Why I Do Theater

http://youtu.be/L9jjhGq8pMM


Watch this over and over........

Women in Science

http://ideas.ted.com/2014/08/14/5-facts-you-should-know-about-women-who-shaped-modern-physics/

Gender Mismatch

http://www.ted.com/talks/geena_rocero_why_i_must_come_out?language=en

Further Quotes from "Secrets of the Flesh"


Regarding the era of the "end of the century" - "It was still in principle, a woman's duty to be virtuous and submissive, but never before had she felt an obligation to be alluring. It is the very complexity of woman that enchants man. Here he has a marvelous domestic servant who can dazzle him without great expense. Is she an angel or a demon? The uncertainty makes her into a sphnix. That was the symbol over the door of one of the most famous brothels in Paris" (112).

"Convention presses against the character of an outsider like the weight of the ocean pressing against a diving bell. It takes an equal inner pressure, a kind of single-mindedness, to resist it. Perhaps that is one reason so many literary women were attracted to Lesbos, and chose never to have children: the temptations of marriage and motherhood were too regressive" (113).

"For the young woman...there is a contradiction between her status as a real human being and her vocation as a female. And just here is to be found the reason why adolescence is for a woman so difficult and decisive a moment. Up to this time, she has been an autonomous individual: now she must renounce her sovereignty. Not only is she torn, like her brothers, though more painfully between the past and the future, but in addition a conflict breaks out between her original claim to be subject, active, free, and, on the other hand, her erotic urges and the social pressure to accept herself as passive object...Oscillating between desire and disgust, between hope and fear, declining what she calls for, she lingers in suspense between the time of childish independence and that of womanly submission" (113).

Meeting with Jenna

Had a great meeting with Jenna today to discuss Gaston. Up until this 2014-2105 version of "Gigi," Gaston has been conveyed as a slightly older (mid 30s-mid 40s) wealthy gentleman who is considerably immune to anything in his life. His family has maintained a very high sense of wealth throughout the generations (a la the Trumps, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Carnegies, ect.) and he literally bored sick of his life. Nothing inspires him, moves him, motivates him. 

OUR Gaston is going to be a much different being.

My Gaston is that moment in "Pretty Woman," where Richard Gere says "When I was a kid all I wanted to do was build something. I don't build anything. I just make money, but I don't do anything with it." I want to build something. 

My Gaston is the grandson teaching his grandfather how to use an iPhone, or how to hail an Uber.

My Gaston has a desire to use his resources for the greater cause, to do something epic with his money. Not simply invest and make more, or just party with women all the time. Don't get him wrong, he loves all that, but he is astutely aware that there is more to be done. "But now marvel at the power of the MIGHTY EIFFEL TOWER, knowing there it will remain evermore. Climbing up the sky over nintey stories high." My Gaston is interested in a legacy. Of leaving his mark in the world forever.

My Gaston is aware that he is living in a time when the world is changing significantly. Turn of the century. A new era. A new dawn. Progress, and he has the ability to be a part of it! The World Exposition is deep into its run, Albert Santos-Dumont has an idea of flying a hot air balloon! HOW EXCITING!

My Gaston has a burning sensation, a drive, a PASSION in him to help create and be the future. 

Today's Gaston is not yesterday's Gaston, or Colette's Gaston in the "Gigi" novella. No, he is fresher, younger, wealthy (and aware of it) of course, sexy (and aware of it, a la Chuck Bass). He is aware everybody knows who he is, yet he still introduces himself as Gaston Lachaille with the humility of someone not in that position. 

Gaston perceives that he has ability to contribute greatly to humanity through inventions, aviation, technology, advancement, progress. This excites him! 

Quotes

Interesting Quotes from Judith Therman's Introduction to "Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette"

"Colette's art is that of the lie. But the great game she plays with us, precisely, to stuff her best lies with great flashes of truth. To read her with pleasure thus consists of disentangling, with a deft pair of tweezers, the true from the false."

"The demimonde, and in particular the homosexual demimonde, was Colette's real theater of resistance....'the valiant of voluptuousness.'"

An era when "The Impressionists has challenged objective perception; now Freud was taking on objective consciousness, Proust the truth of memory, and Einstein the absolutes of matter and energy, time and space."

"The ideal purity for Colette is an Edenic state of harmony enjoyed by wild animals, flora, birds of prey, certain sociopaths, and by ordinary humans only as fetuses. To be pure means to be unhindered by conscious bonds of need or dependence, or by any conflict between male and female drives.

"But how, around 1900, could you possibly become an individual - yourself - and a woman? The question is at the heart of everything she writes. 

Re: Gaston "But the experience of love aroused her profoundest mistrust, and perhaps that is why the men in her works tend to be weak, or very young, or contemptible except for pleasure. A man really worth loving would be an invitation to perdition, and she doesn't want to put temptation in her own path, even in the form of a character."

Inspiration from Jenna:

"I guess what I would love for you to find is that balance between what is an old fashioned wealthy gentleman and what is today's wealthy gentleman. What the commonalities are, what the expectations are, what the responsibilities are and how that fits into an actual human being."

"Pretty Woman"

Richard Gere oozes effortless romance. Extremely confident. Everything is always easy and requires no work, whether it's sipping coffee, taking a shower, getting dressed, or even fighting/arguing. Another intriguing element identical to Gaston is money. Having so much money you don't think about spending it. The accounts are endless. At one point Gere's character says to a sales clerk, "We are here to spend an obscene amount of money." He is aware of how much he has, and is also aware of how it is perceived to people who don't have as much. Sexy.

Still with everything he has - successful corporation, all the money in the world, any woman he desires - he still hasn't truly loved. The beauty of the story comes with the last kind of person he could imagine falling in love with - a whore. "Money Can't Buy Me Love" comes to mind. 

I AM GASTON LACHAILLE

Gaston Inspiration: Exhibit One

Chuck Bass

Chuck has an extremely direct, effortless confidence about him. What he says goes without any question. He sees something, he wants it, he will have it. Manipulation and lying doesn't matter. Very dark and brooding, yet oozing sex and brute confidence. 

FASHION IN 1900s

The period between 1901 and 1910 was known as the Edwardian era after Queen Victoria's successor, King Edward VII. It was considered a time of great change.Early 1900's fashion was dictated by time of day and followed a general rule of morning coats till noon, lounge suits until 6 o' clock, then evening clothes depending on the specific occasion.

Men's Coats

Coats were worn on various occasions. In 1900's fashion, men had different coats for different times of the day as well as for different events. In the winter months, men wore knee-length topcoats or overcoats that were calf-length. For outdoors and shooting, men wore the Norfolk jacket. It was made from heavy tweed and had box pleats over the chest and back. It also had a matching fabric belt.

For formal and semi-formal affairs in 1900's fashion, a sack coat or lounge coat was worn. When dressing for dinner at home or at a gentleman's club, a dinner jacket was worn. It was paired with a white shirt and dark tie. A high-buttoned, single breasted waistcoat was popular for formal day-wear with a cutaway morning coat.

Trousers

Men wore trousers that were shorter in length than in previous years. Trousers had cuffs and were creased in the front and back. They were tighter fitting and tailored unlike the pants of the Victorian era.

Shirts

Shirt collars in the 1900's fashion were tall and stiff. For formal wear, collars were turned over and resembled wings. Most dress shirts were very stiff and had shirt studs. The shirts buttoned up in the back, not the front. Another popular shirt style for daily wear was a shirt with stripes.

Monsieur Gaston Lachaille

Gaston: Probably from a Germanic name derived from the element gasti meaning "stranger". Alternatively, it may derive from the name of the Gascony region of southwestern France. This was the name of several counts of Foix-Béarn, beginning in the 13th century.