misogyny in spring awakening pmo (hastily written so feedback is welcome)
i think that a core flaw of many spring awakening adaptions/interpretations is that the original text was misogynistic. Maybe not maliciously so, but it’s plausible that a playwright born in 1864 would have sexist ideas about women and girls that bled into his writing.
The thing is, some people read Wedekind’s most popular work, Frühlings Erwachen/Spring Awakening, and expect it to be progressive on EVERY front. Given that it is progressive about discussions of sexuality, criticism of authority, and even gay people, it’s a bit jarring to read the kind of shallowly written dialogue of the girls.
A defense of this aspect that annoyed me a bit was Eric Bentley’s perspective, a response to feminist analysts of the story.
“[Melchior and Moritz’s friendship], being the love of two boys, one should not be surprised to hear that the play has irked some feminist critics of the late 20th century. Frank Wedekind is indeed not of their era, one more reason why his play should always be presented in period— 1891, not 1991.” (Eric Bentley’s “Ten Notes”, the forward of his Spring Awakening translation, pg #29)
This quote says a lot about how people view Spring Awakening and feminism, as “mutually exclusive”. Spring Awakening was “never meant for feminists”, so they should just “leave it alone and let the men have something for once!!! 😢”
I’d argue that the play has immense potential for a feminist reading, and the lack of development for female characters is what holds it back, not the existing male character dynamics.
One element does not have to “win” over the other. I guarantee it is not that hard to be more “woke” when adapting this story.
Anyway, let’s modernize Spring Awakening right now, then mail it to Eric Bentley to make him mad🙏🙏
(ps: yes, my sudden activity does mean that my review of the spring awakening production i saw IS getting written as we speak 😈😈)
