tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post4122912817155901286..comments2024-02-22T01:36:48.427-08:00Comments on On Theatre and Politics - Matthew Freeman: For the recordFreemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-29837672770971525712009-01-16T08:26:00.000-08:002009-01-16T08:26:00.000-08:00They may not be connected in content, but they are...They may not be connected in content, but they are connected via intent which, to my mind, is even more important. <BR/><BR/>Just as your post connected to George's, they were entirely different in content ... but your intent was what mattered, right?<BR/><BR/>The fact that George's post was about something different entirely was really less of a deal than what seemed to be his intent, and his intent was directly linked to 99's post ... I'd argue that his intent was what got folk's dander up (it seemed he was intent on invalidating 99's experience, at least that's how I read it, once I got down my thesaurus) ... <BR/><BR/>That sematically they're coming from two different places is important, but not any more or less important as the goal of the piece, it only measures how successfully the goal was reached, I think. <BR/><BR/>The same holds true of your post, the intent which I quite enjoyed and actually feel put the whole thing into perspective quite nicely.Joshua Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08239067667651048280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-40506497803532333152009-01-16T08:15:00.000-08:002009-01-16T08:15:00.000-08:00Thanks for this post, Matthew. It's really clear a...Thanks for this post, Matthew. It's really clear and cogent and makes sense of the whole thing nicely. I do think that, in essence, George and I are talking about very different things in very different ways and part of it does boil down to semantics. I like Scott's point about "tickling" vs. "joy." A definite difference with a distinction. But, at the same time, it does, I think, speak to a difference in approaches. Different approaches, each valid, in my opinion. I just get my back all up when I feel like someone is invalidating my approach as frivolous or somehow less important because I'm coming from a "lighter" place.99https://www.blogger.com/profile/11955916620902994495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-19818105742376698532009-01-16T07:23:00.000-08:002009-01-16T07:23:00.000-08:00I agree that George created the connection by link...I agree that George created the connection by linking to 99seat's post. They just aren't connected in content, even if one inspired the other.Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-14809984327807357452009-01-16T07:20:00.000-08:002009-01-16T07:20:00.000-08:00I loved your post.But, uh, I do think George's pos...I loved your post.<BR/><BR/>But, uh, I do think George's post was a direct comment on the other, which means there's a linked relationship between the two ... George linked to it and used the point raised in that post therein to draw his own conclusions in his own ... erred though they may be for some folks (for me, oftentimes I wonder if George is trying to write in Latin or Aramic, so stilled the prose gets, it's just my opinion but my eyes glaze over) but it's a fair call to say George didn't write that post in a vacuum, it was an obvious response to 99 ... and when he wrote it, he got a response in kind from a few others. <BR/><BR/>The fact that they may be talking about two different things may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that a comment was made off of a post that someone wrote, which in turn led to more comments by others who felt the first was either 1) misguided or 2) wrong or 3) hilarious. <BR/><BR/>this is just my opinion, of course.Joshua Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08239067667651048280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-19559433359892677192009-01-16T06:05:00.000-08:002009-01-16T06:05:00.000-08:00I thought your post was hilarious.I thought your post was hilarious.Zack Calhoonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02149127656270202596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-89825886061800895182009-01-15T19:45:00.000-08:002009-01-15T19:45:00.000-08:00Hey Jimmy -I didn't mean people were upset with my...Hey Jimmy -<BR/><BR/>I didn't mean people were upset with my post. I meant the whole thing had people up in arms.Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-22268627331343237862009-01-15T18:49:00.000-08:002009-01-15T18:49:00.000-08:00Wait...people were upset with your post? Who? Wh...Wait...people were upset with your post? Who? Where?Jamespeakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11365318854323448524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-21970120027204144052009-01-15T15:43:00.000-08:002009-01-15T15:43:00.000-08:00Yes, they are talking about two different kinds of...Yes, they are talking about two different kinds of joy. And granted, everyone has a right to their opinion, but George actually linked to the site when he wrote that post. So the implication was that his post was in response to 99seats's post. That is why the theatrosphere is a flutter. Either he was picking a fight or sneering at someone's personal experience.Zack Calhoonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02149127656270202596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-7401165820916106932009-01-15T14:58:00.000-08:002009-01-15T14:58:00.000-08:00I think "Life Is Beautiful" and "The Whale Rider" ...I think "Life Is Beautiful" and "The Whale Rider" are joyful. Charles Busch's "Psycho Beach Party" is also joyful. The novel "Secret Life of Bees" too.Scott Waltershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06465161646609405658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-15806399721537911382009-01-15T13:59:00.000-08:002009-01-15T13:59:00.000-08:00I'd be curious to have your readers list works of ...I'd be curious to have your readers list works of art that they feel are both joyful AND sophisticated. I'll go first with a few off the top of my head:<BR/><BR/>Mike Leigh's film "Happy-Go-Lucky."<BR/>Jeunet's film "Amelie."<BR/>Tom Robbins' book "Still Life with Woodpecker."<BR/>Many a Bjork song.<BR/>The work of fine artists such as Angelo Filomeno, Kandinsky, Tim Walker, Susan Jamison, and Miriam Wosk, to name a few.<BR/>We recently saw Mandy Patinkin in the "Tempest," and their version of wedding scene was one of the most joyful, moving things I've seen on stage.<BR/><BR/>Anything else?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-20943179422379113292009-01-15T10:01:00.000-08:002009-01-15T10:01:00.000-08:00Too true. Very much the point of this post, actual...Too true. Very much the point of this post, actually.Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-12041202208888699012009-01-15T09:59:00.000-08:002009-01-15T09:59:00.000-08:00Well, one of the things I've learned over the year...Well, one of the things I've learned over the years is that a lot of arguments can be avoided if you make sure you are both talking about the same thing.Scott Waltershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06465161646609405658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-54233984040219902182009-01-15T09:58:00.000-08:002009-01-15T09:58:00.000-08:00These things can come down to semantics so easily....These things can come down to semantics so easily.Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01183078884824734105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-60270678962663116122009-01-15T09:53:00.000-08:002009-01-15T09:53:00.000-08:00I think George is an artistic Puritan, and he live...I think George is an artistic Puritan, and he lives Mencken's description of Puritanism as "The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy." I'd like to call for a bit more exactitude regarding what is meant by "joy." You use it, for instance, as if it is a synonym for "tickled." Joy, however, is a much deeper experience. "Mama Mia" is not about joy, it is about tickling. I'm trying to think of a joyful play and drawing a blank at the moment, which may be the paucity of my memory, or may be the sheer lack of joy in theatre of the last hundred years.Scott Waltershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06465161646609405658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9902716.post-11296746597625412302009-01-15T08:58:00.000-08:002009-01-15T08:58:00.000-08:00I think what stirred up the controversy on all the...I think what stirred up the controversy on all the blogs is the inherent judgment. Perhaps that's just history rearing it's head... But at least that's what pushed my buttons. What does it matter to anyone from where another derives his joy? And why is there a value placed on how one gets there? If I wanted to get all Buddhist I could say that all joy, and yes, all sorrow too, is passing and that to attach to any one way of thinking, or any one way of deriving said joy, is clinging; is not of the middle path. I have no opinion as to how anyone, George included, derives his joy. His joys & his sorrows are personal, and therefore holy. If we got REALLY reductive here, one could read George's argument as to the value of thinking vs. feeling...and I'm sure that would get us no where. I guess what I'm saying is: judgy wudgy was a bear. Why can we not let people experience what they will experience and try to not to make those experiences some greater commentary on their intellectual capacity, or their ABILITY to "dig deeper".jengordonthomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13107421152247605616noreply@blogger.com