“Make America Great Again”: From Neoliberalism to Nihilist Nostalgia in Superior Donuts and Good People

Abstract

This article analyzes how affective narration and dramatic construction in Superior Donuts (2008) by Tracy Letts and Good People (2011) by David Lindsay Abaire prevent characters’ capabilities from understanding or criticizing neoliberal discourse in general. Neoliberalism’s presence is difficult to track in many similar daily-life domains, but drama is more advantageous to explore its subversive effects by unfolding it through power relations and personal clashes among characters. Creating an ontological approach, the affective narration in these plays opens the path for an overall nihilist resolution while propagating a character-based understanding in dramatic structures. As a result of the prevalent affective tone, a nostalgic yearning has emerged as a response to the problems experienced. Aiming to forget problems of the present, these characters idealize a mostly fictionalized and distorted past in order to find temporary solace through this wishful habit. The danger of a nostalgic approach is that it prevents characters as well as audiences from generating a critical method to understand the problems of today and tomorrow. Nostalgic vein in Superior Donuts and Good People is a reflection of social and cultural politics within the USA which believes in the project of “Making America Great Again” without a real scrutiny of neoliberal mistakes and their consequences.

Keywords

• Neoliberalism
• American Drama
• Nostalgia
• Superior Donuts
• Good People

“Amerika’yı Tekrar Harika Yap”: Superior Donuts ve Good People Oyunlarındaki Neoliberalizmden Nihilistik Nostaljiye

Abstract

Bu makale Tracy Letts’in Superior Donuts (2008) ve David Lindsay Abaire’in Good People (2011) adlı oyunlarındaki duygusal anlatım ve dramatik yapıların, karakterlerin genel olarak neoliberal söylemi anlama veya eleştirme becerilerini nasıl engellediğini incelemektedir. Neoliberalizmin gündelik yaşam alanlarındaki etkilerini takip etmek zor iken dram sanatı, neoliberalizmin yıkıcı etkilerini, kişiler arasındaki iktidar hırsları ve kişisel çatışmalar üzerinden tespit etmek açısından daha avantajlı bir pozisyondadır. Ontolojik bir yaklaşımı kendisine rehber edinen duygusal anlatım bu oyunlarda nihilist bir çözümlemenin kapısını aralarken dramatik yapılarda da karakter temelli bir anlayışı ön plana almaktadır. Bu duygusal tonun sonucu olarak da oyunlarda tecrübe edilen sorunlara karşılık olarak da geçmişe nostaljik bir özlem duygusunu çözüm olarak sunulmaktadır. Yaşadıkları zamanın sorunlarını unutmayı veya göz ardı etmeyi hedefleyen karakterler de geçici bir sığınak bulmak için daha çok kurgulanmış veya deforme edilmiş bir geçmişi idealize etmektedirler. Nostaljik bir yaklaşımın zararı ise karakterleri ve seyircileri bugünün ve yarının sorunlarını anlamak için eleştirel bir metot yaratmaktan alıkoymasıdır. Superior Donuts ve Good People oyunlarındaki nostaljik taraf Amerika’daki neoliberalizmin yanlışların ve doğurduğu sonuçların anlamlı bir analizi olmadan “Amerika’yı tekrar harika yap” projesine inanan sosyal ve kültürel politikaların bir yansımasıdır.

Keywords

• Neoliberalizm
• Amerikan tiyatrosu
• Nostalji
• Superior Donuts
• Good People

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