An Interpretation Of Superior Donuts From The Perspective Of Bakhtin’s Carnival Theory

Tracy Letts(1965--)is one of the famous contemporary American playwrights,actors,and screenwriters.His play works as well as films that he starred in have drawn attention of the critics at home and abroad.Among them,August: Osage County won the Tony Prize,Pulitzer Prize in 2008,becoming one of the most award-winning drama works in the 21 st century.Tracy Letts also has become a prestigious playwright in the United States,which has established his position as a new generation playwright.Superior Donuts is a rare comedy work by Tracy Letts and the multi-shot sitcom of the same name adapted from the play was released on CBS in the United States in 2017,which soon won unanimous praise from audiences at home and abroad.The characters,plot and dialogue in Superior Donuts have strong comic and carnival characteristics.This thesis uses Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnival theory to interpret the play in detail,in order to explore the carnivalization elements and their profound meaning.In addition to the introduction and the conclusion,this paper is divided into three chapters.The introduction briefly describes Tracy Letts’ s life,his main works,the plot of Superior Donuts and the research status of the play at home and abroad,then systematically explains Bakhtin’s carnival theory,and finally points out the significance of the research.The first chapter discusses the concept of Carnival square in Superior Donuts.Carnival square is a free place for performance,the symbolic place where carnival culture can be extended,and moreover the embodiment of universality.The doughnut shop in the play is a very typical carnival square,where all the people are active participants,being involved in the performance of carnival.The shopkeepers,waiters and customers in Superior Donuts are all the participants in the carnival performance,who have different races,beliefs,ages and occupations,as well as different personalities.The dessert shop named “Superior Donuts” provides them with a place to fully express and show their true selves.Therefore,Superior Donuts is endowed with strong carnival characteristics.The second chapter analyzes the specific performance of carnival ceremony—crowning and de-crowning ceremony in Superior Donuts.This chapter mainly focuses on the main characters,setting and ideology.In terms of the main characters,the paper analyzes the process of crowning and de-crowning of their personality around Arthur,Franco and Max,so as to show the duality of the process.In addition,the setting in the play also experienced the process of crowning and de-crowning in the micro(donut shop)and macro(American Society).Through the medium of doughnuts,Superior Donuts connect the secular life status and spiritual life of each customer and witness the ups and downs of their lives.Donut shop is also an epitome of the whole American society.Its development also reflects the carnival characteristics of decapitation and coronation,as well as the change and prosperity of American social development.Finally,the thesis elaborates the process of de coronation and coronation of the American dream,race and gender in the play,and shows that any system and order,any power and status(referring to hierarchical status)have funny relativity.The third chapter analyzes the carnival characteristics of language,mainly dialogue in the Superior Donuts,such as Socratic Dialogue,Menippean Satire,and polyphony.Firstly,by analyzing the characters’ different perspectives on the handmade donuts and the novel created by Franco,this thesis reflects the depiction of different characters,so as to understand that the ultimate purpose of Socratic Dialogue in carnival theory is to de-simplify and eliminate the understanding of the so-called authoritative truth.Secondly,the main characteristics of Menippean Satire include sharp contrast,soliloquy insertion,anti-traditional behaviors and criticism of current ideas,so as to finally achieve the purpose of anti-official,anti-authority and antiuniqueness.The dialogues between the characters in Superior Donuts are rich in comedy,including Franco’s daydreaming utopian fantasy,the strong contrast of personality differences between different characters,and the protagonist Arthur’s seven soliloquies,all of which reflect the characteristics of Menippean Satire.Finally,Bakhtin borrowed the term “polyphony” in musicology,emphasizing the independence of the protagonist’s consciousness,and reflected the phenomenon of “multi voice part” in his works.The characters in Superior Donuts have independent thoughts and distinctive personalities.As ethnic descendants of immigrants,they live together in the melting pot of the United States.They speak for themselves,forming a harmonious multi-voices symphony.The conclusion points out that as a rare comedy work of Tracy Letts,Superior Donuts appropriately reflects the characteristics of carnival square,carnival ceremony and carnival language in Bakhtin’s carnival theory.The diversified characterizations and dialogues in the script are full of strong comic color,reflecting Tracy Letts’ s thoughts of anti-official,anti-utopian and anti-traditional.The universality,equality and resistance spirits contained in it reflect the playwright Letts’ humanistic concern for the marginalized and minority groups in the United States.