Page 116 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 116
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
realised, that is, radical reform or even the fall of socialism, it is shown in
Semenič as a negative utopia or dystopia.
Literature in Society
After debating how the society is shown in both plays, let us think about
the formal method of conveying this matter. It is our belief that the form
is what shows the specific role of drama and theatre in the 20th and 21st
centuries.
Military Secret is written as a drama of the absurd, and the form of
the drama of the absurd was the way to camouflage socially critical mes-
sages, in order to stop the authorities from censoring the text and the
performance.
116 The authorities were not stupid and knew how to decipher them, but did
not want to come across as too undemocratic, so they turned a blind eye
and occasionally sent sharp messages, then called someone in for question-
ing or locked them up, or started a massive witch hunt and thus achieved
that rebellion stopped for a while (Kralj 2006, 128).
Yet this also meant the increasing popularity of theatre and theatre au-
thors. A special balance of relationships was thus established in which
the authorities tried to control the art, but not come across as authoritari-
an; drama camouflages social critique with, for example, drama of the ab-
surd, while the audience on one hand enjoys this dissident activity and on
the other consolidates its belief that it lives in the most democratic social-
ist country (cf. Troha 2015, 153–61). As Marko Juvan says in his article
about political theatre in socialism and global capitalism,
when the Yugoslav federation started to disintegrate, Ristić advocated for
Yugoslavhood and self-managing socialism, so in his performances—simi-
lar to Jovanović, Georgievski or Pipan—he did not criticise the revolution
itself but rather its Stalinist deviations (Juvan 2014, 551).
We could add that the creators dissected and ironised the immediate
self-managing reality, although it is true that they did not offer concrete
social alternatives.
Simona Semenič uses the form of montage and disorientation of the
reader/spectator with a number of time and space leaps, the origin for
which, according to Nika Leskovšek (2017), is in the screenplays of pop-
ular TV series, such as True Detective, Twin Peaks and Desperate House-
wives. This is thus the form of a no-longer-drama or post-drama text, in
which the presentation of the society or its critique are realised. Yet this
realised, that is, radical reform or even the fall of socialism, it is shown in
Semenič as a negative utopia or dystopia.
Literature in Society
After debating how the society is shown in both plays, let us think about
the formal method of conveying this matter. It is our belief that the form
is what shows the specific role of drama and theatre in the 20th and 21st
centuries.
Military Secret is written as a drama of the absurd, and the form of
the drama of the absurd was the way to camouflage socially critical mes-
sages, in order to stop the authorities from censoring the text and the
performance.
116 The authorities were not stupid and knew how to decipher them, but did
not want to come across as too undemocratic, so they turned a blind eye
and occasionally sent sharp messages, then called someone in for question-
ing or locked them up, or started a massive witch hunt and thus achieved
that rebellion stopped for a while (Kralj 2006, 128).
Yet this also meant the increasing popularity of theatre and theatre au-
thors. A special balance of relationships was thus established in which
the authorities tried to control the art, but not come across as authoritari-
an; drama camouflages social critique with, for example, drama of the ab-
surd, while the audience on one hand enjoys this dissident activity and on
the other consolidates its belief that it lives in the most democratic social-
ist country (cf. Troha 2015, 153–61). As Marko Juvan says in his article
about political theatre in socialism and global capitalism,
when the Yugoslav federation started to disintegrate, Ristić advocated for
Yugoslavhood and self-managing socialism, so in his performances—simi-
lar to Jovanović, Georgievski or Pipan—he did not criticise the revolution
itself but rather its Stalinist deviations (Juvan 2014, 551).
We could add that the creators dissected and ironised the immediate
self-managing reality, although it is true that they did not offer concrete
social alternatives.
Simona Semenič uses the form of montage and disorientation of the
reader/spectator with a number of time and space leaps, the origin for
which, according to Nika Leskovšek (2017), is in the screenplays of pop-
ular TV series, such as True Detective, Twin Peaks and Desperate House-
wives. This is thus the form of a no-longer-drama or post-drama text, in
which the presentation of the society or its critique are realised. Yet this
