Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Brecht's Theories On Theatre

Post Inspired by Theatre 460B and The Good Person of Szechwan

Bertolt Brecht was a visionary in theatre, envisioning an approach to theatre through which we see the actual world of actors on a stage, instead of being swept away by the plot-line. Throughout the 1920's to the 1950's before dying in 1956, Brecht used theatre as a running social commentary on life, political beliefs and social reform. This went against all the current views of the time. Audiences then and still now, used theatre to escape from the harsh realities of life.

"The purpose of the play was to awaken the spectators' minds so that he could communicate his version of the truth." - spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk

Brecht accomplished this by not allowing his actors to become the character at any point in the play, instead they are asked to show the characters actions and responses without becoming that character themselves. They must never identify with their character and are in essence giving their own commentary on these characters through their actions. The ideas are similar to those of Greek theatre in which a story was told through the use of a play, the characters themselves were not represented on the stage, only presented.

Actors break the fourth wall, make scenery shifts in full light view and narrate large portions of the story in order to dissuade audiences from becoming too attached to the actors themselves but rather the characters.

Information cited from:

http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~jamesf/goodwoman/brecht_epic_theater.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAbrecht.htm

What is Marxism?

Marxism is an economic and social system based upon the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism is summed up in the Encarta Reference Library as “a theory in which class struggle is a central element in the analysis of social change in Western societies.” Marxism is the antithesis of capitalism which is defined by Encarta as “an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods, characterized by a free competitive market and motivation by profit.” Marxism is the system of socialism of which the dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.

Under capitalism, the proletariat, the working class or “the people,” own only their capacity to work; they have the ability only to sell their own labor. According to Marx a class is defined by the relations of its members to the means of production. He proclaimed that history is the chronology of class struggles, wars, and uprisings. Under capitalism, Marx continues, the workers, in order to support their families are paid a bare minimum wage or salary. The worker is alienated because he has no control over the labor or product which he produces. The capitalists sell the products produced by the workers at a proportional value as related to the labor involved. Surplus value is the difference between what the worker is paid and the price for which the product is sold.

A proletariat or socialist revolution must occur, according to Marx, where the state (the means by which the ruling class forcibly maintains rule over the other classes) is a dictatorship of the proletariat. Communism evolves from socialism out of this progression: the socialist slogan is “From each according to his ability, to each according to his work.” The communist slogan varies thusly: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/what-is-marxism-faq.htm

Brief Summary on Socialism

The socialist doctrine demands state ownership and control of the fundamental means of production and distribution of wealth, to be achieved by reconstruction of the existing capitalist or other political system of a country through peaceful, democratic, and parliamentary means. The doctrine specifically advocates nationalization of natural resources, basic industries, banking and credit facilities, and public utilities. It places special emphasis on the nationalization of monopolized branches of industry and trade, viewing monopolies as inimical to the public welfare. It also advocates state ownership of corporations in which the ownership function has passed from stockholders to managerial personnel. Smaller and less vital enterprises would be left under private ownership, and privately held cooperatives would be encouraged. The ultimate goal of all socialists, however, is a classless cooperative commonwealth in every nation of the world.

Norman Thomas, D. Litt, Robert E. Burke. Funk & Wagnalls ® New Encyclopedia. © 2006

World Almanac Education Group. A WRC Media Company.
http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=222614

Brecht Facts and Key Terms

• (Eugene) Bertolt (Friedrich) Brecht Biography was born Feb. 10, 1898, Augsburg, Ger.—died Aug. 14, 1956, East Berlin, in his life he was a poet, a playwright, and theatrical reformer whose epic theatre departed from the conventions of theatrical illusion and developed the drama as a social and ideological forum for leftist causes.

• Until 1924 Brecht lived in Bavaria, studied medicine (Munich, 1917–21), and served in an army hospital (1918). This period inspired his first play, Baal (produced 1923); his first success, Trommeln in der Nacht (Kleist Preis, 1922; Drums in the Night); the poems and songs collected as Die Hauspostille (1927; A Manual of Piety, 1966), his first professional production (Edward II, 1924); and his admiration for Wedekind, Rimbaud, Villon, and Kipling. During this period he also developed a violently antibourgeois attitude that reflected his generation's deep disappointment in the civilization that had come crashing down at the end of World War I.

• Among Brecht's friends were members of the Dadaist group, who aimed to destroy what they condemned as the false standards of bourgeois art. The man who taught him the elements of Marxism in the late 1920s was Karl Korsch, an eminent Marxist theoretician who had been a Communist member of the Reichstag but had been expelled from the German Communist Party in 1926. In 1928 Brecht and Kurt Weill, a famous composer, wrote the satirical, successful ballad opera Die Dreigroschenoper (1928; The Threepenny Opera) and the opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1930; Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny). In these years he developed his theory of “epic theatre” and an austere form of irregular verse. He also became a Marxist.

• In 1933 he went into exile—in Scandinavia (1933–41), mainly in Denmark, and then in the United States (1941–47), where he did some film work in Hollywood. In Germany his books were burned and his citizenship was withdrawn. He was cut off from the German theatre; but between 1937 and 1941 he wrote most of his great plays, his major theoretical essays and dialogues, and many of the poems collected as Svendborger Gedichte (1939). The plays of these years became famous in the author's own and other productions: notable among them are Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (1941; Mother Courage and Her Children), Leben des Galilei (1943; The Life of Galileo); Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (1943; The Good Woman of Setzuan), Der Aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui (1957; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui), Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti (1948; Herr Puntila and His Man Matti), and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

• In 1949 Brecht went to Berlin to help stage Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (with his wife, Helene Weigel, in the title part) at Reinhardt's old Deutsches Theater in the Soviet sector. This led to formation of the Brecht’s own company, the Berliner Ensemble, and to permanent return to Berlin. Henceforward the Ensemble and the staging of his own plays had first claim on Brecht's time. Often suspect in eastern Europe because of his unorthodox aesthetic theories and denigrated or boycotted in the West for his Communist opinions, he yet had a great triumph at the Paris Théâtre des Nations in 1955, and in the same year in Moscow he received a Stalin Peace Prize. He died of a heart attack in East Berlin the following year.

Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9225028




Epic Theatre:
A form of didactic theatre intended to provoke rational thought rather than to create illusion through loosely connected scenes which are interrupted by alienating or distancing effects to block the emotional responses of the audience members and force them to think objectively about the play. This form of theatre is most often associated with Bertolt Brecht but can also be traced back in roots to German playwright Frank Wedekind, and the German directors Erwin Piscator and Leopold Jessner.

Socialism:
In Marxist theory, the stage of social organization following Capitalism in a society's journey into the inevitable stage of Communism. This theory advocates the vesting of ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., to the community as a whole.

Marxism:
The system of economic and political thought developed by Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, stating that throughout history has been a device for the exploitation of the masses by a dominant class, that class struggle has been the main agency of historical change, and that the capitalist system, containing from the first the seeds of its own decay, will inevitably, after the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat, be superseded by a socialist order before finally manifesting as a classless society.

Didacticism:
The instruction or teaching of a moral lesson. Brecht's plays are often didactic and use contradictions within the characters themselves to showcase a specific point. The term is often used to describe a text which is over-ridden with moral instruction, and can also be used to describe something which is destructive rather than informative.

Dialecticism:
The belief that everything has two sides, and that the way to truth and social peace is through the exploration of values belonging both sides of the social ladder.

Economic Determinism:
The idea that economic structure and changes determine social differentiation and class conflict and therefor shape history. Economic determinism can be translated into man's effort to survive, and succeed.

Sources:
www.Reference.com
www.dictionary.com
www.britannica.com

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Cult of Stalin and Propaganda; Notes By: Rudolf Kral

"Through the cult of personality Stalin was able to set up his personal dictatorship and run unopposed and unquestioned. Due to the small number of people who did oppose him he had no problem killing them.

There are 4 main ways Stalin’s cult of personality was created:

  • Censorship of anything that might reflect badly on Stalin
  • Propaganda everywhere - pictures, statues, continuous praise and applause, Places named after him
  • Word of mouth: Mothers taught their children that Stalin was ‘the wisest man of the age’
  • History books and photographs were changed to make him the hero of the Revolution, and obliterate the names of purged people (e.g. Trotsky).



    The main reason for propaganda was pretty much the same as that for the cult of personality, provided a better grip on power, but propaganda also had a wider range of uses:

  • To establish a personal dictatorship
  • To support, build and expand soviet power
  • To attack enemies
  • To control people
  • To increase the war effort
  • Create a feeling of unison


    There were 7 main ways in which propaganda was spread:

    1. Posters
    2. Art
    3. Literature
    4. Film
    5. News
    6. Education
    7. Youth groups



    The most effective form of propaganda was news reels:

  • propaganda was be easily disguised and broadcast as news
  • popularize and support the state and its decisions (ex. masked the failure of the 5 year plan)



    Stalin deemed education to be a vital part of c being a communist, because if children are taught to be communists the brain washing is more effective. Stalin reformed the education system when he came to power. This reform was good for the people and made education more effective and accessible but I also contained some reforms that could be called introducing propaganda into the school system:

  • Communism and Stalin were fused into most subjects
  • Some subjects were rewritten Ex. history, Stalin was given a greater part in the revolution
  • train young people for slots in the economic, social, political and cultural life of the state
  • Uniforms were introduced to create the feeling on unity


    Youth groups were another form of propaganda implemented on children:

  • Children were instructed to follow the party’s ideas
  • But also did fun activities
  • Shared a common uniform to once again create a feeling on unity
  • Youth groups were very popular
  • most famous Russian youth group was Communist League of Youth
  • over 9 million members
  • Children from youth groups were frequently photographed with Stalin


    The use of propaganda was vital for the creation of Stalin’s cult of personality and one of the more important parts if it was how Stalin associated himself with Lenin after his death:

  • Stalin embalmed Lenin against his wives wishes
  • Created a cult round Lenin's death despite Lenin's ideals
  • Associated him self with Lenin
  • Declared him self Lenin's natural successor


    Stalin did all this so that he could then transfer Lenin’s cult of personality onto him self. He was successful and this brought about the era of Stalinization:

  • Stalin was everywhere:
  • Every house hold had a picture of Lenin and Stalin
  • Constant parades were held in his honor
  • Streets were filled with huge posters
  • Stalin’s statues were raised everywhere


  • He was given titles such as "Coryphaeus of Science," "Father of Nations," "Brilliant Genius of Humanity," "Great Architect of Communism," "Gardener of Human Happiness,"
  • Soviet history rewritten to provide himself a more significant role in the revolution.
  • Stalin was even included in the national anthem


    To conclude:

  • The Russian people shouldn’t be blamed for the atrocities that were that were made possible through their support of the regime and Stalin
  • Continues propaganda effectively brain washed and clouded their judgment
  • They truly believed that Stalin was unaware of the crimes on humanity that became so banal during his rule and though he really worked for their interest
  • "Why Russia Still Loves Stalin"

    Excerpts:

    "It's not surprising. After the anarchy that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a period when democracy came to represent confusion, crime, poverty, oligarchy, anger and disappointment, it turned out that Russians didn't like their new, "free" selves. Having for centuries had no sense of self-esteem outside the state, we found ourselves wanting our old rulers back, the rulers who provided a sense of order, inspired patriotic fervor and the belief that we were a great nation. We yearned for monumental -- if oppressive -- leaders, like Ivan the Terrible or Stalin. Yes, they killed and imprisoned, but how great were our victories and parades! So what if Stalin ruled by fear? That was simply a fear for one's life. However terrifying, it wasn't as existentially threatening as the fear of freedom, of individual choice, with no one but oneself to blame if democracy turned into disarray and capitalism into corruption."

    "This tendency to dismiss the past, never to fully repent of its sins, is common in Russian history, and it allows for a film of nostalgia to take hold."

    "Instead, the complexities of life in a fragmented modern society that can boast of no momentous achievements -- no more superpower status, no new Sputniks -- have made Russians nostalgic for the "strong state" they once inhabited. It's a cycle that will keep on repeating itself until Russia finally and fully confronts its past."

    The Danger of a Naïve Working Class

    "One of the novella's most impressive accomplishments is its portrayal not just of the figures in power but also of the oppressed people themselves. Animal Farm is not told from the perspective of any particular character, though occasionally it does slip into Clover's consciousness. Rather, the story is told from the perspective of the common animals as a whole. Gullible, loyal, and hardworking, these animals give Orwell a chance to sketch how situations of oppression arise not only from the motives and tactics of the oppressors but also from the naïveté of the oppressed, who are not necessarily in a position to be better educated or informed. When presented with a dilemma, Boxer prefers not to puzzle out the implications of various possible actions but instead to repeat to himself, “Napoleon is always right.” Animal Farm demonstrates how the inability or unwillingness to question authority condemns the working class to suffer the full extent of the ruling class's oppression."

    Tuesday, March 3, 2009

    Character Correspondence to Historical Figures

    Clover / Boxer: The working class
    Napoleon: Joseph Stalin, Napoleon,
    Snowball: Leon Trotsky
    Squealer: Russian Media
    Old Major: Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin,
    Benjamin / Muriel: Lower Class Intelligentsia*, Literate Lower Class
    Mollie: The Lower Class; Lumpenproletariat
    Birds: Peasant Farmers
    Moses: Russian Orthodox Church
    Pigeon: Comintern; The Communist Magazine
    Dogs: The Secret Police
    Mr. and Mrs. Jones: Tsar of Russia, Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov (Nicholas II), and his wife Alexandra
    Mr. Pilkington: Composite of England’s Leaders
    Sheep: The Masses at Large
    Mr. Fredrick: Composite of Germany’s Leaders w/ emphasis on Hitler
    Mr. Whymper: Capitalism

    * Intelligentsia: intellectuals who form an artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite