So I was assigned to read this play in college as a part of my Dramaturgy course and I loved this play. I still love this play. It is a painful look at a family and at acceptance. In the play, the character of David is gay and sort of on the outside of his family. He has these amazing speeches about his love of opera, the ring cycle in particular, and how the characters have to brave through such odds in order to survive.
David too has to survive. He has to struggle with his family, who seem accepting of him, but who are really scared of what they do not know. His family does love him, but they never want to talk about or acknowledge the fact that he is gay and that he has had a partner for about 13 years, the same amount of time his sister has been married.
In the play, his sister becomes pregnant, and though a modern technology that her husband has developed, learns that her child has DNA that might cause her child to be exactly like her brother. Her child would be smart, capable, and possibly gay. She decides that having a gay child would be too much to bear and she has an abortion to get rid of the baby. There is a complication with the abortion and she ends up loosing her uterus.
In the movie however, she keeps the baby. Now, this offends me. I am not gay, but I find it horrific that the script would be changed so drastically. The fact that her character chooses to get rid of the baby is a major turning point of the plot and the core experience of the play. I was shocked to learn that Jonathan Tollins actually wrote the screenplay, because if it were my work that was being bastardized like this, I would refuse. It angers me that the filmmakers did not trust the audience enough to explore the abortion aspect of the piece. It really saddens me.
David too has to survive. He has to struggle with his family, who seem accepting of him, but who are really scared of what they do not know. His family does love him, but they never want to talk about or acknowledge the fact that he is gay and that he has had a partner for about 13 years, the same amount of time his sister has been married.
In the play, his sister becomes pregnant, and though a modern technology that her husband has developed, learns that her child has DNA that might cause her child to be exactly like her brother. Her child would be smart, capable, and possibly gay. She decides that having a gay child would be too much to bear and she has an abortion to get rid of the baby. There is a complication with the abortion and she ends up loosing her uterus.
In the movie however, she keeps the baby. Now, this offends me. I am not gay, but I find it horrific that the script would be changed so drastically. The fact that her character chooses to get rid of the baby is a major turning point of the plot and the core experience of the play. I was shocked to learn that Jonathan Tollins actually wrote the screenplay, because if it were my work that was being bastardized like this, I would refuse. It angers me that the filmmakers did not trust the audience enough to explore the abortion aspect of the piece. It really saddens me.