Word: mametã
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While such moments of enlightenment appear sporadically throughout, Mamet??s arguments lack any sense of nuance and his writing style does not help him support his opinions. If anything, his trademark style comes off as supercilious in the context of nonfiction. There is some value to the incendiary nature of the questions he poses—his opposition to canonical theater artists is almost admirable in its total conviction—but the failure to effectively substantiate his claims renders this book an exercise in futility. However, to call Mamet a charlatan would be to commit the same...
...dramatist is to get, and that of the actors and directors to keep, the asses in the seats. Period. This is what pays the rent.... The purpose of theatre is not to instruct, to better, to expiate. It is to entertain.” Mamet??s perspective on drama is simply reductive. To say writers such as Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams, and Edward Albee are worthwhile simply because they put “asses in seats” is to grossly undermine the impact they have had on dramatic literature. Beyond that, it is incredibly restrictive to ascribe...
...underlying problems of “Theatre” is that Mamet??s style of writing does not lend itself to sophisticated argumentation. His dramatic dialogue is iconic—often referred to as “Mametspeak”—and his plays are full of terse and crude language. The effect translates to his nonfiction as well, and much of language in “Theatre” has the colloquial feel of dialogue, which does little to lend credibility to his opinions. Rhetorical questions abound—many of which he subsequently answers...
Brevity is another key factor to Mamet??s writing—chapters are rarely longer than four or five pages, and paragraphs are often only a sentence or two. The trouble is that this concise style renders his arguments insufficient. To dismiss Stanislavski’s entire body of work in seven pages without even quoting the man is more than just a stylistic gaffe—it creates a tone of self-importance and haughtiness that is a aggravating as is it unconvincing...
...lamentable that Mamet??s actual writing doesn’t do a better job of motivating his arguments, because he does occasionally make truly insightful observations. In a chapter titled “Hunting Instincts” he compares the theatrical experience to that of a hunt, insofar as the audience experiences a primal drive to follow the plot along. He uses this metaphor to account for the suspension of disbelief: “We suspend the rational process of intellectualization, which is to say, of the comparison of phenomenon to idea, which is a process too slow...