RPVIETNAM

__ Vietnamization of New Jersey __ __The Vietnamization of New Jersey__ is a farce comedy written by Christopher Durang. In order to understand how and why Durang used this type of comedy for his play, we must first look at the characteristics of a farce comedy. According to Britannica Encyclopedia, farce is a “Light, dramatic composition that uses highly improbable situations, stereotyped characters, violent horseplay, and broad humour. Farce is generally regarded as intellectually and aesthetically inferior to comedy in its crude characterizations and implausible plots, but it has remained popular throughout the West from ancient times to the present”. From this it can be concluded that farce, in the theatrical sense, is presentational in manner, meaning that the situations presented in the play are not necessarily things that could or would really happen in real life. Durang most likely took this farcical approach to the play in order to obviously portray to the audience the satirical tone of the production. First of all, some of the situations that occur throughout __The Vietnamization of New Jersey__ are very unlikely to happen in real life and clearly contribute to the argument that this play is farce comedy. In the beginning of the play, the younger son, Et, is seen stuffing cereal into his pants; Et is supposed to be an adolescent boy, but yet he acts like a child, stuffing food down his pants and speaking with a mouth full of food. Then, Davey returns home, blind, right as they are wondering when the war will end accompanied by his blind “Vietnamese” wife. This is most unlikely that the son would return just as they were talking about him coming home. Later in the play, Liat blindly shoots around the kitchen as Davey’s way of knowing that his parents accept him and his wife. This is improbable that a soldier would let his blind wife use a gun on his family and that she would only hit one person. Finally, the way that Harry and Ozzie Ann’s house is taken away and then put back together by the end of the play is impossible in real life, but pokes fun at other productions in their thinking of happiness will always be restored in the end. However unlikely all of these situations may be, as they are all performed in a comical and over-the-top way creates a farce comedy. There are also many over-the-top and stereotyped characters in this play. Hazel, the black housekeeper, written to be played by a man, is just one example. Larry, Harry’s brother, is played by the same actor who played Harry. His character is very exaggerated and intense, bringing with it racy humor, dialogue and situations. The younger son Et is also a very embellished character. Sometimes Et’s actions and dialogue is that of a young child, like when he whines for Davey and speaks with food in his mouth. But then there are other times when Et like that of a teenager with raging hormones, like when he constantly makes out with Liat (Margaret). Still other times, he spouts out profound exclamations comparing the family’s current situation to the United States in Vietnam. Durang used all of the characters to provide the play with a highly satirical tone, while at the same time using over-the-top comedy. I think Durang did this as a kind of parody of shows like //Ozzie and Harriet// that hid behind an all-American family façade, that avoided such things as war, family conflict and other unspeakable situations. Durang stated that he used shows like //Harry and Ozzie// as a reference in his __Vietnamization of New Jersey//.//__ His characters reflected this in that he named the mother and father after Harry and Ozzie. The characters also reflect his parody of the all-American family in that on the surface they seem to be just that, but as the play goes on and each character further developed that audience sees the hypocrisy and chaos that actually occurs once that façade is broken. Some TV shows that remind me of this play are //Modern Family, Everyone Loves Raymond, Desperate Housewives// and //Eight Simple Rules//. All of these shows are face comedies that parallel to __The Vietnamization of New Jersey__.