{"id":855,"date":"2011-02-25T20:17:47","date_gmt":"2011-02-26T03:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/references-to-salvador-dali-and-everything-jose-rivera-writes-makes-me-hot\/"},"modified":"2011-02-25T20:17:47","modified_gmt":"2011-02-26T03:17:47","slug":"references-to-salvador-dali-and-everything-jose-rivera-writes-makes-me-hot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/references-to-salvador-dali-and-everything-jose-rivera-writes-makes-me-hot\/","title":{"rendered":"References to Salvador Dali [And everything Jose Rivera writes] Make[s] Me Hot"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"star\"Tales of a Pirate Playwright
February 25, 2011 6:01 PM
by Molly Clasen<\/div>\n
\n

References to Salvador Dali [And everything Jose Rivera writes] Make[s] Me Hot<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n

It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality \u2013Virginia Woolf<\/em><\/p>\n

Life VS Living<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was ten years old, I realized that \u201cThe Meaning of Life\u201d is a big deal. People  \"\"<\/a>tossed around the phrase in TV shows, films, and family conversations until the words stuck in my head like an pop tune. I started conceptualizing \u201cMeaning\u201d and \u201cLife\u201d as invisible things floating around, needing to be nailed down with \u201cKnowing.\u201d<\/strong> To this day,  \u201cMeaning\u201d can seem like a phantom, and my writing some sort of Ouija Board through which I desperately try to communicate.<\/p>\n

Yet in Jose Rivera\u2019s rich, passionate plays, such as References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot<\/em>, \u201cLife\u201d does not seem like abstract noun requiring a chase, but rather like an intimate, constant, vibrant verb. The emphasis lies not on \u201cLife,\u201d but on \u201cLiving,\u201d in all its nasty and sublime glory. <\/strong>With his passionate characters, poetic universes, and magical flourishes, Jose Rivera defamiliarizes everything familiar, giving phantom feelings bodies and voices.<\/p>\n

Plot Summary<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

References to Salvador Dali<\/em> explores the emotional rift between an intelligent young woman, Gabriela, and her husband Benito, who is fighting in the Gulf War.<\/strong> When Benito arrives at his isolated home in the lonely Californian desert, both must face the broken state of their marriage, and negotiate their own conflicting yearnings. Other characters include an amorous moon who plays the violin, a curious cat, and a seductive coyote.<\/p>\n

Poetry as a language for emotion\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Gabriela is alone in her hot and lonesome house, she frequently speaks with the cat and the moon through poetry rather than prose. By creating this surreal, image-driven universe, Rivera can capture Gabriela\u2019s angst unconstrained by realistic prose.<\/strong> For example, when Gabriela asks the Moon if anyone else in the desert suffers like she does, the moon replies in a long poem that pops with images of loneliness:<\/p>\n

In the house to your left<\/p>\n

An old man watches his old wife sleeping<\/strong><\/p>\n

She breathes slowly<\/strong><\/p>\n

And he holds a mirror to her mouth.\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A little cloud assures the old man<\/strong><\/p>\n

that she is alive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He thinks of the day they first made love,<\/p>\n

a sweet October day thousands of miles<\/p>\n

and seasons from here.<\/p>\n

He had never held a body<\/p>\n

so rich with dreams<\/p>\n

and she had never held a body<\/p>\n

so hot and hungry<\/p>\n

and that first liquid night\u2026<\/p>\n

he reached for a mirror and put the mirror to her mouth<\/p>\n

and she breathed on it\u2014<\/p>\n

proving to this young disbeliever<\/p>\n

that she was indeed alive<\/p>\n

and not a dream\u2026<\/p>\n

and now the old man is afraid<\/p>\n

of life without her<\/p>\n

and keeps a .9 millimeter in this house<\/p>\n

and he checks his wife\u2019s dutiful breathing<\/p>\n

and knows what to do in case it ever stops (24-25)<\/p>\n

Utilizing poetry, Jose Rivera paints a gorgeous picture of enduring love. A man is so devoted and enamored by his wife that he holds a mirror to her lips; proof that she still lives. This creates a powerful image of true love, and helps the audience identify with Gabriela\u2019s disappointment with her own marriage.<\/strong> Later, she holds a mirror to Benito\u2019s mouth, and he wakes up in a violent fury and almost strikes her. Rivera thus emphasizes the painful disconnect between poetic the ideal and real, linguistically illustrating how the two feed each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Personification of sentiments  \"\"<\/a>
<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rivera also illustrates inner conflicts through personification. <\/strong>The Cat and the Coyote, who only speak when Gabriela is alone, represent her inner struggle about love. The Coyote sees love as \u201cchains with chains and a flea collar attached\/\u2026 Love with violence implied,\u201d illustrating Gabriela\u2019s feelings of repression in marriage. In retort, the Cat asks, \u201cHow cold does it get at night, Coyote?\u201d emphasizing security as a positive aspect of love. As Coyote tempts Cat to enter the desert, so does Gabriela feel enticed to leave Benito. Rivera takes that which is unseen and gives it character, voice, and visible conflict.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conclusion?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rivera goes for the throat in all things emotional, unafraid to delve into issues of love, gender, desire, sex and politics with his plays. He is equally courageous in his theatrical choices, utilizing poetry, surrealism, and magical realism to explore these potent topics. While Shakespeare asked us, \u201cTo be or not to be?\u201d Rivera tells us \u201cFeel. And feel ALIVE.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Uncategorized theatre playwright writing playwriting theater jose rivera<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\n

Sent from my iPhone 4 by Michael<\/div>\n

Posted via email<\/a> from mclasen’s posterous<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tales of a Pirate Playwright February 25, 2011 6:01 PM by Molly Clasen References to Salvador Dali [And everything Jose Rivera writes] Make[s] Me Hot It is far harder to kill a phantom than a reality \u2013Virginia Woolf Life VS Living When I was ten years old, I realized that \u201cThe Meaning of Life\u201d is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maccconsulting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p834Wu-dN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mclasen.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}