Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Sub-text

Been discussing with a friend via IM whether the scripts by Cho Seung-Hui (the gunman responsible for America's latest mass assassination) might contain any indication of a subversive mind or intent. Both short plays Mr Brownstone and Richard McBeef are popping up everywhere all over the net - you can access them here.

My thoughts (on a cursory read) are that in Richard McBeef I wouldn't have detected anything other than bad and gimmicky writing, juvenile outlook and too much swearing. It reads like poor Tarantino-esque pastiche..
I would have been more than slightly disturbed by Mr Brownstone - not least because the play (if that is what it can be called) involves the teaching profession. Handing in something like this would be tantamount to provocation. Besides the extreme negativity and polarised positions of the 'characters', there's a complete lack of reality and humanity. I'd say this is written by someone who is not experiencing 'normal' or sane human inter-relations - maybe that is what the teacher reported. Definitely cause for concern if I was marking it.... what do you think?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

He would be pleased I am sure with the amount of analysis his second rate scripts are getting. Maybe he wasn't quite sane? Maybe, many a thing I have written could be classified thus? I don't know, but I bet those who are involved in mental health care are being buried right now by warning of possible thousands of suspect killers on their patch.

In the UK right now they are talking about the ability to lock up potentially violent people before they offend. Could we move towards a Minority Report state?

How easy it is to be wise after the affect.

Anonymous said...

Yes hindsight like this is like ambulance chasing. This is a terrible (and increasingly frequent) crime in the States. People want to try and understand the mind of a killer. I'm a scriptwriter and read them too but we don't even know if they are truly authentic either.