Comedy of Menace- The Birthday Party

This blog is written in response to the thinking activity given by Yesha Bhatt ma’am on the Comedy of Menace at the Department of English, MKBU.

The Birthday party (1968)

The Birthday Party is a 1968 British drama neo noir directed by William Friedkin and starring Robert Shaw. It is based on the 1957 play The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter. The screenplay for the film was written by Pinter as well. The film, and the play, are considered examples of "comedy of menace", a genre associated with Pinter.

The movie tries to follow the play of Pinter and the characteristics of The Comedy of menace.

The movie begins with the scene of streetlight getting off as the day rises. The boarding house of Mag and Petey comes into frame and we start getting into the notion of absurdity and menace.

The Menace is somewhat, ‘threatening quality, tone or atmosphere’. Where comedy is produced from incongruity, the bizarre, the out-of-place, menace is often produced from nothing. The longer nothing happens, the more anticipated something happening, the greater the tension, anxiety and fear. These kinds of characteristics of drama are the signature style of Pinter’s works.

The protagonist of the movie is Stanly, who lives as a boarder into the boarding house of Mag and Petey. He seems to be lazy and is afraid of stepping out of the house as something is frightening him. 

The suspicious duo of McCann and Goldbeg arrive at the boarding house of Mag to stay and with Mag and a young lady called Lulu they arrange a Birthday party for Stanly which is quite confusing because Stanley denies that it’s not his birthday and all the people are strangers who do not know him quite well.

'The Birthday party' is a very mysterious event in the movie where characters play the game of Blindfold and all the movements and scenes with constantly light getting off and on and the atmosphere of horror that creates is of level of madness or bizarreness. 

The duo of McCann and Goldberg tries to pursue Stanly for unknown reason and at the end of the movie they seem to pursue him with them and they take Stanly with them and for some reason that movement feels frightening and weird.

The Plot of the movie

The movie basically tries to follow the original play of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party. The movie completely takes place in the boarding house of Mag and Petey. There are some scenes outside but for a very short time without any characters. The movie for its limited locations looks like a play performance. 

If we see this movie as Comedy of menace than there are several things to note like

The actions of various characters like McCann and Goldberg, the behavior of Mag and Stanley makes the movie's atmosphere horrific and mysterious.

The character of Stanley is always afraid and never leaves the house. That's why it seems that he is in fear of something or his past life.

The characters of McCann and Goldberg seem to be involved in some kind of criminal activity or working with some ‘Organization”. They want to take Stanly with them and that was their agenda behind coming to the boarding house of Mag. They interrogate Stanley but what they askes does not make any sense.

Various elements like the actions of Mag, Stanley's reaction to the birthday party, McCann and Goldberg’s conversation and interrogation of Stanley seems to make comedy but it more creates absurdity and weirdness for viewers.

Elements of absurdity in the movie.

The first thing that catches eyes is the messy environment of the house of Mag. the cornflakes that get out from the plate and unhygienic kitchen.

The second is the appearance of Stanley and his arrogant behavior toward his landlady Mag and his fear from outsiders and world out from the house.

Then there is the habit of McCann to cut newspapers into pieces. He is obsessed with his activity and also seems to not fully understand the motive of Goldberg.

Another thing that catches eyes is the scene where McCann and Goldberg interrogate Stanley. They do not come from any authority and the way they interrogate and ask questions that do not have any meaning are completely absurd.

Difference between Play and movie adaptation. 

The movie and play both are different forms of visual art. In the play, the story is told through dialogue and stage action, while in the film, the story is told through a combination of dialogue, visuals, and camera work. So, when the medium is changed there are lots of differences.

The movie provides more space than a play where the setting is just a room. In the movie the creators have more freedom  because the play is set in a single room of the boarding house, while the film expands the setting to show the exterior of the boarding house and the surrounding area. This gives the film a greater sense of place and provides a more detailed visual representation of the boarding house.

The movie stays true to its original material and does not change, alter or reimagine any scene but the creators have not included some scene that makes the story lang or does not have much to put into the story like the scene in which Lulu and Goldberg get into argument.

Overall the movie is largely true to the original source of Pinter's play ‘The Birthday Party. It does have some changes but it’s because the Medium of presentation is changed from play to movie.