YA 7_3 HD, in English, with critical commentary

This clip is offered in hope of making available an English-language version of "Young Americans" (YA) of higher visual quality than seems to have been available online, together with comments (below) that may enhance appreciation of YA as dramatic art.

Questions that may be worth asking about YA episode 7, part 3, include:

-- In episode 7, as in episode 6, Hamilton Fleming's behavior seems deliberately ambiguous, "hard to read." In both episodes, a naive view of his conduct implies that he behaves in a way inconsistent both with his character as developed in previous episodes and with the moral idealism of YA's narrative perspective, which Fleming in previous episodes exemplified to a literally mythical extent; however, to view his behavior as consistent with his character and with the narrative perspective as previously developed implies not only that he masks his emotions, but also that he is a consummate actor and plans outcomes not easy to predict or control. Yet the problem of interpreting Fleming's behavior also differs between episodes 6 and 7. Fleming's character, as developed in episodes 1 through 5, seems calculatingly compassionate, a combination of traits dramatically illustrated in YA's climactic "frog prince" scene in episode 4, when Fleming engages in an act of prudence -- checking the men's room's stalls -- even while claiming to be "throwing caution to the winds" as his compassion for 'Jake' Pratt liberates his passion for Pratt. In which episode -- 6 or 7 -- does a naive view of Fleming's behavior imply chiefly a failure of compassion, and in which does it imply chiefly a failure of calculation?

-- A view of Fleming's behavior in episode 7 as fully compassionate and calculating, fully consistent with his character as previously developed, although requiring belief that he is a consummate actor and strategist, is that immediately after the first dock scene, Fleming fully understands and begins to respond deviously and foresightedly to the threat that Ryder seems deliberately to pose to Pratt's ability to stay at Rawley by outing Pratt and Fleming as gay. Fleming perceives, not only correctly but immediately, that his best available response to Ryder's threat is to stage a very public break-up with Pratt, sufficient to blunt the threat of their "outing" for the sole remaining week of the summer term; to this end, Fleming first announces publicly his intent to move in with Pratt, then tells Pratt about it in a manner that virtually ensures her rejection of it, then communicates Pratt's rejection of it to other students, then stages a fight with Ryder to give maximum publicity to his publicly telling Pratt that their relationship is "not worth it," and finally makes up privately with Pratt. However, does the last scene in the previous clip, in which Fleming persuades his mother to allow him to move into the dorms, seem consistent with the view that Fleming adopts this strategem immediately after the first dock scene? Would he need parental approval for a move he does not intend in fact to effect?

-- While informing Pratt that he intends to move into her room, Fleming indicates that he owns a guitar, as well as a stereo and a rock band poster. Have we had any previous indication that Fleming is inclined to music, not just photography? With what mythic character might Fleming's musical inclination underscore his apparent identification?

-- Can the manner in which Fleming communicates to Pratt his proposal that he move into her room be explained adequately without implying either (a) that he doesn't really want Pratt to accept the proposal, or (b) that he is under some emotional stress that clouds his judgment? Which of these explanations seems the better, and why? Are they mutually exclusive, or might both be true?

-- Upon being told by Bella Banks that she is "pretty sure" that Scout Calhoun is her half-brother, Sean McGrail tells Bella that were he her, he wouldn't be content with "pretty sure," i.e., that he would investigate the veracity of the allegation. This is exactly what Calhoun has been urging Bella to do. Is McGrail's selfish interest in Bella, his passion for her, served by suggesting this course of action to Bella? Or is this suggestion essentially compassionate? In making it, does McGrail seem to prove himself the moral peer of YA's Rawley-student protagonists?

The two still shots at the start of this clip are of "Orpheus' loss of Eurydice," by Jacopo del Sellaio (late 15th century), Belvedere Gallery, Vienna, and of Maxwell Parrish's "The Frog Prince" (1912). The lute music played during those still shots is Hans Neusiedler's "Gassenhauer" (a tune heard on the street, c. 1536). YA's musical theme for its Pratt/Fleming scenes, previous episode recapitulations, and most crew rowing scenes, Hans Zimmer's "True Romance" theme, is adapted from Carl Orff's "Gassenhauer nach Hans Neusiedler" (1935).

-- Ichabod Grubb, August 2010

Category:

Education

Tags:

• YA 7_3 HD
• Young Americans
• Steven Antin
• Twelfth Night
• Orpheus and Eurydice
• Frog Prince
• Beauty and the Beast
• Cupid and Psyche
• Wife of Bath's Tale
• Gawain and Ragnell
• test of true love
• passion and compassion
• eros and agape
• rejuvenation
• redemption
• Jake and Hamilton
• Kate Bosworth
• Mark Famiglietti
• Katherine Moennig
• Rodney Scott
• Ian Somerhalder
• Ed Quinn
• Matt Czuchry
• Charlie Hunnam
• Michelle Monaghan