Angels in America
After reading the play Angels in America (PART 1: Millennium Approaches) found in your text book, respond to ONE of the following questions with a thorough 800-1,000 word response. Your response must be typed, double-spaced, using a 12 point font, and 1 margins. Full credit reading responses will include a brief introduction with a clear thesis statement, a well-developed response using specific references to lecture material and/or the text, and a logical conclusion. Include a word count at the end of your response. Please include a word count. PLEASE NOTE: Angels in America is a two-part play. For this course, I am ONLY asking questions that pertain to part one which is available in your textbook (part-two is not). Read and refer to Part One only – references to Part Two are going to lead me to assume that you either watched the movie OR read a summary of Angels in America rather than reading the play. So just read the play. Who is the protagonist of Angels in America? Why? How does or does not this individual (or individuals) fit into the Aristotelian concept of a tragic hero? Choose one meta-narrative (ie. Marriage, the American Dream, political structures, etc.) that Tony Kushner engages in the play. Describe the traditional view of the meta-narrative and then describe how Kushner questions and complicates it. Kushner uses a variety of postmodern aesthetic choices, what are some ways that Kushner blends styles in the structure of the play? Describe three examples where he attempts get the audience to see themselves seeing? What should they be reacting to? Why?
