Dinner as Drama, Party as Play

sus

sus

Moderator
What's this thread about? It's about those perfect parties that stretch til dawn. Untouchable vibes. So much happens socially that it is a story in its own right. Three four five act structure. It's about plays and books and movies that cover a single night. A single dinner party. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Fannie & Alexander (part 1). Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
 
sus

sus

Moderator
And as so often happens (this is the whole idea of compression, the stuff that representational art is up to) the party is a microcosm of the larger world. An entire life of a guest is filtered and seen through a single night. The larger social dynamics of the culture are seen on small scale in an intimate dinner party
 
sus

sus

Moderator
The thread is about the liminal space a party opens, in addition to just refracting social structure—the glimmers of communitas and transcendence that come six drinks in, past midnight.
 
sus

sus

Moderator
Russian Doll and Midsummer Night's Dream are variants. Not the thing the thread is about. But not unrelated.

Mrs Dalloway. My Dinner With Andre. Probably some French surrealist and social critique flicks from the 40s-60s I don't know about.
 
woops

woops

is not like other people
suspended said:
probably some French surrealist and social critique flicks from the 40s-60s I don't know about.
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for example daumal's a night of serious drinking. balzac's le peau de chagrin is also framed as a tale told around a table of drinks. then there's the film la grande bouffe wherein a group of bourgeois dine themselves to death
 
sus

sus

Moderator
Six life threads all separate suddenly collide are interwoven the paths are changed as a result. Or maybe they aren't maybe that's the tragedy. In the molly high of communitas anything and everything seems possible. Which makes it all the more tragic when things revert to normal in the morning hangover
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Dazed and Confused is one of my favourite movies. It's one day and night, the night that might not change everything but after which everything changes.

Another of my favourite movies is Gosford Park. That isn't about one night but it is about a party. All the underlying tensions explode. (I guess a lot of those murder mystery films would fall into this thread.)

"Big Night" is a great film, and it's all about one night, and captures quite gloriously the feeling of a party dissolving (temporarily) all tensions.
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
It's a good formula for drama, a party, cos you can set up a social mileau with seething undercurrents, release those pent up emotions via booze and drugs and then show reality reconstituting itself, perhaps slightly or dramatically altered, in the cold light of day.

Parties provide drama in your everyday life in fact. I miss them. 🥲
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Almost forgot probably the best party film I've seen. Some people who went to actual blues parties say it's inaccurate and hate it but it really captured a lot of the feelings I got from parties, although my parties were obviously student parties with mostly white ppl.

 
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Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
That trailer doesn't really show you what it's like. Can't find any clips on YouTube either. Anyway, you should check it out if you've not.
 
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craner

craner

Beast of Burden
There’s The Last Supper with Cameron Diaz.

Gardens, dinner parties…what’s next for Speedo? Garden parties with lemonade and cucumber sandwiches cut into triangles?
 
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Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Bacanal_de_los_andrios.jpg
 
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sus

sus

Moderator
craner said:
There’s The Last Supper with Cameron Diaz.

Gardens, dinner parties…what’s next for Speedo? Garden parties with lemonade and cucumber sandwiches cut into triangles?
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I was just reading Stoppard's Arcadia again
 
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