A fiercely dedicated band of teen survivors of the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, this week are earning international attention through social media for speaking out on gun control in a movement they call Never Again.
6 comments:
I am never surprised to learn that theater kids are doing awesome things. Maybe that’s a little pretentious but theater kids are bold, outspoken, brave, and smart. What happened in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was a great tragedy. Guns are a violent tool that is poorly regulated within the United States of America and this is one episode of many that is an example of the poor gun control and the violence that results. While I am happy that these kids that are speaking up are “drama kids,” I find it ironic that articles that should be discussing the need for better gun control are pushing these students into boxes and distinguishing their actions based on their interests in high school. Drama is an awesome outlet for high school students, but it is also a space where students can learn to have a voice. I am not surprised that these students are choosing to speak out because they’ve been taught through their theater classes to be brave. This is the best reason to be brave.
"Are you surprised that these teenage drama nerds are now taking the international stage by storm? " This line sums up why I'm in fact upset with this article, which seems to equate their outspokenness primarily to their background in theater. By publishing this article, they are saying that in order to be outspoken and an activist, there should be theatrical background. The reason they are being heard is because they are an innocent group of white children that looks great in the media's eye. I'm not trying to diminish their worth, but the gap here is appalling. To be an activist doesn't take a theatre kid, it just takes a kid. We don't need to use this horrible tragedy as a mechanism to glorify theatre, we do that enough in our day to day lives. What really needs to be talked about is that they are survivors of a horrible school shooting that was caused by a lack of gun control. The topic of this article is both irrelevant to the incident and doesn't make them any less outspoken than they already were, its not a win for theatre because they do it, its still a tragedy.
I agree with Shahzad’s sentiments towards this article. I think that while, yes, theatre is a place in which the skills to be vocal and commanding are focused on and cultivated, this isn’t a skill that is “owned” by theatre. This should be a story about how a bunch of kids who endured a horrifying tragedy have come together to fight the systems that allow this to happen. All of that being said, I think that the skill of vocalizing a belief and learning to communicate on a large scale is something that should be focused on in every educational program, whether it be sports, theatre, or academics because, as we are all seeing now, change can come from anyone, no matter their age, gender, ethnicity, belief system, or anything that may put them in a position of silence. There are so many larger conversations to be had rather than what extracurricular they came from. We should be talking about how these kids have educated themselves on gun laws and are interacting with the public and our government to try and create real change in our country.
While I think that their theatre backgrounds are definitely helping them with having the courage to be outspoken because acting takes people out of their comfort zones and teaches them how to deal with conflict, it shouldn’t be the major focus of the story. It takes away the fact that these are students who have survived a tragedy and are trying to change the system that failed them so badly. It is high time we had actual media coverage of students protesting the gun laws that are so badly failing our students. And all they focus on in this article is their extracurricular. Maybe the students speaking are theatre students, but how many more students do we not see that are just as active within this group from the same high school that are not in theatre. Logically we would see the theater students, or rather the actors, because they are already the ones who are used to speaking publicly.
This article, while having good intentions, misses the mark a little bit. I see that the author is trying to raise theatre up, but using this instance as an example of why theatre is good for young kids is a little inappropriate, for a couple of reasons. It is too soon to use this event as proof that theatre is important. That should not be the main takeaway here. I think that, maybe in the future, if you are talking about how theatre empowers kids and teens to stand up and speak out, you could mention this movement and these kids. But, right now, everything is fresh. Theatre’s connection to this is irrelevant right now. I honestly do not understand why this author chose to focus on the fact that theatre empowered them over the message that they were trying to send. It does not make sense and it feels counterproductive.
I think this article does raise some fair points, but is off base in its argument. While it is noted that many of these students all have a theatrical background, that is not the reason they are speaking. They are speaking because they are mad, they are frustrated, they are done with this injustice. There is no reason why reform is not happening and these kids are angry- as we all are right now. Yes, there is something to be noted that these students are theatre kids and that there is a potential that their theatre background has influenced their ability to be able to effectively public speak, but that should not be the topic of discussion right now. The topic of discussion should be gun reform and how we can make our schools safer (WITHOUT adding more guns to the gun problem). They are mad, and that is what should be discussed rather than theatre even remotely influencing the way and the reasoning behind their anger.
Post a Comment