Engaging in Art Talking to Me

I attended a live concert to watch the performance by the Broadway Musical group. The performance was the best I have ever seen about the recent vintage artwork; ever, in that case, means from 1881 to the present time. It was a performance that combined the entire musical history that meant more than just the rock music shows that I love to the huge mega shows of the modern day. It was a show that brought into my mind the Pirates of Penance time of the 1920s and the Show Boat of the 1930’s among many other great shows, but yet it was a groundbreaking performance. I particularly enjoyed the Bess and the Porgy.

The performance is annually held in South Carolina in Charleston during the Spoleto Festival US.A. The performance involves a showcase of dance, classical, theater, Jazz music and opera lasting for 17 days. In May this year, the group will have entered its 40th year in honor of this city that has been its host since 1977. The Spoleto Festivals program incorporates the production of Porgy and Bess opera of 1935 by George Gershwin. The Porgy and Bess have lasted more than a year in making and it celebrates the history of Charleston at the time when the city requires it the most. It is the time of the wake of shootings at Emanuel AME Church.

When writing the Porgy and Bess, Georg Gershwin did not intend that the show would be the racist portrayal of the black Americans. Rather, on the contrary, he aimed to provide a show that would give insights to certain socio-economic and racial groups that were mainly underrepresented by the media. Despite the fact that the show is not perfect it proliferates unflattering and narrow lens in viewing the black culture of the 1930’s. However, since then the show has managed to represent one of an almost voiceless group of the twentieth century.

Porgy and Bess was a breakthrough, the show during the 30sa was a triumph. Black critics also showed their support and praise. The white team writing the show intended to provide an empathetic approach to the black culture and they showed this genuine effort in a wide range of ways. The Porgy and Bess performance were in itself revolutionary. The custom at that time was the use of white actors wearing black masks, but Gershwin opted in forming a full black cast. Thus, the show managed to encourage cultural authenticity as well as authentic musical styles in the show. The mere fact that Gershwin managed to incorporate the black American music such as the spirituals and jazz to an art of the high society opera is a portrayal of unity and acceptance of cultures.

The character in the show Porgy and Bess were also very compelling. The show portrays the three-dimensionality of the African Americans. For modern day entertainment, it is common to find the culture of black people representation through serotype especially among the incredible racists minstrels art of the early 20th century. For example, the Boat Show instantly falls onto the harsh archetypes regarding the black characters. In comparison, the black characters in Porgy and Bess portray a wide range of attitudes and personalities from the lovable and elderly honey man Peter to the religious and matronly Serena. In particular, Porgy goes through a radical development of character throughout the show in showing his full-color in three-dimensionality. Additionally, the white characters in the show are represented by the common stereotypes such as the unsympathetic and cruel policeman who visits the Catfish Row. The policeman symbolizes the white oppression.

I also feel that Porgy and Bess's performance is not free from fault despite its victories. The black characters throughout the play refer to the whites as boss while the white characters use diminutive terms such as the boy in referring to the blacks. The original version of this play used the n-word at an alarming liberalness. Also, the black characters are speaking the Gullah language while the whites are using the traditional version of the English dialect. Though the features were included purely as a means of demonstrating the reality and inequality of race relations in the South of the 20th century, they clearly show that the African Americans are in a subservient position.

Therefore, for the next coming performance, it is crucial to show the difference between the show that was inherently racist and the modern versions of the Porgy and Bess show that honestly and simply attempt to demonstrate current societal issues. The Porgy and Bess would have ideally been by the black authors who had the factual insights to the African American culture. However, the white creators of the show are doing their best to bring empathy and attention to a suffering group. All in all the Gershwin’s opera has happened to open new doors for the current and future generations towards media attention in empathetically addressing the issue of racism and by itself cannot be described as a racist artwork.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in legitimate paper writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for a custom research paper from online nursing papers.

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