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Drama, politics and evolution : cliodynamics in play / Bruce McConachie.

9783030813772 (electronic bk.)
3030813770 (electronic bk.)
3030813762
9783030813765

Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

English

1 online resource

10.1007/978-3-030-81377-2 doi

PN2039 .M33 2021eb

792.01

This book outlines the evolution of our political nature over two million years and explores many of the rituals, plays, films, and other performances that gave voice and legitimacy to various political regimes in our species history. Our genetic and cultural evolution during the Pleistocene Epoch bestowed a wide range of predispositions on our species that continue to shape the politics we support and the performances we enjoy. The books case studies range from an initiation ritual in the Mbendjela tribe in the Congo to a 1947 drama by Bertolt Brecht and include a popular puppet play in Tokugawa Japan. A final section examines the gradual disintegration of social cohesion underlying the rise of polarized politics in the US after 1965, as such films as The Godfather, Independence Day, The Dark Knight Rises, and Joker accelerated the nations slide toward authoritarian Trumpism. A historian of performance, Bruce McConachie has written Engaging Audiences (2008), Evolution, Cognition, and Performance (2015), and Theatre Histories: An Introduction (with others, 2006, 2010, and 2016).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Description based on print version record.

Cognitive studies in literature and performance.

Print version: 9783030813772
Print version: 9783030813765
Drama, politics and evolution

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