Summer Semester, 2021
This issue contains analyses of In the Heights (2021), The Last Five Years (2001), Kinky Boots: The Musical (2012), Almost Famous (2000), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (1941), Loona, Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Ubu and the Truth Commission (1997), and Next to Normal (2008).
Abstract: In the Heights is an incredible musical that decriminalizes the Latinx community. It was a tool to change the stereotypes created by West Side Story that paints Latinos as criminals and Latinas as victims. When this musical became a movie, issues with proper representation arose. For a movie that takes place in Washington Heights, there was minimal dark skin and Afro representation. This erasure of Black people on screen is a repeated offense that connects to a long history of anti-blackness. In this psychological and historical analysis of representation, I research the history and psychological effects of colorism, anti-blackness, the mestizaje and how it is systemic in casting representation. Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas and Hector Y. Adames, and Kurt C. Organista were vital in my research about colorism and the connection to In the Heights. The rhetoric of the mestizaje unfortunately dilutes Lin-Manuel Miranda’s artistic efforts and political goals in his musical In the Heights. Instead of being deconstructed, the rhetoric of the mestizaje eerily mirrors how the In the Heights movie defends itself for neglecting accurate representation in its casting.
The Last Five Years: A Backwards Love Story
Melanie Ervin
Abstract: The Last Five Years tells the story of a couple from their first fling until their divorce. We meet one character at the end and the other at the start. The story is told chronologically as well and in reverse with the characters never coming into contact. David Sucharski says in, “Performing Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years: An Exercise in Communication on Stage and Off,” that the story lines are separated to avoid bias toward one character or the other and eliminate blame and elicit empathy for both parties, but similar to what Browne suggests in “The Last Five Years: Medium, Mode, and the Making of Cathy,” I do not completely agree with Sucharski here. I do think that Brown separated the characters to avoid placing blame, but us meeting Cathy just as the marriage is ending while meeting Jamie at the start automatically victimizes Cathy. I get a sense of constantly watching Jamie grow while Cathy literally goes backwards. This automatically sets them up un-evenly. Yet, on one hand, Sarah Browne says that the way the show is written and directed creates a bias toward Jamie. On the other hand, it is easy to sympathize with Cathy when we meet her at her lowest point. I have always been drawn to the show's openness. Two people can watch the same production and receive completely different messages. Everyone can relate to the show in some capacity and it can be done a million different ways. The creative opportunities are endless.
Kinky Boots: The Musical: Gender Identity and the Topic of Sex
Matthew Gardner
Abstract: Harvey Fierstein’s six-time Tony-Award-winning Broadway musical production of Kinky Boots: The Musical is about Lola, a drag queen who teaches us the importance of what it means to live in your truth. However, author John M. Clum and New York Times author Stephen Holden both agree that Lola is sexually undesiring and straight, which leaves Kinky Boots to be seen as heteronormative (Clum 179). Author G. Wang agrees to a certain extent with Clum and Holden with Lola’s sexuality and sexual absence but assures us that, “Contrary to Holden’s argument, this obscurity is decidedly not ‘reassuring,’ nor is it a move of conservative prudishness. Lola may not be identifiably gay, but it is a mistake to assume that films which showcase the homosexuality of their drag queens are automatically more provocative in doing so” (Wang 55). Although some may argue that leading characters such as Lola were only created for a more “family friendly” experience (Stephen Holden quoted in Wang 54), I argue that on one hand Charlie’s attitude towards Lola can be interpreted as heteronormative, in scenes that display their relationships with their own fathers and Charlie’s uncivil comments of Lola as mere boots/a joke as well. Lola can also be interpreted as non-normative and queer be-cause of her relationship with her own father and the attitude she has towards him too as well.
Abstract: The 2000 film Almost Famous written and directed by Cameron Crowe is a groovy representation of the 1970s rock-n-roll scene and my favorite movie of all time, but there are some things about it that are being overlooked and not being investigated thoroughly. Zack Sharf brings up an oversimplified view of Penny Lane as the “manic pixie dream girl” trope that is anything but true about her along with Christine Osazuwa’s ideas of the groupie stereotype throughout the media then and now. I pull information from Sharf, Osazuwa, and Justin Harrison to support, contrast, and further amplify the conversation. I also did research on Cameron Crowe’s life, and we cannot forget the truth of the characters written are real people come to life a second time on the silver screen. Drawing on Harrison’s research on nostalgia films, I argue that 1970s nostalgia romanticizes gender roles in Almost Famous, and in my gender analysis of Penny Lane, there’s no way Penny Lane could be a “manic pixie dream girl” because she is based on a real woman and even in the film has agency as a woman that doesn’t fit the “manic pixie dream girl” trope.
Abstract: Personally, I was drawn to, and fell in love with The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui from the first time I saw it performed in Sydney. It amazed me, with such strong characters and a deep and meaningful underlying story. Bertolt Brecht’s 1941 play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a unique parable play that chronicles the rise of mobster Arturo Ui, paralleling Adolf Hitler’s inevitable rise to power. The problem that my academic article addresses is the oversimplification of political representation in modern society. From Ribut Busaki’s “Brecht’s Epic Theatre as a Modern Avant-Garde and Its Influence on Postmodern Theatre/Drama,” I will be explaining the epic theatre in terms of postmodernism, and alienating aesthetics. Furthermore, in Nozomi Irei’s “‘Abolishing Aesthetics’: Gestus in Brecht’s Arturo Ui” I will be ex-plaining Irei’s analysis of gestures in Brecht’s play. I further note that, both sources describe the complexities that Brecht’s play is surrounded by, however, contemporary interpretations of Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, such as the Sydney and Las Angeles productions, added pictures and news articles to contemporary political culture of Donald Trump and George W. Bush’s war with Afghanistan. Ultimately, my goal is to demonstrate that Busaki and Irei’s analyses are not restricted to productions during Brecht’s lifetime but can evolve to a more contemporary performance to inform audiences of modern political issues.
Loona: Empowerment and the K-Pop Market
Benjamin Blumel
Abstract: I consider Loona to be a revolutionary group under the spectrum of K-pop groups because of their unusual and special proposal to the K-pop market. This is reflected in the way that they debuted, the music genres that they use on their productions, the Loonaverse that Block Berry Creative designed, and also their mes-sages of empowerment and tolerance that cost them their success and fame in their residential country due to its conservative way to see the world. When we talk about Loona, we cannot ignore that they are part of a very suspicious music market, which has been studied multiple times for its coldness in the treatment of their artists and the neoliberal ideal that is behind K-pop itself (Gooyong Kim, Michael A. Unger), so with a Cultural Studies framework, I will be analyzing female empowerment in the K-pop girl groups and Loona’s contributions in this specific area. My topic is complicated due to its complex “hidden side.” K-pop tends to be very two-faced; on one hand you have the cute part that congregates different people around the world to appreciate the good music, amazing choreographies, and unbelievable visuals. On the other hand you have the abusive treatment of some idols, the “drowned scandals,” and the obscure relationship with neoliberalism.
Kill Bill: The Katana Pointed at Quentin Tarantino?
Shaurya Arora
Abstract: Kill Bill is a movie that I would recommend to anyone even though there is controversy behind it. Jonathan Handel explains how Tarantino pressured Uma Thurman to drive a rattrap convertible down a sandy Mexican road, resulting in a crash that injured her. And Maureen Dowd’s interview with Thurman talks about Tarantino’s poor treatment of Thurman, showing Tarantino’s misogynistic side. To understand Tarantino better, I follow Lesel Dawson’s analysis of Kill Bill while taking Sigmund Freud’s ideas further in my interpretation of the film. I look into Sigmund Freud’s “compulsion to repeat” as explained by Lesel Dawson: to repeat a past event in order to gain control over it, in hopes of doing what happened differently. I use Freud’s psychoanalytic theory to interpret why Tarantino treats women the way he does. Drawing on Paul Gordon and Lesel Dawson, I use Freud’s notions of ambivalence, the Oedipal complex, and the compulsion to repeat to argue that Tarantino is in his own revenge story.
Abstract: Exploring Ubu and the Truth Commission (or Ubu for short) a little deeper and getting to know more about South African history and the response of the public regarding this intense production, I have learnt that although it is filled with comic relief, the show is a true representation of the horrors people endured during Apartheid. Stephanie Marlin-Curiel’s article on the anxieties of Apartheid and Marchia Blumberg’s article discussing the myth of forgive and forget, I personally stand in full agreement with unpacking the trauma and anxieties that the terror attacks of the Apartheid government put on the non-white Afrikaans person.
Dynamics and Disorders in Next to Normal
Kristrun Johannesdottir
Abstract: This essay analyzes Next to Normal’s representation of mental disorder. Next to Normal is an avant-garde musical that employs rock music and fantasy sequences to unveil the struggles of bipolar disorder and grief. I will explore how creators Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey view psychological treatments and look into their different storytelling tactics, such as utilizing psychoanalysis and musical narrative. I extract from Ben Brantley’s, Benjamin Walton’s, and Aleksei Grinenko’s work for commentary. I also go into my own opinions about what the character of Gabe stands for, and what I think that means.