The Rhinoceros - in James and the Giant Peach

I was watching James and the Giant Peach today with my son, and of course, my morning went from relaxing and enjoying the movie to having a flow of thoughts and ideas about my project. And why? Well, you probably know that a rhinoceros plays a role in the movie. It is a symbol of death and the cause of James having to live with his awful aunts who neglect him of  good physical health and emotional needs. The rhinoceros killed his parents, just before they could set off to New York together. When James isn't 'obedient', his aunts say, "He never even saw that rhino coming. That Rhino! And the beast will get you too if you don't behave." reminding James of his crushed dreams. And of course, this is followed by, "Now get these stupid dreams out of your head... and get back to work!"

Ha Ha, something I just found out a second ago, the plot in Roald Dahl's book is that a rhinoceros escaped from the zoo and ate James's parents - rhinoceroses are herbivores! Funny though, in Act One of Ionesco's Rhinoceros, Berenger suggests that the rhinoceros escaped from the zoo.]

An interesting thing I found, with this rhinoceros, is that it comes in different forms and sizes. The rhinoceros forms from black smoke, a black robot, and black clouds. When James is having a dream about himself being a caterpillar eating leaves, smoke invades his happiness. The smoke forms the face of a rhinoceros and chases James.

"Oh no, it's the rhinoceros!" James shout when they notice trouble in the sea ahead. The grasshopper points out that it's absurd for a rhinoceros to be in the ocean. But this time, the rhinoceros is not in the form of a rhinoceros - it is a robotic shark, also black in colour. Later, the rhinoceros emerges through the black clouds in the night sky when James and the bugs reach New York.

My question is, why a rhinoceros? The rhinoceros, in general, symbolizes brute strength and aggressiveness - but so does a crocodile, and so does a bull...

The Life and Death of Bekki's Artwork
http://bekkilu.blogspot.com/2011/01/james-and-giant-peach.html

BTW, have a look at this on stage performance of James and the Giant Peach. Really clever:
BaliBeyond.com - the performance

Another Idea!!

So, I was in the shower, thinking about my vision and the White Australia Policy, and for some reason my mind went back to my English speech. My speech was on History and Memory and I chose the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence as my supporting text. As you may know, Rabbit-Proof Fence is about 3 Aboriginal girls. The movie explores the attitude of white men to the Aboriginal people during the 30s. Then THAT brought my mind to the Assimilation Policy. It was officially adopted in 1951. It is because of this policy (and the Aborigines Protection Act) that many generations were stolen from the Aborigines.

Perhaps this is what I need to focus on. Racism - as a whole, then focus on Australia, then down to the 'White Australia' attitude, and then focus on something more particular - not just the stolen generation, but more importantly, how the Assimilation Policy AND the Integration Policy were abolished and replaced with multiculturalism (Yes! Victory!).

Probably, being specific will help me to choose particularly suitable 'stuff' (costumes, lighting, set, etc) for my production. This is good! Because now I know that it will be in a period between 1951 and 1972 (I will most likely be closer to the latter). As for casting, the actor playing Berenger will be of Aboriginal decent. Wouldn't it be controversial for a black man to have a crush on a white woman?

If an Aboriginal man properly assimilated into white society then he was given more privileges (or rights, depending on your view) such as better jobs and education. Which would make sense, since Berenger works in an office. Berenger, at the beginning of the play, tells Jean that he doesn't feel like he fits in or if life even really exists. Many assimilated Aboriginals felt similar to how Berenger feels - not so much the latter, but more so the feeling of alienation and not-belonging to the white society. So having an Aboriginal play Berenger would work really well.

Anyway, time for bed!

A Clearer Vision...

So,
How does the 1901-1973 White Australia Policy sound??
Okay, let me explain how I got there...

So I was going with 'cults' to begin with - Christian cults to be more specific. But then that led me to the KKK (how can it not? They are notorious!). And then when I spoke to my teacher about  making the symbolic 'rhinoceros' white, he then mentioned the White Australia Policy - and I'm like, 'GENIUS!'

So now I can get the ball rolling because the policy gives me a setting and gives me a frame of time to work with.  I can use the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, or 60s fashion, and because the text of the play is very "proper" this should work perfect! If I choose to use music in my production (and I probably should) I can now look for particular songs from one of these periods.

My teacher said that "the script is like God", so that means I can't change the text in anyway - which is why doing it in a modern setting would be weird (for me anyway) because the language would be out of context at moments.

Anyway, so now I can start adding new pages to my blog. I'll probably start the character Jean and Daisy.