The Arts Fuse Newsletter, March 5
Coming Attractions, March Short Fuses, Hijacking the Kennedy Arts Center, Homage to Gene Hackman, Reviews of "The Odyssey" and Minor Whites' "Memorable Fancies"
From The Editor's Desk:
“For the first time, the federal government has hijacked what is supposed to be the nation’s premier arts institution in an effort to explicitly censor voices and viewpoints it deems undesirable,” charges Jonathan Blumhofer in his commentary on the changing of the guard at the Kennedy Center. Is it too soon to speculate about the MAGA esthetic, or at least its approach to theatrics? I think not. We saw what will be one of its essential ingredients in the (pre-planned?) televised mugging of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office. President Trump characterized the embarrassing takedown as “great television”. The Kremlin agreed. It was a show of power as a spectacle of humiliation, bullying and misinformation used to mortify a weaker opponent. It may well be a precursor to what is to come once FBI honchos Kash Patel and Dan Bongino and Department of Justice head Pam Bondi hunt down the cast of characters for the (televised) political courtroom showdowns to come.
But limiting MAGA to prosecutorial drama may be too limited a way to understand the movement’s strategy for the stage. Hitler attacked “degenerate” theater, but fascist governments are not inevitably doctrinaire. I have been reading up on how theater fares under authoritarian regimes (a critic must be prepared), and I stumbled across Patricia Gaborik’s Mussolini’s Theatre: Fascist Experiments in Art and Politics. It turns out that the dictator fancied himself to be a hands-on “man of the theater”: he wrote scripts, commented on shows, personally shut down productions, including those by Pirandello. Gaborik’s fascinating study makes a surprising — but well-researched — case that Mussolini respected the art of the theater. For Il Duce, what happened on the stage strengthened the fascist cause because he saw “the art form as spiritually uplifting — not merely propagandistic and coercive.”
What does this say about the aesthetics of MAGA? Well, Trump is a self-glorifying impresario. He won’t be writing dramas, but he will have booking power over the Kennedy Center, including vetoing content. As an extension of his efforts to reshape federal institutions, Trump is interested in exerting control over cultural narratives. No doubt “spiritually uplifting” patriotic extravaganzas will be funded to divert us from the new Gilded Age, stage-managed by our tech bro-crypto robber barons. “We have to bring religion back,” Trump said at February’s National Prayer Breakfast. “We have to bring it back much stronger.” In 1899, the muscularly Christian Ben-Hur was a musical smash on Broadway and Trump’s current favorite President, the tariff-crazed, expansionist William McKinley, was in the Oval Office. We are off to the chariot races.
—Bill Marx, Editor-in-Chief
Archive: From the Editor's Desk
Coming Attractions: Through February 16 — What Will Light Your Fire
Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor
Our expert critics supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.
Cultural Commentary: On the National Arts
By Jonathan Blumhofer
There’s nothing benign about what just happened on the banks of the Potomac.
March Short Fuses — Materia Critica
Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Arts Remembrance: Gene Hackman — Hero and Anti-Hero
Gene Hackman’s legacy will never fade, and now, with his passing, many filmgoers may finally appreciate the enormity of his talent and the enduring impact of his work.
Theater Review: “The Odyssey” — From a Woman’s Point of View
A lot goes on in an epic — three acts over three hours with two intermissions — and there’s boatloads for Kate Hamill to dramatize and for the audience to digest.
Book Review: Catching Up with Minor White’s Off-Beat Journal
By Trevor Fairbrother
Vanguard American artist, teacher, and writer Minor White’s autobiographical undertaking lacks diaristic narrative. But it is very appealing as a twisted personal miscellany whose contents range from summaries of sex dreams to snarky letters never sent.
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Editor-in-Chief
Bill Marx
wmarx103@gmail.com
