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Printer-Friendly Mode"Angels" criticism misguided
April 23, 2007 —
As you may have heard, our theater department and our University have come under some scrutiny over the past weekend due to the performance of the Pulitzer Prize winning play "Angels in America."
Everyone has the right to voice their opinion about a play like this. Having read "Angels" myself, I can understand why people would take offense, as it deals with some very weighty issues in a very direct manner. However, I think some of the people who have spoken out against the performance have gone too far.
In a recent interview on WNEM 5, a representative of a conservative watchdog group sounded off against the play, saying that Michigan tax payers shouldn't "be forced to pay for a production with such gross obscenity." What struck me the most about this statement was the complaint about how our taxes are being misused by helping to fund this project.
Now, I don't claim to be an economist of any skill or merit, but I can tell you that our tax dollars are being spent in more questionable ways than funding a play which is being used to both educate our students and enrich our cultural understanding.
One glaring example that comes to mind is the war in Iraq. To date, the war has cost American tax payers over 400 billion dollars (I feel compelled to make a Bush to Dr. Evil comparison here, but it's only a joke, and has nothing to do with my argument, so I'll continue), not to mention the lives of thousands of our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.I'll let you decide where you think tax dollars are better spent: a war which most people have a difficult time defining and giving reason for, or a play in which students willingly participate to further their own education.
In the same interview, the group speaking out against "Angels" claimed that the play is obscene. In a statement on their Web site they say that entertainment like this "has played a major role in the decline of those values on which our country was founded and which keep a society and its families strong and healthy."
I hate to beat a dead horse here, but I'll say what thousands already have in response to ideas like this. If you don't like it, don't watch it. If you feel that "Angels in America" is too graphic and you will be offended by it or that it doesn't support your beliefs, then don't attend. No one is going to force you to go. And if you do go, no one is going to force you to believe anything you don't want to.
The point of a play like "Angels" as I understand it is to broaden viewer's social understanding. It aims to inform, not preach. At no point in this play will Prior turn to the audience and say "You should support homosexuality." That isn't its goal. Watching this particular play gives one a better perspective on the harsh realities of American life, especially for homosexuals. Whether or not you feel empathy for that situation afterward is completely up to you, and should be derived from your own reasoning.
With that, I would encourage everyone who hasn't seen "Angels in America" yet to catch this weekend's performance, or to pick up a copy of the play and read it for yourself. If you're not a reader, it is also available on DVD. I'd suggest it to anyone who has an open mind, and who seeks to better understand their fellow humans.