| The Friday Kicker: is the American theatre helping or harming cultural polarization? | |
| Last Edit: GrumpyMorningBoy 03:51 pm EST 11/15/24 | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 03:36 pm EST 11/15/24 | |
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| "The truth is that every Broadway show is either a lie that the audience wants to believe or a truth they already know." - William Goldman, "The Season" (1970) How does the American theatre influence broader American culture? And for those of us who identify as progressive, is the American theatre actually winning new souls to our set of beliefs? Or — just alienating conservatives and pushing them further into a segregated society? Is the American theatre helping or harming cultural polarization? That's the topic for today's resurrection of The Friday Kicker, a once-weekly, thought-provoking discussion from the early day of All That Chat (circa 2002). I try to pose questions that don't have easy answers. While the political left grapples through its post-election 'autopsy,' I'm struck by a much broader conversation that's been happening on the right. Some Americans are asking if maybe our polarization is less about a political divide and more about a cultural divide. (See a July 2024 gift article from NYT, below, that explored this topic.) I think it is. And I'm wondering to what degree the American theatre influnces the culture, more broadly. And whether or not that influence can be considered good. In an effort to keep this convo from spintering into a million bits, I'd like to keep that focus on the question of influence. I'm thinking of Meryl Streep's infamous monologue from "The Devil Wears Prada," about how fashion begins with haute couture and then flows down into everything from fancy mall boutiques to bargain basement bins. I think about how plays and musicals begin in ultra-progressive hotbeds of creativity, bubble up into Pulitzer and Tony-winning commercial productions, and then flow back into regional theatres, colleges, community theatres, and eventually high school and junior high productions. But if a junior high school in Wyoming presents RENT: SCHOOL EDITION, leading to angry PTA meetings, if colleges around the nation perform 20th anniversary productions of THE LARAMIE PROJECT and need to hire extra security, if plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney are adapted into Oscar-winning films like "Moonlight" that inspires an entire conversation about whether Black men are being culturally emasculated, does this artistic oeuvre actually work to build empathy for racial and sexual minorities? Or does it inspire backlash that harms more than it helps? Does it just reinforce ideas — especially among more conservative, white working-class Americans — that artsy people are "not like us" and they're pushing for far too much? Or, do theatre communities -- whether that's your high school drama club or the cast of your community college summer musical -- form vital, irreplaceable communities where progressives, minorities, and envelope-pushers can build important, necessary social bonds? Especially within more conservative parts of the country? Aesthetically, is there something about the theatre experience itself that allows for a diversity of thought? Does sitting in a black box and contemplating / grappling through tough questions together form its own kind of pluralism? And does that always work? (Productions of THE BOOK OF MORMON beyond NYC have struggled with questions about who's laughing and why, about whether the satire is clear to a less urbane, less sophisticated audience.) If you dare to estimate such things, what's the net effect? And what should today's theatre creatives DO to explore these dynamics within the America of 2024 and beyond? - GMB p.s. -- for those of you who weren't here 20+ years ago, "The Friday Kicker!" is a phrase that my doting mother used every Friday to describe the ending of every Friday episode of "All My Children," a popular soap opera that aired on ABC from 1970 to 2011. In the heyday of American soaps, the week always ended with an extra dramatic cliffhanger -- a real kicker! -- to make you tune back in on Monday! |
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| Link | NYT: Why a New Conservative Brain Trust Is Resettling Across America (gift article) |
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