State of Play by David Edgar Essay - 1992 Words

David Edgar, in his book State of Play: Playwrights on Playwriting (1999) highlights the fact that in the mid 90’s there seemed to be an â€Å"over-arching theme† (edgar, 1999, p27) in contemporary British play that looked at ideas of masculinity. â€Å"Gay plays like Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing†¦ lad’s plays like Jez Butterworths Mojo†¦ [and] girls-in-a-boys’ gang plays like Irving Welsh’s Trainspotting†¦ address masculinity and its discontents’ (ibid, p.27). In this essay I will look at what ideas of masculinity are, and how these discontents have been addressed in contemporary theatre (and the idea of the â€Å"decline of the dominant role of men†(edgar, 1999, p.28)) and how the crisis of masculinity(ref) has been staged. I will do this by looking†¦show more content†¦Each cultrure it would seem then has its own definitioin as to what masculinity is. This difference in oppinions give credence to the idea that gender (more specifically the binary of male and female) is not the the most fundimental aspect of masculinity. Rather it is a specific interpretation of masculinity that makes the male gender masculine; â€Å"it is difficult to say that the male body can be objectivley defines and that it exists without cultural influence. The male body has a particualry close connection to cluture and discorse and is one of the main avenues throughout which culture attempts to construct masculinity† (Reeser, 2010, p.91). in terms of generation to generation, the ideals of masculity have change greatly over the last thirty years, from a patriarchal norm to what could be labeled as a more effeminate masculinity. According to John Maclnnes, the â€Å"innovations of late modernity have undermined the sexual division of labour and the dominant beliefs which have served to substantiate notions of masculinity† (Whitehead and Barrett, 2001, p.307), and that â€Å"the legacies of patriachy and the rationalisaton of male privilege have reached an impasse and we are witnessing...the end of masculinity as a gender iudentity† (ibid, p.27). this idea would suggest that a cultural change is happening that is affecting traditional veiws ofShow MoreRelatedEssay on A Brief Biography of Edgar Allan Poe542 Words   |  3 PagesEdgar Allan Poe is best known today as one of the most intelligent and original writers in American literature. Many poets and story writers base their stories upon events and even aspects in their life. In the subject of this, it is so relatable to write about because there is some truth in the words. 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