Are you a violent person?

By Guest Blogger Kathleen George

When Stefano, one of our Theatre Ph.D. students, confessed to me that he had a big crush on my character Richard Christie, I blushed to tell him—as Flaubert said of Madame Bovary—“C’est moi!”

I am not male, nor am I on a second marriage, nor do I have two kids. But to a great extent I am Richard Christie. And Marina. And Joe. And Elizabeth, Bridget, and alas, even Frank Razzi. I am all my characters, including the evil ones, the violent ones.

And so, when at the recent Thrillerfest Conference in New York, I had to answer the question my panel moderator put to me (“Are you a violent person?” ), I found myself explaining how very non-violent I am, perhaps even to a pathological degree.

I’ve often wondered whether I could defend myself in a crisis. I identify with the Liv Ullman look-alike character in Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain who cannot kill the man who is well on the way to strangling the Paul Newman character (whom she wants to protect). She flinches, she has a gun but can’t shoot it, she kind of stabs the bad guy, she bashes his knees with a shovel . . . . It’s violence that she can’t bear. She finally sticks his head in a gas oven. It’s a miracle Newman lives through the ordeal.

So I am not a violent person. I am perhaps comically non-violent. And yet I write violence. How? And why? During the panel, we talked about acts of the imagination. I conjured Stanislavki’s advice to actors about coming up with emotional truth by finding something small and magnifying it. You don’t have to have killed someone to play Othello, Stanislavski tells his actors. Nor do you have to feel the full tilt of murderous rage when playing the strangling scene. But you have no doubt been angry and you have no doubt killed a fly. He tells his students of acting to use an inner power to expand that act.

The panel was lively and we talked about many things. At the end of it, I found myself wishing I had had the time to bring up other lessons I learned from my work in theatre. Here are three of them.

1. Violence is pornographic if it's gratuitous, not if it's not. When I directed King Lear, I got sick every time we rehearsed the eye-gouging scene, but I recognized it as a scene that belonged in the play. Why? Because it's balanced by what comes before and after. In the world of the play there is significant appreciation of the horror and a space given to mourning for the loss. The evil anger exhibited by Regan and Cornwall is balanced by the kindnesses of servants and later the grief of Edgar.

2. Shakespeare again: an image of work. I don't ever want to forget the work of violence and evil. It's work. As a writer, if I can describe the work, it becomes fascinating as most descriptions of work tend to be. Witness those witches in the Polanski Macbeth--breathing hard and digging in the sand, arranging bones, finding things--just doing their job as they understand their job. In that film the witches are not mustache-twirling for the sake of presenting an image of evil, but because their world demands this job. It's what they know how to do. They believe in it.

3. One of the best lessons in theatre is this advice to actors: that to play a drunk you have to try to be not-drunk; to play crazy, you have to be working to come off as sane. And thus, I think the key to writing evil and violence is something to do with its opposite--a wish to be something other than destructive. As with drunkenness and insanity, the portrait is more potent when it’s the by-product of a more ordinary wish to fit into the world.

Ed. Note: Kathleen George is a thriller author, professor, theater director and friend of the Tarts. Her next book, "Afterimage"will be out in December 2007. Her other books, "Taken" and "Fallen" are available now - just click on the title. And please check out her website:Kathleen George

Comments

[Nancy Martin]

Great stuff, Kathleen. I'm interested in the relationship writers have with their subject matter--especially those who write really violent or disturbing material. Are they writing for the market? Or reflecting some psychological need? Or because the material is somehow intriguing and is addressed through Stanislavski's method?

Thanks for guest blogging for us!

[Cinema Dave]

Very good entry!
In entertainment, I classify violence as "responsibile" and "irresponsible." Too me, irresponsible violence is Tom Cruise in the "Mission Impossible" movies, whereas Two Gun Tommy Cruise can mow down thousands of unbilled extras and he never gets a scratch.

Responsible violence would be the "Rocky Balboa" movies. Boxing is violent, but not gratuitious. There is a spiritual theme behind each boxing match. Even Mr.T and Ivan Drago had sympathetic moments.

Perhaps two of the best movies about thought provoking violence would be Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" and John Wayne's last movie, "The Shootist."

Good job Kathleen!

[Harley]

Man, I wish I'd me you at ThrillerFest. And that I'd seen your panel. I love that scene in TORN CURTAIN and that's me all over. Faced with a sudden life & death decision, I'd probably think, "maybe he'll just die of a heart attack on his own, if I'm patient."

[Kathy Reschini Sweeney]

Great blog, Kathleen. Especially loved hearing about your perspective as a director.

And I appreciate your books even more now, knowing a bit about how you get there.

I am your opposite. I have to constantly remind myself that violence is NOT an option.

[Rebecca Drake]

I like this reflection on the "rightness" of violence if it's presented as ordinary for the perpetrator.

I'm often surprised by comments about how shocking or gruesome particular scenes are, because I'm in the killer's head when I write such scenes and assume that other writers are, too. The actions of a serial killer make sense to that killer. The actions of a cuckolded man who violently ends the life of his cheating spouse make sense to that man.

What I wonder, though, is how the writer, who is nonviolent and not simply a vessel for her/his characters, shapes this material? Writers are warned away from the simplistic message, about easy morality tales and making story into an Aesop's Fable. Still, at what point does crime writing simply become permutations of violence and thus gratuitous if its authors do not have some comment on the awfulness of assault/homicide and the abberant nature of the actors for whom such behavior is ordinary?

[William Simon]

Hi, Kathleen....GREAT blog this morning!

One of the things I really appreciated about CASINO ROYALE is Bond did some serious hospital time. In almost every novel by Fleming, at the end he was in the hospital or convalescing somewhere, whereas in the movies he'd take the most ferocious beatings and come up with a quip and a smile. Real-life violence is an ugly, ugly thing, not the sanitized nonsense we see in the movies.

TORN CURTAIN is still a classic, and I remember reading that Hitchcock deliberately filmed the "oven scene" in that manner to try and show how incredibly difficult it really IS to kill someone. Most people, Thank God, find it extremely difficult to strike another person even in self-defense, much less actually kill.

Come back again, Kathleen....you're good..:)

[Mary]

Went back to Friday's blog, and Elaine's wonderful photos on Cinema Dave's site (I posted my letter complimenting our Borders party as well). Just so this won't be comepletely off-topic, plenty of decisions on the proper use of violence in Deathly Hallows. . .and language question -- I only know Hallow as verb/adj. meaning "sacred" -- tr.v. hal·lowed, hal·low·ing, hal·lows
To make or set apart as holy.
To respect or honor greatly; revere.
What does "deathly hallows" even mean (or would that answer be a spoiler??)

[Mary]

Just looked at the Elaine photos again -- Yikes! balloons. "My" Borders knows not to use latex balloons for events -- pure poison for those with latex allergies (1% of the population) as the latex molecules are carried into the air as air escapes from the balloon, and when they pop, it's a nice little latex explosion. Balloons are banned from Mayo Clinic and Shriner's Children's Hosp. because of the prevalence of latex allergies, esp. in very sick children. Hmm, could that be a method in a murder mystery???

[Kathleen]

Thanks for the chat! On the subject of violence and darkness--I just finished Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD and I'm still weeping. Talk about glorious language, specificity in descriptions of work, and spiritual balance! Maybe you've all read it by now and I'm late to the party. Oprah gets a bad rap sometimes, but I think she's mined a great jewel from midlist earth.

[Kathleen]

Thanks for the chat! On the subject of violence and darkness--I just finished Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD and I'm still weeping. Talk about glorious language, specificity in descriptions of work, and spiritual balance! Maybe you've all read it by now and I'm late to the party. Oprah gets a bad rap sometimes, but I think she's mined a great jewel from midlist earth.

[Cinema Dave]

Thanks Mary for the Elaine Viets plug. She had more energy than I did that night :)Plus - she looks great.

Thanks Harley for the "Torn Curtain" memory. Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted to show how hard it was to kill somebody. So Paul Newman and Liv Ullman spent 5 minutes trying to kill a Soviet German. Before the scene was over, you feel sorry for the Commie Nazi.

[Rita Scott]

You never know what you'll do till confronted.
I was accosted while putting my groceries in the car! (I always toss my purse in first) The guy wanted my money. I went off on him! 'Are you stupid? I got paid today, paid my rent, got gas & groceries and have $5 till next payday and you think you're going to get it? Kiss my ass!' By that time I was in the car and had the .38, but he was gone.
The next week the same guy saw a woman getting out of her car on the same parking lot, went up, punched her in the face and took off with her purse.
That was the last mistake he made for 5 to7.
The woman he punched was Sgt Kitty! She spotted him while she was on duty a couple days later, pulled him over and took him to the station where
'he fell down the steps at the station, your honor'
Don't you just love a happy ending?

[Rebecca the Bookseller]

Terrific Blog - and such a cool way to describe how to channel violence.

Rita - have I mentioned lately that you are one amazing dame?

[Rita Scott]

Rebecca- honestly, I don't look for trouble, it just seems to follow me!

[Mary]

Studs Terkel told a story of being mugged, then realizing he would have no money for breakfast or to get home, and asking the robber to give him just a little cash . . .and he did! I swear Studs could make friends with anyone!

[Kerry, The Martial Tart]

I'm way late to this party, but the subject of hitting someone in self-defense just came home to roost for me. Early Sunday morning, two young women accosted my daughter as she was walking to her car. My daughter holds a 3rd degree black belt in TaeKwonDo and currently practices Muay Thai (kickboxing -- the serious kind).

No, she didn't beat the living crap out of the two girls. But she did take care of herself appropriately -- first, by trying to defuse the situation verbally; second, by taking enough evasive action to only take one (not very hard) punch to the face; third, by knowing when and how to punch when the opportunity presented itself; fourth, by knowing how to get down to the ground safely and cover tight while they attempted to kick her; fifth, by regrouping, finding her opportunity, and landing a solid kick to the stomach.

That was enough to convince the young women to lay off her physically. They satisfied themselves with trying to rip the license plate off her car, taking her keys, and stealing stuff out of her wallet.

The other really smart things my daughter did were having the foresight to have her cell phone in her pocket instead of her purse; taking time during the altercation to memorize as many details about her assailants as possible, and calling the cops the instant the girls turned their backs.

Oh -- did I mention that some guy watched the whole thing, did nothing to help, and took off as soon as he heard the sirens? Sheesh.

Anyway, I'm glad my daughter values herself enough to protect herself and has learned the skills to do so. I'm really proud of her!