MovieChat Forums > Fences (2016) Discussion > lack of female characters (bad script)

lack of female characters (bad script)

posted 8 years ago by MarilynHack
4 replies | jump to latest

the point of bringing a play to screen is being able to do what is not done on stage. My biggest issue while watching this film was all of the female characters that are spoken of but never seen. They are not seen in the stage version either, but for the film, this is a great opportunity to "open up" the world of this piece and show us more. Instead, the film only delves into the mens problems, which are not that interesting for me as a viewer.

Cory has a girlfriend? well where is she? Lyon's girlfriend Bonnie? where is she? Miss Pearl that runs the boarding house, sounds like an interesting character, we wouldn't know. Alberta, the woman that dies that Troy has an affair with? The audience would feel more empathy if we saw her at least once. What about Bono's wife Lucile? she sounds like an interesting character, we wouldn't know.

In short, the script sucks.

..

[–] CineasteWest 8 years ago

Playwright August Wilson died ten years ago. His work won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony. Who would you have written the new characters parts? Who would you have written their dialog without showing disrespect to the original author and his work?

If this was some made-for-tv series adapted into a film or even a remake of another film, then there would probably be no uproar about rewriting the original, but when you are working with a historic, classic work, I think there's some hesitation about rewriting a masterpiece. Who wants to watch "Hamlet by William Shakespeare with additional dialog by Shane Black."

The kind of changes you suggest might have been done during the first half of the century when some egotistical studio head might have demanded, "Where's the love story? I need some new scenes!"

But in more mature times, I think respect is due and is paid.

[–] MarilynHack 8 years ago

there's no point doing a film version if its just a repeat of what was on stage just a few years ago with the same cast. They absolutely should have hired a new writer to flesh out the script and make it more cinematic. Like I said above the audience really gets left short by not getting more out of the script because its not good.

[–] EssentiallyA 8 years ago

I think the point of doing a film version was to expose the play to a new audience. Not necessarily to make changes or to show us what they didn't in the play. I think adding more character would've watered down the script and taken away from the main characters. Plus not showing the audience allows the audience to create their own picture of these characters. It left you wondering but not enough that you needed to know who they were.

[–] madameduran 8 years ago

the point of bringing a play to screen is being able to do what is not done on stage.

This is YOUR rule, not one set by the industry nor the original creator. The script pretty much dictates what is said so if no other woman next to Rose is granted any spoken lines, then there's really nothing that can be done (except to create new dialogue...which can get dicey and undermine the play's intended direction). I never saw the Broadway play nor was aware of August Wilson's work so I can't comment if those other female characters were portrayed on stage. Their absence from film didn't detract from its quality, IMO. I thought Rose (Viola Davis) was pretty phenomenal. Her role made up for the lack of female characters. Her character had a full arc--from quietly frustrated woman in the background to a strong, confronting woman who finally asserted herself before her domineering husband. Her monologue was singularly electric and liberating. She voiced all the rage we felt and drew attention from Troy who was, until that moment, the centre of all the action.

I'm surprised you didn't call it a "bad script" because there's a lack of Polynesian characters. Don't tell me there weren't any people of Polynesian heritage living in 1950s America!! Why aren't they represented here? 