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Can DCI remain above the fray?


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I have huge respect for corps when they take on something that can be incredibly risky.  That's part of why I loved The Cavaliers so much in 2016.  That show could have gone SO wrong in so many ways but they didn't put a stake in either side of the political spectrum and just made a massive joke out of ALL propaganda/rhetoric/media right now.   They rode a fine line perfectly, if you don't think so that crowd reaction they got finals week speaks volumes.  

It really does not happen a lot at all in DCI.  I look at certain WGI shows and wonder how the hell they get made.  Not necessarily because I'm offended or don't like it (I actually love the balls some of those designers seem to have) but because I wonder how parents/members are okay with something like their child getting portrayed as being shot at a concentration camp or the like.  

Art doesn't need to be censored, just done in a way that is respectful/honest/true/etc.  Or at least in this idiom. 

Edited by DrumManTx
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6 minutes ago, BRASSO said:

 When pigs fly, and unicorns talk.

What really intrigues me is: how should the judges respond to a show whose political positions are truly odious? There's nothing in the rules or the sheets that would allow judges to give a corps a bad score simply because they were following in the tradition of Leni Riefenstahl, is there?

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Actually, designers have more leeway now in DCI to do risky programs than they might have in many marching band and color guard circuits. I remember Alter Ego c.g. being challenged in one scholastic circuit a dozen years back because their show at the time iabout suicide and mental health included kids wearing nooses, members portraying various aspects of DSM diagnoses, and other out of the mainstream behaviors. AE is independent but most of the other units were scholastic and their administrators and parents were not happy nor were several of the judges who included extra comments on their tapes.

In DCI, although there may be more license for designers, not upsetting the donors/alums/fans becomes a boundary as Cadets, Boston, and others have discov ered whether the show be Animal Farm, Adonis, or Prison Life. Sexual portrayals (behind those swinging saloon doors in Relentless, Tony and Maria in WSS, etc., all gets very politically charged as well.)  Judges may be oblique in their rewards or lack thereof on scoring sheets. Donors and alums can be more specific when they withhold funding. And some fans have even complained to school boards offering corps housing because they found the shows offensive. Hopefully those days are behind us.

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23 minutes ago, xandandl said:

In DCI, although there may be more license for designers, not upsetting the donors/alums/fans becomes a boundary as Cadets, Boston, and others have discov ered whether the show be Animal Farm, Adonis, or Prison Life. Sexual portrayals (behind those swinging saloon doors in Relentless, Tony and Maria in WSS, etc., all gets very politically charged as well.

Might as well add '92 BD closer to the list as well.

Edited by BoaDci
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31 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said:

What really intrigues me is: how should the judges respond to a show whose political positions are truly odious? There's nothing in the rules or the sheets that would allow judges to give a corps a bad score simply because they were following in the tradition of Leni Riefenstahl, is there?

 I don't believe so.. I agree that there is nothing on the sheets that would penalize such shows. On the other hand, judges are living, breathing, human beings too.. with natural sensibilities and sensitivities, etc so I would imagine such clearly odorous, toxic like theme depictions would be expected have a negative effect on these judges.. and thus show up  sort of naturally in their scores given. But who knows.

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2 minutes ago, xandandl said:

Do you mean '92, When a Man Loves A Woman...

Most of us were enthralled with the music....

*facepalm*  I too, was fascinated with the music until I watched the DCI spotlight on the show, and they did a guard close up...it was a little bit shall we say "taboo" for DCI.:bored:

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12 minutes ago, xandandl said:

Do you mean '92, When a Man Loves A Woman...

Most of us were enthralled with the music....

Enthralled ... yeah, that's the adjective. 

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31 minutes ago, Jurassic Lancer said:

Enthralled ... yeah, that's the adjective. 

I saw pale kings, and princes too,

Pale warriors, death-pale were they all.

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