As a theater major I think this class is extremely important to me. During our last ban jar meeting I heard a lot about how this class should be a requirement for everybody and that it is indispensable to WM. I disagree. I think a very select type of person can extract meaning from this class, for those who are interested only on GERs and 4 credits, this class will not enrich or elucidate.
What I most took out of this class was not the specifics but the general. I learned about the essence, the chi, of Asian performing arts. I learned that asian theater is symbolic and religious as much as it is about action and meaning.
It saddens me however, that what I learned in this class at William and Mary in Wiliamsburg, Virginia is not what I've witnessed in my experience in Asia. What I mean is that we learned about a relic of Asian culture which is alive today only to a few. The majority of asians of my generation do not care or care to know about these things.
This I believe is a function of a western, philosophical invasion into the minds and interests of the east. For example, Japan in the mid 1800's modernized and westernized in a way that comprised a metaphorical extinction of its original culture. This artificial integration of world-views resulted in the calamitous "lost decade" for Japan. In the surface, this collapse was a result of bad economic policy but in reality, it was a function of being without culture.
I think its important for everyone to stay close to that which sustains our histories. This is what I appreciated the most from this class.
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