THEATRE AND HUMAN EXPRESSION

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THEATRE AND HUMAN EXPRESSION

• Glenn Wilson PhD
• Kings College London

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WHAT IS THEATRE?

• An arena in which we can play act out fears and
  fantasies, test ideas and gain vicarious
  experience. (From Greek theatron seeing
  place).
• In broad sense, refers to films and TV as well as
  live theatre any sort of entertainment that
  includes performers and audience and draws upon
  imagination.
• Focuses on human conflict helps us see things
  from the point of view of others to observe how
  they deal with their problems, whether adaptively
  or self-destructively.
• Brings magic thrills into our ordinary, mundane
  lives, whether disturbing (tragedy), ridiculous
  (comedy), or romantic (musicals).
• Modern civilization has become overly safe - we
  need to rock the boat/test the alarms (yet
  within a safe context).
• Gives chance to rehearse reactions to rare,
  dreaded occurrences (e.g., rape, earthquake,
  death of a loved one) prepares us to cope with
  the actuality of such events.

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DRACULA ON THE COUCH

• The myth of Dracula - perhaps the most popular
• horror theme ever - makes an interesting case
  study.
• It derives from several widespread C18th fears
• (1) the werewolf legend half-human beast that
  changes
• form in darkness.
• (2) pacts with the devil, the soul being traded
  for immortality.
• (3) Tales of blood-sucking bats that transmit
  rabies (infection)
• (4) episodes of people coming back to life
  after
• misdiagnosis of death and hasty burial in shallow
  graves
• (the undead).
• Modelled on Vlad the Impaler, son of a
  bloodthirsty Romanian ruler dubbed Dracul
  (dragon) Vlad himself was called Dracula (son of
  the dragon).
• Central to modern Dracula stories is the
  seduction metaphor. Tall, dark, taciturn stranger
  appears suddenly in bedroom of buxom maiden,
  fixes her with compelling eyes, and with great
  authority penetrates a vulnerable part of her
  body, drawing blood and claiming her eternal
  devotion (Jane Austen plus the frisson of fear).

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CATHARSIS

• Refers to the purging of pent-up emotions that
  supposedly follows from immersion in tragic drama
  (from Greek for purification).
• C.f. Freudian idea of abreaction neurosis is
  relieved by bringing repressed trauma to
  awareness (by hypnosis, free association, dream
  analysis, etc).
• Psychodrama combines elements of Greek theatre
  and psychoanalysis a kind of group
  psychotherapy based on role-playing and dramatic
  improvisation of troubling life situations
  relevant to the clients.
• Safe distance hypothesis - catharsis occurs when
  distressing feelings are awakened within a
  context that is recognised as safe (its only a
  play).
• Research on debriefing therapy for PTSD suggests
  that passive re-exposure to original trauma is
  unhelpful some kind of cognitive restructuring
  is necessary, with emotions reframed as less
  threatening.
• Theatre may help put our own problems in
  perspective others have experienced equal or
  greater distress, so we are not alone.

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VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA

• The theory of catharsis has been applied
• to the effects of media violence. Suggested
• that viewing violence reduces the need
• to act violently in real life.
• Most research, however, indicates
• that viewing violence increases real violence,
• through imitation and desensitisation.
• Especially true when the implied message
• is that violence is a normal way of resolving
  disputes.
• There are individual differences in
  susceptibility to the
• media/violence effect not everybody is
  affected.
• Sex in the media probably follows the same rules
  messages
• regarding what is normal are derived -may include
  dangerous
• myths (e.g., women ultimately enjoy being
  raped).

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CATHARSIS AS DESENSITISATION

• If exposure to horror and fear is cathartic in
  that anxiety is reduced, why would the same not
  apply to anger and hostility? Why would media
  violence not decrease its real life
  manifestation?
• Violence is not always associated with anger
  sometimes a cold-blooded attempt to gain
  advantage, hence often no emotion to be purged
  (e.g., bank robbery).
• What might be reduced by repeated exposure to
  violent images is fear of the consequences of
  acting violently, to oneself and others (this is
  what is called desensitisation).
• Similarly, viewers may become desensitised to the
  possible negative consequences of promiscuity or
  rape.

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STRENGTH OF THE MEDIA/VIOLENCE EFFECT

• Some reviewers have questioned the
• strength of the association between
• media violence and violent behaviour.
• Meta-analysis by Huesmann (2007)
• showed that the effect size is
• greater than many other recognized
• threats to public health in fact,
• second only to the link between
• smoking and lung cancer.

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COPYCAT KILLERS

• Columbine School shooting
• one of many incidents where similarities
• were noted with particular video material,
• which was thus blamed for the atrocity.
• Direct cause and effect is, however,
• hard to establish
• (1) There are so many violent movies around
• that similarities are bound to occur (often it
• turns out the suspect has never seen the
• material they are said to have copied).
• (2) Serial killers seek out fictional material
  that
• locks into (supports) their deviant fantasies.
• (3) Atrocities occur without any apparent link
• to violent media (e.g. Dunblane).
• What spree killers have in common is an interest
  in guns and access to them, a sense of impotence,
  social alienation and fantasies of nihilism. If
  media exposure is involved it is likely to be a
  cumulative drip, drip effect, rather than
  direct copying.

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CENSORSHIP

• Evidence that media violence increases violence
  in real life leads to calls for censorship.
• Problem is who decides what is right for whom?
• Authorities usually defend the status quo,
  seeking to suppress revolutionary art.
• Religious texts are often connected linked to
  atrocities, but few seek to censor them (mostly
  used to justify the act not the root cause).
• Rock music and idols represent teenage rebellion
  hence bound to rattle the parental generation.
• What is probably important is the moral or
  attitude conveyed rather than the words or
  imagery per se. (e.g., might is right).

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EXPOSURE OF THE AUTHOR

• Dramatists draw on personal experience and
  conflicts to create characters and situations -
  hence betray personal preoccupations.
• In opera, Puccini featured frail, tragic women,
  Britten misunderstood boys, Verdi fathers losing
  daughters, Mozart sexual infidelity and Wagner
  the quest for ideals
• (connected to own life problems).
• W.S. Gilbert seemed obsessed with torture,
• executions and matronly women probably
• excited as much as horrified him.
• Phantom of the Opera - autobiographical for
• Andrew Lloyd Weber ?
• Appeal of a play depends on the authors
• fantasies being widely shared by audience
• (e.g. Hamlets unresolved Oedipus Complex
• Macbeths ambitious wife).

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CREATIVITY AND MADNESS

• You dont have to be mad to be creativebut it
  may help. Anecdotally, there are strong links
  between bipolar disorder (esp. the manic phase)
  and artistic output in music, drama and painting.
  
• Some empirical support e.g., children of BD
  patients score higher on creativity tests hence
  a genetic link. May be mediated by dopamine, a
  brain chemical concerned with reward and arousal,
  which promotes loose associations (bizarre
  ideas). Some (by chance?) appear as genius.
• Meta-analysis of research literature suggests
  that link between creativity and madness may be
  over-egged 15/29 studies failed to find any
  (Waddell, 1998).
• Appearance of connection may be enhanced by
  profile and eloquence of certain famous people.

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ARCHETYPAL THEMES

• Certain images/ideas are of such survival
  significance that we store prototypes in the
  brain predisposing us to react in certain ways to
  them infants cry, human face, mating signals
  (innate releasing mechanisms).
• Wagner and Jung (among others) noted that myths
  around the world repeat quintessential characters
  and situations that connect with human nature in
  profound ways (archetypes).
• Idea of a dragon appears in myths and fairy tales
  of all cultures, predating discovery of dinosaur
  fossils may represent residual fear dating from
  early mammal struggles with giant reptiles.
  Prehistoric terror emerges in popularity of films
  like Jurassic Park.

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THE HEROS JOURNEY

• The Hero With a Thousand Faces
• Joseph Campbell (1949) outlined a central story
  in literature/drama the epic journey of a
  brave, if naïve, young man who battles against
  tremendous odds to achieve self-knowledge,
  manhood, wealth, love or social deliverance.
• Typical sequence
• (1) Begins in ordinary world hero is innocent
• often lost parents, or parentage unusual.
• (2) Call to adventure initially refused.
• (3) Meets a mentor - teaches true destiny
• elicits previously unrecognised powers.
• (4) Trials acquisition of skills needed for the
  journey.
• (5) Supreme ordeal - dragon slain/maiden lain.
• (6) Return in triumph with enhanced power and
  self-knowledge saves the world.

CAMPBELLS MONOMYTH
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STAR WARS A DELIBERATE MONOMYTH

• Wagners Ring Cycle was a deliberate pastiche of
  the heros journey as distilled from the myths
  and sagas of many cultures settings, characters
  conflicts were infantile, ancestral and
  timeless.
• For Star Wars, George Lucas consulted Campbell in
  drafting characters and situations that were
  archetypal. In Jungian terms, Luke Skywalker is
  the ego (hero), Princess Leia the anima (female
  spirit), Han Solo the animus (male spirit), Darth
  Vader the Shadow (dark side of the self), and Obi
  wan Kenobi the Sage (mentor).
• The adventures of Siegfried and Skywalker
  respectively follow the typical pattern of the
  heros journey.

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HOW TO SCRIPT A FILM
London based film analyst and script consultant
Kal Bashir maintains that most blockbusters
follow a similar template, corresponding to the
Campbell monomyth.
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THE APPEAL OF THE MONOMYTH

• The drive toward mastery and achievement,
• to conquer enemies and win love and
• admiration is rife in men. Women
• dream of the knight in shining armour who
• will bear them away from drudgery and strife,
• protect and support them forever.
• The monster from whom the maiden is liberated
• may represent a restrictive father hence sexual
  
• awakening is a common theme. The standard plot
• in comic opera is the guardian outwitted, or
• theres no fool like and old fool. An old
• man is tricked out of his claim to a young woman
  by a young pretender and his accomplices.
• Society has a need of saviours exceptional
  people who will deliver them from evil. If they
  dont exist they will be invented (c.f. The Life
  of Brian). People look for idols in sport, music,
  politics and religion, as well as in
  literature/drama.
• Concern with the genetic background of the hero
  has obvious evolutionary significance. Within
  limits, exceptional humans can be bred like
  racehorses, so parents who are themselves
  exceptional are the most likely source of the
  hero. However, we are often reminded that a
  genius or leader may be spawned of ordinary,
  unprepossessing parents, and the hero may emerge
  from the most unlikely places a lowly stable, a
  flying saucer, or a Swiss patents office.

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CONCLUSION

• Recurring characters/themes in theatre, film
  literature reveal human nature.
• This nature reflects deep-seated instincts that
  have served our survival since prehistory.
• Theatre is a higher cultural activity marking our
  imagination, creativity, and humanity, while at
  the same time a reminder of our animal origins.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Wilson, G.D. (2002) Psychology for Performing
  Artists (2nd Edition). London, Whurr/Wiley (Most
  other references may be found here.)
• Huesmann, L.R. (2007) The impact of electronic
  media violence scientific research and theory.
  Journal of Adolescent Health, 41 (6), Supplement,
  S6-S13.
• Waddell, C. (1998) Creativity and mental illness
  Is there a link? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry,
  43, 166-172.