Wonderful Chinese Play!
Attended the Chinese play "Man & Woman, War & Peace". It was a wonderful play, albeit with a bit more deeper understanding than most would have imagined. A friend who attended the show with me was not able to fully grasp the concepts and meaning of the play and claimed to be able to only catch about 70% of what was going on. He is still a newbie to plays and I believe that he will grow to understand plays more with more exposure.
I was a really excellent production and I am glad that I attended it. To the few whom I offered invitations and rejected me, you have missed a truly wonderful show. It was really that good.
Quote from the program guide:
Men and women who hide in the make-believe world of idol soap operas, who rely on their other half, descended from out of nowhere, to fulfil their romantic fantasies, ignore the fact that if everyone is waiting for someone else to make up for their inadequacies, then it is as if an incomplete half is waiting to be rescued by another incomplete half. Everyone can then rightfully shirk their responsibilities of striving for perfection and self-improvement. Thy will then remain old boys and old girls who will never grow up. But those who refuse to grow up have no empathy for others. Nor do they understand the concept of forgiveness. That is precisely the very reason men and women find it increasingly difficult to accommodate each other in this era, an age where ignorance is often mistaken for naivety, and childishness for innocence. Folks nowadays claim to be individualistic, but are merely egocentric.
......
What women yearn for in men is actually a "shoulder" to cry on. In reality, the temperament of a man may still be quite different from his looks which may be very masculine. Hence the "shoulder" may still be physically available, but without the traditional connotations of reliability or security. Women, fantasies smashed, end up disappointed by their yearnings which, they soon conclude, are in "vain". Women are often left to wonder whether men have what it takes to be the proverbial provider. To put it bluntly, in the present century, men can be playmates, brothers and even sisters to women, but they can no longer be their lovers. Man and woman. Woman and man. The gender roles, with their implications of dominance and submission, have quietly swapped places.Thus , the curtain rises unannounced, revealing the battle between the sexes.
......
The escape from this societal pressure has thus become the main focus of modern man and woman's lives. Theoretically speaking, men and women ought to understand each other. But since society's notions have not changed in tandem with modern circumstances, "men" still want to be with "women" and "women" still want to pair up with "men". But neither typically undergo training, and moreover deep down inside be quite opposed to the duties of coupledom. So when they are required to fulfil their adult duties and responsibilities, what frequently surfaces is conflict and contradiction as each party expects to be the one who is pampered, understood, taken care of, empathised with, and forgiven. Both parties are passive. Both are helpless. In this age of "androgynity" resulting from both men and women's refusal to grow up, today's men and women are trapped by their inherent differences and similarities. What has arisen is a storm of deception and conflict.
......
The reason this play has come about in this day and age has to do with the way we think today. The change in roles for both genders has brought the competitiveness between them to the fore. The same is true for society in general. Efficiency and speed are paramount importance in this age of urbanisation, technological advance and economic development. And the best catalyst to get things going is competition. Competition is the golden rule by which everyone abides. But when human relationships, in particular that between men and women, degenerate to the state where "I must be better than and trounce you in anything and everything", then between both parties, there will never exist mutual self-sacrifice and appreciation, and least of all, love.
......
Consumerism, in provoking dissatisfaction with one's own self-image and making one feel that one must not lose out to the Joneses, can only further kill love. With consumerism, we develop an inflated sense of power and put our self interests above all else. For the "me" generation, what matters is one's own future, not "our" future, and, even less so, "everyone's" future. This modern society with its fast pace and illustriousness has no time and space - necessary requirements - for love to grow.
......
There is no peace without war, and peace is but the temporary respite before a war.
......
Peace is, in fact, the desire to grow up.
I was a really excellent production and I am glad that I attended it. To the few whom I offered invitations and rejected me, you have missed a truly wonderful show. It was really that good.
Quote from the program guide:
Men and women who hide in the make-believe world of idol soap operas, who rely on their other half, descended from out of nowhere, to fulfil their romantic fantasies, ignore the fact that if everyone is waiting for someone else to make up for their inadequacies, then it is as if an incomplete half is waiting to be rescued by another incomplete half. Everyone can then rightfully shirk their responsibilities of striving for perfection and self-improvement. Thy will then remain old boys and old girls who will never grow up. But those who refuse to grow up have no empathy for others. Nor do they understand the concept of forgiveness. That is precisely the very reason men and women find it increasingly difficult to accommodate each other in this era, an age where ignorance is often mistaken for naivety, and childishness for innocence. Folks nowadays claim to be individualistic, but are merely egocentric.
......
What women yearn for in men is actually a "shoulder" to cry on. In reality, the temperament of a man may still be quite different from his looks which may be very masculine. Hence the "shoulder" may still be physically available, but without the traditional connotations of reliability or security. Women, fantasies smashed, end up disappointed by their yearnings which, they soon conclude, are in "vain". Women are often left to wonder whether men have what it takes to be the proverbial provider. To put it bluntly, in the present century, men can be playmates, brothers and even sisters to women, but they can no longer be their lovers. Man and woman. Woman and man. The gender roles, with their implications of dominance and submission, have quietly swapped places.Thus , the curtain rises unannounced, revealing the battle between the sexes.
......
The escape from this societal pressure has thus become the main focus of modern man and woman's lives. Theoretically speaking, men and women ought to understand each other. But since society's notions have not changed in tandem with modern circumstances, "men" still want to be with "women" and "women" still want to pair up with "men". But neither typically undergo training, and moreover deep down inside be quite opposed to the duties of coupledom. So when they are required to fulfil their adult duties and responsibilities, what frequently surfaces is conflict and contradiction as each party expects to be the one who is pampered, understood, taken care of, empathised with, and forgiven. Both parties are passive. Both are helpless. In this age of "androgynity" resulting from both men and women's refusal to grow up, today's men and women are trapped by their inherent differences and similarities. What has arisen is a storm of deception and conflict.
......
The reason this play has come about in this day and age has to do with the way we think today. The change in roles for both genders has brought the competitiveness between them to the fore. The same is true for society in general. Efficiency and speed are paramount importance in this age of urbanisation, technological advance and economic development. And the best catalyst to get things going is competition. Competition is the golden rule by which everyone abides. But when human relationships, in particular that between men and women, degenerate to the state where "I must be better than and trounce you in anything and everything", then between both parties, there will never exist mutual self-sacrifice and appreciation, and least of all, love.
......
Consumerism, in provoking dissatisfaction with one's own self-image and making one feel that one must not lose out to the Joneses, can only further kill love. With consumerism, we develop an inflated sense of power and put our self interests above all else. For the "me" generation, what matters is one's own future, not "our" future, and, even less so, "everyone's" future. This modern society with its fast pace and illustriousness has no time and space - necessary requirements - for love to grow.
......
There is no peace without war, and peace is but the temporary respite before a war.
......
Peace is, in fact, the desire to grow up.
posted by Prosage at 9:13 pm
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