“Theater of War” and Epic Theater

Daniel, Michael. Meryl As ‘Mother Courage’. CBSNews. CBSNews, 3 Sept. 2006. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

               The behind-the-scenes documentary, Theater of War, exhibits how the production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage follows the principles that define epic theater. As Brecht’s old assistant director stated, plays are exhibited in “very definite short moments” and “many scenes are sequences of short narratives, sometimes connected and sometimes not even connected completely…like a montage”. This is one of the key facets of epic theater which is seen in Mother Courage and in its production. The documentary is divided into five acts which are loosely connected and episodic in structure. Within each act, the scenes shift from showing backstage processes to pictures/sound bits from war to newspaper headlines and protests. For example, Scene 3 drifts in and out of real life shots of war images such as those of the Holocaust and the atomic bomb to showing the rehearsal of the play in 2006 to the black and white shots of the play in Germany. This structure prevents the audience from identifying with the individuals on the screen or the scenes shown. Images of war are interrupted by the production process which forces the audience to evaluate with reason rather than become immersed in their emotional resonance with what is on the screen.  Additionally, the documentary captures characters addressing the audience, like in Scene 1, the actor looks at and speaks to the audience while setting up the opening scene of the play. By addressing the audience, the play is inducing the audience to realize that they’re watching a play instead of immersing them in the illusion that it is real life. There are certain points in the documentary that highlight the emotional turmoil of Mother Courage and show personal accounts of individuals such as Barbara Brecht, which are likely to invoke emotion amongst the audience. This does not follow the principles of epic theater. However, the shift to a new act reminds the audience that this is a documentation, which detaches them and brings forth the question Brecht wants us to think about with reason: What is it that ties us to the behaviors that end up destroying us?

Image: A scene is exhibited from the original production of Mother Courage.

Works Cited:

Theater of War. Dir. John W. Walter. Perf. Meryl Steep. 2008. Documentary.

Contemporary Satire: “Girl, You Don’t Need Makeup”

               The music video “Girl, You Don’t Need Makeup” featured on Inside Amy Schumer exhibits a boy band that starts the video by telling a girl she doesn’t need makeup, but then changes gears to pressuring her to reapply the makeup on as soon as she removes it. This video illustrates how society especially through outlets of media makes women feel as if they need to wear makeup, yet tried to mask the pressure it puts on women by producing the message that women are more beautiful without makeup. In today’s world, many females are scrutinized for wearing “too much makeup,” mostly by men, but when they take off their makeup, the very people who told them to take off their makeup, insult women by pointing out their flaws. This is the target of the satire in this music video. This video is especially funny and effective because it mocks the hypocrisy of the societal belief that women shouldn’t wear so much makeup through a parody of a boy band song. Because this video is in the form of a music video parody of popular boy band songs (it is especially similar to One Direction’s “That’s What Makes You Beautiful) the satire is portrayed in a way that is more relatable to the contemporary age. In today’s time, there are countless boy bands like “One Direction” for example who make popular songs that tell women not to be insecure without makeup, but the same glamorous media outlets pressurize women to feel the need to layer on makeup. At one point in the video, in the midst of applying makeup while being pressured by the boy band members, Amy says “I’m trying,” which emphasizes the continued effort of women in keeping up with societal standards. What marks this video as satirical is the fact that it utilizes exaggeration and humor in the lyrics and makes details of the video very close to real music videos and real boy bands (as is seen with the outfits, singing and dancing style, hairstyles, etc.)  that share the same message of “inner beauty.” Amy’s satirical video ultimately delineates how in today’s time, it seems like females can never truly satisfy males, or society as a whole, especially when it comes to the realm of beauty. Makeup is both criticized and discouraged while also being revered and encouraged in today’s society and this hypocritical truth is demonstrated beautifully in this parody.

Works Cited:

Comedy Central. “Inside Amy Schumer – Girl, You Don’t Need Makeup.” Online video clip. Youtube. YouTube, 29 Apr. 2015. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.

Analyzing Agency When Fear is Present

Flaxman, John.Diomedes, Athena and Aries. Digital Image. Maircar. Maicar, 1997. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

            The mortal characters in The Iliad maintain the choice to follow or reject the demands of the mortals, but the apprehension of disobeying the gods impacts how they act. Upon seeing Athena, Diomedes immediate bows to her (5.939), an immediate sign of obedience and subservience, and states that the only reason he ceases to fight is because Athena gave him specific commands of “forbidding” him from fighting the immortals, aside from Aphrodite (5.944-947). Diomedes stops his fighting, but not because Diomedes is “paralyzed” by his own “fear” as he explains to Athena (5.942). This indicates that Diomedes’ inaction is not stirred by his fear of combat (5.942-943), but rather by another more overpowering fear: the fear of disobeying a higher power. In his defensive conversation with Athena, it is implied that the fear of battle isn’t paralyzing to Diomedes. Instead, the pressure of an external force—Athena’s specific orders— is paralyzing. By thinking of the consequences of disobeying Athena, Diomedes is exercising some agency as he is thinking of what would be best for him in the end—obeying and thus pleasing the goddess. While Diomedes has the capacity to ignore Athena’s instructions to avoid battling the immortals, he halts his fight because he knows the consequences of disobeying the goddess. Within each warrior lies the capacity to take certain steps to uphold his honor and become glorious in the never-ending battle, but like Diomedes, many warriors are restricted by the gods’ own plans. This ultimately depicts that Diomedes’ action, or inaction in this case, is due to his trepidation of a greater power. The mortals know that while honor is a vital facet of war, it is also crucial for them to avoid upsetting the powers that can turn the tides of the war with their will.

Works Cited:

Homer. The Iliad. Trans. Robert Fagles. London: Penguin, 1998. Print.

“The Iliad” and Family

           

David, Jacques-Louis. Andromache Mourning Hector. Digital Image. Jacques Louis David Gallery. Jacques Louis David Gallery, 30 Dec. 2006. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

            When talking about his desire for his son to surpass him, Hector says, “…and one day let them say, ‘He is a better man than his father!’—when he comes home from battle bearing the bloody gear of the mortal enemy he has killed in war—a joy to his mother’s heart.”

“So Hector prayed and placed his son in the arms of his loving wife. Andromache pressed the child to her scented breast, smiling through her tears.” (Page 211, Book 6 Lines 571-578).

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            Before he returns to the battle, Hector visits his wife, Andromache and his young son, Astyanax. These lines in which he interacts with his wife and son were some of the most enthralling lines of the reading we were assigned so far in my opinion. This is because these lines demonstrate one of the greatest facets that distinguish “The Iliad” in the world of literature: Homer’s authentic portrayal of different types of love. In these lines specifically, Homer beautifully illustrates both the love between a parent and child and a husband and wife. The dialogue between Hector’s family is so natural, raw, and relatable that while I was reading the lines, for a couple seconds I forgot that I was reading a fictional piece that centered around war heroes in Ancient Greece and thought I was reading a story about a modern family in 2015. The fear Hector’s wife has for him and the way she begs him to stay at home instead of thrust himself into the doom of warfare demonstrates a wife’s protectiveness and concern over her husband, which is a key facet of love between spouses. While reading these lines, I not only felt Andromache’s pain and panic while she pleaded for Hector to stay, but what also struck me was Hector yearning for his son to surpass him in glory. Hector’s prayer for his son to grow to become a greater man than he is exhibits the deep and authentic love that a father has for his children. This specific scene affected me personally because it reminded me of my own father’s desire for my brothers and I to live a greater life than he did. Growing up in Afghanistan, my father lived a life full of terror and danger and he struggled for years to establish a secure life for himself. He always tells my brothers and I that he wants us to be far more comfortable, content, and successful in our lives than he was. Thus, seeing Hector want better for his son made me feel a deeper connection to the story as a whole and it made me relate to how war can cause humans to wish for their offsprings to live a life that transcends their own. These lines overall really showed me the brilliance behind Homer’s writing as he portrayed the different types of immense love within a family and these lines exhibited how despite the passing of time, familial love remains the same.

Image: Andromache mourns the death of Hector with their son by her side.

Works Cited:

Homer. The Iliad. Trans. Robert Fagles. London: Penguin, 1998. Print.