Video Notes: Theater, Censorship, Melodrama, and Realism

Course Component: Optional Attendance with Consequences- Viewing a specific play, OGI (Only Good Indian) by Theater Project Manitoba, is part of the course. Students can choose not to attend, but this results in a score of 0 out of 8.- The play is a small professional theater production with a unique premise involving six different performers where every show is different. The concept involves performers wearing vests with explosives and answering the same series of questions, which forms the basis of each solo performance. Student tickets are costly at 20.- The Taboo Effect and Censorship- Concept: When something is made taboo, it can create greater interest and cause people to seek it out. Artists often find subtle ways to embed messages that circumvent censorship, leading audiences to look for hidden meanings.- Example: Jimmy Kimmel Incident- Comedian Jimmy Kimmel's show was stopped due to a joke made at the president's expense (implicitly, he was censored or pressured).- This perceived pressure had the opposite effect, leading to Kimmel's show having approximately 20 times more viewership upon his return, illustrating the 'Streisand effect' or the taboo effect.- The Porter TV Series- A CBC and BET (Black Entertainment Television) collaboration, making it the first CBC series entirely written, produced, directed by, and featuring black talent.- Set in 1930s Montreal, it depicts the lives of train porters, one of the few jobs available to black individuals at the time.- An example from the series, filmed in Winnipeg, involved a white actor (playing a cop) using the N-word in a scene, planned by the writers to represent the historical context.- Shakespeare's Measure for Measure- Plot Summary: A duke leaves town, appointing Angelo in charge. Angelo, being super strict, sentences Claudio to death for impregnating a woman outside of marriage, based on a forgotten law. Claudio's sister, Isabella (a nun in training), pleads for his life. Angelo, despite his piety, becomes lustfully attracted to Isabella and attempts to blackmail her. The duke returns (a 'deus ex machina'), resolves everything, and inexplicably proposes marriage to Isabella, whom he has never met.- Censorship and Interpretation: Even Shakespeare's works faced censorship. The ending, where the duke proposes marriage to a nun in training, is perceived as problematic and