Wangyue Zhou, Grade 11
UWCSEA Dover Campus
When asked about one scene at UWC that fascinated me, one theater performance that we had watched previously during theater class popped up in my mind. The class is about techniques that actors and actresses use to express their emotions. Before the class, students were assigned to watch a theater production called Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven. During the class, our teacher led us to analyze the performance in detail.
The first five minutes of the performance began by showing a woman being slapped many times. The woman said nothing but kept wiping tears away. The
background music was live enough, which set off the miserable mood of the woman. Then a cameo highlighted the significance of respect for Korean women by relating the story of mudfish. This was hilarious that the whole class laughed at the heroine. The simile that compares Korean women with mudfish is unprecedented, at least none of us had heard of it before. Yet this theater production is more than that.
I think the destiny of the mudfish resembles that of Korean women. They have low social statuses and are most times, though not always, considered to be easier to get and of having lower self-esteem. This example illustrates racism and sexism towards Asians, especially Korean women.
The four Korean women in the production all wore traditional Korean dresses, which symbolizes their conservative and conventional characteristics. For instance, when one of them treated sex at discretion, another woman seemed extremely shocked and even expressed disgust toward this topic. Comparingly, the white couple in the same performance wore casual attire. Also, the background music throughout the work is lively, which is contrary to the theme of this masterpiece. In the beginning, while a woman was being slapped, the music was brisk.
The atmosphere became livelier when a Korean American was abused and avoided by the others. The other three Koreans pushed her
deliberately. When she was being asked by the narrator what they should play that day, she almost replied with a trembling voice. The woman headed down and kneeled on the ground. In contrast, the white man neither hit his wife nor did he treat her rudely. When they quarreled, they chose to solve the conflict peacefully. This performance shocked me by conveying racism and sexism through elements such as movement, actors’ facial expressions, and costume and sound design.
Through analyzing this piece of work profoundly, I recognized theater as a form of art that does not only activate visual and audial sensations but also impresses the audience with touching emotions. Looking back, that theater class experience is still unique for its splendid acting skills and satire of
unequal treatment received by Asian women.
The first five minutes of the performance began by showing a woman being slapped many times. The woman said nothing but kept wiping tears away. The
background music was live enough, which set off the miserable mood of the woman. Then a cameo highlighted the significance of respect for Korean women by relating the story of mudfish. This was hilarious that the whole class laughed at the heroine. The simile that compares Korean women with mudfish is unprecedented, at least none of us had heard of it before. Yet this theater production is more than that.
I think the destiny of the mudfish resembles that of Korean women. They have low social statuses and are most times, though not always, considered to be easier to get and of having lower self-esteem. This example illustrates racism and sexism towards Asians, especially Korean women.
The four Korean women in the production all wore traditional Korean dresses, which symbolizes their conservative and conventional characteristics. For instance, when one of them treated sex at discretion, another woman seemed extremely shocked and even expressed disgust toward this topic. Comparingly, the white couple in the same performance wore casual attire. Also, the background music throughout the work is lively, which is contrary to the theme of this masterpiece. In the beginning, while a woman was being slapped, the music was brisk.
The atmosphere became livelier when a Korean American was abused and avoided by the others. The other three Koreans pushed her
deliberately. When she was being asked by the narrator what they should play that day, she almost replied with a trembling voice. The woman headed down and kneeled on the ground. In contrast, the white man neither hit his wife nor did he treat her rudely. When they quarreled, they chose to solve the conflict peacefully. This performance shocked me by conveying racism and sexism through elements such as movement, actors’ facial expressions, and costume and sound design.
Through analyzing this piece of work profoundly, I recognized theater as a form of art that does not only activate visual and audial sensations but also impresses the audience with touching emotions. Looking back, that theater class experience is still unique for its splendid acting skills and satire of
unequal treatment received by Asian women.
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