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"Circus Political aspects."
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The Cambridge companion to the circus
\"In 2018 we marked the 250th anniversary of the founding of the modern circus, an event traced to the entrepreneurial initiatives of Philip Astley (1742-1814). Astley enclosed a circle of ground on the south side of the Thames in 1768 where he exhibited his unusual equestrian skills for a paying public. The circus's specialised history in different parts of the globe reveals that for just over two hundred and fifty years this hybrid entertainment, with its own codes of physical and comic performance, visuality, and business management, has developed and diversified through multiple cycles of reinvention. Oscillating through phases of illegitimacy on the fringes of society and validation for its aesthetic and entertainment appeal, the circus's restless evolution has always been influenced by unique confluences of the political environment, artistic heritage, and aesthetic trends particular to its geographic context\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
When Pigs Could Fly and Bears Could Dance
For more than seven decades the circuses enjoyed tremendous popularity in the Soviet Union. How did the circus—an institution that dethroned figures of authority and refused any orderly narrative structure—become such a cultural mainstay in a state known for blunt and didactic messages? Miriam Neirick argues that the variety, flexibility, and indeterminacy of the modern circus accounted for its appeal not only to diverse viewers but also to the Soviet state. In a society where government-legitimating myths underwent periodic revision, the circus proved a supple medium of communication. Between 1919 and 1991, it variously displayed the triumph of the Bolshevik revolution, the beauty of the new Soviet man and woman, the vulnerability of the enemy during World War II, the prosperity of the postwar Soviet household, and the Soviet mission of international peace—all while entertaining the public with the acrobats, elephants, and clowns. With its unique ability to meet and reconcile the demands of both state and society, the Soviet circus became the unlikely darling of Soviet culture and an entertainment whose usefulness and popularity stemmed from its ambiguity.
eBook
The Politics of Laughter: The Afterlives of Clowns Joseph Grimaldi and Jean-Gaspard Deburau in 1920s Cinema
The world of laughter is often deemed frivolous. Clowns have taught us otherwise. This paper investigates the convoluted politics of laughter in relation to clowning, arguing that clowns (and the laughter they elicit) blur humour and horror and, in doing so, offer a corrective to officialdom. I analyse laughter as a social phenomenon (following Bergson, Benjamin, and Bakhtin) and as a mediating form, bound up in power structures and political concerns that are both local and transhistorical. To contextualise the (d)evolution of the clown, I first discuss ambiguity, misfitness, and failure, and then consider the English Clown Joseph Grimaldi and the French Pierrot Jean-Gaspard Deburau. These performers, I suggest, represent the two main strands of clowns in popular culture: the melancholy outcast and the murderous deviant. I explore each strand via 1920s silent films, including Sjöström’s He Who Gets Slapped (1924), Chaplin’s The Circus (1928), Leni’s The Man Who Laughs (1928), and Brenon’s Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928). These are works of social indictment that debunk monolithic depictions of clowns and laughter, critiquing conformity, social asymmetries, vices, and industrial growth. Clowning is more than playing an artistic, sociocultural role: it hinges on radical resistance and carries a political valence.
Journal Article
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH IMPROVEMENT IN THE GRAND DUCHY OF POSEN THROUGH THE OLYMPIC CIRCUS
This article examines the historical context of public health in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Posen in Prussian-partitioned Poland of the mid-nineteenth century, focusing on the circus as a local entertainment attraction that could indirectly contribute to well-being and the physical and mental health of the Polish population. Non-reactive research methods used in historical sciences were applied to analyse archival materials related to the widely acclaimed Olympic circus of that era. The findings of the conducted research are press releases, particularly the note published in the local press on June 11, 1856. Circus performances, showcasing sports, culture, and human prowess, exemplified high physical culture levels, offering relaxing, imaginative, and sensory experiences. It is argued that through the performances of professional athletes, the circus promoted attitudes of self-development and the need to strive for set goals, especially important for the Poles in the context of their independence aspirations.
Journal Article
Confessions of a Recovering Utopian
This is the author's personal statement of his journey from a young utopian idealist to a chastened anti-utopian realist.
Journal Article
Pánico a la discoteca: Teatro, transición y underground (Chile, época 1990)
En este ensayo analizo un performance de resistencia contracultural celebrado en Santiago de Chile, en plena transición democrática: Spandex, serie de ocho fiestas underground organizadas, en el invierno de 1991, por los teatristas Daniel Palma y Andrés Pérez, como estrategia de sobrevivencia para su propia compañía, el Gran Circo Teatro. A partir de la revisión de archivos de prensa, expongo los mecanismos de censura —con énfasis en el género y las sexualidades— que se ciernen sobre Spandex, y el programa del gobierno transicional al que estos mecanismos responden.
Journal Article
