tesmusic Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 33 minutes ago, ouooga said: I thought I replied to this, but I think that was in one of the duplicate threads. Basically, I think any topic can be tasteful if done tastefully. The opposite is also true. Whether the show topic is politics, religion, or stuffed teddy bears, it's going to come down to show design, and there can be a right and wrong way to do anything. This applies to basically all art forms. I don't know, I saw a high school band do a show about the Oklahoma City bombing from 1993 that made me leave the stadium, I don't know how one could do a show based on that in a tasteful way. Whereas some have touched on 9/11, but have found ways to make that work. Maybe the OC bombing one just made me sick, because as the guard was portraying the kids in the daycare, the bomb going off, and the parents giving a standing ovation just made me so sick to my stomach that I will forever think a show about that is wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 (edited) Anytime a Corps does a show theme that is overtly political, it runs the high risk of being seen as offensive in some circles, and scoring wise, these overly political shows don't score well. Boston's " Animal Farm " comes to mind. While it was received well in some quarters, it failed in others.. and did not score well with the DCI judges that season. So my advice is to stay clear of overtly political themes for your DCI Corps show. Edited February 2, 2017 by BRASSO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tesmusic Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 1 minute ago, BRASSO said: Anytime a Corps does a show theme that is overtly political, it runs the high risk of being seen as offensive in some circles, ans scoring wise, these overly political shows don't score well. Boston's " Animal Farm " comes to mind. While it was received well in some quarters, it failed in others.. and did not score well with the DCI judges that season. So my advice is to stay clear of overtly political themes for your DCI Corps show. Not to mention that going down the political road may alienate membership who do not necessarily agree from a philosophical or personal standpoint. Cadets 12.25 show comes to mind for me. What if there were members that follow a religion other than Christianity, or a religion at all, and now are being told that their show, although based very little on the religious side of that date, now have to sell something they may not fundamentally believe in. Is that fair? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouooga Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 (edited) 47 minutes ago, tesmusic said: I don't know, I saw a high school band do a show about the Oklahoma City bombing from 1993 that made me leave the stadium, I don't know how one could do a show based on that in a tasteful way. Whereas some have touched on 9/11, but have found ways to make that work. Maybe the OC bombing one just made me sick, because as the guard was portraying the kids in the daycare, the bomb going off, and the parents giving a standing ovation just made me so sick to my stomach that I will forever think a show about that is wrong. I'm no master of show design, so the "how" is definitely going to elude me, but I'm extremely confident that if a 9/11 show can work, an OC Bombing show can work. Maybe focus on the message more-so than the actual act? That said, I'm not sure I'd actually go with either of those concepts. I much prefer abstract shows with a core idea (a la Phenomenon of Cool) to a story. Stories are freakin' hard to do well in 11 1/2 minutes. For every Spartacus or Attraction, we have way more Red Violins and Stoneds. Edited February 2, 2017 by ouooga Additional info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 37 minutes ago, tesmusic said: Not to mention that going down the political road may alienate membership who do not necessarily agree from a philosophical or personal standpoint. Cadets 12.25 show comes to mind for me. What if there were members that follow a religion other than Christianity, or a religion at all, and now are being told that their show, although based very little on the religious side of that date, now have to sell something they may not fundamentally believe in. Is that fair? As I said earlier, that's the choice the performer has to make. There are a lot of other groups one can perform with if they feel the program makes them uncomfortable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 2 minutes ago, ouooga said: I'm no master of show design, so the "how" is definitely going to elude me, but I'm extremely confident that if a 9/11 show can work, an OC Bombing show can work. Maybe focus on the message more-so than the actual act? Don't have time to elaborate, but a program can be designed for the express purpose of leaving the viewer uncomfortable. This is an art form, after all which can lead to a broad spectrum of emotional reactions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 12 hours ago, Brian Porter-Szucs said: If someone does a show like the Mandarins' 2013 “Destination America” (which celebrated immigration and multiculturalism), would they face a backlash in today’s environment? You may already know this, but the full title of that Mandarins show was "Destination America: The Journey of the Paper Sons". And its subject was not just immigration but illegal immigration, which the show praised. "Paper Sons" (or "Paper Daughters") were Chinese immigrants who had fake documents that made it appear as if they were related to U.S. citizens. They did this because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the only U.S. immigration law ever to deny entry on the basis of a specific nationality. The show clearly took the side of these illegal immigrant, albeit without going into much detail. Timely political commentary before anyone realized it? Or as someone else said, perhaps it wouldn't be viewed as political because it was historical. So maybe we should look forward to a show portraying the Trail of Tears from the viewpoint of White settlers who were happy to see the Cherokees get kicked out of Georgia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowtown Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Generally I think political shows are a huge risk for a corps and very polarizing. I can think of a moment in show that still makes me gag. But if drum corps is art, how can you ask it to ignore politics? Even the title of this OP, above the fray is political, it sort of irks me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouooga Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 3 hours ago, BigW said: As I said earlier, that's the choice the performer has to make. There are a lot of other groups one can perform with if they feel the program makes them uncomfortable. While I agree with you, that does get a little tricky since many corps don't reveal their programs (even to the members) until a few months in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 (edited) 3 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said: So maybe we should look forward to a show portraying the Trail of Tears from the viewpoint of White settlers who were happy to see the Cherokees get kicked out of Georgia? When pigs fly, and unicorns talk. Edited February 3, 2017 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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