#Character: Beneatha

[youmaycallmeasha]

[fandomsoda]

We really need to reopen discussion around older books and stories. Like the stuff you read in school. We need to start talking about these characters and stories again in a more casual way. Not in a fandom type way (god no) but I feel like we should talk about them again, critically, from a writing perspective, and analyze characters with perspectives that couldn’t have been had a few years ago.

I know a lot of people lack media literacy and there would be some shitty discourse but damnit I wanna talk about how The Great Gatsby’s use of a POV character was completely wasted (Nick is barely a fucking person which is just- bad writing) and ramble about why Beneatha from A Raisin in the Sun probably has autism and adhd like please. (We really need to be careful about reopening discussion on the latter book [technically play but yk] though, misinterpretations and bad takes on that would be horrific.)

[auditionsuggestions]

Hi! Headed to grad school in the fall and looking for a good dramatic piece for first day evaluation, I’m looking for something with depth that can also be active! I’m a black actor too if that helps~ thanks!

Congrats on grad school!

Obv, I don't know what monologues you've worked or haven't worked in your studies before, but here are some dramatic ones that I really like:

You could look at Elaine's Monologue from Last of the Red-Hot Lovers (great for really playing with the varying shades of anger, disgust, diappointment, etc), This monologue from Lungs by Duncan MacMillan (this play is a 2-hander, so both characters are a little wordy, just a heads up. Very contemporary vibe imo), I'm always a fan of the modern classics (Beneatha's monologue from Raisin in the Sun is a great exercise in using a story to further your objectives as a character, however it's not the most active), or you could also go a little older with Sasha's monologue from Ivanov.

Break a leg!

[lboogie1906]

Diana Patricia Sands (August 22, 1934 – September 21, 1973) was an actress, known for her portrayal of Beneatha Younger, the sister of Sidney Poitier’s character, Walter, in the original stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961).

She appeared in several dramatic television series in the 1960s and 1970s such as I Spy, as Davala Unawa in 1967 The Fugitive episode “Dossier on a Diplomat”, Dr. Harrison in the Outer Limits episode “The Mice”, and Julia. She starred in the 1963 film An Affair of the Skin as the narrator and photographer, Janice. She was twice nominated for a Tony Award and twice nominated for an Emmy Award.

She was born one of three children in the Bronx to Rudolph Sands, a Bahamian carpenter, and Shirley (née Thomas), a milliner. She enrolled at the Music & Art High School, where she was a classmate of Diahann Carroll and Billy Dee Williams. During high school, she received her first role in the school production of George Bernard Shaw’s “Major Barbara”. After graduation from high school she began her professional career as a dancer; touring with a traveling carnival.

She was married to Swiss Artist Lucien Happersberger (1964-1966) and had no children. At the time of her death, she was engaged to Kurt Baker, who was an assistant film director. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[firecloudeddragon]

A satisfactory ending to A Rasin in the Sun

The conclusion of A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry fulfilled the desire to have a story that exhibited a mended family dynamic after going through the trials and tribulations that came with trying to better themselves in a White chauvinist and bigoted society. The play opens with a poem about the effects of a deferred dream by Langston Hughes. The author allows us to be privy to what she understands to be the lives and realities of many Black and minority people: past, present, and future. To create a work of art such as this, the wordsmith has to tell a story that does not alienate the parties that might feel guilty, whether it is their truth or not. A person's self-condemnation or righteousness could and will most likely obstruct the understanding and comprehension of the veracity of the people who deal with aggression daily without absorbing the information at hand. Walter Younger, blinded by his earnest scheme to come out on top of everyone, White and Black, family or not, (Walter Younger) overlooks the damage and hurt that he brings home. Ruth is forced to grow calloused because of his neglect. Alternately, simple but devout, mama is seen nurturing the plant next to the only window in the apartment, which is a motif of how she sees herself and her role as the mender and peacekeeper of the family. Beneatha, striving to discover a (society) community that she can relate to and be recognized in, assumes the cultural identity of whomever she is dating. Many supporting characters represent immortal stigmas and behaviors that can contribute to a dream deferred. George Murchinson, an assimilationist, characterizes sacrificing the one for the many. Mr. Karl Linder represents the majority of white racism and the premise that black people are all thugs, (hoodlums, )and a threat to white society. Willy Harris represents the allies and counterparts of minorities who do more harm than good, whether they intend to or not. Fooled, Walter assumes that Willy Harris had the same goals and intentions as him when in reality he ensured his own success and never looked back. The ending of this play also leaves room for the observer to sit back and think about how this could resonate with any family pursuing the American dream with the added pressure of being Black in a relatively White society where one is treated with the smallest amount of respect if any and are presumed to have such a thing fly in one ear and out the other. The manifestations of emotions throughout the play radically change as the characters realize why they feel the way they do about themselves and others in society. With this realization, they can cater to each other's needs and nurture each other's dreams without snuffing everyone else out.

[bookwyrminspiration]

Hi! Thank you so much for all the nice things you said about the poem I wrote you, it really made my day <3. I got a chance to listen to "I Say No", and it was very cathartic and amazing music. I remember you mentioned a while ago that you have an OC story you were going to rework that had roses in its title? Could you talk more about that? I'm really interested in hearing about your world and characters. Also, have a good day! ;) - Amethyst

Amethyst! Hello! Of course, thank you for the poem, I greatly enjoyed the surprise :)--and I'm glad you like the song! I haven't seen Heathers in person (i've seen a few other musicals in person, and we're scheduled to see a few more this year), but if I ever do I hope it's got that song in it.

And yes, you're remembering correctly! That OC story, like I said, is going to be very much reworked. I came up with it when I was like 12 or 13, but I've been working on other things and haven't truly touched it since then. I've worked on it for NaNoWriMo at least twice, but it's never truly clicked. There are two main things about the structure and kind of story it is that I know for certain and won't change, but I'm keeping those particular details secret :3

however! even though I don't know what the story is going to become outside of that, I can tell you what it originally was! These things all may be changed, some may stay, but it's what i have.

I titled it A Collection of Roses, which was in reference to the main characters. I don't remember exactly how it referenced them, but I know that's where the title came from. I think it may have had something to do with an elaborate rose garden surrounding where they lived in the first draft, or perhaps something to do with the beauty of roses hiding their thorns.

Probably the thorn thing, because the premise of these characters was that they were cursed under the guise of being granted gifts.

I'm explaining this all out of order, bear with me, we're backing up a little. acor takes place in a fantasy world, one where there's infinite universes and variations of the world. They're often depicted as like pages of a book that can be flipped through--but only by select people. Most people don't know about the overlapping infinite universes, in the sense that there are only 3 people aware of and able to access it in the story (and a few in their group know about it because they tell them).

acor follows a main character who's never had a name feel quite right, but she's been named Seli for a while now so I'm using that. I was using beauty and the beast as inspiration for this story, so Seli was essentially occupying the role of Belle, if Belle had a little sister named Bene (short for Beneatha). That was lose inspiration at the beginning, though you can still see it throughout the story (there is a Gaston character, but he doesn't serve the same role). Seli and her sister live as the village oddities, not quite scorned but not quite part of everything (their father often isn't around and has been distant since the loss of their mother. although that might be specific to one draft, I can't remember).

Through various means depending on what draft we're in, Seli finds herself in possession of an odd necklace, it's charm very fun to twiddle with, as it's composed of several rings that turn about within themselves. In one version I believe she finds it in an abandoned castle, Bene having gone missing in the woods near her house, finding the castle. It's a little hazy, but I know Bene goes missing there. This necklace is how Seli gains access to the large book of infinite universes, but she doesn't understand how it works and sends herself with abandon across the book's pages.

I'm skipping over the details because they aren't concrete, but via sending herself across universes, she stumbles into a particular universe and meets a particular group of people--these are the rest of the main characters, and they seem to know a little more about her than they should. There are...6? 7? Of them. it's not immediately obvious that these people are cursed, but they live in a universe much more magical than Seli's where powers and abilities aren't unheard of. They each have a power, which (Seli doesn't know this yet) was granted to them by someone. However, each one came with a cost--hence the roses title about the thorns in beauty.

When I first made this world, it was much more about the world than the plot, so I can't give you a concrete idea of what happens next, because I always got stuck around here in every draft (I'm a more experienced writer know and know why that happened, but haven't gone back to fix it yet). I always had some hazy idea about fighting and overthrowing the person who cursed said group (who become like a family to Seli, though there's also the problem of her having left her dependent sister behind), as that person is one of the three people who know of and can access the multiple universes and they are using that ability to take complete control of all universes ("if I have complete control, I can make all universes right under my vision of what that should be" kinda thinking, though I'm very likely going to tweak that going forward). However that hazy idea isn't really worth exploring any more in its current state.

I can, however, give you a little bit of an intro to the characters as they were (which are very very likely going to change. like I said this is all old and all going to be workshopped). They were each granted a gift that later revealed itself to have a significant drawback--however, I am answering this ask in class and also from memory and also it's been literally years so my memory is fuzzy. And! I came up with them when I was 12 there's some cliches here (like how they're all centuries old)

Lethe: She's the leader of the group, everyone else in the group was serving in her domain until her curse deposed her. Now I believe her power is...she has an animal form? wolf? and the beasts of the forest listen to her. Given her name, I believe her curse had something to do with forgetting who she was...? I can't remember very well, I don't have my notes with me

Kachina: They are the third person who has access to the infinite universes, able to see them all and traverse them at will. The catch is they are now severed from any universe and cannot fully exist or interact with them. They're never fully grounded, always drifting between them and losing themself. No one can touch them, they're never truly there, though they try to be. Heavily associated with the color red. Oh and also I believe they hold the past of some other person within themself, feeling a connection to someone they never were and can never be again, but they still mourn it.

Keen: I believe he's my darkness character. WAIT NOPE. Oh my god I'm so sorry Keen I just totally erased a lot of your horrors with that. Keen is actual my time travel character. he's just also associated with darkness because he's quiet and has seen things he can't forget. The catch with him is that he can only travel backwards in time. A big thing I was going to do with him is that, if things go wrong, he can continuously travel back in time and tell those around him so they can change their actions until they get it right. However, this results in many situation where he repeatedly witnesses the deaths of people closest to him, then has to travel back in time to said people before their deaths to prevent it, but retains those memories no one else has experienced. he's in a perpetual state of losing people.

Xion: strongman type character, they're married to Shavani. I. cannot for the life of me remember what they do. I think it granted them increased strength and deadliness, but at the cost of control? They risk raging and losing control with the people they care about? Very stoic no bullshit character

Shavani: She's the nature/plant one. Associated with fertility, nourishes the earth and allows it to flourish, caring but also unforgiving. The drawback with her was that it took her fertility in order to transform it into earthly fertility, and she lost a very wanted pregnancy as the result. I. don't remember much more about her abilities, my apologies Shavani. She was often the one who found Seli once she accidentally threw herself across universes.

Maimun: Maimun's all about luck. I didn't have the complete logistics of their power worked out because there were finicky things, but the premise is when intending to do something using their power, they have a 50/50 chance of success. Essentially, they can do anything with it but it's not a guarantee--so it's all about risk and chance with them. Which I was going to use in very dramatic scenes of life or death being up to a stroke of luck and so on.

Nedra: I focused on her the least so there's very little depth or nuance, but she's my shapeshifter character. Can take practically any form, but is trans and unable to take the form that expresses herself fully and as she wants to be seen. I was discovering the vast vast worlds of gender queerness when I made her, so I think she plays into some tropes or common writing that doesn't do her favors, which also doesn't treat her transness with the kindness I'd like it to, so she's most likely to have the most significant change.

I'll stop there, but that's kinda what was going on with A Collection of Roses. Those characters were the roses, and it doesn't actually have a concrete plot, but I came up with it when I was 12 so. Not that 12 yos can't make good things, but just that my skill level was much lower than it is now, and I still have more to learn.

This is not what the story will be going forward--i don't know what it will be, as I haven't created it yet--but that's what it was! All off the top of my head so I probably missed some very important things, but I hope that answers your question and was at least a little fun to read through :)

I hope you're also having a good day!

[essay-complete]

What happens to a dream deferred?

“Harlem” was used by Loraine Hansberry as the inspiration for A Raisin in the Sun. Each of the similes in the poem represents one of the main characters (The Younger Family). In your opinion which character matches up to which simile? Write an essay of at least 500-750 words minimum explaining your answer. Harlem BY LANGSTON HUGHES

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? “Harlem” was used by Loraine Hansberry as the inspiration for A Raisin in the Sun. Each of the similes in the poem represents one of the main characters (The Younger Family). In your opinion which character matches up to which simile? Write an essay of at least 500-750 words minimum explaining your answer.

Characters: Walter Lee – Lena’s son Ruth – Walter Lee’s wife Lena – The family matriarch Beneatha – Walter’s little sister

First appeared on Essay-complete.com

[thediaryofatheatrekid]

Casting Goals: Beneatha Younger in A Raisin in the Sun

Aisha Jackson

Mariah Lyttle

Teyonah Parris

[aliveandfullofjoy]

Hi friends! Yesterday I shared my ten favorite new-to-me movies of 2021. Just for kicks, as a bonus, here are ten(ish) performances that I saw for the first time last year that I found especially moving! No extensive writing because I’m a little pressed for time, but please as always consider this a personal endorsement of these performances. I’ll also include ways to watch them (as of this current writing: January 18, 2022).

So! Ten(ish) new-to-me film performances that I found moving in 2021, in alphabetical order!

01. Eddie Bracken, Hail the Conquering Hero (dir. Preston Sturges, 1944) I watched two very similar Preston Sturges films in 2021, and I fell in love with both of them - this one and The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek - and while Bracken is the male lead of both, he competes with his equally funny costars in that film. Not so here: this one is all Bracken all the time. He makes an absolute meal of this film, a ridiculous wartime farce that feels almost like a more self-aware Dear Evan Hansen. By far the funniest performance I saw last year. (Hail the Conquering Hero is available to rent online and can be viewed at this link.)

02. Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Sidney Poitier, and Diana Sands, A Raisin in the Sun (dir. Daniel Petrie, 1961) I may be cheating a bit by including four performances in one slot, but the Raisin quartet share so many scenes together that I think it works. The rest of the cast is great too (including Ivan Dixon and Louis Gossett, Jr.), but it’s these four who have the film’s most memorable and moving moments. They share so many scenes and they’re all tremendous: McNeil as Lena the matriarch, Sands as the radical Beneatha, Dee as Ruth, and the recently departed Poitier as Walter. This is a beautifully rendered adaptation of a landmark play, and these four give unforgettable performances. (A Raisin in the Sun is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.)

03. Alex Descas, 35 Shots of Rum (dir. Claire Denis, 2008) Such deep, sad eyes on Alex Descas. I wrote about how much I loved 35 Shots of Rum on my top ten films post, so I’ll keep this brief, but Descas absolutely owns his long stretches of silence more than many other actors could. His chemistry with his onscreen daughter Mati Diop is palpable in its bittersweet, frustrating complexity. A beautifully understated performance. (35 Shots of Rum is currently streaming on MUBI.)

04. Barbara Loden, Wanda (dir. Barbara Loden, 1970) Calling Wanda a landmark film almost feels like an understatement. With it, Barbara Loden became the first woman in cinema history to direct, produce, write, and star in a film. Even without Wanda, Loden is a fascinating figure in her own right, as a Tony-winning character actor who died far too young of breast cancer, but it's her staggering directorial debut that will probably prove to be her most enduring work. Her direction is astonishing, feeling like a predecessor to A Woman Under the Influence and Mikey and Nicky, but her performance is the heart of the film. She's onscreen for almost every minute of the film's runtime, and she's utterly mesmerizing in her soft-spoken desperation. It's remarkably unaffected work, and undoubtedly one of the finest leading actress performances of the decade. (Wanda is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.)

05. Giulietta Masina, Nights of Cabiria (dir. Federico Fellini, 1957) Sweet Charity, the Broadway musical adaptation of Nights of Cabiria, has some great moments, but I tend to struggle with the ending. After spending all this time watching this woman suffer at the hands of everyone she knows, how could she possibly resolve to move forward, smiling? It always leaves me more gutted than moved. Turns out the source material got it right the first time. Through Cabiria's tears and smiling face, there is no doubt that she'll be okay. Giulietta Masina’s performance is one that defies description. She embodies all of Cabiria’s heartache and dashed dreams and somehow, even in the face of her most crushing blow yet, she finds hope. It’s a magical, phenomenal performance. (Nights of Cabiria is currently streaming on MUBI.)

06. Walter Matthau, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (dir. Joseph Sargent, 1974) The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was one of the great surprises of my film-viewing life last year. I knew it existed but I was floored by how great it was: Sargent’s taut direction, Peter Stone’s masterful script, a huge cast of great actors gleefully digging into their roles, the delicious grime of 1970s New York City, the music... it’s all great. Walter Matthau, perhaps at his sleepiest and droopiest, is the bone-dry stoneface at the film’s center. He walks the tonal tightrope perfectly, and he’s responsible for the final shot in the film, one of the absolute best I’ve ever seen. Everything about this movie is great, but he’s the MVP. (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is available to rent online.)

07. Madhabi Mukherjee, The Big City (dir. Satyajit Ray, 1963) Madhabi Mukherjee is the heart of The Big City. This is another film I wrote about at more length on my top ten films post, but her performance is the reason why the film works as well as it does. She beautifully and honestly realizes Arati’s journey from shy housewife to a profoundly skilled worker and the various shades of confidence and conflict that comes with that. Just breathtaking. (The Big City is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and HBO Max.)

08. Rosaura Revueltas, Salt of the Earth (dir. Herbert J. Biberman, 1954) Made in the shadow of the Hollywood Blacklist, Salt of the Earth feels like something that almost shouldn't exist. Written, directed, and produced by men who were blacklisted, the film is so unapologetically leftist that it’s not hard to imagine a hypothetical campaign from conservative McCarthyists to destroy the film. The vast majority of the actors are non-professionals, but the film's key role of Esperanza is given to the great Mexican actress Rosaura Revueltas. Esperanza is the emotional center of Salt of the Earth and Revueltas delivers one magnificent performance in bringing her to life: her journey from reserved housewife to radicalized unionist is thrilling and deeply moving. Revueltas was also blacklisted from working in Hollywood, but it's impossible to imagine her getting a role half as good as this in the racist studio system at all. It’s a tremendous performance. (Salt of the Earth is currently streaming on Prime Video and can be viewed at this link.)

09. Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence (dir. John Cassavetes, 1974) If Gena Rowlands never made another film, she would still be a titan of acting for her performance as Mabel in A Woman Under the Influence. She's legendary, and rightfully so: her Mabel emerges as an unflinchingly authentic human being, a whole bunch of nervy contradictions bundled together into one woman stuck in a marriage with an emotionally stunted husband who doesn't fully understand her. Watching her relationship with Peter Falk in all its tumultuous episodes is an exercise in strength. That the film was so brilliantly directed by her real-life husband Cassavetes only makes it that much more special. (A Woman Under the Influence is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and HBO Max.)

10. Hideko Takamine, Twenty-Four Eyes (dir. Keisuke Kinoshita, 1954) I can't believe I hadn't seen any of Kinoshita's other films up to this point, but Twenty-Four Eyes seems like a great place to start. Anchored onto a devastating performance from the great Takamine, the film follows roughly two decades in the life of a woman who works as a schoolteacher during the rise and fall of Japanese nationalism. An unambiguously anti-war film released less than a decade after the end of World War II, the emotional climax hits like a ton of bricks, and Takamine’s performance is a huge reason why. It’s an unabashedly sentimental film, but thanks to the sensitive filmmaking and Takamine’s complex performance, it thoroughly earns the audience’s tears. (Twenty-Four Eyes is available to rent online and can be viewed at this link.)

Honorable mentions, in alphabetical order: Lucille Ball in Dance, Girl, Dance (dir. Dorothy Arzner, 1940), Jeannie Berlin in The Heartbreak Kid (dir. Elaine May, 1972), Roscoe Lee Browne in Uptight (dir. Jules Dassin, 1968), Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones (dir. Otto Preminger, 1954), Mati Diop in 35 Shots of Rum (dir. Claire Denis, 2008), Heather Donahue in The Blair Witch Project (dir. Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez, 1999), America Ferrera in Real Women Have Curves (dir. Patricia Cardoso, 2002), Jane Fonda in Barbarella (dir. Roger Vadim, 1968), Dolores Gray in It’s Always Fair Weather (dir. Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1955), Dan Hedaya in Blood Simple (dir. Joel Coen, 1984), Judy Holliday in It Should Happen to You (dir. George Cukor, 1954), Boris Karloff in The Body Snatcher (dir. Robert Wise, 1945), Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success (dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1957), Ida Lupino in The Bigamist (dir. Ida Lupino, 1953), Marcello Mastroianni in Big Deal on Madonna Street (dir. Mario Monicelli, 1958), Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail (dir. Hal Ashby, 1973), Edmond O’Brien in The Bigamist (dir. Ida Lupino, 1953), Stig Olin in To Joy (dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1950), Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer (dir. Tony Richardson, 1960), Peter in Funeral Parade of Roses (dir. Toshio Matsumoto, 1969), Michelle Pfeiffer in Grease 2 (dir. Patricia Birch, 1982), Parker Posey in Josie and the Pussycats (dir. Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont, 2001), Pete Postlethwaite in Distant Voices, Still Lives (dir. Terence Davies, 1988), Edward G. Robinson in The Sea Wolf (dir. Michael Curtiz, 1941), Renato Salvatori in Rocco and His Brothers (dir. Luchino Visconti, 1960), Sylvia Sidney in Fury (dir. Fritz Lang, 1936), Nicholas Smith in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (dir. Nick Park & Steve Box), Jean-Louis Trintignant in Three Colors: Red (dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1994), Orson Welles in Touch of Evil (dir. Orson Welles, 1958), Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass (dir. Elia Kazan, 1961), Wu Nien-jen in Yi Yi (dir. Edward Yang, 2000), and Zhang Ziyi in 2046 (dir. Wong Kar-wai, 2004).

[howardhawkshollywoodannex]

Sidney Poitier as Walter Lee Younger with the three women in his life, Ruby Dee as his sister Ruth, Claudia McNeil as his mother Lena, and Diana Sands as sister Beneatha, in a scene from A Raisin in the Sun (1961). Claudia did not get along with Sidney during the Broadway production, due to differences on their characters' emphasis. Sidney late wrote that he thought Claudia hated him.

Claudia was born in Baltimore and had 29 acting credits, from a 1958 tv episode, to a 1983 tv episode. Her other notable credits include episodes of The Mod Squad and Roots: The Next Generation.

[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

Hot take: despite being billed as a tragedy, in many ways, A Raisin in the Sun is the opposite.

The typical formula of a tragedy involves a sympathetic protagonist who’s at a good place in life experiencing downfall due to a fatal flaw. A Raisin in the Sun involves an initially less-than-sympathetic protagonist (Walter) who’s at a bad place in life (lives in poverty in a cramped apartment with a job he hates and is miserable because he prioritizes money over almost everything else) and experiences growth due to a redeeming trait (refuses to trade away his self-respect for money because of his love for his family). I think perhaps the story was billed as a tragedy because of the loss of the insurance money, but the point goes beyond that (if that were the tragedy, wouldn’t Hansberry be proving Walter’s preoccupation with money right?). Whereas a typical tragedy is about loss through tragic events, A Raisin in the Sun is about loss through tragic events that serves as the catalyst to gain something that matters more.*

(You may be wondering why I am suddenly posting about A Raisin in the Sun, especially since I read it almost two school years ago. Well, I recently purchased my own copy and embarked on a reread, and I appreciate it on a whole new level. Initially, it took me forever to realize that Walter was the protagonist when I was hung up on Ruth, who I was reading for, and when Walter wasn’t all that sympathetic. I also didn’t sympathize with Beneatha all that much, either. “Ruth and Lena,” I said, “are the only sane people in this entire play!” I still agree with that sentiment, but I have more sympathy for Lena’s children this time because I have a deeper understanding of their internal conflict: they struggle with identity in a society that hates them.)

*One of these days, I will make a compare-contrast post on the character arcs of Walter Lee Younger and John Proctor. The way the tragic formula is flipped on its head honestly applies to both characters. It’s fascinating.

[gatheringbones]

[“During the Cold War years, lesbians and gay men faced regular oppression and discrimination. Both groups were labeled as perverts and as national security risks, and gay and lesbian bars were subject to frequent police raids. Masculine lesbians and male-to-female transgender individuals were at high risk because of their clothing; when police raided a bar, they automatically arrested any woman who wasn’t wearing at least three items of female attire. The names of those who were arrested were published in local newspapers, and people frequently lost jobs as a result. Even when there was no raid, lesbians were at risk on the street and in parking lots: any show of affection between two women could trigger homophobic attacks that typically included beatings. Black lesbians faced double jeopardy: they were targeted for their race and for their sexuality.

So it was no small step for Hansberry to begin thinking about the lesbian world just as her career was gaining some momentum. Lorraine’s personal writing often expresses a sense of anticipation that informs her worldview and political project as a perpetual action of becoming free. While she was at Camp Unity, Nemiroff visited on weekends and brought along their dog Spice. In her letters to him, she showed affection for Bobby, but she also wrote in a letter on July 8, 1954, of her longing and same-sex desire: “I know what I have always known before consciousness even that most important it has to be Her—I mean The Woman. It apparently simply will not be The Man for me. I almost wish that could make me sad, but it never has it doesn’t now. It is too beautiful just thinking about Her and looking forward to meeting her and letting everything begin and all this ugly waiting over with.” Lorraine describes a lover that will let her life begin and end her perpetual state of anticipation. Meaning, even as Hansberry understood freedom as a practice, she longed to be free and to live without fear in the full flourishing of her desire.

(…) In her letter from Camp Unity in 1954 described earlier, anticipating “The Woman” she expected to find, she went on to describe the woman’s physical characteristics and personality with great care and detail. “I like to think that she will be beautiful in the way I think of beauty.” The anticipation coincides with resolution to meet Her.

(…) During the months leading up to the New York production of A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine privately and semi-publicly came to terms with what her marriage could and would be. In 1957, Hansberry had a relationship with a photographer, Molly Malone Cook. In an extended letter to Cook, Lorraine contemplates the limitations of labels such as “homophile” or “homosexual” and attributes to Cook the phrase “queer beer,” which Hansberry used as the title for an essay. Later, Cook became partners with Mary Oliver, and they lived together in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The public visibility of that relationship, like her contemporaneous letters to the Ladder, emerged in the independence of the character Beneatha in A Raisin in the Sun, but for the most part remained invisible to the public until after her death.”]

Soyica Diggs Colbert, Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry

[cleverclove]

For such a hyped up character, Beneatha hasn’t got much quotes :(

[auredosa]

Hej! I have seen that you make a lot of theories about Hitman and I love it! Im always into theorising about the characters, who they are, characterisations etc. So I wanted to ask you, what do you think are the four main char tees for people? How would you describe 47, Diana, Grey and Olivia as characters? What are they doing in their life? Do you have any guesses about that? I would be interested in to hear!

Heya anon! Yes, I’m super into analyzing the HITMAN franchise and its characters. I think it’s so fascinating to pick apart their motives, and how they carry out their agendas. Really, I just love plotting them on an alignment chart. Here’s what I’ve got for all four of them, but be warned, it’s a doozy!

Olivia Hall

In order to understand who Olivia is as a character, you need to understand her backstory. Olivia was essentially adopted by Grey when she was 7. Grey was working as a mercenary in Sierra Leone, and met Olivia as a child=soldier. Grey, in pity and rage at her situation, took her away, and got her a good education. They’ve been together through thick and thin.

What you need to get from this is that from a very young age, Olivia has been exposed to violence. She understands that using force is a surefire way to get what you want. She also has a bone to pick with the privileged organizations in the world who force innocents to fight their wars for them. Like Grey, she has noble intentions, and is willing to do terrible things because the ends justify the means.She’s more realistic than Grey, in that she doesn’t believe in “hearts and flowers crap” (as evidenced by her dialogue in the “Homecoming” cinematic) and doesn’t like to take chances of having hopeful things.

In the future, I can see Olivia carrying on the fight against greedy and corrupt organizations in the world. After Grey either dies, decides to settle down with his brother, or just chooses to retire from the whole mercenary thing, Olivia will probably continue to take down people like Providence with her hacking skills. After all, she’s young, he’s not. She’s Grey’s successor, in a way. The song “Ruckus” by Konata Small really just explains her entire character. 

Diana Burnwood

Man, is Diana one tough woman! Like Olivia, Diana fights for what’s right, and she’s not afraid to go rogue or disobey her superiors to carry out her own agenda. However, in contrast to Grey and Olivia, she has standards, and adheres to her own moral code no matter what. Unfortunately, as I covered in this post, she works for an organization that prides itself on being amoral, and while she herself may not be, she’s still complying with the exact kind of people Olivia and Grey despise.

We also have to talk about her relationship with 47. I think that in addition to being a good friend, Diana’s also a mentor for 47 in finding his humanity, as the devs had said themselves, she’s his conscience. She acknowledges and supports 47’s determination to take down the Partners, but she also wants him to do so in a way that won’t reduce him to an anarchist. 47 is a blank slate here, and she doesn’t want him to become a spite-filled abuser-of-force like Grey. She’s the mom-friend. However, I also think she’d recognize that some people deserve what’s coming. If Grey doesn’t change his tune, I don’t think she’ll be going out of her way to save him, unless, of course, she sees that 47 wants to see his brother alive.

I feel like Diana’s at a crossroads here. She can either remain loyal to the ICA, and remain on the side of the oppressor, or, she can go full rogue like Grey for their cause. Honestly, I don’t think her story will end with her doing either. We’ve seen Diana go rogue to pull off elaborate schemes to reform the ICA before, I don’t see why she couldn’t do it . . . again. (Seriously, did IO have to completely copy the story from Blood Money to Absolution for WoA?) She’s not going to let the ICA keep abusing their amoral privilege, but she also doesn’t want to stoop to the levels of Grey and start using violence to achieve her means. If she doesn’t get shot dead in HITMAN 3, I would love to see her become Head of the Board of the ICA.

Lucas Grey

I guess the great thing about already having milked this man’s character dry is that I know exactly what to write here! Simply put, Lucas Grey is blinded by revenge and is stooping down to the level of his oppressors in an attempt to free himself. Even though he's the clone that escaped the facility, Lucas Grey is the most trapped person in the Hitman series. He's lived his entire life filled with spite and hatred against those who have wronged him, and his desire to see them destroyed has completely consumed him. He think that destroying Providence and, mercilessly manipulating, killing and stepping over those who stand in his way is noble and vigilant. He believes that doing this will bring him closure and satisfaction, but in reality, he's only stooping down to his oppressors' level and becoming the very thing he sought out to destroy. He might not be operating on behalf of Province, but he has hurt countless people, deserving of punishment or not, in pursuit of his own goals, and this, in and of itself, makes him just as bad as Edwards and the Partners.

What he fails to realize is that it's not enacting revenge against the world that will make him satisfied, it's separating his identity from what Providence wanted him to be, and freeing himself from the cage that he's placed himself in. He's similar to Beneatha Younger from A Raisin in the Sun, in terms of how they play into the will of others. He insists that he's a free man, but he constantly asserts that he's defined by the cruel world he's been thrust into. His entire life's purpose is get even with Providence, and nothing more. Even if he and 47 manage to eliminate each of their affiliates and liquidate every of their assets, until he learns to break free and put his life towards something on his own terms, Lucas will never truly be free from the hold of Providence.

Now, there are two ways this can go: Either, Grey realizes that using force to eliminate all who’ve wronged him doesn’t make him better than them, and he stops, and settles down in Gontranno with his brother. Or, he insists that all that matters to him is getting even, and he either dies for his cause, gets arrested, or gets marked as a terrorist and gets himself assassinated, or something like that. I think he truly does care for 47 and his well being, and I think he wants to rekindle a relationship with him independent of Providence, the ICA, whatever. Really, this man needs to get his priorities straight. And hopefully, Diana, Olivia, and 47 will help him realize he can be so much more than just a martyr.

Agent 47

Honestly, this man’s a bit of a wild card. He doesn’t care about politics, morals, or any of the things that shape the above character. And that, in and of itself, makes him the most vulnerable. You can’t fight a war if you don’t know what you’re fighting for. Yes, he’s in agreement with Grey and their goal of eliminating the Partners, but what comes after that? I honestly cannot predict what he’d do, because there’s no motive in him beyond that. All we know is that he seems content to be an assassin, he’s fine using force, taking orders, and complying with his superiors. Seems bleak, right?

Well, no, not really. There’s a line that Edwards drops as you’re escorting him to the boat in the Isle of Sgail mission: “Interesting. The good doctor built his serum specifically to target the seats of your emotions. Has Miss Burnwood’s sense of justice rubbed off on you, I wonder?” Followed by 47 saying, “Just keep walking.” I think that, from a theorist’s viewpoint, we could interpret this as 47 admitting that yes, Diana’s sense of justice has rubbed off on him. He’s just still grappling with it, and doesn’t know where he stands. Does 47 necessarily share Diana’s sentiment of remaining neutral in the grand scheme of things? Hard to tell.

I think 47 will soon have to make a decision as to who, and what, he’s going to fight for. My current prediction is that he’ll roll with his brother and his brute-force playing-dirty plan, for now, just because he really wants to take down the Partners, but after that, he might try to convince Grey to, you know, stop the bloodshed. Or, if my current theory about Grey being after the ICA is right, maybe 47 will have to convince Grey that the ICA doesn’t need to be taken down, kill Grey, or pressure Diana to tell her higherups to become more vigilant. Considering that he’s still suspicious of Grey in cutscene before the Bank mission, and the fact that Diana and 47 have spent 20+ years together, I think he’ll remain loyal to Diana at the end of the day. Let’s pray that Grey won’t kill his own brother if, or when, their paths separate.

. . . I mean, my ideal ending? They all go back to a reformed ICA, taking down corrupt people who deserve it and using diplomacy when they can. Olivia gets hired as a hacker, or becomes Grey and 47′s new handler, Diana becomes head of the board (and still keeps in touch with 47, because duh, unbreakable bond), and Grey and 47 are just tag-teaming assignments all badass movie-like. After all, the family that slays together stays together!

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The talented Lorraine Hansberry

“Lorraine Hansberry was born at Provident Hospital on the South Side of Chicago on May 19, 1930. She was the youngest of Nannie Perry Hansberry and Carl Augustus Hansberry’s four children. Her father founded Lake Street Bank, one of the first banks for blacks in Chicago, and ran a successful real estate business. Her uncle was William Leo Hansberry, a scholar of African studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C.Many prominent African American social and political leaders visited the Hansberry household during Lorraine’s childhood including sociology professor W.E.B. DuBois, poet Langston Hughes, actor and political activist Paul Robeson, musician Duke Ellington and Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens.

Despite their middle-class status, the Hansberrys were subject to segregation. When she was 8 years old, Hansberry’s family deliberately attempted to move into a restricted neighborhood. Restrictive covenants, in which white property owners agreed not to sell to blacks, created a ghetto known as the “Black Belt” on Chicago’s South Side. Carl Hansberry, with the help of Harry H. Pace, president of the Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company and several white realtors, secretly bought property at 413 E. 60th Street and 6140 S. Rhodes Avenue. 

The Hansberrys moved into the house on Rhodes Avenue in May 1937. The family was threatened by a white mob, which threw a brick through a window, narrowly missing Lorraine. The Supreme Court of Illinois upheld the legality of the restrictive covenant and forced the family to leave the house. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision on a legal technicality. The result was the opening of 30 blocks of South Side Chicago to African Americans. Although the case did not argue that racially restrict covenants were unlawful, it marked the beginning of their end.

Lorraine graduated from Englewood High School in Chicago, where she first became interested in theater. She enrolled in the University of Wisconsin but left before completing her degree. After studying painting in Chicago and Mexico, Hansberry moved to New York in 1950 to begin her career as a writer. She wrote for Paul Robeson’s Freedom, a progressive publication, which put her in contact with other literary and political mentors such as W.E.B. DuBois and Freedom editor Louis Burnham. During a protest against racial discrimination at New York University, she met Robert Nemiroff, a Jewish writer who shared her political views. They married on June 20, 1953 at the Hansberrys’ home in Chicago.

In 1956, her husband and Burt D’Lugoff wrote the hit song, “Cindy, Oh Cindy.” Its profits allowed Hansberry to quit working and devote herself to writing. She then began a play she called The Crystal Stair, from Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son.” She later retitled it A Raisin in the Sun from Hughes’ poem, “Harlem: A Dream Deferred.”

In A Raisin in the Sun, the first play written by an African American to be produced on Broadway, she drew upon the lives of the working-class black people who rented from her father and who went to school with her on Chicago’s South Side. She also used members of her family as inspiration for her characters. Hansberry noted similarities between Nannie Hansberry and Mama Younger and between Carl Hansberry and Big Walter. Walter Lee, Jr. and Ruth are composites of Hansberry’s brothers, their wives and her sister, Mamie. In an interview, Hansberry laughingly said “Beneatha is me, eight years ago.”

Her second play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, about a Jewish intellectual, ran on Broadway for 101 performances. It received mixed reviews. Her friends rallied to keep the play running. It closed on January 12, 1965, the day Hansberry died of cancer at 34.

Although Hansberry and Nemiroff divorced before her death, he remained dedicated to her work. As literary executor, he edited and published her three unfinished plays: Les Blancs, The Drinking Gourd and What Use Are Flowers? He also collected Hansberry’s unpublished writings, speeches and journal entries and presented them in the autobiographical montage To Be Young, Gifted and Black. The title is taken from a speech given by Hansberry in May 1964 to winners of a United Negro Fund writing competition: “…though it be thrilling and marvelous thing to be merely young and gifted in such times, it is doubly so, doubly dynamic, to be young, gifted and black!”” (source)

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A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Loran Hansberry. It portrays the life of Youngers, a black American family, in the 1950s. The theme of the play is black Americans faced obstacles about their life conditions and dreams because of their race in the 1950s.“WALTER: Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor? If you so crazy ’bout messing ’round with sick people—then go be a nurse like other women—or just get married and be quiet…” Beneatha wants to become a doctor that was unexpected for a black woman. First, family members, especially Walter, don’t lean toward. Then, they understand the passion of Beneatha. “LINDNER: Well—I don’t understand why you people are reacting this way. What do you think you are going to gain by moving into a neighborhood where you just aren’t wanted and where some elements—well—people can get awful worked up when they feel that their whole way of life and everything they’ve ever worked for is threatened.” Mama purchases a house in Clybourne Park which is a white neighborhood. And the representative of the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, Lindner visits them. He wants to induce them to not live in Clybourne Park. Because white people in Clybourne Park don’t want black people in their neighborhood. At that time, racial segregation made black people’s life harder. There were some stereotypes for them in white people’s minds. Black people had to work a lot to achieve something, to cross the hurdles. Loran Hansberry is a black woman and she gives an important message to all of us with this book. What makes a human a human is not his or her color. I want to finish my entry with a quote from Martin Luther King. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”