#Revue Confrontation

[amourjuno]

something i’ve noticed about the sound design in the first act of revue starlight: the movie ☆

(i am no expert, and this isn't very in depth...)

each scene of the revue starlight can be categorised as the abstract or the present reality.

the abstract is flashbacks, revues, and interludes, and the present reality is the more grounded scenes like the scene of everyone in the seisho dorm living room and the script reveal for 101th’s starlight. with a few exceptions for dramatic or emotional effect, the abstract contains music, but the present reality has no music but a constant, mundane rumbling sound effect: whether that’s the wind, the washing machine, or the train.

this lack of music in these scenes made me feel uncomfortable as a viewer, and it really stuck in my brain. it’s unusual for revue starlight, especially as an anime and bushiroad property from the modern era, to not have some kind of background music at almost all times. there’s usually at least some music, right? music is the window to a character’s emotions and thoughts! it establishes the tone of the scene, the genre, the setting! it’s so important! and there isn’t any!

but these sound effects are their own music, and they tell their own story.

of course the absence of music is to create a distinction between the reality and the abstract, but also to contrast the tv show, or to put it into narrative perspective, the characters’ second year of high school. the melodies of their blissful high school lives are now replaced with the uncomfortable, looming reality that adulthood is approaching. do you remember that feeling, maybe near to your graduation, the crushing and shocking realisation that you’ll never get these years of childhood back? that you’re about to be thrust into the adult world? even as a teenager, you still have a child-like innocence that is threatened by this realisation.

the monotonous droning that accompanies this lack of music puts this passage of time at the forefront. how many times have you sat in a quiet room with a ticking clock? a washing machine? a microwave? did you feel uncomfortable with this heightened awareness of the passage of time? were you anxious? bored? desperate for the time to hurry up, or desperate for it to slow down?

in the train scene, kaoruko, even when everyone around her is having interesting conversations, is focusing on the sounds of the train. she says “how long is this going to keep rumbling on for?” and it’s not a coincidence that, in the previous scene, after lashing out at everyone for forgetting the auditions, she stumbles upon the room that is filled with the sound of the rumbling washing machines. she’s being confronted with the inevitable passage of time, and it’s frustrating her.

as a viewer, it made me think “wow, everything has gotten more mature now” it gave me a similar feeling to that crushing realisation i talked about earlier. i love when media can give me such a reaction, or call back to a feeling that i had either long forgotten or struggled to put into words. revue starlight is an anime that has done that for me so many times, and i can really appreciate it for that!!

[waffleweirdo]

Just thinking about how Junna in episode 9 was probably the first time anyone else saw Nana crying in decades…

The tragedy of Nana and Junna sharing such a similar loneliness, and closing themselves off from others, recognizing that in each other, and finding comfort with one another, but still being so closed off from each other is soooo

They see through 99% of each other. And can recognize themselves in the other, but because of that they keep a distance. They exist in proximity, but never truly intersect or open themselves up. It isn’t until the revue of hunting where they truly face each other.

The two of them are so close, and yet stay safely apart the same way they both run away from the stage. They are too afraid of falling apart themselves…

But when they did lay all of their feelings bare, even after having to confront the ugliest parts of themselves and everything they feared and wanted to avoid happening, they still mattered to each other. They still cared about each other, and wanted to once more be by each other’s sides even if it seemed like only a distant dream.

The two of them were overcome with fear, and loneliness, ran from others just as they did from the stage, and struggled so much… but in the end they were still there for each other. Even if it did take countless years, they were finally able to truly reach each other. Their connection overcame it all.

Even if it is a tragedy, they can rewrite a happy ending

[please-stop-finding-me]

Lonely fag yells at antifa to step up their anti ableism and wear a damn mask. My contribution to PD La revue N° 7

Text translated under the cut

Antifa [soulève -untranslatable, play on the word which means both rise up and fuck] me

Historically more keen on political ardor than passion, from half a life of painstakingly performing femininity, and social anxiety only extinguished by the fire of rebellion, I came to anti fascism before coming to faggotery. Anti-ableism and the fight against rising eugenics in late stage capitalism followed this commitment naturally. My desire to form relationships with people who shared these values became a core part of my identity.

Because I know I will never fuck a fash, I will never get naked in front of a boss, will never put my heart in the hands of a cop. Why would it be any different with a cute left wing boy, unbothered with aligning himself with a rhetoric, practices and a general indifference worthy of the far right when it comes to COVID?

For some time I attempted the endeavor of the encounter. However I found myself helpless when confronted with the task of explaining to left wing people (often claiming to be antifascists) that it is important to avoid disabling your comrades (among others), and risking killing some of them, by not protecting yourself from a virus that promises exactly that. So I am left with solitude. Invisible in my masked visibility, the looks go right through me or worse, I find in them the familiar judgement, half badly hidden, that us deviants are used to receiving from unnerved heterocis eyes.

Activist solitude, which pushes me away from antifascism despite myself, because some are antifa only when it's easy, when it doesn't require you to shift your habits or make sacrifices. It stings to be deprived of community when we know how important it is in our lives on the margins, even more so in a period of rising fascism, massive instability, growing violence and exclusion. Even those who make some efforts on the subject do it begrudgingly, garbage accessibility that doesn't hold up more than 5 minutes, and that isn't conducive to meeting anyone I would be inclined to kiss.

Interpersonal solitude then, since neither activist spaces nor social gathering places are safe, and the people who frequent them live in a world where risks only concerns other people, vaguely ascertained as fragile, who can well stay home if they want to protect themselves.

So having barely stepped into the intimacy game, I see my options, already limited by my being trans, be obliterated by my values and my yearning for safety. After years of hesitation, I am finally on solid footing, ready for the experiences I was promised: community, solidarity, connection… They slip between my fingers like the years already gone. Meanwhile they all close their eyes, decide that the roulette is worth it, that I remind them too much of that reality they don't want, that a thousand times over they will take the risk over me, my masks, my tests, my vaccines and my figures, my fears, my hopes, my rage, my sour desire.

I wonder how things were at the very beginning of AIDS. I think of the Cassandras of the time, fighting against the state's deathly silence, and their peers who would say We can hardly just stop living. Hardly. To think you need to breathe to get it on. So you'd expect something else from faggots, used as they are to the government's minimizing lies about epidemics. But even grassroot community health groups are spineless or fully absent when it comes to covid. I look for solidarity in the crowds but no eyes meet mine. What antifa, mask clad when it comes to protests, will take my hand?

I'm left with hope in the fight, from my brethren in [autodéfense sanitaire, untranslated: grassroot covid arm reduction movement]: fags, trannies and crips held together with tape, rage and true solidarity. A minuscule grain of sand in the cogs of the neoliberal individualism eating up our communities.

Antifa fags who are ready to challenge the capitalist poison haunting every breath we take, join us.

[naturallyexcessive]

So! Ateam wants me dead personally and dropped Amemiya and Masai revue outfit designs, knocking me dead and making me go eat concrete!

Is this their idea of an April Fool’s joke? Yes. Am I going to take this 100% seriously and at face value? Also yes.

This is mostly a cleaned up collection of my insaneposting from other places (cough Twitter and Discord) so these thoughts may be sporadic. And nonsensical. And filled with so much copium.

First major comment! Their revue outfits are almost entirely black. This also includes their undershirts, which one should note are - by default - white for Class A. Not only does this work as representing the difference between Classes A and B (Class A get white undershirts while Class B get black ones), but this choice of palette for their outfits is almost certainly a reference to the traditional wear of stagehands: they typically wear black or other dark clothes as a means of making sure they remain unseen during performances. Invisible, away from the spotlight, if you will.

Should note that this is mostly an anime-to-game thing, since Sakura Yanagi’s uniform in the stageplays is uniquely colored and features a white undershirt. However, one can also probably reason this is because Sakura outright reawakens as a stage girl, whereas we (currently) know nothing about the context for the Amemiya and Masai revue drip.

Another point: wow, their weapons are very silly. Byproduct of this entire thing being an April Fool’s addition and all. Yet in spite of them being supposed gag weapons, they actually do fit the two of them to a degree, even as jokes? Bear with me here.

Amemiya’s is mostly self-explanatory. She’s the scriptwriter. Her weapons are her words and this is pretty much a literal representation of that. Something something pen power sword. The thing is very stupid but it’s also very blunt and straightfoward in the same way Amemiya is.

Masai’s is REALLY silly... she’s gonna DECK you with her FOG MACHINE. There’s still cohesion here, though, albeit if it’s a bit straw-graspy. The “kiri” in her given name, Kiriko, literally means fog, so there’s that. There’s also the fact that - from what little we know of her - Masai herself is somewhat non-confrontational, preferring to avoid conflict for the sake of keeping peace (since Amemiya has to be the one to step in and fully reject Kaoruko back in Episode 6, not Masai), but when she needs to stand her ground, she does so well (see Gekijouban). Her having a rather unorthodox, ineffective-seeming weapon kind of works in her favor and represents this aspect of her; it’s a fog machine so it can produce a means of allowing her to hide and avoid attacks, but since it’s a blunt force weapon if swung at someone, it hits hard when it counts.

So honestly for an April Fool’s addition, this hits. Rare Class B content win for us!!!!!!

[idolofm4dness]

I'm currently in the middle of writing about Ninjago au. Centering the relationship between Lloyd and Harumi has a strong chokehold on me that I can't believe. I betrayed myself by shipping them with the rest of the ninjas and testing Lloyd about his crush. Its was a slap in the face. She was the villain of the second season. I was shipping them hard even though I have a love-hate relationship with shipping myself.

Bleeding Hearts au -

What if Lloyd and Harumi had a final fight where Lloyd, because of the saying "beware the anger of a good man times 100," confronts Harumi about her actions. Harumi gets her own version of the cave and now has a scene where Lloyd makes her see the pain she has caused. He points out all the people she hurt with the destruction of the Jade Palace, how she only focused on the king and queen, but her plan killed others who were innocent. He mentions that the people of Ninjago asking her if their praise Garmadon, and how, as saviors of Ninjago, people are living in fear as they know they're imprisoning people who should be against them. A protector is supposed to bring hope, not fear. Also, he is angry at her and the Sons of Garmadon.

He Agree with her about his father being a savior. He did it twice. As the great devour attack, he too saw him as a savior, but saw the good in him when he sacrificed himself to repent for what he did when he was evil, basically. They see what they did as disrespectful.

He's done playing nice with that girl, and I really want him to put on the mask of hatred, or else we'll have more glimpses of his oni side, showing that he hates her just as much. In her diary, it's explained that he seemed to care for her, but he talks about how she destroyed two people, Hutchins and him, who actually loved and cared about her. Let's be real, I love Lloyd, but sometimes I feel like he's too passive. He needs to go apeshit once in a while because the villains mess with him too much, and at some point, they're going to realize that they should stop mentally torturing him. He basically becomes her villain in a way. They say he was mostly inspired by a piece of fan art where Lloyd is a manifestation of Harumi's guilt. Also, he actually does try to rebuild his relationship with Garmadon.

My second AU is inspired by Revue Starlight. Funny enough, I've actually finished writing the first chapter for this one. In this AU, the two main characters are essentially like Karen and Hikari, but with a twist - they have bad blood and attend rival schools. In this version, they actually meet as children in a gift shop, where they both see the same play and quickly become friends, promising to become actors together like in the anime. I'm still working out the details, though. I haven't figured out Harumi's relationship with Lloyd in this AU because, unlike in the show, he isn't responsible for killing her parents. Her parents died in a car accident, which doesn't really involve Lloyd at all, so I don't know why she's so angry at him. I don't have much else planned for it, but I really like this idea. I was actually inspired to write this while re-watching some Revue Starlight revues, specifically the revue of the hunting. Is this is Anime is like figure out your problems via song. I feel their relationship is much better in this version and they actually do forgive each other.

if you guys wanna give me some suggestions, I like it to give us some suggestions of some revue titles.

[mclennonlgbt]

On June 28, 1969, exactly 55 years ago, riots began at the Stonewall Inn bar in New York. It was this event that marked the beginning of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

The most famous myth related to the events at Stonewall states that the revolution was started by Marsha P. Johnson, a black drag queen and queer icon. But Marsha repeatedly denied this, claiming that she did not arrive at Stonewall until after 2 a.m., when fighting with the police had already begun in earnest.

So who made LGBTQ people have the courage to start an uprising? Stormé DeLarverie, the daughter of an African-American woman and a white man. She was one of the first drag kings in the USA and a member of Jewel Box Review - the first racially inclusive drag queen revue. In the 1970s, Stormé worked as a security guard and bouncer in lesbian clubs.

On the night of June 28, during a police raid on a bar, Stormé got hit while trying to help a man who had been pushed to the ground, and had to confront a policeman who shouted at her, thinking he was a boy, 'Move, twat!'" She was hit with a baton and that was the first blow that started it all. Stormé DeLarverie hit the policeman with her bare fist and he was covered in blood.

Let's remember Stormé, the Rosa Parks of the LGBTQ+ community.

[yuzukahibiscus]

Maisora Hitomi Retirement Press Conference

She has always been shining ever since she joined the revue, and in the blink of an eye, Maisora has been aiming for a higher level. After being in Flower Troupe, she became the Star Troupe Top Musumeyaku in 2019. She challenged the role of the heroine the many grand works, and she always coloured every performance with her grace and lovely stage presence, yet she announced her retirement in December. On April 8, she held the press conference in Takarazuka Revue.

Maisora's speech

To everyone whom I have met, who have guided me and raised me up, and also to all the fans who have been supporting me, I am grateful from the bottom of my heart. Until the last day, I wish to remember Kobayashi Ichizou's words of "Pure, Proper, and Beautiful and Bright" by heart, and continue to hone myself as a Takarazuka musumeyaku every day.

Extract of the Q&A

What was the moment you decided your retirement?

Since I became a Top Musumeyaku, I've always been thinking when I would be retiring. I was admitted into the Takarazuka Music School in the 100th anniversary of Takarazuka Revue. Now, I am still a current sienne in the 110th anniversary of Takarazuka. And at this year I call my turning point, I had played the role of Sally from "ME AND MY GIRL" that I admire so much, and I feel so satisfied, and that was when I thought of retiring.

When did you tell your partner Rei (Makoto)?

I told her during the rehearsals for "RRR x TAKA"R"AZUKA -√Bheem- / Violetopia". I'm not good at expressing my thoughts in words, but Rei-san has always been so understanding, and she knows who I really am... She slowly heard my words and said, "If that is what Naco-chan (Maisora) decides, I will support you fully", and said such warm words to me.

What is/are your memorable role(s)?

The first role I got with a name was during Flower Troupe times when I played Hanna in "Hanna's Florist" and it's still a very dear role to me even now. When I came to Star Troupe, I played Juliette in "Romeo & Juliette", and it was a time when I wanted to do my best and confront the challenges ahead, the teachers and everyone from Star Troupe helped me a lot and I felt that I was able to open a new door for myself. Also, I was able to perform in a musical written by Shibata Yukihiro "Valencian Passion", which is a dream come true for me and thus unforgettable.

What's the greatest hurdle you've faced?

When I transferred to another troupe, it was a great change in my Takarazuka life. There were so many hurdles to overcome, but Rei-san who was the closest to me and encouraged me, "It's okay if you can't do it. Just enjoy yourself the most on stage" and I was able to progress forward. Whenever the time, Star Troupe members never let go of my hand and guided me warmly, so my encounter with them is a great fortune, and I wanted to convey my gratitude for each and every one of them.

A message to the fans.

I'm truly thankful for all the fans that found me and cherished me. Even in the midst of the coronavirus that we couldn't meet each other in a close distance, it's because everyone was always supporting me and never left my side that I was able to continue walking on my path. Until the last day, I will convey my appreciation on stage and do my very best. Please continue to support me.

[cerastes]

Oh yeah so I started Starlight Revue last night with Iron and it’s so fucking funny how it’s theater kids going ham on each other and (so far, watched half of it) the fight choreography in itself is whatever BUT the screenplay is really fun, and that’s clearly what they were focusing on and what they wanted to make an impression with. For example, when Karen is fighting Tendo, the entirety of the stage is constantly shifting in order to make sure Tendo has the higher ground, Karen only once ever gets the high ground, and it is immediately stolen from her by a thrust from Tendo’s sword, which Karen dodges, but the staircase immediately becomes a ramp and Karen falls even lower. Karen is simply not at Tendo’s level and, though certain moments of brilliance might match or even surpass Tendo briefly, these are but ephemeral, and Karen once more falls beneath Tendo, who is consistent in her superiority in the stage so far.

All around, the show’s focus on the world around the characters morphing in order to create interesting, fun and meaningful visuals that correlate directly with the song that’s being sung and the clash of the characters is nothing short of fascinating! It goes to show that making an interesting and fun fight doesn’t necessarily need to be the tightest Sammo Hung choreography ever written, you just need to make it interesting in your own terms.

I also like that there’s a character named Big Banana and she’s got danger written all over her, doubtlessly setting up a confrontation between her and Karen in the future, given that Karen is, in her own words, “constantly evolving, the version of me you see today is the best me”, whereas Nana has shown signs of preferring a stagnant, consistent status quo, keeping things the same, no need to change what isn’t broke.

[kelthoumrambles]

J'ai également revu une amie qui m'est très chère. Elle compte énormément pour moi. Elle m'a appris beaucoup de choses sur moi-même, sur la vie, sur le relationnel. Elle m'a ouvert les yeux sur de grandes questions humaines, décoloniales et spirituelles et elle m'encourage souvent à retourner en Afrique, sur mes terres ancestrales (même si parfois, c'est difficile à entendre pour les gens de la diaspora.. On se trouve souvent des excuses "et si..." "je ne me sens pas prête..." etc). Elle me confronte et ça me fait beaucoup de bien.

Elle m'a préparé un super bon repas, fait avec amour. Et, j'ai ressenti le besoin de lui dire que, lorsque je lui ai annoncé que j'allais me faire interner en psychiatrie l'été dernier, j'ai senti qu'elle ne m'avait pas vraiment soutenue de la manière que je l'aurai imaginé (expectations are at the root of all suffering). Je lui ai dit que je ne lui en voulais pas du tout mais que je n'avais pas compris et, que pour moi, c'était parce qu'elle a eu peur. Ce n'est pas rien d'exposer sa souffrance de la sorte. Je la comprends.

Et là, elle a commencé à pleurer. Je ne l'avais jamais vu pleurer. Elle sanglottait, fort, alors, j'ai commencé à pleurer aussi car j'ai ressenti une profonde tristesse venant d'elle. Elle m'a parlé de son amie, C., son amie qui s'est ôtée la vie il y a quelques années. Elle m'a dit que je lui faisais souvent pensé à elle et qu'elle aurait aimé qu'elle puisse aller chercher de l'aide comme je l'ai fait. Elle n'en a pas eu l'occasion, malheureusement.

Elle m'a alors expliqué que c'était comme si j'avais, d'une certaine manière, rendu justice à son amie car, avec beaucoup de difficulté, j'ai choisi la vie. Et elle s'est excusé de ne pas avoir été là en paroles et en mots d'affection mais qu'elle avait énormément pensé à moi. Pouah... c'était dur. Je m'en doutais, en fait. Je me suis excusée de ne pas avoir été là pour elle durant cette période. On avait perdu contact pendant 3-4 ans. Je lui ai aussi expliqué qu'il m'arrivait de penser à son amie. Finalement, j'ai dit à mon amie à quel point je l'aime. C'était beau et profond.

[editrevue]

UHHH Top 5 best Arcana Arcadia moments

gosh making me choose just 5 is so cruel but the rules are the rules jHASDKS I'll leave it under the cut for rambling purposes teehee [ask]

Yumeoji Sisters

TamaRui

Revue Frontier

the actual parts of the play??

YachiMei

honarary mentions: chitose, kuromaya flirting, nana slips up vs maya, "death has gentle eyes", kaoruko & tamao's revue

hm. a lot of my answers are probably personal but i guess that's half the fun and half the point! and these are in no particular order either because I just love Arcana's overarching story overall :

The Yumeoji Sisters. people who know me already know that I adore them both so so much and it's no surprise that I'd love their arc because I am a very big Shiori Yumeoji kinner. I wish that we had the satisfaction of seeing it through to the end before Yachiyo started hearing boss music but honestly the note it left off of and the interpretation that you can take away from their revue's ending had my lying on the floor. It started so rocky and ended so sweet, it felt like such a normal sibling quarrel and just... so like them?, yknow? like of course they're going to be super petty and then hang out that weekend. so real! Shiori's desperate struggle to get an honest answer out of Fumi and inability to let go or move on, Fumi finding her stage and realizing the kind of person she wants and needs to be, aiming to overcome their pride; Michiru and Ichie's honest efforts to bring those strong and opposing traits out of the two of them in their own revues prior. AUGH. Shiori gaining confidence as a stage girl, and as a younger sister, to stand up to and alongside her older sister for the first time in months... when Fumi finally acknowledges Shiori's growth to her face, and when they made a new promise oh my god it was such an irreplaceable feeling to watch happen. like girl has the RANGE. Sun and I often talk about her roles and compare them, like say Belle or Aries for an example but then you see Shuten-Doji or Holly Taker?? INSANE!! Honorary mention that ties into this too actually is when Michiru threw her coat down and let Shiori win, recognizing her determination and passion, and allowing Shiori to reach her sister and confront their promise, like Michiru wishes she had the strength to do with Akira. god god their revue struck so many chords with me. things that did not have to be so personal. For the sake of everything I'll just lump everything involving Shiori and Fumi together, which includes the revues with Michiru and Ichie, and just say their whole arc together and separate during Arcana made me sob like crazy. I've seen someone say this and I agree, I'd give literally anything to see this revue specifically animated!! i'm so serious

TamaRui. when me (Tamao) and Rui have our little spat and then all of Rinmeikan shows up. they're all saying words of encouragement and are like. awawawa okay okay okay let me get the screenshots or i won't make it out alive hold on. here:

WHEN I SAY THIS REVUE CHANGED ME FUNDAMENTALLY AS A PERSON. Another kinnie moment unfortunately but it's like they literally took me and put me into the source. Tamao balancing good and evil in her head, with the weight of decision constantly on her shoulders. You can see up until Arcana when it comes to a head her wavering slipping through cracks, her internal struggle to choose which path best suits her and her goals. The personality changes resonated with me, something I can relate to as a person today. Actually, and more importantly, Rui's development in Arcana is also one of my favorites overall. good! for! her!! gosh she deserved this growth and it's one of the most important things for her to have gone through. That she can healthily detach and be her own person outside of Tamao while still looking up to her as a role model and as a friend. I could talk for hours about Tamao's issues as a stage girl and as a person, but what made this moment in arcana so impactful for me is Rui loosely doing unto Tamao what Shiori did with Fumi, and that's create a new promise together while also diverging their own paths. I absolutely love that Rui brought back Yuyuko's "spell" and used it in their revue, I love that Rui learned what kind of stage girl SHE wants to be, I love that Rui was inspired by someone other than Tamao to realize these goals and dreams. All while keeping her love for Tamao so dear to her heart. Rui's proclamations of love, her fighting back against Tamao for her truth and not faltering once even when Tamao raised her voice and struggled to fight back, goddd all of it just made me so emotional . The fact it ended on such a positive note for everyone too and helped them all move forward together better than ever I'm (clutches my heart) Rinmeikan means so much to me

Revue Frontier. um. uh. um. not only is What Shines the Darkness literally like my favorite arcana arcadia song probably but everything about Frontier in this oh my god. very similarly to rinmeikan their whole dynamic and found family together is just something so special, something so pure and beautiful and absolutely unmatched. OH AND ALSO. Elle's inclusion in the story!!! can i mention that!!! I'm grouping that part of the story with this even if it's not until the end of arcana just because she is a part of frontier and their story anyway!! The fact that Elle decides to join Frontier when she's older warmed my heart so much it was such a touching moment for me. I love Frontier and wish they got more attention, their part of the story in Arcana was so memorable and so integral. I love their found family and each of their interactions with each other. it broke my heart when Aruru ran away and everyone was just so scared and lost. The irony of this when their part of the story before arcana involved the others being lost and Aruru having to find them and "bring them back" to her stage, it's just so cathartic and poetic. such a beautiful arc

The Play! this is a cheesy silly answer probably but i don't think people talk about the actual parts of the play enough. which i wholeheartedly get because the most important parts of arcana is the actual character interactions and the revues between them. but I absolutely loved the actual play parts and getting to read them with Sun out loud on call. We voice acted the lines and did our own little private performance it was literally so fun!! it left a very positive memory with us and I just think getting to see the starira characters actually play their roles adds to the emersion of the game itself. it's some of my favorite parts of the game overall. the songs, the story, the actual play, getting to see how the play is put together in the intermissions (shoutout to masai and amemiya for real! plus it was really fun to see michiru get included in creating the play as well actually I enjoyed how they went about that), and also the fact that it's based on tarot. Each arcana fitting the character it represents down to both the positive AND negative traits, ah, you love to see it. I own a few decks irl and have been around tarot through my mother, so a source I'm this passionate about that has ties to another interest so dear to me just adds to its charm. I own the official bushiroad starira arcana set!! i'd love to show it sometime if anyone's curious :3c

YACHIMEI. "it's dangerous to go alone, take this!" but seriously when Mei Fan handed their weapon to Yachiyo I literally didn't even know how to process it at first. Not only was it really awesome to see the two of them up against Akira in the first place, but Mei Fan turning the tide in their favor but giving Yachiyo the fighting change and final blow was just icing on the cake for me. I was just as surprised as when Michiru removed the coat for Shiori to earn the win. When YCHM shouted their Frau Platin introductions I was so proud of both of them too, that was such a defining moment for the two of them. Another moment like the yumeoji sisters I'd LOVE to see animated. A whole series just based on the arcana arcadia arc would be a dream come true... but, seeing Akira laugh in pride and challenge them further, Mei Fan faced with his pride and jealousy towards Yachiyo, Yachiyo being tested to stop holding herself back "for the sake of others", it was the perfect storm in my opinion. A great way to showcase all of their strengths and weaknesses, and in general was a very entertaining matchup. Just the live2d wasn't enough I need more :sob:

Honorary mention: Chitose! When we got a glimpse of her and when Yachiyo finally was able to come to terms with her feelings involving her sister in the revue between yachiyo and kuromaya. I love Yachiyo and Chitose so much, but I know that whole dynamic and their story mean everything to mod Sun. She'd appreciate this being one of my answers for sure. I loved getting to learn what kind of soul she is, even before her more official appearance in the Gemini bond story (PLEASE GO READ IT) it was so interesting. Nothing will be funnier to me btw than when Yachiyo is talking about Chitose and then Claudine and Maya start openly flirting with each other. iconic

kaoruko and tamao's revue made me insane. no further questions

honestly every part of arcana arcadia matters and I purposefully left out the Intermissions/Bond Stories because I feel like those are more separate pieces to the whole I could tackle in a completely different train of thought. don't ask me about emperor intermission . please

[aboutanancientenquiry]

"Chronique des activités scientifiques

Revue des livres

Comptes rendus et notices bibliographiques

Le Polythéisme grec à l’épreuve d’Hérodote

Theodora Suk Fong Jim

p. 290-293

Référence(s) :

Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, Le Polythéisme grec à l’épreuve d’Hérodote, Paris, Les Belles Lettres / Collège de France, 2020. 1 vol. 13,5 × 21 cm, 251 p. (Docet Omnia, 6). ISBN : 978-3-515-12809-4.

Texte intégral

1 The last half century has seen a dazzling array of new approaches in the study of Greek polytheism. Moving away from a polis-centred model into which every student of Greek religion was once initiated, scholars have now advocated alternative frameworks ranging from ‘personal’ and ��lived’ religion, to ‘network’ analyses, comparative perspectives, and the application of cognitive theories. Pirenne-Delforge’s latest book is a nuanced response to recent shifts in scholarly trends, and a critical reflection on current debates on the character of Greek polytheism. While revisiting old issues central and fundamental to the study of Greek religion, it offers a whole host of new insights into the analysis of Greek gods, the tension between unity and diversity, and the choice of conceptual tools by ancient historians.

2 The author confronts the thorny question of terminology from the outset: can we speak of Greek ‘religion’ when studying the ancient Mediterranean? Carefully tracing the history of the terms ‘religion’ and ‘polytheism’, she demonstrates that neither represents the ancient Greeks’ own use of word, and that their subsequent use is closely bound up with Christian polemics. Nevertheless, she reminds us, in historians’ attempt to avoid or get rid of terms with Christian associations, not only will we leave ourselves with no interpretive tool, we will also be perpetuating, consciously or unconsciously, the prejudice that Christianity is the true religion. In fact this ‘purge’ in terminology can go on: what about ‘religious’, ‘piety’, ‘thanks-giving’, ‘miracle’, and so on? Whether or not modern historians can give credence to the relations between the ancient Greeks and their gods, what is important is that they are recognized by the Greeks themselves. The definition of ‘religion’ chosen by the author aptly emphasizes this: its key element consists in ‘les relations avec la sphère supra-humaine dont cette culture postule l’existence’ (p. 55).

3 A central issue threaded through the whole book is the constant, and seemingly unreconcilable, tension between unity and diversity, the general and the particular, inherent in Greek polytheism. The question of ‘one or many’ has attracted scholarly attention in recent theoretical analyses of Greek cult epithets: to what extent is Zeus Meilichios the same as Zeus Ktesios? How much difference is there between the innumerable Zeuses bearing different epithets? Pirenne-Delforge shows, significantly, that the plurality (poly-) in the word ‘polytheism’ is not restricted to divine figures but is manifest at every level of Greek religion, from sacrificial and other ritual practices, to cult places and sanctuaries, divine names and epithets, and conceptions of the divine: these might vary between different levels of organization (Panhellenic, regional, polis, sub-polis, and so on), from place to place, from one individual to another, and across different time periods. So overwhelmingly diverse is every aspect of Greek polytheism that the singular ‘religion’, one may object, can hardly capture its diversity. Pirenne-Delforge categorically emphasizes the plurality and multiplicity inherent in Greek polytheism on the one hand, but on the other reaffirms the value and validity of Greek ‘religion’ in the singular. To speak of Greek ‘religion’ (rather than ‘religions’), in her view, is not to obscure or obliterate the bewildering plurality in Greek polytheism, but to recognize that ‘une certaine unité sous-tend les relations que les Grecs entretenaient avec leurs dieux’ (p. 95).

4 To demonstrate that this unity is not a construct invented by the historian, Pirenne-Delforge puts her arguments to the test by using Herodotus, who best documents the diversity of religious customs (nomoi) across and within ancient Mediterranean cultures. Close analysis of his Histories and other sources reveals that ‘Greek gods’ and ‘Greek sacrifice’ existed in the ancient Greeks’ own representation of theia pragmata. Such categories tend to lie ‘dormant’ in the Greeks’ perception of religious matters, but come to the surface when a contrast is made with non-Greek phenomena or in a foreign milieu. A question nevertheless remains: in the absence of a centralized religious authority, what gives unity to Greek polytheism? How far can regional, local, and personal variations go before any element loses its ‘Greekness’? Other eminent scholars have conceptualized aspects of this tension using the symbolism of a concertina (capable of expansion and contraction) or kaleidoscope (capable of changing from one to many varied visions),1 whereas Pirenne-Delforge stresses that both unity and diversity are constitutive of our understanding of Greek polytheism, and have to be studied together at every level of analysis. These two forces, the unifying and diversifying, the centripetal and centrifugal,2 hold each other in check, so that there was a limit to how far variations could go.

5 The analysis of the Greek gods has undergone various important shifts in paradigms over the last few decades. The ‘structuralist’ approach associated with Vernant and Detienne emphasizes that Greek gods were divine powers rather than persons, and that they need to be defined in relation to other powers in the pantheon. Versnel in Coping with the Gods (2011) is similarly preoccupied with the question of ‘one or many’, but he is anti-structuralist in stressing the inconsistencies in the Greeks’ perception of the gods and their ability to entertain multiple conceptions of a divine figure. Pirenne-Delforge’s present volume builds on what one might call the ‘neo-structuralist’ approach which she has developed in collaboration with Pironti. While recognizing the anthropomorphic tendencies in the Greeks’ perception of their gods, she follows Vernant in stressing that a god is not a ‘person’, but a divine power with a broad spectrum of competences (technai). Despite the potential plurality of each divine figure, she argues, ‘quelque chose de stable paraît transcender la polyonymie de chaque figure divine’ (p. 128). She uses the symbolism of a ‘network’ (réseau) to capture the dynamic powers and different attributes of each god. Nevertheless, it is unclear if the concept of a network necessarily leads to ‘quelque chose de stable’: all that it emphasizes is the interconnected nature of a god’s different powers, but that was already the assumption underlying what Parker calls the ‘snowball theory’ of polytheism.3

6 After almost two decades of lively debates on the relevance of ‘belief’ in the study of Greek polytheism, most historians now recognize that ‘belief’ existed among the Greeks in a broad sense without Christian overtones, that a plurality of different ‘beliefs’ coexisted, and that ‘belief’ is indispensable in making sense of the Greeks’ relations with their gods. Nevertheless, beyond these broad consensuses, progress in the investigation of ‘belief’ seems to have reached an impasse. Pirenne-Delforge takes the subject further by taking a fresh look at the closest Greek equivalent nomizein. The two aspects of its meaning—the ritualistic sense of ‘to practice and observe as a custom’, and the cognitive sense of ‘to believe’, ‘to recognize as gods’—have often been considered separately, whereas Pirenne-Delforge emphasizes that they are two sides of the same coin. To recognize a certain figure as god, in her view, implies a whole series of rituals and cultic actions rendered to the god concerned, and therefore nomizein tous theous in effect means to integrate the gods in the nomoi of the society. The cognitive recognition of a god in one’s mental sphere is expressed in religious customs, and so we should no longer prioritize ritual as primary or more important than belief. Even for phenomena such as divination and sacrifice, which seem manifestly ritualistic, Pirenne-Delforge demonstrates that these practices are in fact closely linked with the Greeks’ representation of the gods.

7 Other key issues arising from the book include the relations between gods in literature and gods in lived religion, the boundary between ‘public’ and ‘private’ religion, and the relations between the Panhellenic and the local. Each side of these dichotomies tends to form a separate object of analysis in existing studies and is rarely brought together or considered on the same plane in any given analysis. Yet Pirenne-Delforge almost effortlessly brings together different aspects, reminding us that the boundary in these polarities is fluid, permeable, and often ill-defined. In fact hardly any phenomenon in Greek religion can be studied solely from the perspective of either the polis or the individual, the literary or the cultic, the general or the particular, when both aspects are complementary to each other.

8 Forcefully argued and remarkably well-informed, this profoundly thoughtful book beautifully brings together a great deal of valuable insights and an impressive amount of learning resulting from many years of reflection on this subject. It challenges future generations of students and scholars in Greek religion to aspire to a new standard: to study Greek polytheism in its different manifestations and in its totality, and to deploy a multiplicity of perspectives for understanding the complexity of what can justifiably be called Greek religion.

Haut de page

Notes

1 R. Parker, On Greek Religion, Cornell, 2011, p. 87; H. Versnel, Coping with the Gods, Leiden, 2011, p. 212; M.S. Smith, Where the Gods Are, New Haven, 2016, p. 57.

2 E. Kearns, “Archaic and Classical Greek Religion”, in M.A. Aweeney, M.R. Salzman, E. Adler (eds.), The Cambridge History of Religions in the Ancient World, Cambridge, 2013, p. 281–284.

3 R. Parker, On Greek Religion, Cornell, 2011, p. 86.Haut de page

Pour citer cet article

Référence papier

Theodora Suk Fong Jim, « Le Polythéisme grec à l’épreuve d’Hérodote », Kernos, 34 | 2021, 290-293.

Référence électronique

Theodora Suk Fong Jim, « Le Polythéisme grec à l’épreuve d’Hérodote », Kernos [En ligne], 34 | 2021, mis en ligne le 31 décembre 2021, consulté le 03 octobre 2023. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/3913 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/kernos.3913Haut de page

Auteur

Theodora Suk Fong Jim

University of Nottingham

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The vocabulary of ἀπάρχεσθαι, ἀπαρχή and related terms in Archaic and Classical Greece [Texte intégral]Paru dans Kernos, 24 | 2011 "

[waffleweirdo]

I love how much Revue Starlight calls out its characters and makes them confront themselves and grow. So I made a dumb spreadsheet about how much the characters get called out!!

(Based on absolutely no evidence)

Conclusion: Masai is objectively the best revstar character

[nevermelting]

Fire Emblem Cindered Shadows Expansion - review

(Listen, I know I am like VERY late to the party but since FE3 is one of my most favorite games ever and I played the expansion just now, here's my IN DEPTH review.)

Overall impression: With Cindered Shadows, I received more than I bargained for. The whole new underground world (literally a new, explorable location) opens up for you with its special challenges of the disenfranchised people and underdogs. Unusual personalities dwell here with perspectives that were previously unexplored. The monastery and its internal politics just got a massive upgrade and you won't want to go back to how it was before.

The story: Cindered Shadows story opens up quite atmospherically, even though a bit clumsily in the way it ties in with the main lords' story. From the first moment you lay your eyes on Yuri and his team, you know immediately that you are in for something special. Does this feeling remain throughout the story and post-story FE3 main game integration though? That is a more complex question. In my opinion, while absolutely intriguing, Cindered Shadows story couldn't quite live up to the potential of greatness mostly because it promises a story of underdogs almost Victor Hugo style and throws it all away in a rather personal than social confrontation in the end. The villain is rather weak this time and isn't even a bad person per se. Personally, I am rather in favor of the Church but in this case, imo, the rebellion of Wolves would be more appropriate than Edelgard's rebellion (which is, you know, often the excuse for invading other countries). But Wolves are REALLY downtrodden, UNLIKE Edelgard herself and the story doesn't allow them to rebel. Had it been up to me, I'd rather have Yuri's Great French Revolution than Edelgard's....uh, let's just give it a rest this time actually. 'Descendants of Saints living in the slums' is an interesting concept for me as someone who likes the Saints though.

Characters: Characters are interesting but sometimes a bit confusing. When you first meet them, you get the impression of 'thick as thieves' close-knit gang. When you start getting bits of their conversation among themselves though, you start to see that they actually pretty much hate each other. Yuri in particular turned out to be a much more unsavory character for me, being so off-puttingly rude to most and main character too that it made me cringe. His self-absorbed persona of eyeshadow-wearing mafia boss is completely unrealistic, exasperating and irritating. Which is strange because I like his role as a leader in CS side story. (And I would like it even more if he was more about Rebellion and less about fucking around and eyeshadow and looking like an edgy Takarazuka Revue actress.)

Hapi is also sometimes irritating, but unlike him, in a completely realistic way. Her constant complaining, unrelated mentions of personal trauma in seemingly random situations and childish cynicism are all too familiar for everyone who dealt with Gen Z at any point in their life. I actually appreciate her as a character because it is the closest any media came to depicting a fantasy Gen Z girl - without any judgement, but you know, with all her quirks.

Byleth will be just minding their business when Hapi will appear out of nowhere with 'Gentle reminder that I don't trust you because you are with the church scum. I don't care if you saved me. Gentle reminder that the Church literally tortured me.' And the stories keep getting more and more colorful. You aren't half sure if it's true or simply exaggerated but the only thing you can say is 'Valid.' Hilarious. (Even if the stories are true , it is sad but the way she speaks of them is hilariously self-important.)

Constance seems to be like a running joke for most and she doesn't have many support conversations with people outside of the Wolves. She is sometimes a very annoying sadistic anime Princess but sometimes surprisingly human and then you feel bad for her. She is written in a very inconsistent way, perhaps as a villain or traitor originally. While I do agree that she is often bad, the game often treats her in an overly cruel way that isn't reserved for similar characters.

Balthus seems to be the only normal of the bunch and the one I like the most. However, even he isn't free from inconsistent writing. I often feel like with Ashen Wolves, the authors attempted to add edginess without knowing where to add it and managed to create hostility instead. Again, it's not that bad actually. But maybe it's related to the way the existence of Abyss is never really resolved.

Gameplay: Cindered Shadows add a lot of tough missions in both side story and main story where enemies exploit a tactic of reinforcements in a major way. Sometimes you wonder if those waves of enemies can even stop. On the other hand, after playing them the primary game may feel too easy on lower difficulties. Overall, the the difficulty isn't too bad and is mostly fair.

[kaedeichinose]

found out the artist who did the concept work on the bumblebee kiss scene is also a revue starlight fan and you know what yeah a revue starlight fan WOULD force two characters to have an emotional confrontation on a rickety bridge and then an emotional climax on top of a pillar covered in flowers.

[whileiamdying]

The Untouchable Tina Turner

Some people perform music; some people become music.

By Amanda Petrusich May 25, 2023

On Wednesday, one of the great American voices—gritty, vehement, tender, and red-hot, containing, somehow, both the entire history and future of rock and roll—went silent. Tina Turner, who was born Anna Mae Bullock, in 1939, in Brownsville, Tennessee, died at her home in Switzerland, at age eighty-three. She was known for her superhuman resilience, and, in a way, I came to believe that she was actually invincible. In 1988, when she was forty-eight years old, she performed to some hundred and eighty thousand fans in Rio de Janeiro, ousting Frank Sinatra from the record books by drawing what was, at that point, the largest-ever ticketed crowd for a solo performer. The show was filmed, thank heavens. The energy is uncanny. Bionic. It’s like watching an Olympic final in Being Badass. Early in the set, wearing a fringed minidress, heeled ankle boots, and a pearl necklace, Turner performs “Better Be Good to Me,” a single from 1984. It’s a song about being in love with someone you don’t entirely trust. “Should I be fractured by your lack of devotion?” she wonders in the first verse. The next bit contains all of her magic. She’s asking a question, but her tone isn’t earnest, it’s incredulous. How dare this person expect her to compromise? “Should I? Should I?” she roars. You will want to holler “NO!” at your screen—but, of course, the question was always rhetorical.

Turner was brought up on a cotton farm and educated in a segregated, one-room schoolhouse. She grew up singing in the choir of the Spring Hill Baptist Church in Nutbush, about sixty miles northeast of Memphis. Her great-great-grandfather, Logan Currie, Sr., had been enslaved in the same region. “I hated the cotton field,” she told Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in a 2007 interview for PBS. “There were those hairy worms crawling, the spiders.” Turner later moved to St. Louis, where she met Ike Turner at the Manhattan Club, a Black bar and venue. She eventually persuaded Ike to let her sing with his band, the Kings of Rhythm. They became romantically involved, and, in 1960, formed the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, becoming hugely popular on the Chitlin’ Circuit, a series of Black-owned night clubs throughout the southeast. In 1971, they had a crossover hit with their cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary,” and performed the song on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” For the broadcast, Turner wears a gold flapper dress. She bounces around the stage vigorously, so gleeful and open and strong that it feels as though, surely, she must have an extra set of lungs stashed somewhere. There’s a looseness to her performance that’s far funkier and more human than the hyper-choreographed, steel-eyed stylings of her modern counterparts. I don’t know how to describe it. She is simply very, very alive.

It’s still hard to write about the sixteen years she spent in that abusive, ugly relationship with Ike. She escaped the marriage in 1976. She was thirty-seven years old, and in possession of just thirty-six cents and a Mobil gasoline card. “I didn’t fear him killing me when I left, because I was already dead,” she told People, in 1981. It was the first time that she had spoken publicly about the abuse, and she described it as “torture.” Besides the usual subjugations (beating and berating her), Ike had changed her name and assumed control of her career and finances. It’s easy to think of this experience as the defining trauma of Turner’s life and art—to presume that it shaped and informed her music in a deep and irrefutable way—but it feels stupid, even unfair, to give Ike, who died of a cocaine overdose in 2007, any more air in her story. There have been two memoirs, a Broadway musical, a feature film, interviews. Turner was asked to confront and remember her abuse for decades after it ended. It feels proper to free her of it now. “I don’t like to pull out old clothes,” Turner said in “Tina,” an HBO documentary from 2021. “It’s like old memories, you just want to leave that in the past.”

Let us look, then, to the nineteen-eighties, a decade in which Turner, liberated from her marriage, dominated the charts and the national imagination: the voice, the power, the presence, the legs, the wardrobe, the hair. My God, the dancing! How free does a person have to be to move that way? Freer than I have ever felt or been, certainly. Some people perform music; some people become music. If you’re having a miserable day, one foolproof cure is typing “Tina Turner live 1985” into the YouTube search bar, and bearing witness to something virtuosic, if not divinely ordained. At the time, Turner was on tour in support of the multiplatinum “Private Dancer,” her fifth full-length album, and the record that resuscitated and then ignited her solo career. There’s some extraordinary footage of David Bowie joining her onstage at a show in Birmingham, England, for a duet of “Tonight,” a song first released on Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life,” in 1977. Bowie, who co-wrote the track—it features a repeating Aretha Franklin sample—appears on the original; he went on to record it for an album of his own, in 1984. Turner guested on Bowie’s version (they skipped Pop’s spoken-word intro, which describes a heroin overdose). Watching them do it live is electrifying. Bowie is grinning so much and so wildly that I wonder how he even manages to keep on singing. They slow dance for a bit in the middle, while Tim Cappello plays a shirtless saxophone solo. I would call this section “steamy,” but it feels like too chaste of a word. “This is a privilege,” Bowie says, when it’s all over. Boy, does he mean it.

Turner’s later years were appropriately lavish. After she retired, she lived in Küsnacht, Switzerland, in an estate known as the Château Algonquin, with clear views of Lake Zurich, and, according to a 2019 profile in the Times, “a life-size two-legged horse sculpture suspended from a domed ceiling, a framed rendering of Turner as an Egyptian queen, a room stuffed with gilded Louis XIV style sofas.” A plaque on the gate announces that, of course, no deliveries should be attempted before noon. Who would dare? Turner stopped performing in 2009, freeing herself of a substantial burden: “I was just tired of singing and making everybody happy,” she said. “That’s all I’d ever done in my life.” How glorious that must have felt—having only to worry about her own joy.

I was having lunch in Chinatown with friends when the news was announced. I had ordered a glass of white wine—indulgent for a weekday afternoon, I suppose, but I was feeling a little indulgent. I experienced a quick pang in my gut when one of my companions announced that Turner had died—the sharp, needling ache that comes when someone who you didn’t know personally, but who you understood to have contributed, in a profound and robust way, to the general goodness of the world, had left it. I swallowed the last of my drink. It felt right to be a little unsteady in that moment. “Tina would have had the wine,” the group chat later confirmed. Did Turner even drink? Who cares? The point was that she found a way to tap into some deep wellspring of ease and abandon and self-love, and drew from it when she needed to. And now she has left that for us, in her music, in her voice, in the singular way she occupied a stage. In this sense, she is untouchable, forever. ♦

[societascriticus]

Classique(s) au TNM (https://tnm.qc.ca/)

D.I., Delinkan Intellectuel, revue d'actualité et de culture, in Societas Criticus Vol. 27-02 : www.societascriticus.com

Mise en scène Mani Soleymanlou

Du 11 mars au 10 avril 2025

Création Orange Noyée, en coproduction avec le TNM et le Théâtre français du CNA.

En codiffusion avec Le Diamant.

2 h 00, sans entracte.

Ce classique dont vous êtes le héros.

Les classiques sont-ils condamnés à n’être que de somptueux tombeaux culturels dans lesquels on ensevelit les spectateurs sous le poids des siècles ? Faut-il les dynamiter pour que leurs éclats tranchent dans le vif du réel ? Tout d’abord, comment des pièces, des scènes, des personnages sont-ils devenus classiques ? « Un classique, aimait dire Gaston Miron, c’est un contemporain de tous les temps. » Alors, aujourd’hui, avec le climat qui se dérègle, la démocratie qui s’effrite, les guerres qui se déploient et l’obscène concentration des richesses, ne serait-on pas à un moment de l’Histoire où l’on a le devoir d’écrire des pièces à la hauteur des classiques du passé ?

Sur scène, les interprètes, sorte de monstre à huit têtes, questionnent leur propre rapport aux classiques et à ce qui est classique, à ce qui mérite d'appartenir à la culture générale. En convoquant tour à tour certaines grandes figures du théâtre et de l'histoire, mais aussi les dédales de la pensée intime et de la culture populaire, ils s’attaquent aux classiques pour comprendre les mystérieuses qualités qui leur permettent de traverser le temps, tout en ne cessant de s'interroger : quel classique notre époque est-elle en train d'écrire, au juste ?

L’autrice Fanny Britt et l’homme de théâtre Mani Soleymanlou, connu·es pour leurs créations aux enjeux très contemporains, ont décidé d’aller au bout de leur relation d’amour-haine avec les monuments historiques de la dramaturgie. Sachant que tous les comédiens et toutes les comédiennes rêvent de se confronter aux grands rôles du répertoire, ils n’ont eu aucune peine à rassembler une distribution dont le haut niveau donne le vertige !

Avec

Louise Cardinal

Martin Drainville

Kathleen Fortin

Julie Le Breton

Jean-Moïse Martin

Benoit McGinnis

Madeleine Sarr

Mani Soleymanlou

Musicien(ne)s :

Mélanie Bélair, violon

Nicolas Boulay, trompette (en alternance)

Rémi Cormier, trompette (en alternance)

Alexis Elina, piano

Annie Gadbois, violoncelle

Andy King, trompette (en alternance)

Commentaires de Michel Handfield, M.Sc. Sociologie (2025-03-22)

OUF ! C’est qu’il y a du contenu dans cette pièce. Du tragique, de l’humour, de la variété, de la réflexion philosophique, de la musique, du chant… Diogène le cynique y côtoie Shakespeare si je puis dire !

Une pièce qui fait réfléchir, les comédiens brisant le quatrième mur en s’adressant à nous comme si nous étions assis dans un salon devant eux. Parfois, j’aurais aimé que ça aille juste un cran plus loin et qu’on puisse interagir comme on le voit parfois dans certaines pièces expérimentales. Mais, j’avoue que c’eut été un peu difficile dans le cas de cette pièce, car il y a du texte et de la réflexion derrière. Par contre, une version adaptée à certaines petites salles ou pour des publics scolaires, comme au secondaire ou au cégep, pourrait devenir une expérience philosophique drôlement intéressante pour les étudiants.

On nous rappelle souvent ce proverbe africain : « Il faut tout un village pour élever un enfant. » (1) Dans le livre « Sur les petites routes de la démocratie », on y ajoute «[qu’]Il en va de même pour la véritable démocratie. » (2) Et, je dirais que c’est la même chose pour la culture : il faut toute une communauté pour la transmettre et cela doit aussi passer par des liens entre le monde de la culture et de l’éducation, non seulement par les parents ou la télévision, pour élargir les horizons de ceux qui suivent. Parfois, des adaptations de certaines pièces seraient les bienvenues pour jouer ce rôle. Cette pièce en est d’ailleurs une.

Notes

1. https://paalmtl.org/il-faut-tout-un-village-pour-elever-un-enfant/

2. Konaté, Moussa et coll., 1999, Sur les petites routes de la démocratie, Montréal: écosociété, p. 11.