So, about the LLTPB lore and my personal disagree with a lot of takes that I've seen.
This is going to be long, be aware of it.
First I want to show my credentials lol. I have a masters degree in Cultural Studies and had classes with professors that do cinema analysis. I also want to clarify that I'm latin-american, therefore my analysis is based on this framework of knowledge and I'll use the direct translation of many terms.
It makes me kinda frustrated that a lot of genuine good points of the lore are being shut down and a lot of the criticism falls short or doesn't really pinpoint the true problems, so, I want to let here a few perspectives but agree to disagree.
I'll give this lecture as is it was a movie, since I haven't seen scholar work with live concerts (only music). You have to know a basic thing here: there's two mayor elements in any tale (relato), which are story (historia) and discourse (discurso). Story is, in short, the facts of the narrative, while discourse is the way we decide to tell it. Many people are saying that not showing active resistance in the lore is just endorsing fascism of making it just a spectacle, that just leads to emtpy critiques, but let me point you a few things
First: we're reading the story but not the discourse. Stating that to be a truly revolutionary performance we need them to get on stage and explicitly do something to show that fascism is bad means we're failing to see the discourse. We know it's bad because the way the narrative presents us the country. Think about the what symbols are getting associated to the dictator; it's very heavy military imagery, in LATAM tours the "eye that sees everything" was important, the fire, the death references. You know he's authoritarian because this same symbols have been used by both real and fictional dictatorships, we could even say that it's part of our collective imaginaries at this point. In some shows they even try to make the Immortal Dictator less scary by making him wear funny hats or asking what should he eat (modern right wing leaders have this try to have this "charismatic" trait). I'll leave a translated quote here "the cinematic tale isn't a tale put in images and sounds, but rather images and sound articulated in a way that the tale is produced". We need to stop asking for things to happen in a literal way just to please ourselves if the narrative it's working the way it's intended, which lets me introduce the next argument.
Second: the lack of something also has meaning. Try to remember fiction books where resistance is heavily punished and they don't have success to get rid of their dictators but still make amazing critique of totalitarism and fascism. Of course, I'm talking about 1984 and Animal Farm*. Not having a "hero" let us know Draag is incredibly powerful and authoritarian, enough to get rid of them or make them part of their own system, which is what happened with TBP. And let me tell you, this happens A LOT in real life, capitalism and propaganda can get to anyone, even ourselves. That's the whole core of the show. Not all stories work in clear moral lines where the narrative takes you by the hand and needs to tell you everything literally, many books let YOU do the work, so you can have fun doing your own analysis, but there's still some clear answers when you look at the whole context and intent.
*which, btw, I think Gerard's decision to go with that aesthetic may have to do with both these books but I'm speculating. It would also explain why it makes a mesh between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, they both were military authoritarian.
Third: this show works as a meta commentary, it's supposed to be immersive, where we are citizens of Draag watching propaganda being made live and actively falling for it. Again, it's a reminder that we're not immune to propaganda, which is incredibly relevant having in mind the actual context we're living in. I also find kinda interesting that Draag uses right wing strategies when talking to us, the citizens; using softer language to talk about prisons or torture ("reaconditioning"), use of entretainment as distraction (the shows), trying to encourage a nationalistic feeling. That's why I think about it as meta commentary, that's all being used right now in the real world, and maybe not us but a lot of people are buying it. The whole point is that: we can be easily manipulable politicaly speaking as long as it entretaining. It works as a mirror to the actual world we live in. That's also why there's no resistance in this tale, it would break that commentary.
Now, there are some valid criticisms that I've seen and that I'll do too.
It doesn't make sense to do all this commentary and then turn around and having your fanbase to pay ridiculous prices for both merch and live shows. This applies to USA fans mostly, for what i've seen the prices were reasonable in other countries but yeah, we need to be congruent if we're going to a whole artwork like this or like Danger Days. Now, I know that other things come to factor but it feels like they're not doing enough to keep things accesible, it makes their other works feel fake tbh. It would be great if we had statements about their position on certain world events in such an important time like this, maybe not on social media but defintely in concerts, it's a critical time and we need as many voices as possible. They can't be given a pass to be cowards and not say a single word about it, because again, makes them greedy. As latam people would say, just a bunch of "tibios de mierda".
I highly agree that this production needs the perspective of people of color. Our voices can enrich any artistical work, especially when it's about power dynamics since we confront them daily. Not even considering us fucking sucks, there's a lot of talented people that can do a great job, especially with the theatrical nature of the show. This is a doubled-edged sword tho, many people are also tired of the "Let's make an authoritative character but make them black/latin bc woke". We have to remember that almost all the characters displayed are in positions of power, torturing and being cruel with other people, and in this times it may be risky. I would like your opinions on this one.
