Summary
In which Em and Jess discuss the important theoretical contributions of Tropic Thunder and Blazing Saddles to performance studies, thereby illustrating the important differences between performance, theatre, and ritual and vital questions about their respective origins.
Also, Jess calls Socrates evil, and then Em and Jess decolonize medieval theatre beginning with India and China.
(Aristotle loves theatre and therefore was not evil.)
Notes, Annotations, and Corrections
1/ Okay, to be honest–we didn’t talk about Australia, and that is a super colonized place that is ripe for a reevaluation–evidently, the period we refer to as “the middle ages” is typically called “prehistory” in Australia because there were no written records. (Refer to previous rant about the privileging of written records over other forms of memory.) Sometime we will have to circle back and think about this. [I read “super colonized” as “spider colonized” at first, which also rings true for Australia. But yes–we will definitely have to cover Australia and New Zealand!–JN]
2/ The dudes are emerging. [So many layers!!!–JN]
The new ice cream truck jingle by RZA. Turkey in the Straw information.
White Christmas “Minstrel Number”.
A NY Times article on the Met production of Othello. [Seriously, WTF!!! Come on, Met!–JN]]
I think the Ben Stiller/Spielberg movie was Empire of the Sun. [Yes, it was!–JN]
The Sean Penn movie was I Am Sam. I [Em] hadn’t heard of it, and–wow. Reading the summary, all I can say is it deserves whatever fun Ben Stiller was able to poke at it.
Also, as a face-blind person, the fact that so many actors become famous because they look like other actors is the bane of my freaking existence.
And here is the trailer for Satan’s Alley.
3/ [17:35] On performing parenthood: welcome to Em’s theory of how gender inequalities get perpetuated from generation to generation despite the idea that women shouldn’t have to do 100% of childcare and homemaking being a thing since at least 1989. (Actually probably a lot of women had this idea earlier, but 1989 is when The Second Shift was published.)
This doesn’t have too much to do with medieval studies, but whatever, sez I. [This was definitely an issue in the Middle Ages! We should have a medieval kid/parenthood episode.–JN] [I would totally be in for that.–Em]
4/ For Ishtar/Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld, see Episode 8 nt. 18.
Oedipus Rex, by Tom Lehrer.
5/ [29:59] “Socrates is evil…we’ll footnote that.” Stub footnote so Jesse can provide some proof or something. Otherwise we are going to get nailed on this by the ancient philosophy crowd. [I stand by this!! I have long rants on this, but I can boil it down to a few points. 1) Socrates’s students–specifically Critias–were responsible for a coup that overthrew the democracy in 404 BCE and installed the Thirty Tyrants, who were sympathetic to Sparta (to whom Athens had just lost the Peloponnesian War). 2) The Tyrants, especially Critias, were only in power for 8 months but managed to kill a LOT of people (maybe 5% of the Athenian population). Scholars have excused this over the years as “ne...