Theater Plays Key Role in Conveying Stereotypes

Does Broadway breed stereotypes? Great for library forum!‏

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Now that I'm facilitating the "Theatre Meets Theology" series at Salem's UU Church, we are discovering that perhaps inadventantly and under the radar, Broadway plays do convey ethnic -- and sexist - stereotypes. Some may lend itself to mention at future adult ed sessions throughout our fair land, to wit:

ENGLAND -- In My Fair Lady, Prof. Higgins is not only dismissive of poor people but very manipulative over Eliza in his efforts to "improve" her diction.

RUSSIA - In Fiddler on the Roof, Tevya wants to dictate marriage partners for his five daughters and barter them to become more affluent,

SIAM/THAILAND -- In The King and I, the king seeks to portray himself as infallible and women subservient to his whims.

GERMANY -- In Cabaret, society is depicted as depraved and corrupt, with hedonism the pervasive way of life.

PUERTO RICO -- In West Side Story, the rival street gangs suggest life is all about beating down your neighbors for turf and love.

In addition, we have the Irish in Finian's Rainbow, the East Indians in South Pacific, the Scottish in Brigadoon, and US cowboy society in both Oklahoma and Annie Get Your Gun. The Sound of Music displays the spirit of Austria, interposed against the threat of a German invasion. Man of La Mancha brings us to Spain for a perpetual quest while Les Miserables ushers us to the French Revolution and overt resurrection against authority figures.

All of this is enlightening to our ethnic sense of Us vs Them. We were not born with stereotypes; they came through cultural osmosis.

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Salem-News.com Community Writer Barry Lee Coyne brings to our readers stories from his combined career of journalism and gerontology, and explains that these paths shaped his values. This writer-therapist often views the world as the masks of comedy and tragedy placed upon the scales of justice. For him, optimism inevitably wins. "Lyrical Lee" has traveled to 30 nations aboard and was once a press intern at the UN. His first published article was in The NY Daily News in '59, dealing with the need for integrity in public office.

He also launched the nation's first tele-conference on health education for shut-ins, created the Eldermentors project in VA to pair retirees with immigrant students needing role models, and was the main catalyst behind CCTV's "Public Public" panel show here in Salem. Lee received his BA in International Relations and an MSW in community organization. He currently serves as a member of Salem's Library Advisory Board. To send Lee an email, please write to this address: To send Lee an email, please write to this address: notcoy@netzero.net