Abstract
In this essay, I reflect on what happens when professors allow students to express themselves, intellectually, creatively, and emotionally, applying their interpretive skills to achieve this expression. I present, through performance, the results of an exercise that I developed with my undergraduate students in the city of Cordoba, Argentina. I asked them to analyze children’s films and then perform this material, inspired by their own analysis. This is a play within a play; a play about writing a play.
ACT 1 3 (excerpt)
The classroom darkens with the shadow of evil. Alejandra, the professor—representing Cruella de Vil—has just shattered her students’ Disney dreams.
Racism . . . Sexism . . .
Stop! Why do you tell us this? Why do you do this to me?
Colonialism . . . Consumerism . . .
We will feel betrayed and disappointed. Why do you have to say that? Why do you do this to us? Often I have dreamed / Of a far off place / Where a hero’s welcome / Would be waiting for me . . . (He sings while he sobs)
Knowledge sometimes brings pain . . .
In the first act of the play, the princesses Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Hand, 1937) and Merida (Brave, Andrews and Chapman, 2012) meet in the forest. Snow White is longing to be rescued by a prince and marry him. Merida tries to make her understand how ridiculous her expectations are. When Prince Charming arrives, instead of being gallant and courageous he looks scruffy and decayed. Feminism, he says, has complicated his situation. Snow White decides to ignore him as his looks and attitude differ from her own image of what a prince should be. Merida offers to help him improve his appearance, in exchange for a percentage of the profits from selling Disney merchandise.
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ACT 2 4
Students as themselves
Students as Disney characters
Norman Denzin
Alejandra as herself
Alejandra as Cruella de Vil
Aldo
Willie Nelson
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Scene 1
The curtain rises and reveals an office in which there are several desks and computers. A woman in her early 40s works silently. The snow falls outside. The door opens and Aldo walks in, brushing snow off his clothes.
Hi! You are so focused! What are you doing?
I’m writing a play within a play . . . a play about writing a play. Actually, the play is an essay . . . and vice versa.
Aldo looks at her, trying to understand what she is explaining.
Do you remember that in July I wrote the first act of a play called Waking Up Snow White: The Story of a Betrayal, with the help of my former students? Well, I’m writing the second act of the play with the help of a new cohort of students. So, it is a play, but it is also an essay about the whole pedagogical experience. Listen . . .
She reads aloud.
“This exercise will be a collaborative process between my students and me, a co-performance (Conquergood, 1991; Denzin, 2003a) . . . a ‘coperformative representational strategy.’” (Hamera, 2013, p. 323)
Aldo and Alejandra smile at each other. He knows he will be asked to read the piece before it is finished. Aldo sits and freezes in front of his silver laptop.
I have recently realized that professors, myself included, say many things but ask few questions. When we ask a question, the goal is generally to evaluate students, causing them anxiety to do their best. It is rare, however, to ask students what they may feel about what they learn in the classroom. In this piece I reflect on what happens when we allow students to express themselves, intellectually, creatively, and emotionally, applying their interpretive skills to achieve this expression. I describe a different approach to analyzing film content, embracing a critical, collaborative, and performative perspective with students. This piece is a proposition and a provocation, moving away from the positivist parameters which formed my outlook and methodologies as a social scientist.
January 2014 will be remembered as the coldest winter in decades. An alert was issued today: Winter storm Maximus will bring more snow to the Midwest . . .
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Scene 2
Indications for the mise en scène
Sound and lighting effects should be followed carefully (the variation of lights and sounds will be indicated in bold letters in the text).
The stage must be divided in two areas, clearly defined by lighting effects.
The left side of the stage will show Norman Denzin’s office at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The right side will show a classroom at Universidad Siglo 21 in Cordoba-Argentina.
In the twilight glow I see them, blue eyes cryin’ in the rain, when we kissed goodbye and parted, I knew we’d never meet again . . .
Two characters are sitting in silence, staring at the floor. Except for two wooden chairs, the staging consists only of books and yellow folders. There are thousands of books. They are on the shelves, on the chairs, and on the floor. In one of the corners, there is a stack of yellow folders. It almost reaches the ceiling.
It feels like . . . you know? I used to enjoy working . . . I used to love analyzing children films, but now it is like . . .
( . . . It’s like I don’t find the way anymore: I keep saying the same old things, I am bored and frustrated. I feel that nobody cares about my research work.
I need your help. Help me, please!).
She does not say it out loud, but professor Denzin understands.
Have you considered your own feelings when you analyze these films? Have you reflected on what happens to you when you work on these pieces?
My . . . my own . . . feelings?
Our own feelings?!
Profe, I don’t understand. Do you want us to consider how we feel?
Yes, that is exactly what I want. I would like to know how you feel while analyzing animated movies and also while you are developing the second act of the play.
But . . . using which author’s theory?
No author—just how you feel, as human beings that feel. How many of you are human beings with feelings?
Silence and stares.
Ohhh, you’ve got to be kidding me! The educational system can’t have harmed you that much! Let’s see: How many of you are human beings?
Several hands rise, tentatively. Some of the students laugh.
Ok, then, what did you feel when we analyzed the movies?
Mmmm . . . betrayed?
Disappointed.
Surprised!
Curious . . .
AWESOME. Thank you!
Alejandra is alone at Norman Denzin’s office.
My own feelings?! Why my feelings would matter at all? Oh Dr D! Why do you ask questions? You should tell me exactly what to do! I don’t want this freedom. Feelings? What is that? People in Academia are not supposed to show any feelings! How can you trust my ability to figure this out? This is outrageous. Please tell me what to do next!
Why do you do this to me?!
While Alejandra speaks, she checks every book at the office looking for an answer that never comes.
Oh, oh deep water, black and cold like the night . . .
Alejandra, as Cruella de Vil has just finished reading the first act of the play Waking Up Snow White to her students. Now she looks at them.
Now you are invited to write Act 2. Ok? You are free to do whatever you want.
What do you mean free?????
Alejandra sleeps on a huge pile of books. The office door opens. It is Professor Norman Denzin coming in. The person sleeping on the floor does not call his attention. He turns the CD player on, and takes the yellow folder that is on top of the stack. He sits and starts reading.
My head’s under water, but I’m breathing fine . . .
Five students are working on their version of the second act of the play Waking Up Snow White. Lilly Allen’s song “F*ck you” is on. Two students, dressed as Disney princesses, dance and hold a blackboard in which a phrase is written:
“What we have learnt from Disney”
Another student, dressed as Princess Rapunzel (Tangled, Greno and Howard, 2010) approaches to the other two girls. She carries a poster that says,
“If you’re a beautiful woman, do not solve your own problems! Look for a man to do it”
Another student, dressed as Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty, Geronimi, 1959) appears on stage, showing a new poster: “If you’re gorgeous, even if you’re almost dead you can get a rich man”
Alejandra is alone at the office, sitting on a wooden chair in an awkward posture. She sleeps. The floor is covered by hundreds of pieces of crumpled paper. Outside, it is dark and the crickets sing their summer song.
Suddenly, she wakes up, takes a notepad out of her pocket, and writes something down:
Alejandra as herself is alone at the office, sitting on a wooden chair in an awkward posture. She sleeps. El suelo está cubierto de papeles abollados. Suddenly she wakes up. Saca la libreta de su bolsillo y escribe.
She falls asleep again.
Two people are sleeping on a bed, completely covered by a blanket.
What a night last night . . . Oh! And who are you? A girl came home with me . . . Gooood! I don’t remember anything, how many bottles did I drink? I may have used drugs again . . .
The person sleeping by him begins to move. A male voice greets,
Good morning, you . . .
You? Did we . . . ?
You know this is what you want.
And what I cannot have!!!!
At his office, Norman Denzin organizes a group of yellow folders in several piles. Alejandra, sitting on the floor, reads aloud.
“With the exercise of writing a play with my students I seek to provoke
You will also create a space for dialogue and questions, giving a voice to positions previously silenced, or ignored. (2003b, p. 247)
Wait . . . I have to write what you have just said: “a space . . . of . . . ”
She writes down the phrase on her notepad and keeps reading.
“As Giroux (2010), I believe there is a need to produce a critical language in order to begin dismantling the discourse of innocence proposed by companies like Disney.”
Alejandra looks anxiously at Norman Denzin, waiting for a criticism. He smiles, gives her a piece of chocolate and keeps working.
“Through performance I strive to disrupt, dislodge, and dislocate hegemonic constructs of gender, family, race, class and imperialism. I like to think of this exercise as a personal/political praxis and an aesthetic/epistemic performance.” (Spry, 2011)
Both characters freeze.
Three students work on their version of the second act of the play. One of them plays Snow White and the other two represent animals.
One day my prince will come . . .
She dances around the stage awkwardly, and—accidentally—falls upon a tree that is part of the staging. She screams and shakes violently. Snow White has just electrocuted. When she gets up from the floor, her face is a blackish mask. The animals leave the stage, frightened by her hideous appearance. She screams and cries desperately for having lost her beauty. Depressed, she goes back to the electrified tree and holds a branch firmly with both hands. She shakes only once and falls to the ground, lifeless.
Alejandra is sitting on the floor over a huge pile of books. She writes, crosses out, and rewrites sentences on her notepad. She searches inside her pockets and finds a crumpled paper. She stretches it with her hands. Norman Denzin is sitting on his chair, reading what is inside a yellow folder.
“The systematic observation of film’s contents as well as the performative stimulus, awakened some kind of rebellion in the students. Such feelings can be expressed in creative pieces in which the crudest aspects of reality come into play.”
When these performances take place shared emotional experiences are created, and in these moments of sharing, critical cultural awareness is awakened. (2003c, p. 56)
She writes every word he says on her notepad. Outside the office, sirens can be heard. Norman Denzin and Alejandra look out the window just for a moment. Then he returns to his reading and she continues to write.
Scene 3
On the right side of the stage, the characters have gone mad. Snow White, Prince Charming, and Merida—the main characters of the play—interact with Margaret Thatcher, Barney the Dinosaur, Gru Minions (Despicable Me, Coffin and Renaud, 2010), Pinocchio, Lord Voldemort (the villain in Harry Potter), and a huge variety of princesses. Each student represents a character. Each one of them insults or hits another. All princesses cry inconsolably.
Alejandra and Norman Denzin now look at what happens on the opposite side of the stage.
There are no happy endings in this story, nor are there easy ways out. Anger, disappointment, sadness, and rebellion abound. What my students have proposed does not conform to the typical content of animated films. Their ideas come from the context to which they belong, contrasting sharply with the pink promises of the children films we analyze in class.
I think of a child’s mind as a blank book. During the first years of his life, much will be written in the pages. The quality of that writing will affect him profoundly. (in Giroux, 1999, p. 17)
IT’S HIM!!! LET’S GET HIM!!!!! Kill! Kill!
They leave the stage.
The distress of my students’ awakening becomes evident seeing the violent content in their play, including the murder of Walt Disney. To them, he is no longer the beloved “Uncle Walt” but a kind of evil traitor who deserves punishment.
One of the students comes back to stage. His hands are covered in blood. He stands in the center of the stage and speaks as himself.
They made us believe that our world is pink, that love lies in royalty and not in real people, that we need to prove again and again that we deserve being what we are. We were taught that we cannot be happy forever without someone to save us from loneliness. The truth is that everything we have been told is a fable, so it’s time to turn the page, put an end to this fantasy world, and write our own story. 5
The student freezes. On the left side, Norman Denzin and Alejandra dialogue.
I imagine a world where race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexual orientation intersect; a world where language and performance empower, and humans can become who they wish to be, free of prejudice, repression and discrimination. (2001, p. 23)
This is not the world animated movies bring to life. It is what students claim when they are given the tools and the possibility to speak. They created a less ideal and much harder world, in which conflicts are not resolved by fairies.
We feel betrayed by the conservative, patriarchal and separatist message that Disney offers!
My goal is to help students identify and combat the kind of discrimination we observe in cultural products. The first step in achieving this goal is to awaken in my students a more realistic perception of cultural products. This awakening may allow them criticize Disney-like models and stop reproducing such models in their own work as professional advertisers and graphic designers.
Another student approaches to the center of the stage. She is deceased Snow White.
When we are asked to create our own script, we depict social problems, such as sexual repression, drug and alcohol abuse, physical violence, and the unhappiness that can produce nonconformity in society, possibly ending in suicide.
Two more students take the center of the stage. Both represent Snow White’s Dwarfs.
Many of our life expectations are the product of a set of cultural influences. How could we not be discontented at the notion of not owning our own dreams?
We take the pedagogical exercise to a field in which criticism flourishes, not only to denounce something that makes people unhappy, but to transform, through performance, what might harm ourselves.
My students will be professional advertisers and graphic designers, and I believe awareness is essential to disrupting sexist, racist, and consumerist communication models. I strive to awaken in them the idea of moral, social, and political responsibility.
It is certainly an ambitious aim . . .
. . . but not impossible.
Norman Denzin takes a huge tablet of chocolate out of his bag. He gives it to Alejandra and she divides it into small pieces. He approaches the CD player and turns up the volume.
I could not see for the fog in my eyes, I could not feel for the fear in my life . . .
Norman Denzin and Alejandra are sitting in silence.
How about feelings?
I’m still working on them . . .
So what did you find in this journey?
She thinks for a moment and suddenly her face glows.
I found . . . passion. Passion is back!
Well . . . passion
is a gift.
(Urbana–Champaign, Winter 2014)
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
I would not have been able to write this piece without the enthusiastic cooperation of my students. Thank you guys! Carlos Llanos, Marcos Dalmasso, Martin Vinograd, Stefano Brizzio, Evelin Claros, Juanita Latham, Florencia Irusta, Yanina Miguel, Sabrina Bruni, Maria Luz Falivene, Yesica Sanchez, Florencia Cejas, Mariana Choqui, Melisa Furlán, Agustina Prieto, Candelaria Bertarelli, and Mayra Iriarte. Thank you Dr. Aldo Merlino for reading every piece I write. I also want to thank Universidad Siglo 21 once more, for granting me freedom within the classroom. Dr. Norman K. Denzin: I can’t thank you enough.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.