During my first read through of Jones’s intro, I was having trouble relating the abstract concept of Body Art to any of the works we read. Eventually I realized Cloud 9 is an awesome example of Body Ar, even though it doesn’t go as far as Carolee Shneemann did in Interior Scroll. Despite the fact that the characters of Cloud 9 aren’t covering their naked bodies in paint or polka dots, they are creating a sense of dislocation of the conventional structures of gender roles in society throughout the play. I idea of ‘body art’ in Cloud 9 is portrayed by the switched gender and ethnic roles that we, the audience finds so jarring upon reading the play. These character representations that questions and challenges gender and ethnic stereotypes in society are what classifies Cloud 9 as a type of “Body Art’.
2 comments:
It's interesting to think of the characters in Cloud 9 being objects of body art. It makes sense because the casting of different genders or race is making the actual physical body the subject of the performance, just like in the concept of Body Art. I think that makes it even more a reflection of body art even than the ways in which the characters break down social barriers through their actions.
I agree that Cloud 9 is a good example of body art. The audience is forced to notice the gender and racial discrepancies of the characters through the actors being purposely played by the opposite. These visual cues create a form of body art that is expressive of the gender, racial, and sexual norms that Churchill is deconstructing in Victorian times and the 1970's.
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