Despite the fact I did not find the plot of Fences all that intriguing, I thought it served as an interesting example of character development using certain tools. So far in this class, we have not spent much time looking at different voices, and I thought the use of dialect served to not only give character distinction, but to highlight the racial and historical background of the characters. It was a character trait in and of itself, but it was also a signifier of a greater cultural context, that gave instant depth to the character just by the sound of it.
Other than that though, I thought the family dynamic was a bit stereotypical and two-dimensional. The father-son conflict was not flushed out enough, and they were both angry for the sake of being angry. I think this is interesting because it poses the question; how to go about creating something emotionally intense? I think there is a huge difference between something that causes emotional purging that is organic and interesting, and drama just for the sake of furthering the plot. Oftentimes I thought the characters were being overly angry or dramatic just because this was meant to be a dramatic play, and it was not realistic, nor did it make me particularly interested in the characters.
Maybe that was another issue I had with this play. I did not sympathize with any of the characters. For example, Troy was a grown man with the maturity of a 14 year old. He was self-pitying, and completely egocentric. I id not care what happened to him, and oftentimes pegged him as the antagonist. Meanwhile, Rose, his wife, I found to be a very nondescript female co-star. She was plain, yet strong at the essential times, but not in any progressive, intriguing way. I found her to be the typical female character that is needed in every play to counter balance the overly-aggressive male cast. The only character who had any originality, and I found any interest in reading about was Gabe, and even he was taken advantage of by every other character, which was just frustrating.
Overall, I thought the play was interesting, but cliché, and the characters gave off the illusion of depth simply because they were moody, when in fact, I think they were stereotypical and underdeveloped.
