Grey Gardens: Who's side are you on?

[miguelito]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 11:34pm

so while watching Grey Gardens this weekend, I saw something I didn't when we saw it at Playwrights Horizons.

When we first saw it, I felt that big Edie was just being mean when she told the stories of "Body Beautiful Beale". I bought into what Little Edie was saying...

But this time, I saw something different. I saw Big Edie protecting her daughter from someone who would squash her dreams. Someone that would take her hopes and ambitions and destroy them, all for his own gain.

So here's the question. How do YOU see Grey Gardens? From the view of Little Edie or Big Edie? Are you watching this from the point of view of a parent protecting her child? Or that of a child, dealing with an over-protective parent?

[Chip1012]

Posted: 10/16/06 at 11:56pm

Interesting topic.

When I saw it at Playwrights, I felt Big Edie was telling the story as joyfully (and impulsively) sharing how her daughter turned "a scandal into a triumph" without considering the consequences.

When I returned to the show after the transfer, I thought Ebersole played the scene much more out of fear of abandonment, since we have just learned that Gould plans to leave her, and of course Little Edie is on the verge of marriage. The "Five Fifteen" reprise was clearer in setting up this motivation this time around. Wilson also doesn't play any regret for having done this when it's brought up in Act II, which supports Ebersole's action with Cavenaugh's character.

Updated On: 10/17/06 at 11:56 PM

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/17/06 at 12:09am

I'm not on anyone's "side." I think they had a pretty classic "co-dependent" relationship. However, I don't see at all how Big Edie (in the musical, that is) was trying to "protect" her daughter. I think she wanted to hold on to something she felt she had some control over because everything was slipping away.

Whether conscious on her part or not, she wanted to keep Little Edie back for selfish reasons. I did not see any unselfish motives in anything Big Edie did.

It's not about "over-protection." It's about self-preservation...above all else. Don't you think that Big Edie was pretty successful at "destroying" her daughter's "hopes and ambitions"? She certainly didn't do anything to support them.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/17/06 at 12:28am

It's clear to me that mom wanted to break up the romance.

She may have been jealous or perhaps worried about being alone in the future. I need to watch the documentary again, although it may not answer my question.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 10/17/06 at 12:34am

I don't think this thread is about the "REAL" Edies. It's about what we see in the staged musical.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/17/06 at 12:46am

Yes, well of course it is. There's no such scene in the documentary. the staged musical is the only place we see the younger two Edies and it's the only place where that scene takes place.

whatchutalkinboutwillis?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/17/06 at 8:41am

Didn't see it at Playwrights, but the BBB song, to me, didn't seem to fit in anywhere.

Edie's motivation for telling the story, in the Broadway version, was purely out of fear of abandonment. Extremely vindictive.