Introduction
It is difficult to imagine life in a society without lies, and in most cases, complete truthfulness does not allow people to achieve their goals. Sometimes people do not want to hear the truth, which destroys strategic plans the individuals might have in other situations. Moreover, lies becomes the shield that protects people from tragedy, which makes it a convenient way to avoid the truth. The movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Richard Brooks and Dan Fogelman, is based on Tennessee Williams’s play, which vividly illustrates these claims. It is impossible to divide culture from lies because people regard deception as a way to preserve polite relationships and to pursue their egoistic aims.
Discussion and Analysis
In the movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, interpersonal relations are based on lies, which leads to the aggravation of conflicts between them. The narration is centered around the story of one family that experiences a difficult time. The family patriarch, Big Daddy, is diagnosed with cancer, but only his relatives know about it. The man is unaware of his illness, but his relatives want to inherit his estate and money. It results in increased tension between family members because they lie to each other. Some of them lie because they want to preserve the emotional stability of the person they love, while others lie because they have practical motivation to inherit money (Brooks and Fogelman). Therefore, all protagonists in the movie are motivated to lie, but they cannot be completely truthful with others and with themselves.
It is impossible to discuss the characters of the movie without referring to the play by Williams because the directors preserve the original emphasis that the author makes. Michiels (18) writes that Williams emphasizes the critical impact of transformation in the protagonists’ development. His plays are a combination of the “realistic conventions” based on mendacity and the attempts of people to pursue their egoistic aims or to hide from the surrounding reality (Michiels 18). At the same time, when the protagonists finally manage to stop lying to themselves and other people, they experience catharsis or purification of their souls because they come to terms with the world and themselves (Michiels 19). This example shows that lies are the problem that the person should overcome to find inner balance and solve the problems in their lives.
The movie protagonists have dramas that do not allow them to become truly happy in their lives, which makes them lie to others and themselves. Brick is one of the examples that illustrate this hypothesis. He starts drinking after his best friend Skipper dies, and he hates his wife Maggie because he thinks that she is responsible for the suicide of his companion. He cannot tell the truth either to his wife Maggie or his father, Big Daddy when they ask why this grief and hatred towards his woman (Brooks and Fogelman). Brick cannot tell them about his homosexual affection for his deceased friend because it is not acceptable in the traditional American society of the 1950s homophobic and not tolerant of such inclinations (Ciba 109). There is no need to say that their inability to confess his tragedy, his homosexual feelings and his constant lies to other people and himself depress him.
The lies in the convenient means of making the surrounding reality easy to accept because it allows us to disregard the actual state of things. The peculiar detail is that Skipper calls Big Daddy before he commits suicide and tells his friend’s father about his homosexual love. It is shocking information to Big Daddy, and he refuses to hear it. He calls it the lies and often says that he detests mendacity (Brooks and Fogelman). This example shows that Big Daddy is afraid of the truth despite his aggressive reaction to the lies, emphasizing his lack of desire to accept reality.
Brick’s brother and his wife have many children, emphasizing it from the beginning of the movie. Children sing the song to Big Daddy, and they behave loudly. Still, their parents, Mae and Gooper, do not stop reminding Maggie and Brick that they do not understand that children’s behavior is normal because they are childless. Gooper and Mae do not love Big Daddy much, and their primary motivation is to inherit after his death. It explains their reason to be children to Big Daddy and reminds him that they are his only grandchildren (Brooks and Fogelman). It is impossible to state that this conduct is a complete lie, but still, it is not truthful and sincere. Mae and Gooper are practical in their decisions, emphasizing their implied mendacity, far from moral behavior.
At the end of the movie, Grooper gives Big Mama, who recently learned about her husband’s cancer, the draft of the will, which terrifies the woman. This action shows that Grooper’s motivation to lie to Bid Daddy was based on the desire to profit from his death. They did not feel compassionate toward the dying father, emphasizing their egoistic characters (Brooks and Fogelman). This scene shows that Grooper and his wife did not lie to their parents about cancer because they did not want to ruin their emotional state. In their case, the lies were practically motivated.
At the same time, other protagonists of the movie lie because they want to support Big Daddy emotionally, and in this situation, their deceit is a sign of compassion. For instance, Big Daddy and Big Mamma dream about seeing children from Brick and Maggie, whom they like more than Grooper and Mae. When Maggie tells everyone that she is pregnant, she gives hope to Bid Daddy and Big Mamma, who are hopeless because of the deadly diagnosis (Brooks and Fogelman). Even though Maggie lies and Brick understands that her pregnancy is inaccurate, he supports it. The lies help them preserve the illusion of happiness and optimism in the tragic situation, which makes it promising.
The vital detail is that the attempt to make Big Daddy and Big Mamma happier in the critical situation with the lies changes the relationships between Maggie and Brick for the better. Even though they did not start to live as the average couple where both partners love each other, the confession to Maggie makes Brick doubt whether he is as lonely as he used to think (Brooks and Fogelman). In this case, Maggie attempts to improve the situation using lies, and her motivation is not self-centered, especially compared to Groover’s reasons to lie. She is not guided by the desire to inherit money from Big Daddy, and she is not afraid of coming out. This scene from the movie shows that altruism is the way to grow personally, even though it requires lies as the instrument to give hope to other individuals.
Thus, the development of the characters in the discussed movie is connected with overcoming their weaknesses, and deceit is the problem that does not allow them to progress. The peculiar detail is that the development is associated with the protagonists’ change of character and thoughts. It will enable Michiels to write about the self-reflexivity of the protagonists in the movie (Michiels 20). In other words, the protagonists change their perception of themselves, their goals, and their relationships with others, leading to the prolific change that resolves the conflicts that make them suffer. However, these conflicts are not evident from first sight, even though the movie uses visual means of expression. It shows that the development of characters is the moving power in the narration.
The movie shows that deception is also the means of avoiding unnecessary questions that reflect social expectations. It is possible to talk about the heteronormative sexual principles that were dominant in the American culture of the 1950s (Gindt 57). The example of Maggie and Brick illustrates this claim vividly because Maggie has to lie about the pregnancy to make the dyeing Big Daddy happier and because everyone in the family expects her to give birth to the child. The family disapproves of homosexuality and expects Brick to make Maggie pregnant because it is not expected from their point of view to be childless. All these details that reflect the cultural background of the time show that the lies can serve as a shield from external pressure and expectations.
In general, dishonesty always has a clear motivation: the person’s response to the situation they cannot solve without lies. Inheritance issues, dealing with social expectations, and lying to preserve the emotional stability of another person are completely different goals, but they all have an apparent reason. In all cases, the lies hide the existing problems that people have, and in most situations, it aggravates their state.
Conclusion
It is possible to conclude that lies give most people the illusion they want to preserve. Still, it deprives them of the opportunity to grow as personalities, overcome their weaknesses, and see things’ natural state. Therefore, mendacity is an integral part of relationships in the discussed movie, and this situation reflects the actual state of things in society. People might have various motivations to lie, but all types of lies are united by the desire of individuals to create or preserve the illusion of normality.
In most cases, they try to pursue their own goals, profit from the particular situation or hide from reality. These lies destroy human personality and do not allow people to develop. Moreover, these lies give people the illusion of control over their lives, even though it is not valid. At the same time, when individuals decide to help others, they feel that they can get rid of their psychological problems even if they have to lie to save another person. This situation shows that telling others the lies to save them or to make them happier is a selfless action that has a therapeutic effect.
The movie by Brooks and Fogelman, which is based on the play by Tennessee Williams, shows that dishonesty is a dubious thing. It can be both harmful and saving, depending on the person’s motivation when they lie to others. There is no clear answer in the movie about whether the lies are acceptable in a particular situation. Still, the story shows that it is impossible to imagine a society where all members are truthful.
Works Cited
Brooks, Richard, Fogelman, Dan, dir. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Avon Productions, 1958.
Ciba, Daniel. “Williams’s Queer Fan Mail and Collective Memory.” The Tennessee Williams Annual Review, no. 19, 2020, pp. 109–36.
Gindt, Dirk. “Cat without Claws: Death and Homophobia in Ingmar Bergman’s Production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”.” The Tennessee Williams Annual Review, no. 19, 2020, pp. 57–86.
Michiels, Laura. The Metatheater of Tennessee Williams: Tracing the Artistic Process Through Seven Plays. McFarland, 2021.