The 80s
were a decade of fight, of social concerns, of new trends and so on. It was a
decade with events that totally change the world and mold it to be as we know
it today. A decade of countless wars, including the Cold War; a decade of
conservative politics and of a constant competition and fight between the
Western world and the Communists, for example in the space exploration; of technological
advances, with the increasing of home computers and the invention of the
walkman; of the MTV and of the pop stars, like Madonna and Michael Jackson, and
the Metal; of the advances in cinema with films like the “E.T.” and the “Star
Wars”; and even of new trends like the Ray-Ban sunglasses and the Rubik’s cube.
Angels in America is not a series made in the 80’s but it is all
about that decade. It has its set in 1985 and it is mainly about two
relationships passed under the conservative government of Reagan and during the
spreading of AIDS and consequently the fast changing of the social and the
political climate. These relationships are a quite difference since one is
between two gay men and the other is between and addicted woman and a gay man
that can’t get out of the closet.
This is a fantastic
series based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play of the
same name by Tony Kushner. Kushner adapted his original text
for the screen, and Mike Nichols directed it.
A good question about
this series is why does it have that name? In fact an interesting question,
however it is really hard to return. This question can be answered with a line
by which is “Like the spiritualists try to use that stuff,
are you enlightened, are you centered, channeled, whatever, this reaching out
for a spiritual past in a country where no indigenous spirits exist – only the
Indians, I mean Native American spirits and we killed them off so now, there
are no gods here, no ghosts and spirits in America, there are no angels in America, no spiritual past, no racial past, there's only the political.”
In
my opinion, with this line, Lou is referring to the constant search of the Americans
for a spiritual identity. Despite the best
efforts of many to find something holy in America's national character, it just
doesn't exist. Instead, there's only politics. Most spiritual movements,
purposely or not, have political power as their true aim. (Or, at least, that's
what Louis thinks.)
But this series is not
called No Angels in America, so the
question is still to answer. Why does a series which is about homosexuals, drug
addicts and people with AIDS have the name Angels
in America? In my opinion that name
is referring to the spiritual guide that almost all of us search and believe that
it is protecting us. I think that it also can be a person. A person who is
always there to help us. A person who can protect us, who wouldn’t go away when
we need her.
So, this series shows the
tremendous contrasts and differences between the society of the 80’s. On one
side we’ve got the conservative politics of Reagan’s politics, based on the
Christian Values; and on the other side we’ve got the disappearance of a lot of
taboos, especially in the sexual part.
References:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 1980s
(2012) Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s, 3rd June 2012
From the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Angels in America (TV
miniseries) (2012) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_America_(TV_miniseries),
3rd June 2012
Shmoop, (2012) Shmoop University, Inc., Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner, http://www.shmoop.com/angels-in-america-part-1/title.html,
3rd June 2012
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário