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William D. Randall's Blog (of no particular interest to no one in particular)
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Wednesday, November 12, 2003
"Keyboard of Cruelty" Today's title is courtesy of Antonin Artaud and his concept of the "Theater of Cruelty. My current paper for my CJ 406 course is based on the following. How would a televised execution represent Antonin Artaud's concept of a "theater of cruelty" or why not. Most of the material for the paper is from my class lectures and the book Pictures at an Execution by Wendy Lesser. On the surface this paper seems pretty easy, but under the surface it is a little complex. I don't have a solid position on the death penalty up or down, but this issue is causing me to think about it. Why can't we see an execution? I recently heard the audio tape of two executions from Georgia. One was a complete execution, while the second one was botched. It was probably the most disturbing thing I have heard due to the clinical nature of the procedure. The warden even reminds the execution team to "stick to the checklist". I guess what was really disturbing was the images I formed in my head. I viewed the execution from the gallery, and at one point I imagined the cloak being put over the condemned’s head. This is the point of Artaud, what we won't see in an execution is far worse then what we would see. Writing this paper is a pain in the neck, as I am also using the concepts behind McLuhan, Baudrillard and the idea of Hyperreality. McLuhan stated how, "The medium is the message", the medium we use to communicate a message has just as much if not more meaning the message itself. A televised execution is going to have problems due to the audience’s perception of television (as entertainment and not reality). Hyperreality, means that our perceptions are our basis for reality and not the other way around. My professor described it as "seeing the Matterhorn in Disneyland and not in Switzerland". In a way, McLuhan and Baudrillard share similar concepts. An execution also presents numerous social issues, of sleaze, profit, and morality. Ultimately, the issue boils down to the death of the condemned. I guess this is why the Matrix movies are so successful; the audience has to imagine all of the different meanings behind the characters and scenes to get a deeper meaning of the films. Shocking or intriguing? WDR
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