"I don't want to be interesting. I want to be loved"
The difference between fear of unknown in life and unknown in death

Motormouth and Suckface; a review

Language

Dialogue to imitate text speak

Profanity

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Illustrative teenage attitude, shock effect, Are there characters who don't swear?

Signature motifs and idiosyncrasies

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Caricature so exaggerated that becomes stereotypical and not 3 dimensional. Crowley describes as 'music-like motifs'

Pluto announcing the form of speech they are going to use.

Act 1 scene 4: "Question- why a rose bush"

Tiffany's verbal ticks. Discourse markers (words to fill sentences without meaning)

Act 1 Scene 15: This is like the most boring party evah!"

Tank's "dah"

Act 1 Scene 4: "I'm the only one at this school who wears a nose stud- dah."

Text like dialogue

Act 1 scene 2

Heightened use of language often complex and poetic

Act 1 Scene 11

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Sarah's soliloquy "The ocean of forever upon where the galleon of immortality floats." Plea for meaning and worth

Characters

Relationships

Motormouth and Suckface

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In Motormouth and Suckface's relationship suckface is desperate to be sexually desired and to be considered attractive but Motormouth needs to trust and to be told he is loved. Act 1 Scene 2: Suckface's response to "I love you" is "Don't forget to bring the condoms and read the instructions manual."

The nicknames work as protective facades because the use of real names exposes vulnerability.

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The bizarre nicknames Motormouth and Suckface are an example of language used to convey the attitudes of the characters and how they embrace their own oddities but also explore the fear both characters have of trusting the other.

Zach and Sarah

Popular

Blasko and Parents

Parents use subtext to convey meaning whilst Blasko is very literal

Belonging

Hilary and Motormouth

Unrequited love and rejection

Demi and Tiffany

Stereotypical high school Queen Bees Frienship

Hugo and Tank

Act 1 Scene 18

Themes

Modern struggles of the youth

Existential Awareness

Realization of imminent and certain death

Tank's Leukemia

Environmentalism

Sexuality Exploration

Desire for approval and to be love/ Fear of loneliness and judgement

Invincible/Immortal Attitude

Act 1 Scene 18

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"She'll get over it." Every time a character dies to become a zombie the immediate response is that it's not a worry because they won't stay dead for long. It is well documented that the teenage brain is prone to risk taking and thrill chasing because its understanding of its own mortality is corrupted.

Rebellion

Plot and timeline

Set in Melbourne 2007

Act 1 Scene 9

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Time: Several references to pop culture such as Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Kylie Minogue important for context. Scattered throughout play mentions of the drought and its effect.Place: Act 1 Scene 13: Blasko observes Wesley College and Mandeville Hall

Time and place shifting between party/before party/other dimensions and voids that connect through time warps

Act 1 Scene 4

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School cast in discussion with Blasko's introduction dispersed between on diving board. Whilst Blasko talks rest of cast in "weird time shift slo mo movement"

Intended Deeper Meanings and Intentions

Teenage Suicide

Idealism

Theatrical Conventions to enhance plot and character

Breaking fourth wall

Act 1 Scene 7

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Zach and Sarah in intimate moment of conversation. Sarah pours heart into confession of love Zach addresses audience to confide and complain. The aside actually builds tension so the dialogue can move back and forth without Zach having to speak to her. Audience becomes informed on relationship and Zach's hesitation but is also an act of betrayal.  

Aside

Act 1 Scene 15

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Zach's small monologue expresses his own fears of loneliness using a vast range of imagery; "my legs are spring loaded and I leap like a cricket into the air." Zach voices the fear of being meaningless in an infinite world that commonly arises in adolescence. "Screaming as if my life depended on the whole world hearing."

Transformations of time or "disjointed time sequences"

Act one Scene 23

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The play ends in the alternate dimension

Transformation of character between zombies and humans

Caricatures and exaggerated features of personality

Symbols and transformation of object

Act 1 Scene 22

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"Hilary produces a large balloon painted to look like the earth""Hilary pops balloon"

Non-naturalism

Song

"Bollywood Diversion" Act 1 Scene 21

Comedy

Concepts

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Is there a word for this? Not style or theme?

Electric Rock

Neon

Disco

Cyber

Steam Punk