Download propAgAndA, power, oppression And CritiCAl thinking

Propaganda, Power, Oppression and
Critical Thinking
Definitions from www.tolerance.org/hidden_bias/tutorials/index.html
“A stereotype is an exaggerated belief, image or distorted truth about a person or group — a generalisation that allows for little
or no individual differences or social variation. Stereotypes are based on images in mass media, or reputations passed on by parents,
peers and other members of society. Stereotypes can be positive or negative.
A prejudice is an opinion, prejudgment or attitude about a group or its individual members. A prejudice can be positive, but in
our usage, refers to a negative attitude. Prejudices are often accompanied by ignorance, fear or hatred. Prejudices are formed by
a complex psychological process that begins with attachment to a close circle of acquaintances or an “in-group” such as a family.
Prejudice is often aimed at “out-groups”.
How do we learn prejudice? Social scientists believe children begin to acquire prejudices and stereotypes as toddlers. Many studies
have shown that as early as three years, children pick up terms of racial prejudice without really understanding their significance.
Soon, they begin to form attachments to their own group and develop negative attitudes about other racial or ethnic groups, or
the “out-group”. Early in life, most children acquire a full set of biases that can be observed in verbal slurs, ethnic jokes and acts of
discrimination.”
Discrimination is behaviour that treats people unequally because of their group memberships. Discriminatory behaviour,
ranging from slights to hate crimes, often begins with negative stereotypes and prejudices.
The mistreatment of and oppression of talking Animals provides a storytelling vehicle for the political element of the tale. Some
reviewers have compared Gregory Maguire’s conception of the Emerald City as a centre of intellectual and social life to Vienna at
the turn of the 20th Century.Vienna drew political and social activists from all parts of Europe, becoming a sophisticated multicultural city. This gave rise to extreme political and social tension; virulent anti-Semitism took hold.
WICKED uses the situation of sentient talking Animals as an allegory for the oppression of minorities who literally lose their
voices. The parallel can be seen very clearly with the plight of Jews in the 1920s and 1930s, who became political scapegoats
throughout Europe. In WICKED, Doctor Dillamond is a literal “scapegoat”. Anti-Semitic propaganda painted Jews as being
animalistic; a feature common to racial oppression throughout history is that the majority seeks to portray the minority as less
than human. In the interests of good storytelling, WICKED does not dwell on these issues but Stephen Schwartz clearly states that
he was conscious of them when writing the musical.
The original Oz stories, of which there are a number, contained a representation of a utopian society in which many races and
species lived together in harmony, celebrating the value of uniqueness and diversity. At the time Baum was writing, the United
States was struggling to live up to the ideals upon which it was founded: how could a society build a community out of a mix of
many cultures and ethnicities?
Stephen Schwartz comments, “Oz in the book is essentially a totalitarian state, and The Wizard rules by fear, aided by his
secret police force. In the show, The Wizard is more manipulative, pretending to be doing things for the good of Oz and to
be subjugating the animals for the greater good, but it becomes clear through the course of the evening that he is doing these
things only to remain in power, and that his scapegoating of the animals (pun intended) is because “one sure way to bring people
together is to give them a really good enemy”.
The Wizard says, “When I first got here, there was discord and discontent. And where I come from, everyone knows: the best way
to bring folks together is to give them a really good enemy”. Oz in the show is still a place where one “race”, the animals, is being
systematically deprived of its rights; the Animal story in the show has strong elements of the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany
or minority races in the United States.
In answer to Elphaba’s accusation that, “…it’s all just – smoke and mirrors! And that’s the truth!” The Wizard answers that, “The
truth is not a fact or reason; the truth is just what everyone agrees on. Where I come from, we believe all sorts of things that aren’t
true. We call it – “history”. He goes on to surmise that few people are at ease with ambiguities and that we tend to act as if they
do not exist; hence our willingness to accept good and evil, black and white, whilst avoiding shades of grey – or green.
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From the show
GIRL IN CROWD
Glinda, why does Wickedness happen?
GLINDA
That’s a good question. One that many people find confusifying: Are people born Wicked? Or do they have Wickedness thrust
upon them? After all, she had a childhood. She had a father… who just happened to be the Governor of Munchkinland…
CROWD
NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKED
NOW AT LAST, SHE’S DEAD AND GONE
NOW AT LAST, THERE’S JOY THROUGHOUT THE LAND
AND GOODNESS KNOWS ...
GLINDA
GOODNESS KNOWS ...
Discussion: (Beginners – Advanced)
Glinda knows what the crowd does not know, or
has been kept from knowing: that the Wicked Witch of West, far from being the personification of pure evil,
was actually a real person with feelings and vulnerabilities. Just as Shylock, in Shakespeare’s play The Merchant
of Venice is forced to defend his humanity as a Jew by declaring, “If you prick us, do we not bleed?” so Glinda
makes a statement of Elphaba’s humanity: “…she had a childhood. She had a father…” as if such obvious things
would need to be said. Yet insults designed to deny one’s humanity are not uncommon as demonstrated by the
controversy relating to the Australian cricket team when one player was accused of calling another player a type
of animal.
Activity: (Beginners – Advanced) What is the importance of such an insult: why all the fuss?
Why is being called an animal or type of animal more offensive than another kind of insult?
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Propaganda, Power, Oppression and
Critical Thinking cont...
From the show
GALINDA
(huffily) I really don’t see what the problem is - every other professor seems to be able to pronounce my name.
ELPHABA
(loudly) Maybe perfecting the pronunciation of your precious name is not the sole focus of Doctor Dillamond’s life. Maybe he’s
not like every other professor - maybe some of us are different!
GALINDA
Well -- it seems the artichoke is steamed!
(THE CLASS LAUGHS. )
DILLAMOND
Class--! (They quiet)
Miss Elphaba has a point. Doubtless you’ve noticed I am the sole Animal on the faculty-- the “token Goat,” as it were. But it
wasn’t always this way. Oh, dear Students -- (how to put this?)
How I wish you could have known this place as it once was. When one would walk these halls and hear an Antelope explicating
a sonnet, a Snow Leopard solving an equation, a Wildebeest waxing philosophic.
(trying to reach them)
Can you see, students, what’s being lost? How our dear Oz is becoming less and less, well …
(looks right at Elphaba) … colourful.
(taking in the rest of the class) Now. What set this into motion?
(Elphaba raises her hand but doesn’t wait to be called on--)
ELPHABA
From what I’ve read, it began with the Great Drought.
DILLAMOND
Precisely. (points to it on the timeline)
Food grew scarce, and people grew hungrier and angrier. And the question became—whom can we blame?
(another beat) Can anyone tell me what is meant by the term: “Scapegoat”?
Drama: (Intermediate – Advanced)
In groups, create a short play where someone is made a
“scapegoat”. Think about the prerequisites for “scapegoating”: there should be an inner clique of people; there
should be an outsider(s); the outsider(s) should be easily identifiable; there should be some kind of pressure put on
the group; a crime is committed or something particularly troubling occurs; there is a search for the culprit(s).
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