"Mamet Speak"

What is postmodernism?

Well briefly defined by Dr. doCarmo, it is a literary movement that started in the late 60’s early 70’s that formulated 3 big recurring trends: A Philosophy, Artistic Style and Historical Period with 6 traits that authors ,categorized in this movement, follow. David Mamet fits into this movement with genius work based artistically on himself and his background. As his sister has mentioned they took what they were exposed to and taught growing up and used that to make a living. Most of Mamet’s work reflects him in some way or another, for example, in Glengarry Glen Ross the position of Williamson (the manager) was based off Mamet’s position when he was a manager for a real estate company. His position there was the window to the masterpiece he created. The Spanish Prisoner, a film Mamet directed, was inspired by real-life characters and events. In the entertainment field, Mamet is widely known and respected for his work not only as a director and playwright but also as an author (Nadel, 2008). Where again Mamet pulls from within himself and his real-life events to formulate these creations. Particularly in two books published in 1997 “True and False” about young actors and what to expect in their chosen fields and “The Old Religion” about a Jewish factory manager where Mamet using his own Jewish culture as a teaching and reference mechanism.

The artistic style Mamet brings to the movement is what is know today as “Mamet Speak.” Mamet’s dialogue is so unique that “his” language is not so much “naturalistic” as it is a “poetic” impression of street-wise jargon (Krasner p. 410). When asked how he developed this style of writing, marked by cynical, street smart edge, precisely crafted, Mamet said “In my family, in the days prior to television, we like to while away the evenings by making ourselves miserable, based solely on our ability to speak the language viciously. That’s probably where my ability was honed” (Norman, Rezek, pp. 276). Self-referential is Mamet’s trait, based off most of his life events, he reaches within himself to create what we call today art, or to be more specific, postmodern art.


Sources:

Nadel, Ira Bruce, “David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008, Tarrant County College Library, Fort Worth, Texas, 4/27/10

David Krasner, A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, p.410

David Mamet, April 1996, interviewed by Geoffrey Norman and John Rezek, The Playboy Interviews: The Directors. M. Press. pp. 276

"No longer a brain dead liberal"

Politics from Mamet’s perspective…

Pretty much summed up by this quote “I am from Chicago, and, so, having been disillusioned with politics at an early age I do not become involved. The only reason I vote is because they pay me.” (Mamet, huffingtonpost, 2008). As mentioned in the other blogs, Mamet’s work generally critiques American Society and that (he) is deeply pessimistic about the dreadful state of economic, social and human relationships’ (Klinkowitz, Wallace pg. 3042). Especially about his political views, in fact he is an avid blogger for the Huffington Post where he scans and posts political satire cartoons much like the one included here…


When asked about how he feels about our government, Mamet explains…“The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long” (Mamet, essay 2008).

And why he is no longer a “brain dead liberal”…“I was writing my play about a president, corrupt, venal, cunning, and vengeful (as I assume all of them are), and two turkeys. And I gave this fictional president a speechwriter who, in his view, is a "brain-dead liberal," much like my earlier self; and in the course of the play, they have to work it out. And they eventually do come to a human understanding of the political process. As I believe I am trying to do, and in which I believe I may be succeeding,…” (Mamet, essay 2008).

And finally, why America is a great place to live… “The good news is it’s a spectacular country. We’ve been around for 230 years in spite of human nature, because that’s what the Constitution is all about. It’s saying, of course everyone’s gonna try and take control. Of course they’re gonna subvert every law that’s supposed to keep them in line. Of course the president is gonna want to be imperial, of course Congress is gonna want to become obstructionist, of course the judges are gonna be activist. Duh. They figured this out in 1787 and drew up a few sheets of paper that have kept the country in line. It’s a great place to live” (Mamet, Kachka, 2008)


Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=david-mamet

Klinkowitz, Wallace, The Norton anthology American Literature, pg. 3042).

Mamet, David, David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal’
An election-season essay, Mar 11, 2008,

Kachka, Boris, David Mamet’s Election Season, The playwright on Hillary, corruption, and our democracy’s saving grace, Published Jan 10, 2008

Picture Source:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-mamet/political-makeovers_b_49250.html

Glengarry Glen Ross

After College, Mamet held several unglamorous jobs one being a Manager for a real estate sales office. This position was the idea behind Williamson’s job in Glengarry Glen Ross and the other salesman in the office would later serve as the basis for the other characters in the play. Glengarry Glen Ross premiered in London in 1983, followed by the American premier in Chicago in 1984. It was a tremendous success and remains Mamet’s most celebrated play, winning him the Tony Award in 1984 for Best Play and 1984 Pulitzer for Drama.

Glengarry Glen Ross has been compared to Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, where Millers' work describes the death of the American dream, Mamet’s work takes this death and uses it as a starting point for deeper social criticism.Glengarry Glen Ross is a story about four salesman in Chicago - Levene, Roma, Moss & Aaronow, and their Supervisor Williamson who all work together selling undesirable real estate at high prices. The story takes place at the end of the month where the Boss’s Mitch and Murray have developed a “sales contest” where the highest seller gets a Cadillac and the lowest seller gets fired. With a chalkboard used to emphasize the winner (Roma) and highlight the losers the other three are getting extremely worried.Which is where Moss comes up with the idea of robbing the office to get the better leads and sale them off to a competitor, but since Moss is a coward he tries to “talk” Aaronow into doing the dirty work for him. This story is full of corrupt, selfishness and untrustworthiness…all of Mamet’s favorite adjectives.

Mamet is famous for his attention to detail in dialogue. All characters in Glengarry Glen Ross have very specific speech patterns. Words often left out of sequences and the grammar rarely proper always makes sense. Mamet believes that the way people speak influence the way they behave, rather than vice versa. For example, throughout the play, different characters use the word “talk” to imply idle chatter that is not supported by action. The best example is the conversation between Moss and Aaronow when Moss cleverly suggests that he himself is just “talking" about the break in until he feels that he has “talked” Aaronow into committing the robbery; Moss reveals that he has been “talking” about the break in. The word is the same but his tone switches the work “talk” itself from meaningless to meaningful.

This example typifies the way Mamet’s characters do and don’t communicate. The drama critic John Lahr referred to what he called the “hilarious brutal sludge “ of Mamet’s characters speech and in this outrageous attempt by Moss and Aaronow to distinguish between talking and speaking we see the playwright expertly deploying such sludge (Klinkowitz,Wallace pg 3041) or as many has dubbed it “Mamet Speak.”

Sources:

http://spark notes.com/drama/glengarry/context.html

Klinkowitz,Wallace, David Mamet, The Norton Anthology American Literature Vol E, New York 2007, pg 3041

Picture Source:

http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/glengarry-glen-ross_108544/pictures/

The Beginning - The Drive Behind the Passion

Born November 30, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, though some say Flossmer, to Bernard an attorney and Lenore a teacher. Mamet has a sister Lynn and a half brother Tony. Married twice, once to Lindsey Crouse, they have two daughters and currently to Rebecca Pidgeon, they have a daughter and a son. He attended the Progressive Francis W. Parker School and Goddard College in Plainfield Vermont. Though educated he didn’t get his drive or passion to write through school, he developed that at an early age through his childhood. Mamet’s parents split and Mamet and his sister lived with their Mother and Step-Father till Mamet couldn’t stand it anymore and finally moved back in with his Father. David and Lynn both describe there childhood as not normal, “There was a lot of violence, but the greatest violence was emotional” (Lynn Mamet, Nadel,4/27/10). Lynn best describes how and where the passion both her and David have for writing came from, “In dealing with our demons, we have identified different people as the devil and as a result we will never run out of stories. The very thing that could have destroyed us and driven us to silence ultimately led us to open our veins on white bond and make a living”(Nadel 4/27/10). Which is precisely what Mamet has done over the course of his career including a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for his original play Glengarry Glen Ross, along with many other awards and several nominations.

Mamet is an author, essayist, playwright and screenwriter often referred to as the quintessential American writer. Mamet’s style of writing dialogue, marked by a cynical, street-smart edge, precisely crafted for effect is so distinctive that it came to be known as “Mamet Speak”(Krasner p.410). One Classic instance of Mamet’s dialogue style can be found in Glengarry Glen Ross. While attending Goddard one of Mamet’s professors, Sanford Meisner, taught the emphasis on practical, onward techniques that influenced Mamet’s philosophy of acting and writing. Critics have said…Mamet’s work generally critiques American Society and that Mamet is deeply pessimistic about the dreadful state of economic, social and human relationships…”I write about what I think is missing from our society…and that’s communication on a basic level (Mamet, Klinkowitz, Wallace pg. 3042) The brilliant rendering of callousness and selfishness, of failed communication, manipulations and the basis venality of people, makes his work so compelling (Klinkowitz, Wallace pg. 3042).


Sources:

Nadel, Ira Bruce, “David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008, Tarrant County College Library, Fort Worth, Texas, 4/27/10).

David Krasner, A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, p.410

Klinkowitz, Wallace, The Norton anthology American Literature, New York, pg. 3042