the cause for rebels

Don Hall blogged this morning about the "blandization" of theater, asking where the outlaws willing to push the envelope have gone.

Try and name one "cool" character in history who was conformist and law abiding. Even Jesus Christ was a complete fringe rebel fighting the conformist dogma of the day, so don't hand me some right wing conservative nonsense about being a good, obedient Christian.

Where did that kid with all the self-respect and independence go?

The common picture is that he grew up and out of his child-like ways. That today's liberal progressive anti-government long hair just needs to get a job, make some money, have some kids and he will naturally become conservative in his thinking. This equates conformism and materialism with adulthood and wisdom but does not bear out empirically. Mahatma Gandhi was a rule-breaker; Churchill was a rebel; John Brown might have been insane but he was right.

Where DID they all go? Is the rebel slowly fading out of existance? Not just in theater, but everywhere? Why? What's happening?

Is our process of education to blame? It makes me think about what I've seen in CPS schools. Kids required to walk everywhere in striaght, silent lines. Teachers who work and work to break the rebels into compliance, forcing them to sit in corners and stare at walls, sending them to the principal instead of finding a way to challenge them or engage them.

Is our prescription drug culture to blame? Are all the rebels being Prozaced out of existance? Most of the artists and thinkers and rebels were a little crazy. Are we stunting that creativity and those outlaw personalities with drugs so that our children can "do well" in school and "fit in" and get a "good job"? (according to whose standards?)

Is the American Dream to blame? America is one of the few countries where we believe that everyone can "make it" if only they work hard enough. Nothing is ever good enough, and we're sold this idea that we have to work harder and get more, achieve some success that is always just out of reach. But that "success" that we're being sold - it's someone else's ideal, not our own. The skinny models, the muscular bodies, the yacht, the mansion, the corner office - it's a manufactured want, and for so many, it drowns out their real wants, and worse, causes them to judge the wants of others. People who want the simple, or the fringe, are made to feel like failures by friends and family and society, for not wanting what the masses can understand. Many give up, and they join in mocking the rebels, maybe partially out of jealousy that they aren't one any longer.

Putting on a good show isn't "success" in the eyes of the masses. It's not "how good was the show?" but "how much did you make?" that is the question on everyone's lips. It's not "how many students did you help this year?" but "how many days of vacation do you get?"

I can blame myself a little. I'm not much of a rebel. I chose not to pursue theater because I wanted health insurance and a steady paycheck. I wish I had more of Don's rebelliousness in me, didn't have this need for security. Instead, I rebel in small ways, I cheer for the rebels, do my best to make them feel less alone in a world that wants to put them in the corner and break them into compliance.