Acting Out: Counterliteracy Beyond the Ree(a)l

This essay draws upon inner-city high school students' responses to Lee Daniels's film, Precious, and the wealth of media and Internet parodies that followed its release. These experiences, as narrated by their teacher, provide a platform from which to consider the implications of Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed. Where the inner-city classroom is a stage set for learning and social development, this essay explores the consequences of imposing upon students an inherently empirical system of staging that is rooted in what Boal describes as "Aristotle's Coercive System of Tragedy." Through questioning the appropriateness and perhaps usefulness of comedic and unsympathetic responses to Precious's abuse, this essay proposes a Brechtian approach to education where students claim ownership of their traumatic experiences in lieu of sympathy.