Angels in T.O.?

[Louise Forsyth]

Dear colleagues,

While I am not offended by most of the matters that seem to bother our
politicians and others, I am offended (although not able to comment on every
incident) by two things: 1. the fascination with violence which seems to be
an imperative in a society demanding increasing titillation before it will
agree to enjoy a show, and 2. the many ways in which literature and culture
continue to exploit, unexamined, gender and race.



At 05:06 PM 10/10/96 +0000, Glen McQuestion wrote:
>> > Does success at the box office necessarily indicate that a production
>> > is "good"?  It seems to me that successful Broadway shows always
>> > bring with them a great deal of hype that makes them much more
>> > "marketable" than our native plays.  This is not to say that *Angels
>> > in America* is not a show worth seeing - I haven't had a chance to see
>> > it yet - but the argument that large sales = quality set off a few
>> > alarm bells in my head.
>> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> > Glen McQuestion
>> > gmcquest at uoguelph.ca
>> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> >
>>
>> And those alarm bells should ring long and loud.  Large sales never
>> indicates that a show is "good".  However, it does indicate that most of
>> the theatre-going folks in this town are far from offended by Angels.
>>
>> Jeff
>
>
>I agree, to a point.  One question I have is how much are most people
>offended by anything any more?  And, to what extent do people LIKE to
>see things that they think are going to offend them?  I doubt if we
>can really answer these questions without some field work, but I have
>a feeling that this sort of voyeurism partly accounts for the success
>certain shows.  In film this is somewhat apparent: the controversy
>that surrounds movies like *Natural Born Killers* and *Crash*
>certainly don't hurt sales.
>
>As I mentioned, I haven't seen *Angels in America*, so I don't really
>know what it is that could offend people (though, I for one have seen
>male nudity on stage before, and it isn't something that offends me).
>
>I'm not trying to be arguementative, Jeff, it's just that you raised
>the issue, and I think these questions could make for interesting
>conversation.
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Glen McQuestion
>gmcquest at uoguelph.ca
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
Louise H. Forsyth, PhD
Professor of Women's & Gender Studies and French (on leave 1996-97)
University of Saskatchewan
130 Sandy Place
Saskatoon, SK   S7K 4M4

Telephone:      306-931-0904    Facsimile:      306-966-4559
E-mail: louise.forsyth at usask.ca