Friday, April 6, 2007
August Wilson's Fences aand Charles Fullers' A Soldier's Play ( and Story)
Many of you said that you felt these plays by Wilson and Fuller were"universal." How do the representations of Black men presented in these plays stand as "universal" characters if at all? If the military, music and sports are key avenues for self-empowerment presented by the playwrights, how do you see these institutions operating across racial lines today? Are they sites for all men to find opportunities for achievement outside of prescribed racial roles or do they target men based on racial stereotype still today?
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In response to the idea of these plays being "universal" i believe this was because of the world surrounding the characters. While in both they were affected by the greater "white" outside world, both of the primary action of the film and the play existed within a context where the majority if not all of the characters were black. And the primary topics and issues that they faced were not about their conflict with that greater white world, but rather the internal conflict they felt in constructing their identities. Although they did have the added element of external pressures created by being of a darker hue (no matter how slight the darkness), they were ultimately struggling with who they were and how they were going to come to terms with all of the inner conflictions they felt in defining that identity. And ultimately that is a topic that most if not all people can relate to at one point in their lives or another.
Still today sports and entertainment are often seen as the only means of social advancement for African Americans. But I think in a larger context they are ways for disenfranchised people in general to "cheat the system" and get their piece of the pie despite not having the same opportunities as the more fortunate. This is particularly true of the military, which today clearly depends on the poor (regardless of race) to fill its ranks. Though we have to assume there is less outright racism in the army than there was during WWII, we also must concede that the entire institution is based on a value judgment that poor americans' lives are worth less (I mean you don't see the sons of senators joining the marines because its the only way they can afford college.) And unfortunately in this country a disproportionate number of African Americans live in poverty. So yeah, the military is in a sense still operating along racial lines. Of course now Black officers are not so rare, but in an institution that values chain of command so highly I'd wager there are a good amount of Sgt. Waters-types in addition to Captain Davenports.
Music and Sports seem to be the primary outlets for young black men. So in this case I don't that this theme is universal but particular. The idea that men have to struggle to provide for their families and that at times they cheat, now that's universal. But like Wolfe says in Celebrity Slaveship the basketball becomes a staple for men to get out the ghetto and that's true of any sport for that matter.
I think we tend to say plays like these are universal because they seem so familiar to us in the fact that they deal with intraracial conflicts with white oppression being an outside force that is heard but not seen. I think this is how this type of oppression is mostly manuevered in black communities. as far as sports, entertainment, the military being a vehicle that equally offers the same opportunites for blacks and whites, I can't say that I agree. I do agree that the options are open to both, but they are held in such high regard in the black working class community especially because of the media highlighting them as the best ways out. And if its like Chris Rocks says, if your black and successful and in the public eye you have to be on your best behavior because they will tear you apart if they find the source to do so and then, because black people are seen as a collective in the national imagination, it tends to be a reflection of all blacks.
to say that sports are free from racial sterotype is completly ludicrous. but the thing i find the most troubling is that people actually beleive in some of the stereotypes, especially the blacks are more athletic than whites. this is not actually the case, in all reality the sports in which we see a predominance of black athletes are sports which there is a lot of competition. quite simply, the reason we see next to no black hockey players is that it is a sport which as a community, black people have not seemed to embrace. this fact only highlights soemthing i have an issue with, and that is positive sterotyping. Black people as better dancers or athletes seem much more likely to be embraaced by a black person because it places them on a greater footing than the white counterpart. but in all reality, a positive stereotype still subjucated the person being stereotypes becasue they do not posses the agency to make the jidgement on their own. once again, individual abilities are overlooked. a black chess champion is a champion because he worked hard and is intelligent. a black track star is a star because he is black. unfortunately, this is the wrong way to view the problem, but nevertheless it i how it is seen by many both white AND black.
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