Politics of Tony Kushners Angels in America Essay Example
Kushner’s American History and Politics as Millennium Approaches
Though gay themes prevail in Angels in America, Tony Kushner’s work critically examines issues crucial to the American identity. Kushner uses social criticism from the viewpoint of his characters, who as members of minority groups, voice, witness or exhibit the moral decay, spiritual depletion and self-destructiveness found at the very core of their society. This constant downward spiral is relieved by Kushners hope in man, who, as a social being, can have an impact on the historical process, mainly through political engagement and activism. ‘Though the threat of catastrophe, annihilation and despair looms large in his work, in man lays the hope and the potential for change, and therefore, salvation’ (Stephanovic, 2000: 151).
Angels in America Part One and Part Two premiered for the first time together at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles the night Bill Clinton was about to be elected the new president of the United States, November 1, 1992. By that time over 171,890 people had officially died of AIDS-related causes in the United States alone (1998: 205). Roman explains how the November 1st performance actually played as a rehearsal; the plays were withheld for review by another week. He argues this postponement was nothing more than Brechtian gestus.
Kushner cites his influences as Bertolt Brecht and Walter Benjamin. Brecht's theories on political drama and Benjamin's ideas on history. Critic James Fisher states that "Angels is certainly inspired by aspects of Brechtian theatre, but it is primarily fuelled by Walter Benjamin" (1995: 291), the playwright employed the Brechtian epic mode and form and became greatly influenced by the use of multiple points of perspective and a dialectical vision of history. Brecht's insistence on socially-conscious, proletarian drama is also evident in Kushner's depictions of normal people in politically charged crises and particular individuals exposed to
Though gay themes prevail in Angels in America, Tony Kushner’s work critically examines issues crucial to the American identity. Kushner uses social criticism from the viewpoint of his characters, who as members of minority groups, voice, witness or exhibit the moral decay, spiritual depletion and self-destructiveness found at the very core of their society. This constant downward spiral is relieved by Kushners hope in man, who, as a social being, can have an impact on the historical process, mainly through political engagement and activism. ‘Though the threat of catastrophe, annihilation and despair looms large in his work, in man lays the hope and the potential for change, and therefore, salvation’ (Stephanovic, 2000: 151).
Angels in America Part One and Part Two premiered for the first time together at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles the night Bill Clinton was about to be elected the new president of the United States, November 1, 1992. By that time over 171,890 people had officially died of AIDS-related causes in the United States alone (1998: 205). Roman explains how the November 1st performance actually played as a rehearsal; the plays were withheld for review by another week. He argues this postponement was nothing more than Brechtian gestus.
Kushner cites his influences as Bertolt Brecht and Walter Benjamin. Brecht's theories on political drama and Benjamin's ideas on history. Critic James Fisher states that "Angels is certainly inspired by aspects of Brechtian theatre, but it is primarily fuelled by Walter Benjamin" (1995: 291), the playwright employed the Brechtian epic mode and form and became greatly influenced by the use of multiple points of perspective and a dialectical vision of history. Brecht's insistence on socially-conscious, proletarian drama is also evident in Kushner's depictions of normal people in politically charged crises and particular individuals exposed to