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Bluest eye notes: adaptations of the book

Morrison has not authorised many adaptations of her book for the stage. Indeed, Morrison has only granted permission to adapt her book twice thus far, once to Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and more recently to playwright Lydia R. Diamond.

In 2017 the Guthrie theatre took on the production of The Bluest Eye, which was produced and adapted by Lydia R. Diamond. This production is said to give the book "a poetic staging." Moreover, in this play, Diamond had a specific audience in mind throughout each scene, even though her production was originally supposed to be aimed directly at children. The adapted script is written in such a way that the abuse be presented in a stylized form, so as to be appropriate for the intended audience. The production was critically appraised, with the role of Pecola being particularly celebrated.

From March 1st to April 1st 2018 there will be be another production of The Bluest Eye, but once again the adaptation has been done by Lydia R. Diamond. The production is directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges. This adaptation aims to particularly explore the challenges faced by a community entering into a changing era while dealing with the destructive force of racism.

Controversy Cases:

Montgomery County, Maryland The Bluest Eye was legally challenged on February 10, 1998 by a mother named Christine Schwalm. She brought The Bluest Eye and four other books to the attention of the Montgomery County school board, describing The Bluest Eye and others as "lewd, adult books".[13] Ms Schwalm argued for the book being removed due to the fact that it was seen to be “at odds with the character education programme” taught within schools. Additionally, Ms Schwalm decided to read a passage from the novel in order to demonstrate the inappropriate behaviour presented within it. The passage which was selected was one involving Soaphead Church, indicating pedophelia and child molesting. The book, however, was not removed from the curriculum. East Wake High, North Carolina In July, 2013, East Wake High removed The Bluest Eye from their reading lists due to inappropriate content highlighting the fact that the book contains “a description of a father raping his daughter.” Furthermore, East Wake High assigned an alternative book to their reading list, known as the The Color Purple. The Bluest Eye, however, is still available within their libraries for students to read if they wish as they wanted to make it clear that they were not “necessarily denying students access to that level of literature.” State of Ohio In September, 2013, The Bluest Eye was challenged by the Ohio Board of Education President Debe Terhar. The book was challenged due to it being seen as "pornographic"[28] and thus unsuited for 11th graders to read. This book was listed as recommended reading in the state's Common Core standards, but was challenged at the state's Board of Education, with teachers pushing to ban it from the classroom due to its explicit content. Terhar took particular issue when it came to the scene regarding Pecola being raped by her father. Although not seen commenting on previous challenges to her books, Morrison specifically commented on this particular incident: "I mean if it's Texas or North Carolina as it has been in all sorts of states. But to be a girl from Ohio, writing about Ohio having been born in Lorain, Ohio. And actually relating as an Ohio person, to have the Ohio, what—Board of Education?—is ironic at the least."[28] The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to Debe Terhar, explaining that it was her personal opinion that novel was "pornographic". In the letter it was suggested that Ohio schools "use controversial literature as an opportunity to improve students' critical thinking skills and to create open dialogue between students and the community".[28] This received major pushback, with Mark Smith, Ohio Christian University president, saying, "I see an underlying socialist-communist agenda ... that is anti what this nation is about."[29] However, despite all of the above The Bluest Eye still remains on the recommended reading list, with the Board of Education stating that local school districts can in fact make changes if they desire.[28]

Littleton, Colorado In August 2005 in Littleton, Colorado, the Littleton school board voted to ban The Bluest Eye from reading lists, where it was listed as optional, and remove it from the libraries of the Heritage and Arapahoe high schools, despite the recommendation of a committee that the book be restricted to juniors and seniors. The ban was enacted in response to a complaint received by a parent of a ninth-grade student who was on the board and took issue with the novel's sexual content, specifically the scene of Pecola's rape. During a meeting to discuss the decision, a majority of the parents agreed that the book was not age-appropriate and would be better suited for college students.[17] However, other parents, teachers, and students expressed their opposition to the ban, including English teacher Amanda Hurley who stated that the novel is "painful, difficult to read", but "We have to discuss it, we have to learn from it."[18] Students also protested the ban by reading passages from the book in their school libraries. In response to the ban, Camille Okoren, a student attending the sit-in acknowledged that "students hear about rape and incest in the news media. It's better to learn about those subjects from a Nobel Prize winner...and to discuss it with a teacher in class."[17] Ultimately, the book was reinstated after English teacher Judy Vlasin filed an application to the board explaining why it should not be banned from reading lists or removed from libraries.[19]

Notes: need to be edited

It is said that Morisson has not allowed there to be many adaptations of her play and has only granted this permission to Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and playwright Lydia R. Diamond

In 2017 the Guthrie theatre took on the production of The Bluest Eye, which was by Lydia R. Diamond. This production is said to be given "a poetic staging." Moreover, within this play it is argued that Diamond has a specific audience in mind throughout each scene even though initially her production was supposed to be aimed at children.

March 1st to April 1st 2018 there is going to be a play again adapted by Lydia R. Diamond and directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges, "explores the destructive power of racism and the strength of a community attempting to embrace an era of change." - Adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel is given a poetic staging on the Guthrie's thrust stage. - she always seems to have a specific audience at mind within each scene of her play and originally her work was aimed at children

http://www.twincities.com/2017/04/20/how-to-adapt-a-masterpiece-playwright-takes-on-morrisons-bluest-eye/ http://www.startribune.com/guthrie-brings-toni-morrison-s-bluest-eye-from-page-to-stage-with-poetic-power/420264103/#3 https://tickets.ardentheatre.org/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=thebluesteye&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= — Preceding unsigned comment added by CCallagy (talk • contribs) 15:42, 21 November 2017 (UTC)

To The Bluest Eye article I am going to add:

- change the sentence which starts with because in the intro as I am not sure it is okay to start a sentence with Because - change the wording of some of the sentences in the summary paragraph as to me they do not make sense - I am also going to add a chunck to the adaptations section as "Guthrie brings Toni Morrison's 'Bluest Eye' from page to stage with poetic power" was not talked about in this page. I am going to add this because I think it is important to have a variety of adaptations at hand as well as this is a very recent production (2017). - I may add to the character of Frieda because I feel she deserves more than just one sentence - There are also characters missing such as, Henry Washington and Samson Fuller and I think it is important to add these characters in order to make the character list complete - I think I will also add to the controversy cases as I have found one from 2014 that is not on their however, I need to look for more information on it as I have only found a few sentences on it so far. I think it is important to have as many cases as possible to see how challenged this book is.

Bibliography: I found these articles during the Wikipedia research days in the library but am not sure whether I will use all of them yet

Censorship dateline: Schools.(2013). Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 62(5), 184-185. Retrieved from http://proxy.library.georgetown.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=ofm&AN=102304898&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Censorship dateline: Schools.(2013). Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 62(5), 184-185. Retrieved from http://proxy.library.georgetown.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=ofm&AN=102304898&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Keung Hui, T. (2014). Common core critics attack use of ‘The bluest eye’ in schools.

Schultz, C. (2013, Oct 06). Connie schultz: Let's ban the book banners instead. Sun-Journal (Lewiston, ME),

“Guthrie brings Toni Morrison's 'Bluest Eye' from page to stage with poetic power.” Star Tribune, www.startribune.com/guthrie-brings-toni-morrison-s-bluest-eye-from-page-to-stage-with-poetic-power/420264103/#1.

CCallagy (talk) 01:47, 5 December 2017 (UTC)