Millennium I ix

Youtube won't let me link to the scene. Use "Angels in America Pacino" as your search term.

Angels in America Essay

For the Angels essay, select one scene and write a close reading about the value judgment that scene asks us as readers/viewers to make about a specific theme. Alternately, you might describe how you stage one scene and how your directorial choices support an interpretation of that scene and the play as a whole. A third option: critique a scene from the HBO production. What did HBO get right/wrong? Why?

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God/The Grand Inquisitor

We didn't get a chance to go over these texts in class. Sinners ... is pretty straightforward. Edwards sees God as rightfully enraged against all humans. We all deserve hell, but some of us are predestined for heaven.

The Grand Inquisitor is much more complicated. The Inquisitor intends to put Christ to death when he returns. He believes Christ fills simple childish people with too much pride, and they must be broken so they can be properly lead by men who know the truth that Christ's message is too radical for this world. The Inquisitor holds Christ captive, but Jesus does not speak when the Inquisitor describes his view. At the conclusion of the Inquisitor's speech, Christ kisses him, and the Inquisitor quietly sets him free.

The relationship to God is really interesting. A good essay might explore to what extent humans need an intermediary to experience God, and what that role might ideally look like.

Angels in America Video

Youtube has most of HBO's excellent production of Angels in America.  I'll post highlights.

Sermo Lupi/Angels in America

Wulfstan believed the world was falling apart because people did not obey God. Specifically, he thought the Church and clergy needed more money and support. He was concerned about the rights of the powerless, such as widows, children, and slaves.

In class we considered how America in the 1990s seemed to be falling apart from a gay man's perspective. Concerns included: civil rights, AIDS, acceptance/understanding, the environment, politics, money, and immigration, among others.

We generated a list of types of people likely to be present in the plays. They included: politicians, religious figures, medical workers, people of different social classes, ethnic and sexual minorities, and homophobes.

Finally, we thought about different ways a gay playwright might envision the relationship between humans and God.

Reading for Fri 3/27

Here is the Sermo Lupi. To get the Modern English translation click on the Translation tab in the column in the margin.

An Apology to Students Who Were Prepared for Class

I didn't mean to imply in word or deed that I take your education less seriously based on the actions of other students.