WEEK 4: HENRY IV and MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO

[moshi_mosh]

I really enjoyed this film and the way it approached and adapted parts of Henry IV. My Own Private Idaho took the play and adapted aspects of it into a modern conceptualisation, focusing on both Shakesperian and contemporary themes (many of which, i guess, are overlapping). The main themes i extracted from the class viewing revolved around family/love/sexuality, wealth/ poverty, Identity/purpose, Truth and meaning. Its amazing how many themes can be canvassed in a two hour film but i think My Own Private Idaho did a remarkable job both building these themes and then exploring them through the main characters. The street Gang considered Scott to be their way out of their impoverished and seemingly 'oppressed' lives (i beg to differ on this from the outside looking in it would appear that their oppression is a result of their lower status but i dont really think theyre oppressed in the common definition of the term- i think they had much more of a sense of freedom in its true sense than those of higher status and wealth. The character of Bob was the representation of Henry IV's Falstaff, playing a similar role as Scott's street tutor, however this is taken a step further as he appears more of a mentor, father figure and ex lover. along a similar vein to the play, Scott essentially rejects his mentor and his 'friends', taking up his old life the way his father wished him to- but in this case we are faced with the tragedy of both Bob's and Scott's real Father's death. I wonder how the story if Henry IV would have differed if this occured in the play. I felt let down by Scott by the end of the film, however in reading the play i found that i didnt have as much care for the characters as i did for those in the film. My main interest in the film though was in it's portrayal of the search for identity- i thought this was pretty realistic and really heartbreaking, especially in Pheonix’s characterisation of Mike. There were some really awesome reworkings of the script of Henry IV in the film also, especially in the Robbery scenes and in Bob’s boasting and fibbing behaviour afterwards. I thought the film was quite refreshing, and its interlacing of the original script with the film script also helped me to gain a better understanding of the Shakespeare play.

mood:
 out of it...