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Politics and Theatrics

 This post will focus on the correlations between politics and theater. Augusto Boal makes it a point to highlight how theater is political which makes me question: is politics is theater?


Boal believes that by nature humans are political and since theater is a result of human activities it too is political. Politics and theater tend to portray different messages to society. For example, theater is not generally taken as seriously by people in society while politics is taken very seriously and impacts all people. Elections, voting, and media portrayals are all outlets in which politics is performed. If politics is a form of theater, then politicians would be the ones performing the theatrics. 


During the 2020 presidential debates between Donald Trump and President Biden, many people tuned in to hear out the political perspectives hashed out in real time. Eventually, as the debate continued the audience quickly realized that it was turning into a political spectacle based on how both politicians conducted themselves. They were deemed unprofessional and unpresidential because it was not as composed as society expected it to be. 

Donald Trump and Joe Biden debate Texas energy industry, global warming | The Texas Tribune


Would both Trump and Biden be considered performers? Is the United States government a stage for theater? The way Americans tune in and spectate elections is very similar to people buying tickets for a more artsy theatre show. If all our politicians are performers, then is writing the script? 

Comments

  1. Lindsay Adamson LivingstonFebruary 21, 2023 at 2:22 PM

    This is an important question, Aminat--"who is writing the script?" I think it's possible, though, to understand politics as performance even if there's no central "hand" writing the script--if these performances are, to some extent, improvised rather than scripted, even as they use and indulge some of the "scripts" we all associate with politics. Good questions...

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