Previous post
Remember the TV show called “Fame?” That school is real and it is called LaGuardia High School. It’s long been a performing arts school, so one would think that a production of “The Sound of Music” would go off without a hitch right? WRONG. You see, the new principal declared the Nazi symbols in the play verboten.
The principal at the elite “Fame” school, Lisa Mars, ordered Nazi flags and symbols removed from the stage set of the beloved tale of the Von Trapp family, who fled the Nazis from their native Austria as Adolf Hitler took power, students told the Daily News.
“This is a very liberal school, we’re all against Nazis,” one sophomore performer told The News about the fuhrer furor. “But to take out the symbol is to try to erase history.
There are some very smart students at that school and a principal who seems to be more invested in political correctness run amok than demonstrating an understanding of what “The Sound of Music” is really about.
BTW: Principal Lisa Mars made her move the very same day the play was scheduled to take place.
Photo Credit: Everett Collection
The problem with Mars’s stance is that “The Sound of Music” isn’t just a wonderful feel good movie with Julie Andrews cavorting through the Swiss Alps, leading the children in ‘Do Re Mi,’ or Christopher Plummer singing ‘Edelwiess’ Nope, it is much more than that.
The issues with the Nazi regime was of great concern to all of Austria in the 1930’s. Germany was rapidly encroaching and the Austrian government was doing little to stop the advance. This scene in the movie shows what many Austrian citizens felt at that time.
Yes it was a movie, loosely based upon the book that Maria Von Trapp wrote in 1949. However, think about the history and the context of the movie and play. Yes it was about a family, but it was also about the times that involved the rise of the horrors of Nazi Germany. Furthermore, in the movie it is Liesl’s love interest Rolfe, a Nazi soldier, who ratted out the family’s hiding place to other Nazis. That is something that Principal Lisa Mars either didn’t know or chose to forget.
After media inquiries, the city’s Department of Education backpedaled and stated the Nazi flag and props would appear in two specific scenes.
“The use of this historical symbol of hatred … serves both an artistic and pedagogical purpose, and the decision to include it was made in collaboration with school staff, students and families,” said city education spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.
Well, that’s something at least! Furthermore, 10% of the proceeds from the play would be donated to various Holocaust organizations.
And the production booklet handed out to audience members will include an insert with a message reading in part, “When we say never again will those atrocities of war be repeated, NEVER AGAIN must be a promise kept.”
I’ve watched the movie several times. I’ve seen the production at The Muny in St. Louis twice. I love the songs for sure, but I tell you what, watching the parts involving the Nazis is sobering on many levels. The “Sound of Music” makes it clear that Nazis are indeed the bad guys. Principal Lisa Mars evidently didn’t get that memo. The play did go on, but the damage was done. The students and parents were not amused. In fact, once the story broke, not many others were either.
We live in breathtakingly stupid times https://t.co/ARrX0APDiu
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) December 8, 2018
Captain Von Trapp ripping up that flag is the best moment of the whole movie. Other than when he tears up singing “Edelweiss”. This is beyond stupid https://t.co/wtXxEzvohc
— Ellie Bufkin (@ellie_bufkin) December 9, 2018
I agree with both. We are indeed living in breathtakingly stupid times. When school officials who should KNOW better virtue signal over Nazi symbols while failing to take their use in context, we all lose. The students who protested this move get it.
“Obviously the symbols are offensive,” he added. “But in context, they are supposed to be.” Emphasis added
Kudos to the students and parents at “Fame” High School for standing up to Principal Mars and most importantly for standing up for artistic freedom and history.
Feature Photo Credit: Everett Collection
Jim says: I gather that Principal Lisa Mars is not an educated person or an educator of her students, but just another ‘politician’ seeking social-political advancement through PC behaviour.
GWB says: Oh no, she’s VERY educated. That’s likely the problem.
(Critical thinking, OTOH, not so much………)
GWB says: “Obviously the symbols are offensive,” he added. “But in context, they are supposed to be.”
THIS.
My son was just griping about an encounter he had with some SJZs at a concert. “You’re transphobic!” was the intellectual height of the SJZs’ argumentation. Because absolutely nothing else could possibly be the reason for disliking someone. *eyeroll*
These people are part of a religion with a (at BEST) half-baked theology, and the only thing they see is apostasy and heathens, everywhere.
While I am a big supporter of the Constitution, I’m re-thinking the “no religious test” aspect. Let’s find a way to prevent the worshipers of this particular god from ever taking office (and, most especially, being teachers).
Kenneth Howes says: So when will someone with some authority call these hysterics to account? Answer: never. Political correctness has absolutely taken control of all public schools in America, and no one dares question it. All that is waiting is the dictator who will enforce it nationwide. There are certain possible presidential candidates who, if they won, would do it. If someone who under present constitutional law would be barred from taking the office again and attempts to return to the presidency, that will be the dictator.
4 Comments