The Arts in New York City

When applying to the Macaulay Honors College, I faced a similar essay topic that required me to reflect upon a piece of artwork and it’s impact on my life. For my life-altering piece I chose the classic Spielberg dino-flick, Jurassic Park. A favorite movie of mine since age three, Jurassic Park had everything a good children’s movie required: a strong female character, an adventure, a moral and of course a bloodthirsty T-Rex.

After reading this blog topic I contemplated recycling my admission essay, but then it hit me. Was my favorite science fiction flick commenting on anything? If I wanted to continue writing about Jurassic Park for this blog post, I would say that it was. Jurassic Park, as I said before, has a moral. As Dr. Grant tells Billie in the third movie of the series: “Some of the worst things imaginable can be done with the best intentions.”  Whether it is to revive a species from extinction or educate paleontologists is it right for human beings to assume the role of God?

While I could continue discussing this and prove my point with endless quotes and my personal theories about the effects of human greed, I think I’ll spare you and instead bore you with my ideas on a more appropriate piece of artwork. But here’s my problem: is there a more appropriate work that has impacted me more so than the horror movies I watched with my mom as a kid? What have I read or seen that resonated with me at a personal level?

The truth is, most of the books and plays I have read for school and pretty much all of the classics I’ve read independently have had absolutely no correlation with my life whatsoever. Sure, I could make something up and say that I was deeply affected by Lord of the Flies, but who the hell wants to read a bunch of crap I made up so I would have something to say in my blog. If it’s not true, then why post it.

Yeah, I thought Lord of the Flies was a fantastic novel and furthermore a superb allegory for the savage world we live in, but it has had no lasting effect on my character or my ideas about the modern world. In all honesty, before I read Lord of The Flies in high school, I had already begun to lose faith in humanity.  The book did nothing but add fuel to my growing frustration.

In philosophy class, my Professor asked us to read an article in the New York Times by Peter Singer entitled “Should This Be The Last Generation.” Whether journalism can be considered an art form is up for debate, but I can honestly say that this article had an impact on all of my preconceived notions about wanting to raise a family. In this article, Peter Singer criticized modern day parents and claimed that people have children for selfish reasons. He continued to discuss the beliefs of philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer and David Benatar who both held that having children will inevitably “harm most children severely and benefit none.” Singer postulates that if having children jeopardizes the happiness of the children themselves, maybe it’s better to not have any at all and spare them the torture of living.

For the first time in my life, after reading this particular article I questioned my motives for wanting a family. After being conditioned by society (playing with baby dolls, toy strollers, and fake baby food as a little girl) I had always held that having a kid is what you’re “supposed to do,” but I had never wondered if it was the right thing to do.  I still want to be a mom one day, but Peter Singer’s thought provoking piece made me look for valid reasons for my unexplained desire. Unfortunately, I haven’t come up with any yet but I’m working on it.

Last year my English class read a play entitled “Death and the Maiden”. In this play the stage directions in a key scene involved a giant mirror coming down and a spotlight illuminating the faces of random audience members.

Everyone puzzled over this for an entire class. Why would the playwright include that in there?

Although there were many different interpretations for this, there was one that stuck in my head: he did this in order to bring the audience into the situation of the play; to emphasize that the situation and distortion of morals could happen to anyone.

I think this is a feature of most plays (although not as direct). They absorb the audience into the plot and leave them questioning their own society. I think the play “Little Foxes” did a great job in doing this.

The aristocrats continually belittle their servants and others of a lower class. They call African Americans a derogatory name, and each time they do so, you can see the sneer on their face and feel the disgust in their voice. Especially in the beginning of the play this is surprising to hear, particularly because we are still trying to ascertain the time period. The characters have modern clothing, which is critical in the social criticism it produces. By staring at these characters we at first think we are looking at people of our time period (at least I did, since I had no previous knowledge of the play). Then we hear them say the “N” word and we are shocked. By having the characters appear as if they are from current times, Van Hove makes the audience wonder: does such racism as this still exist in our society?

Another element of the play that reminds the audience of their own society is the selfish desire the brothers, and Regina, have for power. They cheat honest working people out of wages in order to make themselves richer. This, of course, still happens today: there is such an uneven distribution of wealth, and in our capitalist nation there are those who strive to stay on top by sometimes using unethical means. When the audience is exposed to the disgusting animalistic attitude of the wealthy aristocrats they reflect on their own society.

Regina’s struggle is also the struggle of a woman trying to gain some power in society. When Oscar hurts Birdie we see just some of the oppressiveness women face. Regina is in a male-dominated world. As she struggles for power and goes against society’s gender roles her husband Horace ruins her attempts. When he dies she is finally able to have control, but she has gained it at the cost of her family. This makes us wonder: is she happy now? Was it really worth it for her?

“Little Foxes” is a play that criticizes a time period far before ours, yet the actions, dress, and dialogue indicate that the play is pointing out flaws that both time periods have in common.

Regina’s daughter Alexandra says to her mother: “there are people who raped the Earth, and those who stood around and watched them do it”. Alexandra did not stay around to watch her mother do it, and we should not stay and watch others do it in our own society. This play motivates people to take action, and teaches that there are more important things in life than power and money.