kind of people they are. This language is known as “Mametspeak” – a form of language which characters use to “talk through, around and over each other” until their personalities emerge from their mere use of words (“Search for Identity”). Legacy Mamet’s legacy lives on first and foremost with his works and style. His most praised work was the play Glengarry Glen Ross in 1982 (“David Mamet Biography”). The play was the story of four real estate agents that cheat unsuspecting customers while competing against each other as the company’s top salesperson (“David Mamet Biography”). In fact, the play accurately portrays the high pressure of the real estate profession as well as the physical manifestations of greed. In Glengarry Glen Ross, language and action are manipulated and distorted in order to justify greed (“Notable Playwrights”). Moreover, according to an article in DigitalJournal.com, David Mamet’s screenplay for Homicide is still regarded as a masterpiece. The success of the film somehow depends on its realistic theme: how in the process one easily becomes the very evil that he claims to be fighting, and thus showing the audience that one is simply exactly a reflection of the evil that he is struggling against. Moreover, the film also seeks to criticize Jewish organizations that make huge profits out of helping to fuel up Anti-Semitic conflicts and menace (Baron). As one who has Jewish ancestry himself, Mamet obviously used his play Homicide to express his sentiments towards his race and ancestry, while at the same time helping to awaken contemporary sentiments. The enlightenment brought about by this film and those of other Mamet screenplays in fact serve as a huge part of the legacy of the playwright himself. Mamet’s use of language was actually like verbal fireworks in exposing guilt and shame in contemporary culture. While Homicide deals with anti-Semitic factors that threaten the integrity of the Jewish community, Mamet’s play Race exposes the truth about blacks and whites (Wolf). Lastly, perhaps one of the best aspects of Mamet’s legacy was his dramaturgical techniques. For Mamet, the drama should always answer the quintessential question – so, what does the protagonist want? That defines the whole drama and thus gives rise to all the conflicts surrounding the theme. This is what all dramatists and drama directors in the future must remember. The outcome of the question must also always be taken into consideration – like asking oneself whether the protagonist has been fulfilled or not in trying to get what he wanted (Lahr). Bottom of Form Works Cited Baron, Alexander. “Review: David Mamet’s ‘Homicide’ still a masterpiece.” 2012. DigitalJournal.com. 16 May 2012. “David Mamet (1947-).” n.d. Theater Database. 31 May 2012. “David Mamet Biography.” 2012. Notable Biographies. 15 May 2012. Lahr, John. “David Mamet, The Art of Theater No. 11.” 2012. The Paris Review. 17 May 2012. “Notable Playwrights: David Mamet.” 2012. Salem Press. 16 May 2012. “Search for Identity.” 2011. Annenberg Foundation. 31 May 2012. Wolf, Faddah. “Review: The Gordian Knot of Mamet’s ‘Race’ at Artists’ Repertory Theater.” 2012. Portland Stage Reviews. 16 May 2012. Read More