Site Meter Reflections on Playboy: F. Murray Abraham’s Salieri shows how piety can corrupt

February 27, 2006

F. Murray Abraham’s Salieri shows how piety can corrupt

Having seen the movie version of Amadeus countless times, I went eagerly to a local production of the play on Saturday. I enjoyed it but was disappointed by its portrayal of Salieri, who seemed insufficiently motivated to take his Anakin Skywalker–esque journey to the dark side. The acting and writing (playwright Peter Shaffer has revised his work several times) conspired to give Salieri the breezy cynicism of a Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, or H. L. Mencken, and I can’t imagine any of those guys clinging as tenaciously to spite as Salieri does. They wouldn’t see the point, because they would never have possessed the naïve moralism of the young Salieri.

The movie gets it right. As played by Abraham, Salieri is clearly a true believer for whom disillusionment can inspire a deep and abiding hatred. He sets an example of how not to cope with the terribly uneven and arbitrary distribution of human gifts and talents. Failure to cope with it drives the common complaint that images of beautiful women hurt ordinary women’s self-esteem. Not to be insensitive or anything, but just deal with it.

Related earlier posts:
Celebrate Mozart’s birthday by renting Amadeus
Mozart damages Salieri’s self-esteem

Posted by Brian Sorgatz at 10:13 AM

  • Blogger ren.kat left this comment at October 26, 2006 6:22 AM  
    This whole comparison is interesting. An odd comparison perhaps since there is nothing divine about women in Playboy or in beauty competitions. Salieri's (Shafer's Salieri, of course) is furious with God. This theme is played out again is Shafer's other play Equus- a man defines the world according to dogma (the Catholic church in one case, the results of his own reasoning in the other) and when the world doesn't behave according to dogma he snaps back in rage. You don't see many women blinding beauty contestants (thank God!). Very few little girls are taught by the media to expect beauty if they are "good" enough. Speaking as a woman, I'd say that we want those beauties to be dumb. When they have beauty and brains, well. . . okay, but we don't go poisoning them! :-) Thanks for a fun read!

  • Blogger Brian Sorgatz left this comment at October 26, 2006 6:22 PM  
    Thank you, ren. Unlike you, I sometimes see intimations of the divine in Playboy (and other places), although it’s more of a polytheistic than a monotheistic sensibility. Speaking of Equus, the young actor who plays Harry Potter plans to appear nude in an upcoming production.

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