Comments on: Political Immediacy

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:49:00 +0000

The form has to serve the means. Are we talking agit-prop or what?

If you want to have a thoughtful and analytical rumination about a certain issue, than you must forgo immediacy.

It won't be polished, but it will be political. It may not be timeless, but it will be timely. And, depending on how aggressive/accessible it is, it may also be effective.

By: Michael Wheeler

Michael Wheeler — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:59:00 +0000

I agree, in Canada, The Wrecking Ball does fill this niche quite well of responding to an immediate need for political theatre, so not all the news is bad on this front.

On the other hand, it's hard to see a finished, polished, professional production going from inception to opening night in less that a year and a half.

There is an expression in politics that "One week in politics is a lifetime." So that would be approximately 78 lifetimes between the impetus and the product. I think there is an issue to be addressed there. Especially when things like television and the interweb are responding in minutes and print media is responding in days or weeks.

By: ben

ben — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:49:00 +0000

It all depends on what level you’re critiquing. People change quickly, trends take longer, systems even longer. There’s a fine line between staying current with the news, and current with the times. All art dates and goes through cycles. Pumping it out faster to stay current is not the solution. It may sound cheesy, but art is timeless, and that’s the way it needs to be. The creator(s) withdraws from society, focuses his/her understanding of the world into a piece of art, and then re-emerges to present the work. That’s the cycle. Deadlines and due dates are nice, but works on human nature can’t be cranked out to a timetable… Atleast that’s the way I see it.