CMU School of Drama


Sunday, April 08, 2007

Take a Bow, Loser, the Spotlight’s Yours

New York Times: "Behold a new face of the Broadway musical, bearing a wry comic grimace that reflects the new mood abroad in America. A country renowned — for good or ill — as the land that enshrined success as a prize to be cherished above all others has lately evinced a sneaky fascination with failure. "

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is interesting to see how American culture is now so obsessed with the downfall of others. With all of the shows on TV which clearly poke fun of the privileged who fall, to have this trend be introduced into other forms of entertainment seems only certain. It’s as if we as a culture define ourselves by comparing ourselves to the status of someone else. I think that because this idea has become so much of how we live our lives, it is no wonder that it has become our entertainment as well.

Ryan said...

One word. Schadenfreude. We adore watching people do worse than us because naturally we feel better. It's not the centry's greatest mystery. Chemmer's talks about the change of society as we moved from and honour based society into a guilyt based society which is were we are.