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Play It as It Lays
- 113 statements
- 21 feature instances
- 1 referencing feature instances
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Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })Play It as It Lays is a classic 1970 novel by Joan Didion, centering around a minor Hollywood actress named Maria Wyeth, her feelings (or lack thereof), her complicated family history, and her relationships with the many actors, directors, producers, and other celebrity wannabes who surround her.It opens with three short, first-person monologues, each given its own chapter and showcasing the thoughts and feelings of a different character. These set the tone of the story and the plot that follows. Maria is currently in a Los Angeles neuropsychiatric hospital for reasons that are not quite clear and she apparently thinks that this is fine. Her ex-husband Carter Lang's and her friend Helene's respective chapters reveal that they are both extremely upset and disappointed in her after an incident involving the death of someone named BZ. The book then goes back in time to before all of this, and we slowly learn how the situation played out.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })This is not a happy novel, nor is it a pleasant one. And that's also the point. Reading it sometimes feels like getting heatstroke injected directly into your brain (the desert is, incidentally, a prominent location in the story). Nevertheless, it is also a brilliant dissection of Hollywood in the late '60s.In 1972, it was adapted into a movie of the same name directed by Frank Perry, with a screenplay by Didion and her husband John Gregory Dunne. It stars Tuesday Weld as Maria, Anthony Perkins as BZ, Tammy Grimes as Helene, and Adam Roarke as Carter. | |
Play It as It Lays | fetched |
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Play It as It Lays / int_372bc105 | type |
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism | |
Play It as It Lays / int_372bc105 | comment |
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Very cynical in both tone and content, though the lead's revelation near the end can come off as surprisingly uplifting, depending on how you see it. | |
Play It as It Lays / int_372bc105 | featureApplicability |
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Play It as It Lays / int_3b113b7 | type |
Character Development | |
Play It as It Lays / int_3b113b7 | comment |
Character Development: Most of the characters either continue with their unhealthy habits and artificial lifestyles or get worse, but Maria ends up deciding that she can be happy doing her own thing, even if everyone around her thinks she's gone crazy. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_49b1fe0 | type |
Beige Prose | |
Play It as It Lays / int_49b1fe0 | comment |
Beige Prose: Extremely. Very deliberate and well-done however, as the benign and casual descriptions of the often extremely upsetting events that occur end up giving the book a really terrifying tone. Also fits in with much of the cast's extreme apathy. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_5313c266 | type |
Bookends | |
Play It as It Lays / int_5313c266 | comment |
Bookends: The book starts with Maria in neuropsychiatry, and ends with Maria in neuropsychiatry... except now the reader's view of her is likely different. | |
Play It as It Lays / int_5313c266 | featureApplicability |
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Play It as It Lays / int_5313c266 | |
Play It as It Lays / int_6d332aea | type |
Driven to Suicide | |
Play It as It Lays / int_6d332aea | comment |
Driven to Suicide: BZ. It's implied he had been contemplating suicide for a while. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_7464705c | type |
Arc Words | |
Play It as It Lays / int_7464705c | comment |
Arc Words: "Maria said Nothing". The word "nothing" pops up a lot throughout, especially near the climax of the book where BZ kills himself. The nothingness is even apparent in the book's structure; pages usually have a lot of empty space on them. Exaggerated whenever a chapter consists of nothing more than a single tiny paragraph. | |
Play It as It Lays / int_7464705c | featureApplicability |
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Play It as It Lays / int_7ad2c23d | type |
ShoutOutToShakespeare | |
Play It as It Lays / int_7ad2c23d | comment |
Shout-Out to Shakespeare: The first line of the book is "What makes Iago evil?" | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_7d89315b | type |
"The Reason You Suck" Speech | |
Play It as It Lays / int_7d89315b | comment |
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Maria ends up on the receiving end of these multiple times, usually because others are frustrated that she's become so emotionless. Carter seems to go back and forth between insulting her and pleading her to open up to him. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_a4c37cbe | type |
Mood Whiplash | |
Play It as It Lays / int_a4c37cbe | comment |
Mood Whiplash: All over the place. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_a4c37cbe | |
Play It as It Lays / int_a76de48b | type |
Troubled Production | |
Play It as It Lays / int_a76de48b | comment |
Troubled Production: An In-Universe example occurs during the desert portion of the book. After actress Suzannah Wood gets beaten up in her hotel room the makeup artists have to spend extra time concealing her bruises so they won't be visible on-camera. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_ae3d6438 | type |
Deadpan Snarker | |
Play It as It Lays / int_ae3d6438 | comment |
Deadpan Snarker: BZ loves to be this. Unfortunately, it's a coping mechanism. Maria also has her moments. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_b9db28ab | type |
Emotionless Girl | |
Play It as It Lays / int_b9db28ab | comment |
Emotionless Woman: It's clear that Maria has depression. Despite this, however, she still tries to act like things don't bother her when they clearly do. She stresses and angsts over an abortion she's pushed to have but never at any point does she tell anyone about her feelings. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_b9db28ab | |
Play It as It Lays / int_bb18a227 | type |
It's All About Me | |
Play It as It Lays / int_bb18a227 | comment |
It's All About Me: Most of the characters in the novel care only about their celebrity status. BZ and Maria are the two notable exceptions, though that doesn't mean that they are selfless people, it just means they are more aware of how much it all doesn't matter. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_c660bc15 | type |
Fan Disservice | |
Play It as It Lays / int_c660bc15 | comment |
Fan Disservice: Maria winds up in several sexual situations, but all of them are played as unsexy at best and creepy at worst. This is because in most of these she seems not to be interested in the sex at all, making her seem like she's being utilized. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_c75df49a | type |
Shout-Out | |
Play It as It Lays / int_c75df49a | comment |
Shout-Out: Someone hums "I Get a Kick Out of You" at one point. That point being the car ride on the way to the doctor that would shortly perform Maria's abortion. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_cdfe12c3 | type |
Nothing Is Scarier | |
Play It as It Lays / int_cdfe12c3 | comment |
Nothing Is Scarier: Zigzagged. Nothingness seems to symbolize hollowness and meaninglessness for much of the story, but near the end that sort of changes. BZ dies thinking that wanting nothing means he'll never be happy, but Maria figures out that wanting nothing means you're free to do what you like without worrying like your actions need to contribute to some grander purpose. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_d55108a1 | type |
Horrible Hollywood | |
Play It as It Lays / int_d55108a1 | comment |
Horrible Hollywood: Oh yes. Much of the book is dedicated to showing how plastic and empty the Hollywood machine of the late 60's was. It's not hard to believe that despite being sentenced to Neuropsychiatric therapy because her ex-husband and ex-friend thought she had let BZ kill himself, Maria was glad to be out of it. | |
Play It as It Lays / int_d55108a1 | featureApplicability |
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Play It as It Lays / int_deecc9eb | type |
Awful Wedded Life | |
Play It as It Lays / int_deecc9eb | comment |
Awful Wedded Life: BZ and Helene are very much this, to the point of physical violence on BZ's part. BZ's mother, Carlotta, has to give them money to stay married. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_e8cfde67 | type |
Ambiguous Disorder | |
Play It as It Lays / int_e8cfde67 | comment |
Ambiguous Disorder: Maria's daughter Kate. The doctors don't seem to know what's wrong with her either. | |
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Play It as It Lays / int_f511ea9b | type |
Product Placement | |
Play It as It Lays / int_f511ea9b | comment |
Product Placement: Numerous brands are namedropped throughout, likely as part of the story's satire of American life. | |
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
Play It as It Lays | hasFeature |
American Literature (N to S) / int_5365d9d8 |
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