Rape, Rage and Feminism in Contemporary American Drama by Bloom Davida

Author:Bloom, Davida.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Published: 2015-12-02T16:00:00+00:00

Item Four: Finley Tells the Truth and Confronts Difficult Social Issues

Carr describes Finley’s subject matter, her “territory,” as being “abuse, desire, rage—their conflation.” Carr notes that Finley would “take a subject like incest and push it to surreal extremes, but above all she would address it without euphemism. She would tell the awfullest truth” (“Telling” 153). The objectification and oppression of women, rape, and other forms of sexual violence against women are but some of the awfullest truths Finley confronts in her works. Finley’s performances are graphic, vulgar, and shocking and they bring up intense emotions among audience members who defensively criticize Finley, rather than the societal ills she is trying to reveal. Finley is aware of the reasons why her work elicits such reactions: “What I do definitely makes people very uncomfortable” (Goldstein, “Calendar,” 1). In her interview with Mifflin, Finley says the reason her work is shocking to people “is that they haven’t accepted it as a reality. Part of my work is the fact that incest, rape and hostility happen in the best of families, in the best of countries” (86). Despite the onslaught of criticism, Finley feels compelled to continue. In an article for The Los Angeles Times, Finley writes,

As an American artist, I have made a commitment in creating work that address social concerns. I feel it is my responsibility to apply my talents to record history and make my audience more sensitive to our country’s problems. Much of my work deals with victims in our society—victims of sexism, victims of racism, victims of homophobia, economic victims, victims of sexual abuse and other violent crime—and I use the language that society commonly uses in its put-downs of these victims. I am being punished because I am a morally concerned artist, speaking about situations as they are [B7].

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