Those Critical Faculties
Come, let us dip a toe in the world of woke theatre criticism. From the pages of Intermission magazine, where the Toronto Star’s theatre critics, Aisling Murphy and Karen Fricker, applaud each other, and thereby themselves, for seeing an indigenous play and submitting to conditions on what they may say about it:
We both responded really positively to the show. But the reason we’re not writing a traditional review is because [playwright and director] Kim Harvey did not invite reviews of this Toronto premiere production of Kamloopa. This follows on from the world premiere production in 2018 in Vancouver in which she invited Indigenous women to write love letters to the show but did not invite traditional reviews.
You see, for Ms Harvey, our unflinching and very indigenous creative person, “staging theatre productions is a form of Indigenous ceremony,” and is therefore, conveniently, exempt from customary feedback, i.e., reviews of a kind that paying customers might have found useful, had they been available. And so, reviewers of pallor, should they be permitted, must first attend a circle, in which they will be told, in advance, how artful and profound the work in question is, and what they should say about it. After all, it’s so much easier on the ego, and any teetering vanity, if no acknowledgement of any shortcoming is permitted.
Despite not being brown and magical beings themselves, Ms Murphy and Ms Fricker are keen to show their approval of, and deference to, this artistic innovation:
Here, white critics were invited, but with the caveat of listening and bearing witness to Kim’s artistic philosophies first: to me, that felt not only fair but really rich.
Bearing witness, you say. To artistic philosophies. Because you can’t just turn up with tickets in the hope of entertainment.
Given their alleged importance, the particulars of these philosophies remain oddly mysterious. It isn’t clear what arcane knowledge would have to be bestowed upon white people in order for them to determine whether the play is actually any good. Yet we are left to assume that some creative vastness, again unspecified, couldn’t possibly be squeezed into “traditional reviews.” At least when those reviews are written by white people.
Says Ms Murphy,
I think for me, hearing Kim lay out so concretely her mandates was a big moment, as someone not just writing my own reviews, but curating what gets reviewed and how for Intermission… I really appreciated the circle as a chance to examine my own ethics and mandates in dialogue with Kim’s, and other artists’, and how those thoughts manifest in the form of theatre reviewing.
Ms Fricker is not to be outdone:
Some of our critical colleagues have responded negatively to their requests and invitations – or in some cases, have not responded to those invitations at all. This may be because they understand themselves to be committed to certain traditions of Western theatre criticism in which, for example, a critic would avoid contact with an artist before a show if they were intending to write a review because this would compromise objectivity (or so the thinking goes). It seems to me, though, that Kim and Yolanda are challenging the very foundations of that tradition and inviting us to see its connections to Western, patriarchal colonial histories.
But of course. And so, if you’re a critic and you don’t appreciate being given lengthy preconditions regarding what it is you will think and write, and how approving you must be, and if you don’t appreciate racial vetoes on who may or may not offer feedback, then by implication you’re a tool of patriarchy and Western colonialism. A bad person. Unlike our enlightened, more progressive duo.
Untroubled by irony, Ms Fricker goes on to mourn the ongoing, quite rapid decline of her profession and of the wider newsprint industry, before surrendering to the impulse for further gushing:
But the thing is, as you say, these Indigenous matriarchs are actively, generously offering alternatives. They’re offering teaching and leadership and possible futures for interactions between artists and cultural responders.
Cultural responders. The fourth emergency service.
Alas, the “teaching and leadership” session on how to pre-emptively approve of indigenous theatre – there being, it seems, no permissible alternative – was, like similar events, “sparsely attended.”
And for that to be rejected or ignored…. that’s deeply problematic because it’s yet another form of disrespect to Indigenous woman at a time when all those of us who are fortunate to live and work on this land need to be offering Indigenous people – especially Indigenous woman – respect, support, and love.
What you’re hearing, dear reader, is the sound of racial prostration. It’s the way of the woke.
Should you live in Canada and wish to see Kamloopa, you can buy tickets here, before swooning with approval.
Via Jonathan Kay.
The way of “leave your brain at the door”. Fascinating how the world of woke is a closed one – the correct answer has already been supplied.
From the play’s website:
“But how do you discover yourself when Columbus allegedly already did that?”
Columbus never made it to Canada.
Think I’ll wait for the movie. I’m seeing it as a rom-com with a cameo by Cher as “the Elder.”
these Indigenous matriarchs are actively, generously offering alternatives.
‘Generously’.
Untroubled by irony, Ms Fricker goes on to mourn the ongoing, quite rapid decline of her profession and of the wider newsprint industry,
That.
Cultural responders. The fourth emergency service.
There is a certain Charlie’s Angels quality in the 2018 promotional video.
Well, if you try very hard, and if you remember that Charlie’s Angels wasn’t actually very good, there is.
Venite, adoremus…
‘Generously’.
In much the same way that not allowing the white devil to review your play is fearless, heroic, stunning and brave.
Another example of how indigenous activists always tend to be “self-marginalizing”.
Ms Bonnell could never be accused of putting in a lightweight performance.
Cultural responders. The fourth emergency service.
LOL
Cultural responders. The fourth emergency service.
Is there a three-digit number you call to report an appropriation or do they use something like a Bat Signal? Do they carry a decolonizer akin to a defibrillator? A uniform design contest could elicit some creative entries for these front line heroes.
What you’re hearing, dear reader, is the sound of racial prostration.
That.
In much the same way that not allowing the white devil to review your play is fearless…
I was thinking she’s being very generous to neurotic white women in the same sense that Nurse Ratched was generous to the patients in her care.
That.
Well, it does have that air about it. And however you arrange the players, it’s a game that’s fairly unpleasant.
Somewhat related.
Pronouns, obviously.
Every “indigenous” person is a mystic and every person of pallor is profane. I thought everyone knew that.
“Ms Bonnell could never be accused of putting in a lightweight performance.”
Ah. Glad I didn’t clickage, then…
“Every “indigenous” person is a mystic”
Indeed. Well, some of us are part mystic… or “semi mystic”. Fractional mystic? Segment mystic?
Hmmm
Tip Jar Hit.
The only thing more depraved than the “cultural responders” telling us what to think are the indigenous women thinking so little of themselves that they subject themselves to these “introductions.”
….as when being invited to literary award parties and then swooned over by pretentious pale-skinned lefties.
It is the performance they are paying her for, after all.
Pronouns, obviously.
Snort.
But yes, he did indeed interrupt a perverse kind of role-playing session.
Tip Jar Hit.
Bless you, sir. In warm weather, may your gelatin vitamin D capsules not congeal into one enormous lump the size of a child’s fist.
Just like we were supposed to judge the female “ghostbusters” by a different standard because vaginas or something. Interesting that no one says we should judge black basketball players or musicians by a different standard, just med students.
The Southwest Indian pottery, jewelry, and fabrics are held up as special, and they are very nice, but they are not that “traditional”. When a group brings us traditional Celtic song or dance, no one suggests that we bow down or suspend our critical faculties. Please.
In the subway level at the Atlanta airport, there is a huge display of African sculpture. You don’t need to pretend. It is very cool. If you need to censor the critics then your art is crap.
a critic would avoid contact with an artist before a show if they were intending to write a review because this would compromise objectivity (or so the thinking goes).
Looks like the “indigenous” have fully embraced the White Left demand that any “art” is not to be enjoyed or assessed on its own merits but on the identity of the creator.
Funny, that.
Parents of two black carjacking victims won’t let them identify the thugs who shot them because the shooters are black.
Indigenous theatre is only sightly less popular than the WNBA and Women’s soccer. A couple of hundred people might see the play including the two reporters and the actor’s families. So in the same way you wouldn’t shit on a little show put on by your kids and their friends, you don’t need to offend this small group. It’s when I go to commercial theatre and have to listen to some inane and usually incorrect land acknowledgement that needs more push back.
And indigenous people wonder why they’ve been infantalized in the west.
to me, that felt not only fair but really rich
Wilmot Robertson, The Dispossessed Majority
Parents of two black carjacking victims won’t let them identify the thugs who shot them
Playing Devils Advocate could this simply be a case of the parents being aware of the flourishing “snitches get stitches” culture and fear that their daughters, and indeed themselves, will pay heavily. In such a situation, with zero confidence in the polices ability or even willingness to protect the innocent, the young ladies might have got off lightly with just non-lethal gunshot wounds.
Meanwhile the Dindu Bros are free to start planning their next risk-free offence.
We don’t call it the Red Star for nothing.
Columbus never made it to Canada
Canada suffers a kind of national inferiority complex. We obsess over whatever’s going on in the States and ignore our issues at home. Our leftists screech about how evil the US is and then import the US left’s neuroses wholesale.
all those of us who are fortunate to live and work on this land need to be offering Indigenous people – especially Indigenous woman – respect, support, and love
And horse-trampling. Which the Indians of our deranged Dominion seem peculiarly silent about.
DR: I’ve often made the observation that the most anti-American Canadians are the ones most thoroughly colonized by an American mindset. And screechy, too, as you point out.
Looks like the “indigenous” have fully embraced the White Left demand that any “art” is not to be enjoyed or assessed on its own merits but on the identity of the creator.
Judging by the duo’s own references to the performance itself, it’s not clear to me what arcane knowledge – those artistic philosophies to which the unwashed must bear witness – would have to be shared in order to determine whether the thing is any good. Whatever the particulars of the “teaching and leadership” on offer, and we are largely left to guess, they don’t appear to be a decisive factor in any critical appraisal. The play, as described, doesn’t seem to include much that would otherwise confound a conventional “Western” review.
Though of course the ladies’ mutual tongue-bath shies from any attempt at “the judgment part.”
And indigenous people wonder why they’ve been infantalized in the west.
For the benefit of our American friends: Indians, in Canada are legally second-class citizens. Quite literally – they’re “wards of the Crown”, a status entirely separate from “citizen”.
Now, one has to admire the political judo they’ve engaged in to turn that into a kind of privileged elite status, but it’s come at the cost of becoming a permanent learned-helplessness welfare caste.
And screechy, too, as you point out
“There is no difference between Americans and Canadians and the surest way to demonstrate this is to point it out to a Canadian.” ~ Pierre Berton
Now, one has to admire the political judo they’ve engaged in to turn that into a kind of privileged elite status, but it’s come at the cost of becoming a permanent learned-helplessness welfare caste.
Turdeau the Oneth offered to scrap the Indian Act and turn them into citizens with the same status as every other Canadian and they promptly turned down the offer. The Indigenous Elite have a good thing going. They long ago recognized the benefits of keeping their own people dependent on the Crown.
Pinged.
Indians, in Canada are legally second-class citizens. Quite literally – they’re “wards of the Crown”, a status entirely separate from “citizen”.
Jaw drops.
Turdeau the Oneth offered to scrap the Indian Act and turn them into citizens with the same status as every other Canadian and they promptly turned down the offer.
Curious for clarification…they can apply for full citizenship if they wish, correct? I mean I presume that would make sense but then making sense is not what any of this is about.
Call me reckless, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this guy is not sane.
decolonizer
It all depends how you say it – first “o” long or short. Me, I prefer the long “o”, a device for extracting heads from arses.
Columbus never made it to Canada
By all accounts he never made it to the North American mainland at all, Cuba was about as far as he got.
Jaw drops
It’s one of the farcical things about the current Canadian neurosis – imported from the US – about blacks and systemic racism. Canada as a nation never had slavery, has more Indians (dot or feather) than blacks, and absolutely has institutionalized racism – if you’re an Indian.
But our older brother the US freaks out about blacks and racism, so we have to do it too, but different, because we’re totally not copying.
they can apply for full citizenship if they wish, correct?
They can, but there’s no benefit to them of doing so. They don’t have to pay sales or income taxes, if they’re part of a band they get free money regularly as part of the government welfare, most of them qualify for free post-secondary education.
Like I said, I have to admire the political judo.
Curious for clarification…
According to a ruling by the Supreme Court, they will always be considered Indians (that is the official term in the act, it’s not a pejorative) and technically if they are officially Status Indians they cannot have that Status taken away. But they can enfranchise and not exercise their “Status rights” opting instead for “citizenship rights.” But there’s really not benefit to not exercise status. Several recent rulings by the Court have effectively allowed Indians to have things both ways in many cases.
Seven Kids, One Only Ten Years Old, Hunt and Kill Elderly Philadelphia Man.
Laughing as they murder him.
Laughing as they murder him.
Liberals have told me “there is no such thing as the knockout game”, and that it is racist to say there is.
Columbus may not have made it, but some rather less effete folks were at L’anse aux Meadows well before he was a twinkle in either parent’s eye. Perhaps if two spirit tricksters were pursued by hirsute axemen yelling about skraelings, there would be less silly bullshit posted in ‘love letters.’
Odd there’s no mention of the elderly Philadelphia man’s race.
Odd there’s no mention of the elderly Philadelphia man’s race.
He’s black.
They would have shouted his race if his killers had been white.
Thanks @pst314!
The version of the video I saw pixelated the victim but did not pixelate the perpetrators, which I thought was rather odd.
The victim didn’t deserve to be beaten to death on the street. I hold a slightly different opinion about the people who beat him to death.
Pst314: “… this guy is not sane.”
What? What’s wrong with him? Seems okay to me.
Pinged
Bless you, sir. May your enemies be obliged to sit through season three of The Umbrella Academy.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/woman-deficates-during-brawl-birmingham-27457287
Retail shopping experience UK style. These ladies don’t steal sh1t from the store, they leave some behind.
(Shamelessly copied from Tim Worstall’s blog).
I was thinking she’s being very generous to neurotic white women in the same sense that Nurse Ratched was generous to the patients in her care.
It’s remarkable just how much ‘progressive’ commentary is basically the inept social signalling of racially neurotic middle-class women. It’s very much a staple. You have to wonder how exhausting it must be to remain so contrived – to remember and enact all of the required pretensions. It doesn’t sound like a way to be happy, or credible, or psychologically healthy.