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THE DRAMA OF SOCIAL LIFE
PART VI
EMANCIPATORY USES OF DRAMATURGY
The Falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart, the Center does not hold; Mere Anarchy is loosed upon the World, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of Innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
....Yeats
In scientific terms, critical dramaturgy emphasizes the historical relativity of forms of social drama. In political terms, critical dramaturgy facilitates participation by all competent adults in social processes of human emancipation and societal development. The essays in this section attempt to address the analytical and political interests of critical dramaturgy by suggesting how dramaturgy might be put to emancipatory uses.
In "The Emancipatory Uses of Dramaturgy," I discuss what is necessary in the theater and in human drama if these are to contribute to emancipatory interests. First, theater and drama must point to the limitations of life as it is; it must have a descriptive dimension. Second, it must give us a vision of life as it is not; it must have a critical dimension. Third, it must motivate or push people to realize their human potential; that is, it must have a revolutionary dimension.
Against the background of these three elements of emancipatory dramaturgy, there is an analysis of the emancipatory potential embedded in three popular films, Casablanca, Cabaret and The Wizard of Oz, in order to show concretely how theater and drama contribute to emancipatory knowledge.
It is important that critical dramaturgy specify (1) a critique of dramaturgical society in its alienated forms, (2) a vision of a drama more closely allied with human interests and the human spirit together with (3) a discussion of how processes of opposition can be organized.
There are essays on the use of the drama of religion and sport as well. These are offered as antidote to those who would use their genius, talent and energy to create an alienated dramaturgy in the world. Then finally, there is an essay on good work...the unification of magic and make believe with the world of seriously intended reality in which people must live, love, adapt, struggle, doubt and die. Each tells its own story and that's the way it should be.
