tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post113355171284073628..comments2024-02-22T01:36:48.427-08:00Comments on On Theatre and Politics - Matthew Freeman: In Defense of the CriticalFreemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1134443928848094192005-12-12T19:18:00.000-08:002005-12-12T19:18:00.000-08:00Me, I'm just amused to see the same (or in this ca...Me, I'm just amused to see the same (or in this case similar) arguments rising in two different media within a few months of each other. Feel like I've <A HREF="http://www.websnark.com/archives/2005/10/the_podcast_and.html" REL="nofollow">been here</A> before.kirabughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06704466646558300386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1133797508808210292005-12-05T07:45:00.000-08:002005-12-05T07:45:00.000-08:00The only problem is that those who are capable of ...The only problem is that those who are capable of writing cirticism that is actually engaging enough for people to bother with or valid enough for people to care about would be written by those working in the field. More often than not one will find the Arts and Entertainment desk of any given major daily (not to be confused with the more liberal "hippie rags" normally pubilshed on a weekly... or weakly..basis)staffed by a handful of people who either fancy themselves as Max from All About Eve or the unpublished author who barely earned a degree in playwriting and now finds it a mission to curb public oppinion for selfish desires. However, to say that such motives are inherently "wrong" would be silly since theater, by its very nature, is created for selfish desires (approbation, identity, being around large groups of women with low self-esteem issues)... all art is quite useless? Perhaps. But without cohesion there seems to be a lapse of reason or if you like there is no credibility in an open format because of its accessibility and diversity. The average readership of any given paper publication will scan through and pick up useful information in the advertisements; any "literature" therein will be used as "grunty" material in the nearest restroom (apologies to the more delicate set). A good example of this is the film "Get Shorty 2"... I believe that's the name. It's miserable. Critics panned it across the universe. Big ads... top gross in rentals and box office. In Las Vegas there is a performer here who has his own theater at the Mirage (a fairly majestic hotel on the strip with a monolith for a marquee) and everyone asks the same thing: "who is Danny Gans?" The man sells out a 500 seat theater at 110.00 per ticket every night. He hasn't been reviewed since 1999 but he's doing as well as (if not better) than Celine Dion only because his marketing team has forced his image and show into the minds of everyone getting off the plane from Newark, NJ. Avenue Q struggles with high praise from every corner of the universe.<BR/>Flooding the media septic tank with information to spark interest is a preoccupation of mine but I think traditional styles of persuasive writing are no longer valid in a media saturated age... at least in the demographic that isn't dying, or hopelessly poor.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1133561918673035382005-12-02T14:18:00.000-08:002005-12-02T14:18:00.000-08:00That would be good -- for you NYC types! But what...That would be good -- for you NYC types! But what about ME???Scott Waltershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04177922467901223790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1133556592449106232005-12-02T12:49:00.000-08:002005-12-02T12:49:00.000-08:00Well I could start that right now. We should all g...Well I could start that right now. We should all go see Bach at Leipzig and write our own critiques and see if we can't tear each other's hair out and give each other paper cuts.Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-1133555399942579922005-12-02T12:29:00.000-08:002005-12-02T12:29:00.000-08:00I agree completely! I wrote my dissertation about...I agree completely! I wrote my dissertation about Robert Brustein's connection to Lionel Trilling and the New York Intellectuals (sounds like boy band, doesn't it?). Trilling and the gang, in the pages of <I>Partisan Review</I> spent pages and pages skewering each other as well as a great deal of contemporary fiction and politics. It was a dynamic, exciting, and quite bloody intellectual era. Harold Clurman once said that we didn't need more masterpieces, we needed more flops, because if you have more flops you have more plays being put on, and that's the manure from which masterpieces arise. Apply to criticism and stir.<BR/><BR/>I wonder if the blogosphere could create such a riot of discussion. Probably not about a production, since bloggers are situated all over the world. But perhaps a play. I wonder if we could designate a play a month that we all would read and write about -- or a book, or even an essay...Scott Waltershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04177922467901223790noreply@blogger.com