[PDF] The Notion Of Progress In Kushner S Angels In America eBook

Author : Sarah Wenzel
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 19 pages
File Size : 22,9 MB
Release : 2019-06-07
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 3668954690

GET BOOK

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Würzburg (Philosophische Fakultät I), course: Race, Gender and Identity in Postmodern American Theater, language: English, abstract: How are Kushner ́s characters in "Angels in America" dealing with the new challenges in the changing postmodern world of the 1980s? Which position does the play take towards the ambivalence of progress? These questions are now to be analysed in the following term paper. Therefore the two positions contra and pro progress are closely examined and carefully weighed up against each other. Not to go beyond the scope of this term paper, only the main points of the notion of progress in "Angels in America" are worked out and exemplary substantiated. "[Y]our ambivalent about everything", Belize characterizes Louis suitably in one of their discussions about politics and society. As this quotation is linked to one character of Tony Kushner ́s "Angels in America", which consists of the two books called "Millenium Approaches" and "Perestroika", one could surely transfer this statement to the whole play. Ambivalence plays a main role within the drama and consequently throws up many significant questions. One of them deals with the notion of progress. Kushner takes up the theme of progress and throws light on its ambivalent character. Progress, especially in today ́s postmodern era, can be connected to something positive, considering the amount of knowledge and new technologies, which make life easier. Moreover personal progress implies strive for improvement, which is inherent in every human being. Nevertheless a progressing world is a world in which things are getting faster and often uncontrollable. Traditions and old values die, while individualisation and isolation grow, which leads to the rise of uncertainty.

Author : Amelie Meyer
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 23 pages
File Size : 41,57 MB
Release : 2020-04-02
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 3346141799

GET BOOK

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, University of Göttingen (Philosophische Fakultät), course: The American Rhetorical Tradition, language: English, abstract: While this extensive film encompasses a variety of themes and topics, the focus of this paper will be its proposition of progress. It will be argued that Angels in America confirms progress to be inevitable and essential by drawing on, and redefining, American concepts and myths of westward movement and migration, equality and pluralism. Thus, traditional elements of the construct “American Dream” will be analyzed. The first part will consist of a short overview of different approaches to progress employed in the film: historical, religious and political. Subsequently, the second and third part will focus on a set of selected scenes and investigate how progress, and the lack thereof, is communicated in the depiction of different characters as they are caught in a constant struggle between motion and staying put, between moving on and giving up, between living and death. From this, the redefinition of aforementioned American concepts will be derived. In 2003, playwright Tony Kushner adopted his two-part play premiered in 1991 and 1992, Angels in America, to the screen. The HBO miniseries was directed by Mike Nichols and studded with celebrated actors such as Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson. Set in New York City in the mid 1980s, a time of Reagan’s politics and the silencing of AIDS, the series revolves around a set of characters differing greatly in ethnicity, religion, worldview and sexual orientation. They include Louis and Prior, a homosexual couple having to cope with Prior’s AIDS diagnosis, and Harper and Joe, Mormons, who are faced with Joe’s oppressed homosexuality destroying their marriage. Other characters are Hannah, Joe’s mother from Salt Lake City, Roy Cohn, a lawyer also diagnosed with AIDS, and Belize, Prior’s black homosexual friend who is also Roy’s nurse. Throughout the film, these characters come together in unexpected ways in an attempt to move out of their crises and transform themselves.

Author : Tony Kushner
Publisher :
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 36,35 MB
Release : 2017-04-13
Category :
ISBN : 9781848426313

GET BOOK

America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. This edition, published alongside the major revival at the National Theatre in 2017, contains both plays, Part One: Millennium Approaches, and Part Two: Perestroika.

Author : Deborah R. Geis
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 28,96 MB
Release : 1997
Category : AIDS (Disease)
ISBN : 9780472066230

GET BOOK

Leading critics, scholars, and theater practictioners consider the most talked-about play of the 1990s

Author :
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 19 pages
File Size : 43,59 MB
Release : 2023-05-31
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 3346881318

GET BOOK

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen (Department of Anglophone Studies), language: English, abstract: In this paper, I will take a look at how Kushner's characters Prior and Harper deal with challenges in the changes in the postmodern world of the 1980s. Tony Kushner's two-part drama "Angels of America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes" takes place at the height of America's conservative politics and culture in the mid-1980s under the leadership of Ronald Reagan. The very complex drama depicts the life of a group of people from New York against the background of national themes, which examines the AIDS epidemic and political situation during that time. Scholars who explore the play from the historical, political, and sociological point of view, claims that it reconstructs the American nation. I will focus on the notation of progress and change, which exemplifies our struggle between staying put and our need to move forward. I will investigate the progress of two special characters, who were considered as either weak or insane at the beginning of the play, but as they went through life changing challenges, they became independent and strong personalities. As Fisher pointed out: "The play proceeds to explore the deep anxieties of its characters through their visions of the forces that effect and control their lives, and as they discover their own strengths and weaknesses". How to move forward into an uncertain future if things around us are collapsing is one main question of Tony Kushner’s play. He encourages people to move forward, releasing from the past and to embrace uncertainty because humans just need to progress and change, although it is very painful sometimes. The character Prior sums it up in her a final monologue, telling us that "The world only spins forward". In a broader sense, the question arises how these small human triumphs relate to the play's larger political themes. Progress, especially in today's postmodern era, is mostly considered positive and helpful, considering how newly gained knowledge and technology make life so much easier and more pleasant. Nevertheless, in a progressing world, humanity faces many problems, for example environmental pollution. Besides, traditions and old values disappear or get replaced, while isolation and selfishness proceed.

Author : Ken Nielsen
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 147 pages
File Size : 37,39 MB
Release : 2013-08-05
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 1441159460

GET BOOK

Angels in America paved a new way for American theatre in its combination of heightened theatricality and politics. Tony Kushner has emerged as one of the American theatre's leading playwrights and productions worldwide have meant that the play has been recognized as the most important American play in decades. With the scope of the characters' sexual, class and religious affiliations in the play, Angels in America offers a unique possibility to discuss the construction of American identity in the late 1980s and 1990s. This guide provides a comprehensive critical introduction to the play, giving students an overview of the background and context; detailed analysis of the play including its structure, style and characters; analysis of key production issues and choices; an overview of the performance history from the first performances of Millennium Approaches and Perestroika to recent productions and the 2003 HBO adaptation; and an annotated guide to further reading highlighting key critical approaches.

Author : Tony Kushner
Publisher :
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 24,3 MB
Release : 2017-04-13
Category :
ISBN : 9781848426313

GET BOOK

America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell. This edition, published alongside the major revival at the National Theatre in 2017, contains both plays, Part One: Millennium Approaches, and Part Two: Perestroika.

Author : David Savran
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 252 pages
File Size : 40,86 MB
Release : 2003
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780472068364

GET BOOK

An eclectic collection of essays on theater and its decline as highbrow culture, under the influence of theme parks and blockbuster movies