Saturday, February 27, 2016
Garcin and Estelle
I found it rather interesting that each character wore the colors of his/her couch (Garcin, blue; Inez, green; Estelle, pink) except Garcin wore both blue and pink. Since we already read the play before watching it, we knew that a sexual interaction between Estelle and Garcin was going to happen. Had we not read it though, I would have assumed that Garcin wearing pink and blue foreshadowed/symbolized some sort of interaction between the two characters. Perhaps Garcin wearing both colors was not intentionally done and a total accident, but if you analyze it, it really makes sense.
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That's a really good point Abbey. I also think you could go even further and say that Garcin wears the two colors to represent the change in his attitude or personality once Estelle enters and alters his life (or death rather). He has his blue suit and then the pink shirt under it. If you think about it, he doesn't attempt to take off his coat to fully show the pink until Estelle arrives and he doesn't actually take it off at that point because she hasn't made her complete impact on him yet. The pink coming through represents the immense way that Garcin thinks of his death and punishment in hell. With the blue pants, he still has his original thoughts, but upon Estelle's arrival, he begins to see things in a different light.
Woah, that's actually a great analysis, Belin. I thought about it more after reading your comment and came to another conclusion. Pink is traditionally known to represent females and blue, males. Estelle is obviously very much of a girly-girl, wearing hot pink. Garcin kind of tries to prove his manliness to Inez, Estelle, and especially himself, wearing the blue. But underneath he really is not as manly as he wants to think he is and strives to be. Notice he wears a lighter blue instead of a darker, deeper shade of blue. Thus, the pink underneath his blue represents the feminine, "more sensitive" characteristics hidden under the manly portrayal. Estelle likes "manly men" and so her lusting after Garcin makes him feel he will become more manly if he accepts her attempts at seducing him.
It also could be symbolically significant that when Estelle enters the room, she complains that the pink couch is too ugly so Garcin trades his blue couch with her, mismatching their costumes and couches.
Maybe none of this color matching has any deep significance, but it could also be very intentional on Mr. KP's part.
I have to say that Delgado's performance of No Exit was not at all what I expected. The interpretation of Estelle and Inez were both absolutley different than what I imagined whilst reading the play. Like i said in class, I imagined Estelle almost as Blanche from Streetcar named Desire, and Garcin as a stout Alex Gershanik. However, Delgado's interpretation was more modern, so the change in character appearance was understandable. I also was schocked at the high sexual tension between... well everyone.
I think this is interesting because it brings up a point I always try to make. I don't think it was planned for Garcin to wear both blue and pink, I think it was just a choice made by the costume director. This reminds me of when English teachers try to over analyze everything in a book. Some teachers think that if an author makes wallpaper blue then it means they are depressed. Maybe they just wanted the wallpaper to be blue! There is no need to over analyze everything. Unless they meant to do that, then great point abbey :)
I agree that it probably was intentional, but the thought of the pink symbolizing his "femininity" or cowardice that he tried to hide in the beginning is a very satisfying thought. I remeber thinking about the colors during the play as well, and how it made me feel better that he matched his couch after he took the jacket off. It in a way it reminds me of how Estelle was trying to change herself in order to make garçon want her. He changed his appearance to match the couch and she changed her personality to suit garcins tastes. Inez, the only one on the correct couch was the one who had to constantly point out the fake and pretend.
As I was reading these comments, many people are mentioning something about Garcin and Estelle changing to satisfy the other. I completely agree with this. However, no one really mentioned anything about Inez changing to fit in. I think this is because, honestly, Inez does not try at all. She stays true to herself the whole time. Although I did not really like her character in the play, she was definitely portrayed (and was also in the book) as tough and stubborn from the start. She did not let Garcin and Estelle get under her skin or any of that good stuff. This brings me to the point that I think it is necessary to have one character so stuck in his/her way if the other two are constantly trying to each other. If Inez was not there with "the gaze" **(existentialism)**, then Garcin and Estelle would just successfully satisfy the other's ego and may even wind up living in peace (which would, of course, be against the laws of hell).
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