Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day, and a co-writer of the book for the musical based on his band’s 2004 rock opera of the same name, responded on Instagram, calling the decision by the school, Enfield High, an issue of censorship.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Billie Joe Armstrong Warns of Censorship After School Cancels 'American Idiot'
Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day, and a co-writer of the book for the musical based on his band’s 2004 rock opera of the same name, responded on Instagram, calling the decision by the school, Enfield High, an issue of censorship.
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Green day, and 90's punk as a whole, has always been a divisive genre, and the content of the music is something that parents have been attempting to shield the ears of their children from for years. The industry's answer to the issue was to slap an explicit content warning on the cover and move on. However, theatre is a bit more ethereal, as you can post all the warnings you want about a performance but you have no idea if people will heed them and if they will care. However, I think that by picking a musical to put on, you are agreeing to portray the themes and words of that production to the fullest extent of your ability, and by canceling the musical, you set a bad precedent for the people who were participating. To think that you can work for weeks, even months to put together a show and have it be cancelled due to the content must be devastating, and the fact that there was a high school edition that they were doing is even more unjust. They now plan on doing little shop of horrors, and have managed to make a few kids lose their faith in the integrity of their art. Not really a fair trade.
The idea of censoring art because it makes an audience uncomfortable is really disconcerting to me. In my opinion that’s exactly what we should be doing with our art. I don’t believe people are so weak minded as to be swayed into a lower moral state because they saw one piece of art that reflected an idea that challenged the widely accepted morality of the world. I we do have the power, though the saturation of our culture with art along a theme to change the way people see but that requires a portion of the art we are creating to actually align in an ideal. If you can get there it might actually be a good idea to see what the artists and performers are trying to say and consider that maybe, even if it’s uncomfortable that they might not only be justified in that expression but might also be very right about something.
I was so lucky to go to a high school that didn't limit what shows we were allowed to do, and have a teacher that appreciated the value of pushing the limits. My junior year we did Spring Awakening, in its entirety, and we got a lot of push back from the community, and even from some of the teachers, but when they saw the show they understood the importance of having teens play teens in a show about sensitive topics. I think that American Idiot falls under the same category. It has a lot of themes that as a culture we hide from teens, and people in high school, but are really important for them to grow up as educated adults. I completely agree with the stance the Billie Joe takes in this article because the importance of making people uncomfortable, and changing (even if it is slowly) what we see as acceptable is part of our responsibility as people who produce art. We are the visual for what is happening slowly in everyone heads. I think high schools should be able to do what ever they want, and to expose kids to subjects in a way that is appropriate, and fun.
Every time I read an article like this it makes me thankful that I went to a high school that didn’t try to censor art or theater. Whenever we would do a show that had content parents might object to we’d put a mature content warning label on it and let people decide for themselves if they wanted to see it. The existence of those labels is the reason I don’t understand this kind of censorship. Why undo the hard work that everyone involved with the production had already put into it? Just let the potential audience members decide if they want to see what’s in the show just like they would for any other show that did not contain this kind of material. I understand censorship in some circumstances but not when its only to save people from having to take the time to thinking about the events of a play or movie and make a decision about seeing it.
The first professional musical I ever saw was American Idiot, at the tender age of 14. My father, bless him, schlepped my to the SHN in San Francisco, and I sat, for hours, enthralled by the spectacle in front of me. Was I too young to have seen the musical? Some critics may have made a case that my father erred in his decision to take me. However, as we walked through a corner of San Francisco's Tenderloin district, on the way to my father's favorite 24-hour diner, through the medley of average pedestrians, the homeless, the addicted, and the mentally ill, a melange for which the Tenderloin is famous for (along with its plethora of cheap and delicious restaurants with odd hours), I did not dwell on the images of heroin use or sex that I had just seen onstage. I don't know much about the high school that banned the production ( the watered-down kiddie version at that), but I don't know how those on charge have deluded themselves into thinking that they can alter reality by suppressing art that reflects aspects of it. It is a privilege to not have to face the issues portrayed in American Idiot (drug addiction and mental illness, namely) on a personal, day-to-day basis, but sheer delusion to try to ignore them out of existence.
While I don't agree with censorship, this kind of makes sense. Some schools are edgier than others and are able to put on riskier shows, but not every school is like that. While sex, drugs, and strong language are not foreign concepts to high school students so that they're being "corrupted" by the show, I still think it may not be the best show for a group of high schoolers to perform. While I enjoy the music of American Idiot, I feel that the story is pretty weak, so it's not like their company and their audiences are missing out on the greatest show of all time. It would be a cool experience for the lighting and sound designers, but other than that, I don't see a huge loss in canceling American Idiot for the school. Overall, I think the high school probably made the right decision in choosing not to do the show.
I think that this is a really interesting issue. While I wouldn’t really be for a high school to perform a full American Idiot, the theatre teacher said that they were going to make more suitable for that age range, and Billie Joe Armstrong said that there is a version for high schools. However, we do not know if the high school was using this version, so I think that in this case it is perfectly acceptable for censorship to occur. While some communities and schools are fine with dealing with harder material, it is okay if not everyone is. One thing I really want to note, though, is the last paragraph of the article. It almost had an ‘Onion’ like feel to it, just how a high school went from a not-much-done-in-highschool show, to one of the more overdone shows in high school history. Also, it’s not like Little Shop doesn’t have mature content in it. It’s about a person killing people to feed his pet plant.
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