Virginia Tech Killer's Playwriting Assignments Found

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 8:32pm

http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/2#comments

If they prove to be true, you can't help but wonder "And they didn't report this."

Read on.

Warning: Very graphic, f*cked up stuff.

Updated On: 4/17/07 at 08:32 PM

[Kgshrauder]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 9:16pm

I read these earlier tonight, and I totally agree, why wouldn't anyone do anything. I would have been fearful to say anything just because of the things I read about this guy.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 9:20pm

They are quite chilling.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 9:28pm

Wonder how long before someone actually thinks of producing them (double bill)...

[C is for Company]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 9:32pm

Better sweep them under the rug before Tarantino/Rodriguez find them.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 9:47pm

My God, they were awful on so many different levels.

I've felt a little sick to my stomach ever since hearing about the shooting, and it refuses to subside.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 10:20pm

if this is an example of what passes for senior level writing by an english major i'm much more chilled about what this says about the va tech english department than what it says about the writer.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 10:35pm

Could somebody please explain to me how this differs from the work of Adam Rapp? Except the teenage boy in the McBeef one is more articulate than Rapp's characters. Same homosexual panic. Same disaffected everything.

I mean, if getting this sort of thing produced prevents crimes by the likes of Rapp and Neil LaBute, then, that's good, I guess.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 10:39pm

we probably just don't get it, namo. surely one of the more enlightened here can share the glow of understanding with us so that we might see as they do.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 10:46pm

I just read the second one and it's kinda funny. Very VERY Adam Rapp, only instead of characters spending inordinate amounts of time watching a death match on a TV screen that the audience doesn't have the privilege of seeing (Stone Cold Dead Serious), they're playing a slot machine.

But otherwise it's not that far off. I mean, it's not GOOD, but most college playrwrighting isn't. But it's pretty damn Rappian.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 10:50pm

If there aren't any songs about volcanoes and references to a father soiling himself, I'm not interested.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 11:00pm

Well, I think we can presume that Dick McBeef soiled himself at the end of page 9.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 11:00pm

That thought occurred to me too, Namo. Acutally, the lingo in the second one reminds me of Neil LaBute's The Distance From Here, and it isn't nearly as disturbing as the LaBute play. The first one was pretty disturbing.

Granted, the writing here kind of sucks, but I don't see how anyone reading this would necessarily think the boy could end up going on the rampage that he did. Others have written disturbing plays or screenplays without kiling people afterwards.

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 11:05pm

And there's a lovely description of the inner workings of Mr. Brownstone's bowels, too. Two peas in a pod, indeed!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 11:09pm

The context of it (both at the AOL thing and on NPR) informs us that everybody in the class was freaked out by him, that he didn't respond to conversations with classmates, that his teacher WAS alarmed by his writing and that she informed counseling services AND the police and that she worked with him alone for a whole semester to try to get through to him and to encourage him to confront his troubles but it was a no-go.

And that the authorities' hands were tied because he didn't make any actual threats.

I heard a talk radio host (whose livelihood depends on the first amendment) complaining about "first amendment crazies" who think it's "okay" that somebody "can just write anything" when maybe this could have been prevented. It's quite a leap of logic. Because remember, Johnny Cash never "shot a man in Reno just to watch him die."

But he MIGHT have!

And frankly, this guys 20 pages are not that much stupider or more disturbing than the Rapp and LaBute oevre, and certain sectors celebrated their "deep understanding" of how the antisocial set ticks. Maybe some "first amendment crazies" should get outta the way and let the authorites lock them up?

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 11:15pm

I'm assuming that there's more to these plays than the snippets there? Because outside of some inappropriate use of a half-eaten breakfast bar and the appearance of a chainsaw mom had lying around in her room, it wasn't all that shocking to me. But I saw "Trojan Women 2.0."

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 4/17/07 at 11:33pm

"the lingo in the second one reminds me of Neil LaBute's The Distance From Here"

My thoughts exactly. Honestly though, I hate LaBute's writing and if I had read Distance from Here by a student in school, I would honestly be freaked out. It's a horrible play.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/18/07 at 8:18am

but he could have, girl, and that's the point! we have to stop these people before they kill. i demand that tom cruise be allowed to re-start the precog program.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/18/07 at 8:26am

re-start it? I thought that it was still in use in some sectors.

I must say that a lot of people work out their frustrations and feelings through art. Granted, there was very little artistic about these plays, but if I read them not knowing anything about the guy, I'd have said "at least he took out his issues in a constructive way".
So I agree that to call these a warning sign in hindsight is silly.
If that's the criteria for crazy, why is Eszterhas still walking around a free man?

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 4/18/07 at 9:08am

Ok, I read both, and was disturbed by "McBeef" and confused by "Mr. Brownstone."

That said, after reading "McBeef": As a future teacher, we have a few psychology classes we have to take (at least at my school we do). After reading that, it would have put up a red flag, to watch the kid, and see what was wrong. And, as a person, that would have told me the EXACT same thing.

Calling it a warning sign now, yes, silly. However, had they paid a bit more attention things might have been different.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/18/07 at 9:15am

The English teacher was on CNN today talking about his "writing" and she said she did in fact try to get counselors involved and even the police at one point. But you can't really arrest someone or have an investigation over a fiction...yet.
As someone who was given a rash of sh*t for "disturbing" writing in high school, I find the content of the plays to be a completely moot point in all of this.

Actually, Mr Brownstone reminds me of early Sam Shepard.

Updated On: 4/18/07 at 09:15 AM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/18/07 at 10:02am

well, obviously the sooner we can imprison people for their writings the safer we'll be as a society.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/18/07 at 10:08am

papa, if that's how you feel then you should turn yourself in!

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/18/07 at 10:41am

Mr. Brownstone reminded me of "Saved by the Bell."

[tazber]

Posted: 4/18/07 at 10:43am

Yes Cal, the similarities are uncanny.