Monday, November 3, 2008
Welcome LRNS995 Theatrical Education: Global + Local Students!!
Welcome to the Theatrical Education Blog! This will serve as our cyber classroom, a place where you can post your weekly entries on the reading and our discussions in class. This is also a place to post any questions you might have for the class. Looking for a book? Maybe one of your classmates has checked it out, here you can post your request. Want to go together to a theater event? Again, this is your spot.
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2 comments:
Wow! I can't say that I ever saw Aristotle's classic works in this way before... I can see where Boal is coming from, in that Aristotle's work does have clearly defined protagonists with a chorus of commonfolk, but I don't necessarily see how this applies to TV Soap Operas, etc...
I am very curious to see how he will follow through on this analogy of sorts, and wonder if I will end up seeing his broad generalizations as detrimental to his argument that that modern day theatre systematically represses people. Is Boal trying to say that theatre reinforces societal ideas/movements, for better or for worse, for progress or repression/stagnation? And furthermore, is he attempting to portray Aristotle as a dominant male who essentially founded a time-honored movement of worldwide theatrical oppression?
I don't like the idea that just seeing a reflection of negative values on stage necessarily bolsters those values in the audience. Boal says that Aristotle pioneered the practice of "intimidation of the spectator," but I don't see how theatre works that way. Personally, seeing oppression on the stage would cause me to step back and think about what is right/wrong, along with what lessons I could learn from the piece.
I look forward to gaining some clarity in reading the next chapter....
So...I don't really agree that theatre is necessarily political. I believe that it can be created or interpreted in a way that makes it political, but I don't think that theatre has to be or always is political. I also question Boal's argument that "those who try to separate theater from politics try to lead us into error -- and this is a political attitude." Not taking a political stance on everything, whether in art of in life in general, doesn't make one wrong. And sometimes art is just art. It doesn't always mean something. Maybe Boal will change my mind. We'll see.
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