Klarinet Archive - Posting 000178.txt from 1998/12

From: Lisa Clayton <lisakc@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Wagner's Ring again
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 16:52:37 -0500

At 12:52 PM 12.04.98 -0500, mgustav wrote:
>I do understand your premise. However, I do not find the message. The myths
>that Wagner created are based on his collecting and remaking of myths, his
>interpretation of ancient myths. But we bring to myths our own
interpretation
>(Freud) there is no preexisting and set meaning of a myth. If you view
>Wagner's operas this way, it is because that is what you want them to mean
>regardless as to what Wagner saw. Joseph Campbell offers great insight into
>this area and consequently he is labeled as a racist and anti-Semite which he
>found to be irrational.

Hm. I could interpret this to mean that Wagner's operas can and should be
divorced from his life, his beliefs and the historical era he was a part
of. Wagner purposely remade these myths to reflect his anti-semitism--
your argument states that the viewer can re-interpret Wagner's
re-interpretation in whatever way he or she pleases, history be damned.
That doesn't make sense, and I don't think even Joseph Campbell would make
that claim. Wagner purposefully and consciously chose to insert his
anti-semitism into his reinterpretations. How is that different from, say,
D.W. Griffiths imposing his racism on his interpretation of American
history in "Birth of a Nation"? Could any educated modern audience member
watch that and not think that his interpretation of history is fundametally
flawed? Same thing for Wagner-- you have to understand the anti-Semitism
behind his characterizations before you can truly understand his
re-interpretation. It's one thing to re-interpret myth for our own
personal and cultural needs (and just to be deliciously Satanic, I think
that the very low-brow but fun TV series _Xena: Warrior Princess_ is a
great example of this) but it is very much another thing to consciously
ignore the history and politics around these re-interpretations.

Lisa Clayton
clayton@-----.edu

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