Angels in America - Freewrite

This is Charisse.

After watching, Angels in America, I decided to do a free write. This is what came of that:

Roy Cohn makes the claim that he is not a homosexual because homosexuals are men who do not have power. This made me think of the feminist claim that lesbian is a political statement that has little to do with who one does or does not sleep with. Sexuality is completely bound in politics. The sanction of certain sexual acts, the condemning of others, the ability for some to publicize their sexual desires and the reason that others keep them hidden. All of these things are dependent on politics.

In early Greek societies, the term homosexuality and pedophile did not exist. Older men had sex with boys and this was simply an accepted act. Time and government have put limits on people’s sexual activity. What has this done to the human psyche? Are these limitations harmful?

Freud made the claim that the more civilized we become, the more restricted we are. We lose our individuality and our ability to do what we please. The things which we desire, the things which bring us pleasure, are now subject to the approval of society. Not only must my partner be male, but my sexual behavior is confined to a few “okayed” acts. This is the price we pay for civilization, for order, for unity.

We live in a nation that is based on the idea of freedom. Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. Freedom of press. Freedom to assemble peaceably. America is a country where anyone can prosper. No matter your economic background, ethnicity, race, religion, etc. Everyone has the same opportunities to succeed in life. If I sound out of tune with reality, then I am talking to the right audience.

America is a country founded on the basis of giving certain freedoms to certain people. The words of the first amendment are simply that, words. They are words that must stand up to a system that first wrote them for white male property owners. They are words that have to push against the racism and sexism that this country has perpetuated from its conception. These mere words have to find a way to hold ground against a homophobic, anti-anyone not Christian, classist system.

Belize, a homosexual black character in Angels in America, says that, “The white cracker who wrote the national anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word 'free' to a note so high nobody can reach it. That was deliberate.”

He has a point. In a nation that is so based on freedom, we are severely restricted. This quote not only encompasses the themes of our class, but it also helps to answer the question of why we didn’t go as far as we could have.

Our education system is controlled by the same rules that our personal lives are. There are certain thing that are appropriate for classroom discussion and others that are not. I don’t think that anyone was watching our class, waiting to jump out if we mentioned something that was inappropriate. However, I believe that Foucault was on to something when he wrote about the Panopticon. I believe that we no longer need someone to watch us; we police ourselves.

We were not restricted by our teacher or prudish classmates, but I’m sure that someone simply felt that they could not be the first one to cross that line. Almost every time a question was asked, it was met with silence. Slowly, after some prodding, there would be some responses. Why was this? Was it the fear that we might labeled as “that” student if we were the first to bring up sexuality, drugs, and other taboo subjects? We signed up for a class designed to explore pleasure and desire and yet, we were afraid to do this.

We read peer reviewed, accepted academic texts on topics. We discussed them in a remote, unattached manner, and when something personal was shared, it was not usually about one of the more touchy subjects. There is a reason we were asked to write a post about our favorite food and not our secret sexual fetishes.

We live in a country that functions on the idea of restricted freedom. A major part of this class focused on pleasure and desire. Are we free to pursue the things that we desire, the things that give us pleasure? Is limited freedom really freedom?