Week 12: Speaking Truth to Power

This weeks documents demonstrated the ways in which people attempted to appeal to their authoritarian regimes. I was surprised how imaginative and diverse they were: from a student flashmob to political movements. Furthermore, I was surprised about how cheerful and catchy the Chilean "No" campaign's song was, taking into account its context and that it was mocking the dictatorship. 

However, as I did my research assignment on the Argentine dirty war, I thought the videoclip about the Abuelas was powerful in conveying the pain and anxiety they were experiencing. Those women served as a way of turning statistics into real people and real loss that could be faced by basically anyone. Their requests don't seem much when they're asking to know if their children are alive or dead. However, in my short research assignment (and I think this was also mentioned in the lecture videos), I found that people were kept "disappeared" and their fates undisclosed in order to maintain psychological distress and uncertainty. The Abuelas were then effective in bringing the issue to the surface and holding the officials accountable. 

Something interesting I found was that the book Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, which later was made into a TV series, was partly inspired by the Argentine military regime. It is located in a dystopian world where the fertility rates have decreased and fertile women are converted into slaves whose primary task is to give birth to infertile couples. The handmaids lack any rights to their own children and live strictly under the control of their "owners". If someone hasn't watched the show, I will post its trailer below. Although it is not a direct description of what happened in Argentina, I can see how it might have inspired the creation of an ultra-catholic dystopian country that lives under strict totalitarianism.




Question:  What is the role of music and entertainment in "speaking truth to the power"? 

link to the article: https://tn.com.ar/show/basicas/la-autora-de-handmaids-tale-confirmo-que-la-dictadura-argentina-fue- un ade-sus-influencias_846914/

Kommentit

  1. Unknown25. marraskuuta 2020 klo 23.22

    Hello!

    I think music and entertainment, like social media, have a huge part in "speaking truth to power". As hallmarks of popular culture, films, music, video games, and books have the benefit of providing enticing narratives and stories, which are probably the best methods out there to garner empathy and attention from people. There are also documentaries that are more direct about their message. But in either case, these music and entertainment are powerful ways of "speaking truth to power" because they are consumed during leisure and can amplify previously unheard voices. But they should still be scrutinized.

    VastaaPoista

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