Works of Art Speak to Different People

¶ … works of art speak to different people in different ways. Explore and explain which performances and which ideas from the course that you have seen and heard this semester have "spoken" with most impact…how and why?

Works that Speak to Me

The quote by poet Allen Ginsberg made a big impact on me. He says, "Whoever controls the language, the images, controls the race." (Maser 180). This means a lot to me because I am international student from Korea. I am trying to understand a new culture through its theater. Theater to me is like breath of fresh air when visiting other country like the United States because it gives culture and meaning to the world within it. The theater is a place where "language, images" are shown.

Everything on the stage has a meaning. It is there for reason. It serves a purpose. The lighting is put upon others to shine the clothes or the background. The music or absence of music shows the mood or setting, even build suspense.

But sometimes it is difficult to understand this because of the "language, images." They are different from what I know in Korea. I see them with eyes that do not see what audience sees. It confuses me as the application of language and image is so different from home.

In this paper I will try to show what I mean by looking at different works of art, places, and exploring and explaining which performances and which ideas from the course have "spoken" with the most impact to me. I will look at "The Phantom of the Opera," "Peter and the Starcatcher," "I Sing for Freedom," "Deaf Performance," and the quote by Allen Ginsberg. I will try to show that I hear different things from these works of art and so it is I who "controls" the images and language because I interpret them in my way.

I have said in my review of "Deaf Performance" that I was hit by this work by the expression of the face of the performer. Even though I did not understand or know what he was signing, the interpreter of the signs said the words in a flat voice, I did feel the performance through the facial expression. The performer's face and expressions and feeling was not flat. His facial expressions allowed me to view the feelings, the different kinds of thoughts that might be running through his head.

Why was there this difference? Why was the interpreter so flat and the performer so alive? I was torn in half by this difference. All I know is that this performer feels very deeply what she is saying. But she cannot tell me what it is because she is deaf. She did not learn how to speak because she cannot hear.