I'm Gonna Rearrange Your Face

Inspired by our overdependence on and unquestioning loyalty to technology and what would happen if hackers with a sense of humor decided to move people around like pieces on a chessboard. Would we like it? This sketch suggests that we would (eventually). Heck, technology never lies, so it must be right.

Dr. Picasso: “Hello Ms. Sotheby.”
Christie: “Hello, Dr. Picasso. You can call me Christie.”

Christie’s and Sotheby’s are names of two auction houses that specialize in luxury goods.

Dr. Monet: “Tres Bien. Go ahead and look. Can you clearly see the man in the rowboat?” – Taken from Claude Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise” (1872), the painting that inspired the Impressionist movement.

Dr. Picasso: “But it wasn’t without immense sacrifice on his part, you know. Dr. Williams selflessly took on first class hotels in New York with room service, $2000 suits, massive amounts of wealth, critical acclaim, and interviews where he claims he’s speaking for the common man while using vernacular that the common man would never dream of using unless he was trying to win a game of Scrabble. Dr. Williams also bore the yoke by absorbing all those Pulitzer Prizes, Tony awards and late night binges of amphetamines and barbiturates into his system so you wouldn’t have to.”

See Tennessee Williams’s essay: “The Catastrophe of Success” (1947), which is included in “The Glass Menagerie” edition listed in the reference section below. The suit was actually $125 dollars, the number depicted here ($2000) is made up. It still was an expensive suit though; the actual inflation adjusted number, according to usinflationcalculator.com, is about $1400.

Dr. Picasso: “…late night binges of amphetamines and barbiturates…”: Initially it was believed that Mr. Williams had died from choking to death by inhaling the small plastic cap of a bottle like those used on bottles such as nasal spray or eye solution. A corrected report stated that Mr. Williams had been using the plastic cap found in his mouth to ingest barbiturates and had actually died from a toxic level of Seconal. The irony in the role that a piece of plastic played in the death of a man who invented plastic theatre was not lost on us.

Dr. Picasso: “Projection. You would go on and on the entire play blaming your failures on your parents, and when you can’t get the point of your non-biodegradable, fully recyclable plot across to the theatergoers, rather than blaming yourself on your shortcomings as a playwright, you simply blame the audience.”
Christie: “Dodging responsibility and critics? I like that...”

In Tennessee Williams’s production notes, he writes “The purpose of [the screen device] will probably be apparent. It is to give accent to certain values in each scene. Each scene contains a particular point (or several) which is structurally the most important. In an episodic play, such as this, the basic structure or narrative line may be obscured from the audience; the effect may be fragmentary rather than architectural. This may not be the fault of the play so much as a lack of attention in the audience. The legend or image upon the screen will strengthen what is merely allusion in the writing and allow the primary point to be made more simply and lightly than if the entire responsibility were on the spoken lines.”

Dr. Picasso: “I can refer you to Eugène Ionesco. He has a Roberta II deal going on. I get asked about it all the time. Homely, nine fingers on the left hand, with three noses. He’ll even throw in a near total lexicon-ectomy for free. Never misplace your cat again!
Christie: “’Cat’?”
Dr. Picasso: Sorry, never misplace your eyeglasses again…

“Roberta II”: Refers to Ionesco’s play “Jack or The Submission.”
“Never misplace your cat again!”: A reference to a line Roberta II said to Jack: “All we need to designate things is one single word, cat.”

Christie: “Oh. Well, I don’t think that’ll do either. Do you know if he has anything more radical?”
Dr. Picasso: “Yes, actually, he does. He told me about it yesterday. A new procedure he just staged. It’s called “The Emperor.” 100 percent off of each arm and leg, a head-ectomy, and complete torso removal.” “The Emperor” refers to Ionesco’s play “The Chairs.”

References:
Ionesco, E. (1958). The Bald Soprano and Other Plays. Translated by Donald M. Allen. Grove Press.

U.S. Inflation Calculator. https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

Williams, T. (1999). The Glass Menagerie. New Directions Publishing. First published in 1945.

Wikipedia. Tennessee Williams. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Williams