Political Poetics: A Social History of Drama

POLITICAL POETICS A Social History of Drama Augusto Boal The feudal abstraction According to Aristotle, as well as Hegel and Marx, art, in any of its modes, genres, or styles, always constitutes a sensorial way of transmitting certain knowledge - subjective or objective, individual or social, particular or general, abstract or concrete, super- or infrastructural . That knowledge, adds Marx, is revealed according to the perspective of the artist or of the social sector in which he is rooted, or which sponsors him, pays him, or consumes his work - especially that sector of society which holds the economic power, controlling with it all the other powers and establishing the directives of all creativity, be it artistic, scientific, philosophical, or any other. This sector is evidently interested in the transmission of that knowledge which helps it to maintain its power, if it already possesses it in an absolute form, or if not, helps it to conquer that power. This does not, however, prevent other sectors or classes from fostering their own art, which translates the knowledge necessary to them, and in doing so are guided by their own perspective. But the dominant art will always be that of the dominant class, since it is the only class that possesses the means to disseminate it. In his book The Social History of Art, while analyzing the social function of Greek tragedy, Arnold Hauser writes that "the externals of its presentation to the masses were democratic, but its content, the heroic sagas with their tragi-heroic outlook on life, was aristocratic .... It unquestionably propagates the standards of the great-hearted individual, the uncommon distinguished man [i.e. the aristocrat] .. ." Hauser points out, too, that Athens was an "imperialistic de6 mocracy," whose numerous wars brought benefits only for the dominant sectors of society and whose only progress was that of gradually substituting an aristocracy of money for an aristocracy of blood. The State and the wealthy financed the production of tragedies and, therefore, would not permit the performance of plays whose content would run counter to State policy or to the interests of the governing classes. In the Middle Ages the control of theatrical production, exercised by the clergy and the nobility, was even more effective, and the relations between feudalism and medieval art can easily be shown through the establishment of an ideal type of art - which, of course, need not explain all the particular cases, though many times perfect examples may be found. The aims of feudal art were the same as those of the clergy and nobility: to immobilize society by perpetuating the existing system. Its principal characteristic was depersonalization, de-individualization, abstraction. The function of art was authoritarian, coercive, inculcating in the people a solemn attitude of religious respect for the status quo. It presented a _static, stereotyped world, in which the generic and homogeneous prevailed. transcendent values were of prime importance , while individual, concrete phenomena had no intrinsic value, serving only as symbols or signs. The Church itself simply tolerated and later utilized art as a mere vehicle for its ideas, dogmas, precepts, commandments, and decisions. The artistic means represented a concession made by the clergy to the ignorant masses, incapable of reading and following abstract reasoning, and who could be reached only through the senses. Striving to establish a firm bond between the feudal lords and Divinity , art stressed the identification of noblemen with sacred figures. For example: the presentation of figures of noblemen and saints, especially in Romanesque art, was frontal, and they could never be painted working but only in idleness, characteristic of the powerful lord. Jesus was depicted as if he were a nobleman, and the nobleman as if he were Jesus. Unfortunately, Jesus was crucified and died after intense physical suffering; and here the identification no longer interested the nobility. Even in scenes of the most intense suffering, therefore, Jesus, Saint Sebastian, and other martyrs showed no sign of pain in their faces; on the contrary, they contemplated heaven with a strange bliss. The pictures in which Jesus appears crucified give the impression that he is barely leaning. on a small pedestal and from there contemplates the happiness caused by the prospect of soon returning to...