Tablet Magazine: Earlier this month, the principal of New York’s LaGuardia High School (aka “the school that Fame is based on”) attempted to remove the swastikas from a student production of The Sound of Music.
Students immediately rebelled. According to the parent of a student in the play, “The principal had been invited to rehearsals early in the process but didn’t go. She finally saw a rehearsal on Tuesday, December 4th. The play was opening two days later. She wanted to get rid of the swastikas. The drama and tech students were outraged. ‘It’s the Sound of Music! What do you mean, take out the swastikas?’ And Jewish parents were saying, ‘You’re whitewashing history!’”
1 comment:
I don’t believe that removing parts of plays or musicals simply on the basis of them being offensive or upsetting to people is ever okay. Yes, history can be upsetting, but it’s better to have a conversation about why it makes us uncomfortable and how we can move forwards, rather than to sweep them under the rug and pretend like they don’t exist. It takes away from the message of the play and softens the impact of what’s happening. It’s censoring what’s happened in the past, and in turn making the performed events much less accurate. It makes us soft to only be able to be exposed to things that make us completely comfortable. Like they said in the article, some incredibly powerful scenes would be lost without the disturbing symbolism. Just this school year, my old High School wound up cancelling their production of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ because of the use of the n-word by white actors. There were people who even threatened members of the cast if the show was to go on. While I understand completely that it’s extremely offensive and derogatory, it is part of the production and what makes the horrid racism that’s present a lot more impactful. It’s a part of our not-so-great American history, and we shouldn’t ignore it.
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