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Brecht for Beginners

by | Aug 6, 2010 | Art, Books, Ideas, KeyText, Media, Spectacle

Art is not a mirror to reflect reality but a hammer with which to shape it.
The essential point of epic theater is perhaps that appeals less to the feelings than to the spectator’s reason. —  Bertolt Brecht

Mass (and most) media seeks a captive audience. You want to avoid being like a fly caught onto fly-paper? Brecht give us options with his “epic theater” (vs. regular/dramatic theater).
From Bertolt Brecht.  Brecht on Theatre, trans. John Willett (London: Methuen, 1964)

DRAMATIC THEATRE EPIC THEATRE
plot narrative
implicates the spectator in a stage situation turns the spectator into an observer
wears down his capacity for action arouses his capacity for action
provides him with sensations forces him to take decisions
experience picture of the world
the spectator is involved in something he is made to face something
suggestion  argument
instinctive feelings are preserved brought to the point of recognition
the spectator is in the thick of it, shares the experience the spectator stands outside, studies
the human being is taken for granted the human being is the object of the enquiry
he is unalterable he is alterable and able to alter
eyes on the finish eyes on the course
one scene makes another each scene for itself
growth montage
linear development in curves
evolutionary determinism jumps
man as a fixed point man as a process
thought determines being social being determines thought
feeling reason

&
Bertolt Brecht and the epic theater.

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