For my final project, I will be creating a fictional script of what I imagine a conversation would be between Wharton’s Lily Bart, Wilde’s Dorian Gray, and Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. This conversation will be centered on performances of identity which each of these characters embody; however they all originate from drastically different worlds with various attitudes, experiences, and personalities. This project will entail a deeper dive and analysis into each character and their respective social fabrics which I will achieve through outside research as well as closely examining the novels and album. This project will also require an abundance of creativity in order to construct a conversation between these three fictional characters from completely different worlds.
Lily: the tragic feminine socialite trapped in a world whose favor she is slowly losing as she simultaneously clings to the only life she has ever known and desperately tries to break free to find her own path to find love and happiness. She knows her power, her beauty, and how to wield it as she has been molded within New York high society into a work of art commodified by her society.
Dorian: the young and gorgeous, though naïve and impressionable, man learning to blossom under the guidance of Lord Henry. He dreads the loss of his youth and beauty more than anything and is indeed willing to make a deal with the devil to keep his appearance and to live as he wishes, while transferring his aging to Basil’s portrait of himself. Yet the painting will reflect more than his face, and the ruin of his soul is ultimately much worse.
Ziggy: a Messiah rock-star descended to Earth from outer-space to provide salvation and hope for humanity on the verge of destruction. However, Ziggy is destroyed at the climax of fame, but although he is torn to pieces, he can never truly die as his audience immortalizes him and expands his identity beyond what it was ever meant to be.
My project will see each of these uniquely flawed characters tossed into a room to discuss the ways in which they perform identity. In the course of their conversation, truth will unfold and their real thoughts on the society they are trapped in will inevitably come to light. Each of these blog posts have prepared me to analyze these characters individually and discussions in class have alluded to connections between these works and their main characters, but my final project seeks to delve into our course themes in the most direct way possible. Though the conversation takes place between their respective characters, the worlds and identities of their creators will not be forgotten within the discourse of my script. After all, these characters reflect much of what Wharton, Wilde, and Bowie explore and criticize in their work. Such conceptions framing the construction of the characters, along with my research, will be included in a short paper on what I set out to accomplish through my script.