I was thrilled to attend the opera Salome this week at the Kennedy Center largely because I wanted to enjoy something other than politics for a day. When your life is bombarded with politic theory and general election projections, melodramatic theater is sometimes just what the doctor ordered.
Ironically, even with all the majestic costumes, haunting music, and larger-than-life performances, I could not seem to shake my political analysis lenses for a night. I appreciated the pure art to be sure, but found myself fixated on one theme throughout the entire production.
Oh Salome, where do I begin with you? You are surely a show designed largely on shock value and the manifestation of hyperbole on stage. When the opera began, I instantly recognized the story of Herodias and her daughter from the Bible. I was immediately transported back in time to my small Catholic high school, where I sat in the back of my theology class rolling my eyes at this story in the Bible. In my opinion, the story of Salome and John the Baptist is a perfect example of religion and society’s preoccupation with the classic "Eve and the apple" projection. In literature, plays, and folklore, woman are often cast as the incarnation of evil, either as uncontrollably passionate young maidens or manipulative temptresses. Salome just takes the sick and twisted nature of women to a whole other level. In the opera, Salome and her mother are portrayed as manipulative and selfish even in their best moments. While Herodias and Salome are cast in this light, the pedophilic King Herod who makes sexual advances on Salome comes out looking more like a buffoon than anything else. John the Baptist of course is the saint that righteously refuses the persistent advances of Salome.
I thoroughly enjoyed the melodramatic night of watching Salome rolling around the floor with John the Baptist’s bloody severed head. It certainly cured my political stupor even if my feminist tendencies surfaced from time to time. After all the tragedy of Salome will always look better on stage at the Kennedy Center than from my shabby old theology classroom back in Frederick, Maryland.
So what do we do now, amorcito?
ReplyDeleteMen have pinned us so, so lets reverse this! We can change our identity. Its been perpetuated for years, but we can give them something to talk about. If we acknowledge our chingada status and illustrate how we are not evil and are able to discuss their perceptions of us then the change has begun.
Lets take theology turn it on its head. Lets give those mujeres sainthood! Like Cleopatra, Frida, Joan of Arc, Rani of Jansi, MALINCHE! Their crown of thorns.
And through this, we are able to begin the forum for closure on the gender gap. Even if closure might never come, we can certainly try.
First of all, I think we have officially hijacked the content of our world politics blogs feminist style. I love it.
ReplyDeleteOk, so to address your point directly as we talked a little bit about this morning. Let's look specifically at the example of the character of Salome. She is of course the tragic figure of the play along with King Herod because their fates are naturally tied when it comes to the murder of John the Baptist. At the beginning of the opera, Salome is portrayed as the first typical female archetype in literature, the naive young maiden. It is her corrupt father-in-law who uses his power to manipulate her to get what he wants. However, somewhere in the middle of the tragic music and the tantalizing melodrama, Salome transforms into the second typical female archetype, a overly passionate manipulative temptress seeking the murder of a man she can't have. The result: a rehash of stupid Adam taking the apple from manipulative Eve and their tragic fate follows.
So I agree, let's change our identity. But not by aligning ourselves with characters like Salome. What women need is not Salome as a saint, for she only serves as an incarnation of two very limited archetypes of women (neither of which are very flattering). Salome should not be enthroned for the act of murder, no matter how successful the theater is in veiling it with majestic beauty and irony. What women need are the tales of the female John the Baptists, those who triumph because of their righteousness, perseverance, intelligence, compassion, etc. These are the women who have been left out of Bible stories and early literature largely because they never authored them! I honestly think that cultured highly educated young females embracing characters like Salome as vehicles of women's empowerment is misleading and distracts us from paying proper respect to the female John the Baptists in our world.
ORALE!
ReplyDeleteApplause! I loved your second paragraph. But Salome, she's an old martyr because she is what society was and (hopefully) wont be anymore.
WANA BEGIN A REVOLUTION???