Cultural Appropriation and Shakespeare?
Jul. 21st, 2013 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caitriSo we went to the Colorado Shakespeare Festival to see Macbeth last night, and the more I think about it the more WTELF about it I am. They decided to set the play in 1980s Afghanistan, transforming Duncan and co. into Russians (they changed every reference to England to Russia, but kept the Scottish names which I thought didn't gel at all) and....okay I wasn't sure if everyone else was supposed to be Afghani or not. I mean, they had all the decorations and stuff, but everyone was really white.
Except for the three witches (a guy, a woman in a long tunic and pants, and a woman in a burqa), who were in a crapload of bronzer.
Which. Um. Works out well for no one?
Anyway, lots of fake shooting, sacks-over-the-heads before murdering, etc. etc. Macduff's family was done away with by having the eldest boy shot, and the other two kids drenched in gasoline and then locked in a building with a set match while Lady Macduff ran offstage screaming as it was made clear the killers were going to rape and then kill her. (The audience was very uncomfortable during this sequence.)
At the conclusion, Malcolm becomes king, then there's a pause, the lighting changes, and the three witches put a "king's robe" on one of the minor characters to make it clear He's Getting An Idea, then lights out.
We agreed that the shift in setting made no sense, nor was it even interesting; the best part of Macbeth is his conflict about things, and this version had him pretty all "I'mma be a king!" really quickly--except in Afghanistan, there's no (and never has been, right? It's been largely nomadic cultures? Or am I making that up?) singular king, and if they wanted to change it to make it clear it was a Talibanic reference, they could have used another term instead, just like they used "Russia" for "England."
And really, I'm most bothered by the use of cultural appropriation/race. Lady Macbeth was blonde but dressed throughout in Afghani clothing--was she supposed to be Russian or was this just happenstance of casting? And again, the three "brown" witches in an otherwise clearly-marked white cast irked me; the more so, as I pointed out to Scott, as these actors were all in Richard II Friday night and no one had to put on brownface for that.
Anyways, does anyone else have any deep thoughts on this?
Except for the three witches (a guy, a woman in a long tunic and pants, and a woman in a burqa), who were in a crapload of bronzer.
Which. Um. Works out well for no one?
Anyway, lots of fake shooting, sacks-over-the-heads before murdering, etc. etc. Macduff's family was done away with by having the eldest boy shot, and the other two kids drenched in gasoline and then locked in a building with a set match while Lady Macduff ran offstage screaming as it was made clear the killers were going to rape and then kill her. (The audience was very uncomfortable during this sequence.)
At the conclusion, Malcolm becomes king, then there's a pause, the lighting changes, and the three witches put a "king's robe" on one of the minor characters to make it clear He's Getting An Idea, then lights out.
We agreed that the shift in setting made no sense, nor was it even interesting; the best part of Macbeth is his conflict about things, and this version had him pretty all "I'mma be a king!" really quickly--except in Afghanistan, there's no (and never has been, right? It's been largely nomadic cultures? Or am I making that up?) singular king, and if they wanted to change it to make it clear it was a Talibanic reference, they could have used another term instead, just like they used "Russia" for "England."
And really, I'm most bothered by the use of cultural appropriation/race. Lady Macbeth was blonde but dressed throughout in Afghani clothing--was she supposed to be Russian or was this just happenstance of casting? And again, the three "brown" witches in an otherwise clearly-marked white cast irked me; the more so, as I pointed out to Scott, as these actors were all in Richard II Friday night and no one had to put on brownface for that.
Anyways, does anyone else have any deep thoughts on this?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-21 09:14 pm (UTC)No, no deep thoughts. I can almost imagine a version where someone might want to try and use MacBeth to explore colonialist themes (Like.... I don't know. Watch the colonial powers fight for power among themselves, with fighting and murdering and backstabbing?) and even that seems like it would be destined to fall flat on its face.