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Prof. Myrna Monllor Jiménez English 124. John Patrick Shanley /Screenwriter-playwright. Moonstruck (1987) Oscar Best Original Screenplay Doubt: A Parable (2005) Pulitzer Prize for Drama Doubt (2008) Director Oscar Nominations: Best Actor/Best Actress/Best Supporting Role/Best Writing.
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Prof. Myrna Monllor Jiménez English 124
John Patrick Shanley /Screenwriter-playwright Moonstruck (1987) Oscar Best Original Screenplay Doubt: A Parable (2005) Pulitzer Prize for Drama Doubt (2008) Director Oscar Nominations: Best Actor/Best Actress/Best Supporting Role/Best Writing
The renovation of the Catholic church • Mass conducted in the vernacular language of the country • Change in priests and nuns habits • Tolerance of other religions • Church is above all the people of God not its hierarchy • Acceptance of mixed marriages • Parents determine how many children they should have • Emphasis on social justice • Eucharistic fast reduced to one hour 1962
Issues • Power/Authority • Tradition/Reformation • Child Abuse/Pedophilia • Certainty/Doubt
The Beginning • Bronx, New York • 1964 • Italian/Irish neighborhood • After John F. Kennedy’s Assassination • Vatican II
“Last year, when President Kennedy was assassinated, who among us did not experience the most profound disorientation? Despair?...It was a time of people sitting together, bound together by a common feeling of hopelessness. Your bond with your fellow being was your Despair. It was a public experience. It was awful, but we were in it together. How much worse is it then for the lone man, the lone woman, stricken by a private calamity? No one knows I’m sick.
No one knows I’ve lost my last real friend. No one knows I’ve done something wrong. Imagine the isolation. Now you see the world as through a window. On one side of the glass: happy, untroubled people, and on the other side: you…There are those of you in church today who know exactly the crisis of faith I describe. And I want to say to you: Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone.
Father Flynn How does the viewer perceive him? What information is the viewer provided about him? “Whatever I have done I have left in the hands of my confessor.” How do the students see him? Donald Miller William London Noreen Horan How does Sister Aloysius see him? Sister James?
With Donald Miller Significance of the toy
“I never like to say goodbye. But there is a wind behind every one of us that takes us through our live. We never see it, we can’t command it, we don’t even know its purpose. I would have stayed among you longer, but that wind is taking me away”
Father Flynn • Believes in reforming the Catholic church • Seems kind to others • Clashes with Sister Aloysius • Though a reformist in principle, he still believes the male should have the power and the female should be subservient to the male
What does Sister Aloysius represent? Is she right in any of her arguments? Sister Aloysius “ You have taken vows. Obedience being one of them.”
With the students “Just get her through intact.”
Her beliefs “Frosty the Snowman espouses a pagan belief in magic. The snowman comes to life when an enchanted hat is put on his head. If the music were more somber, people would realize the images are disturbing and the song heretical.”
With Mrs. Miller “You accept what you gotta accept and you work with it.”
With Father Flynn “In the pursuit of wrongdoing one steps away from God.” “I have my certainty.”
Sister Aloysius“It’s my job to outshine the fox in cleverness.” • Believes in tradition • Had been married • Principal of the school • Strict disciplinarian • Tries to fight the priest without following the chain of command • Will persevere in protecting the child from his “abuser”
Who does Sister James represent? Sister James “ You just don’t like him! You don’t like it that he uses a ballpoint pen. You don’t like it that he takes three lumps of sugar in his tea. You don’t like it that he likes Frosty the Snowman. And you’re letting that convince you of something terrible, just terrible!”
Are you in control of your class? I try to take care of things myself. That can be an error. You are answerable to me, I to the Monsignor, he to the Bishop and so on. There is a chain.
Her lessons “Give me liberty or give me death.” Patrick Henry “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.” F. D. Roosevelt Donald Miller “The fascist governments of Germany and Italy were already working together. They formed the Pact of Steel. The Pact of Steel was a military alliance between Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.”
Sister James“You just want things to be resolved so you can have your simplicity back.”“There are people who go against your humanity.” • Caught between tradition and reformation • Witness to the struggle • Willing to conform
Forgiveness“I can look at your face and know what your philosophy is: kindness.”
Mrs. Miller/Nolan Miller “Sister, you ain’t going against no man in a robe and win. He’s got the position.” “Then how come my son got kicked off the altar boys if it was the man that gave it to him”
The Evidence • Father Flynn’s difference/Nolan Miller’s difference • The drunk altar boy • William London • Suspicions Sister James’ observations Sister Aloysius certainties • The boy’s mother
Feathers “Feathers everywhere, Father.” “Now I want you to go back and gather every last feather that flew out on the wind” “It can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over” “And that, is gossip.”
“Look at that. You've blown out my light.” “Why the cat?” “Because there’s a mouse.” “ Who keeps opening my window?’ “What’s this? The wind is so peripatetic this year?” “I’ve never seen a wind like it. The wind has changed?”