The obscenity of reality
I have been avidly following the current censorship issue, paying particularly close attention to the comments expressed by those who are in favour of banning the controversial play ‘Stitching’. I could not bear to read all their interventions to the...
I have been avidly following the current censorship issue, paying particularly close attention to the comments expressed by those who are in favour of banning the controversial play ‘Stitching’. I could not bear to read all their interventions to the end, because throughout the process the same questions kept popping up in my mind:
Have they ever heard people cursing and cussing in the streets, on their way to their daily errands? Do they ever follow the news and hear about the latest unsettling crimes that have recently been perpetrated?
I certainly don’t condone any blasphemy out of respect to the faithful, nor do I support crimes of any nature that are committed against another person. Yet, as harsh as reality can be, I definitely cannot deny that these acts don’t happen in our everyday life. I would be out of touch with reality. Whether one accepts this or not, they are part and parcel of a supposedly civilized society, be it Maltese or foreign.
So why do some people find it unacceptable to have these aspects analysed either in the written form of a book or by being represented on a stage? I would have mentioned the cinema as well, but I am sure that we are now used to having disturbing horror movies projected on our local silver screens...as long as they are an American product.
Seriously now, who are fooling but ourselves? It is as if we are living in a collective insecurity of facing a reality, which, unluckily, does not conform to the values we uphold dearly. So we close ourselves up in a warm, smug bubble of innocence and damned are those who try to burst it. It is this same irrational fear which furthers the undermining of those blessed values, after all, not the representation – hence, an illusion – of harsh, cold, shocking realities.
A special emphasis has to be made on the representation of reality in a theatrical context: What we see on a stage is not a factual truth but a reflection on and of it. We may find it extremely difficult to come to terms with a truth due to its bare-faced cruelty - for example, one’s pleasure in seeing the suffering of others. Otherwise, this truth can be easily accepted because it is pleasant and sweet, and it moves us in a deep, emotional way – exemplified in one’s expression of endless love towards another.
When a theatrical production takes into consideration the first truth rather than the second, it is nowhere set in stone that the actors, directors and producers involved condone and promote in any way the seeking of pleasure in the misery of others. Whoever thinks, or worse, believes that they are, is way off the mark. Same goes for the playwright: just because he or she decides to explore the darker, more horrifying recesses of the human psyche does not necessarily make him or her, a downright perverse and despicable writer.
Even if this ensemble of actors, directors and producers were to tackle the subject of eternal love, one surely keeps in mind that the idea of eternal love is somehow impossible to grasp or understand, so the production would give us space to explore some of its aspects, without necessarily jumping into well-defined conclusions. The exact same approach is taken up for a more controversial issue, as well, and – I will repeat this so that it will be clearly understood – without giving the impression that it is tolerable to perform unthinkable acts in a civilized outset.
All this philosophizing basically revolves on one thing I have mentioned, which is ‘reflection,’ and I don’t just mean a mirror image per se. It also involves thinking about a very tough topic of relevance, put forward to us in a completely innovative yet also a demanding and challenging manner.
Others might opt to think about this topic in a different, more reassuring way because they don’t like being shaken by a shocking image or action; as long as they are happy that way, sure, why not? And the beauty of it all is that we have choice of either one or the other. Censorship denies this choice. Classification leaves the responsibility up to mature adults whether or not they want to see such a heavy, gritty work.
Just because one prefers to go watch a controversial play about taking a relationship to questionable extremes, does not automatically make him or her, a pervert or socially-inept blasphemer.
This is not a question of whether it is artistic or not, because ultimately who can truly answer what is essentially art. It just getting to grips with a new, unflinchingly shocking reality that, as much as there is decorum, it is paralleled by decadence, without never actually having to condone, promote or embrace it in any way.
Franco Rizzo is a member of Insite – The Student Media Organisation