Pre-Columbian Theater, Spanish Empire, and Sor Juana: Crash Course Theater #22
Summary
TLDRIn this episode of Crash Course Theater, Mike Rugnetta explores the early theater of Central America, highlighting the Aztec's religious rituals that were later suppressed by the Spanish colonizers. The video delves into the transformation of theater under Spanish rule, where indigenous people were forced to perform biblical stories and historical pageants. It introduces Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a nun and prolific writer, who is celebrated for her intellectual contributions and her play 'The Loa of the Divine Narcissus,' which subtly critiques colonial rule and pays respect to native cultural practices.
Takeaways
- 🎭 The video discusses the history of theater in the Americas, focusing on the influence of Spanish theater and the role of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a prominent figure in the Spanish Golden Age.
- 📜 Pre-Columbian theater in Central America was closely tied to religious rituals and festivals, often involving costumes, parades, and performances.
- 🌟 The Aztecs performed theatrically during sacrifices and celebrations, such as the festival for the feathered serpent deity Quetzalcoatl, which included comedic skits and dances.
- 🔄 After the Spanish arrival, indigenous theater was suppressed, and performances were used to propagate Spanish religious and imperial ideologies.
- 👩💼 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a self-educated nun who wrote in multiple genres, including philosophy, theology, and plays, and is considered the first feminist of the Americas.
- 🏆 Mexico City became a theatrical center, establishing a prize for the best Corpus Christi play and fostering professional acting companies.
- 📖 Sor Juana's work, 'The Loa of the Divine Narcissus,' is an allegorical drama that celebrates Christian teachings while also incorporating indigenous cultural practices.
- 💡 The play 'The Loa of the Divine Narcissus' uses indigenous dance and costumes to subtly critique the forced conversion of native peoples and advocate for a more respectful approach.
- 🌐 The video script also mentions the broader context of theater's role in society, including its use for propaganda and the expression of countercultural ideas.
- 🌐 The video concludes by hinting at the next topic, which will explore the theatrical style of kabuki in Japan, suggesting a comparison between different cultural expressions of theater.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the video script?
-The main theme of the video script is the exploration of theater in the Americas, particularly focusing on the influence of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a nun and playwright who brought the Spanish Golden Age to the New World.
How does the script describe the pre-Columbian theater?
-The script describes pre-Columbian theater as resembling religious rituals associated with various religious festivals, complete with costumes, parades, and sometimes involving human sacrifice.
What was the role of theater after the Spanish arrival in the Americas?
-After the Spanish arrival, theater was used as a tool for forced conversion, with native peoples performing Bible stories and historical pageants that often depicted their own defeat and the triumph of Spanish rule.
Who is Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and why is she significant?
-Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a Mexican nun, self-taught scholar, and playwright who is considered the first feminist of the Americas and the last great writer of the Spanish Golden Age. She is significant for her intellectual contributions and her fight for women's rights to education and expression.
What was Sor Juana's response to the bishop's critique of her writing?
-Sor Juana responded to the bishop's critique by writing 'Reply to Sister Filotea,' where she defended her right to write and philosophize, citing the example of Saint Teresa and arguing that women's education could be improved if more women were allowed to teach.
What is a 'loa' and how does Sor Juana's 'Loa of the Divine Narcissus' differ from others?
-A 'loa' is a short allegorical drama that emphasizes Christian teachings, often associated with the 'altos sacramentales.' Sor Juana's 'Loa of the Divine Narcissus' differs by incorporating indigenous forms of performance and treating native characters with dignity, thus offering a critique of forced conversion and a more respectful approach to native cultures.
How does the script suggest that 'Loa of the Divine Narcissus' critiques colonial rule?
-The script suggests that 'Loa of the Divine Narcissus' critiques colonial rule by portraying native characters and rituals with respect and by suggesting that their practices are not as different from Christian rituals as the colonizers claim, thus advocating for a more gentle and understanding approach to conversion.
What is the significance of the indigenous dance 'tokutin' in the script?
-The inclusion of the indigenous dance 'tokutin' in the script is significant as it allows for the continuation of native performance styles amidst efforts to suppress them by the colonizers, thus serving as a form of cultural resistance and preservation.
How does the script connect the Aztec rituals to the Christian Eucharist?
-The script connects the Aztec rituals, which involved mixing seeds with human blood and shaping it into a statue for consumption, to the Christian Eucharist by highlighting the similarities in the act of consuming a representation of their deities, suggesting a potential bridge between the two practices.
What is the final message of 'Loa of the Divine Narcissus' according to the script?
-The final message of 'Loa of the Divine Narcissus' is that Christianity triumphs over native beliefs, but it also emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting native cultures, suggesting a more compassionate approach to conversion and cultural assimilation.
Outlines
🌐 Introduction to Pre-Colonial and Colonial Theater in the Americas
The video script begins with an introduction to the history of theater in the Americas, highlighting the pre-Columbian era where theater was closely tied to religious rituals and festivals among the Aztecs. It discusses how the Spanish conquest led to the suppression of native rituals and the imposition of Spanish religious and historical narratives through performances. The script introduces Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a prominent figure in theater and literature, who was a nun and a feminist, and her significance in the context of the Spanish Golden Age and the New World.
🎭 The Life and Works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
This section delves into the life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a self-educated nun who became a favorite of the Spanish viceroy and his wife, allowing her to continue her education. Despite facing criticism for her intellectual pursuits as a woman, she defended her right to engage in writing and philosophy. The script discusses her decision to become a nun to maintain control over her intellectual life and her contributions to various genres of writing, including plays. It also touches upon her response to a critique by a bishop, who disapproved of her involvement in worldly affairs, and her eventual silence to avoid punishment.
📜 Analysis of 'The Loa of the Divine Narcissus' and Its Cultural Significance
The final paragraph focuses on Sor Juana's play 'The Loa of the Divine Narcissus,' which began as a prologue but evolved into a short allegorical drama. The play celebrates Christian teachings and the Eucharist while also incorporating indigenous cultural practices and performance styles. It presents a critique of forced conversion and advocates for a more respectful approach to native cultures. The script discusses the play's characters and plot, which includes a battle between Spanish and Aztec figures, leading to a resolution where the Aztec characters adopt Christianity. The play's conclusion emphasizes the triumph of Christianity and the conversion of the Aztecs, but it does so in a way that respects and acknowledges indigenous traditions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Theater
💡Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
💡Golden Age
💡Altos Sacramentales
💡Indigenous Performance
💡Colonial Rule
💡Religious Allegory
💡Cultural Subversion
💡Hironomite Nuns
💡Eucharist
Highlights
Introduction to the history of theater in the Americas before European influence, focusing on pre-Columbian theater and its religious rituals.
Description of the Aztec celebration for the feathered serpent deity Quetzalcoatl, involving actors performing comic skits.
The Spanish arrival and its impact on native theater, including forced conversion and the use of performance for religious and imperial propaganda.
Alonso Ponce's documentation of performances in convents, showcasing European-style Bible stories and battle reenactments with indigenous actors.
The translation of religious dramas into indigenous languages and the writing of plays in local languages for proselytization.
The rise of Mexico City as the theatrical center of the Spanish Empire, with the establishment of a prize for the best Corpus Christi play.
Introduction to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a prominent figure in the Spanish Golden Age, known for her diverse writings and plays.
Sor Juana's background as an illegitimate daughter of a Spanish military officer, her self-education, and her early writing at the age of eight.
Her decision to join the Hieronymite order of nuns to maintain control over her intellectual life, despite offers of marriage.
The publication of one of Sor Juana's essays and the subsequent critique by a bishop, who questioned her involvement in writing and philosophy as a woman.
Sor Juana's response to the bishop's critique, defending her right to engage in intellectual pursuits and advocating for women's education.
Her death in 1695 from the plague while caring for other nuns, highlighting her selflessness and commitment to her faith.
Analysis of Sor Juana's play 'The Loa of the Divine Narcissus,' which combines Christian teachings with indigenous performance styles.
The play's portrayal of Aztec characters and rituals, challenging the narrative of native people as savages and promoting a more respectful approach to conversion.
Inclusion of the indigenous dance 'tocotin' in the play, allowing for the continuation of native performance styles amidst Christianization efforts.
The play's conclusion, which sees Christianity triumphant but also acknowledges the similarities between Aztec rituals and the Eucharist.
Upcoming episode teaser on Japanese Kabuki theater, described as a counterculture performance style in 18th-century society.
Crash Course Theater's association with PBS Digital Studios and the support from patrons on Patreon that helps keep the content free for everyone.
Transcripts
[Music]
hey there i'm mike rugnetta this is
crash course theater and today we head
to the americas at a time when broadway
was just another unpaved part of not yet
even new amsterdam so we're gonna head
to mexico to learn about a woman who
brought the spanish golden age to the
so-called new world and guess what she
was a nun why is it always the nuns
yorick
[Music]
we shouldn't get too far before being
super clear there was a theater in
central america way before any europeans
and it will probably seem familiar
pre-columbian theater looks like
religious ritual and is associated with
various religious festivals when aztecs
conducted a sacrifice they did it in
style with costumes and parades and
animals
though maybe don't get too attached to
those animals or some of the people
wearing the costumes in the 16th century
an indigenous onlooker whose words were
later copied by a missionary described a
celebration for the feathered serpent
creator deity quetzalcoatl the actors
came out and performed short comic
pieces pretending to be deaf afflicted
with colds halt blind and missing an arm
all coming to the idol to ask for health
the deaf ones would give foolish answers
and those with colds are coughed the
halt limping about described their
miseries and complaints and made the
people laugh heartily others came out
representing vermin with some dressed as
beetles others as toads others as
lizards and so on after this was over
they performed a dance with all of these
actors and the festival ended there you
have it folks ability related comedy and
vermin dance fun times for all but
lizards aside we don't have to look
especially hard to draw connections
between this and the kind of medieval
comedy that informed the cycle place or
even all the way back to ancient farce
things change after the spanish arrive
obviously for a lot of reasons not the
least of which being genocide if you've
watched crash course world history
you'll know that the attitude of the
spaniards towards native religious
practices was not exactly
chill admittedly some native religious
practices did involve human sacrifice
the invading spanish practice forced
conversion stamping out native aztec
rituals often violently missionaries had
native peoples perform bible stories and
take part in
historical pageants on fun topics like
how the great and honorable spaniards
had conquered the evil and terrible
moors
guess which side the indigenous peoples
played turns out performance is a pretty
useful way to spread religious and
imperial propaganda and impose your
preferred historical narratives we know
about some of this because of the
franciscan monk alonso ponce from 1584
to 1589 he toured more than 170 convents
and had his secretary write down all of
the performances he saw ponce saw a lot
of european style bible stories and
battle reenactments with indigenous
actors basically acting out their own
defeat but the secretary also noted
games and acrobatics which had a
non-european vibe and probably reflected
earlier indigenous performance
throughout the 16th century colonial
authors translated religious dramas
imported from spain into indigenous
languages and then began writing their
own plays also in local languages to
proselytize with these were mostly
religious allegories or takes on bible
stories such as the three kings or the
sacrifice of isaac but by the end of the
century spanish was becoming the
dominant language of theater and mexico
city was becoming the theatrical center
of the spanish empire in 1565 the city
established a prize for the best corpus
christi play and by the early 1600s
people were building spanish-style
theaters and starting professional
acting companies that brings us to
sarwana ines de la cruz the first
feminist of the americas the last great
writer of the spanish golden age and the
only one to get her own steamy netflix
show juana inez take that lopete vega
like croswita she too had some dope
nicknames the tenth muse the phoenix of
america and like rosfita she wrote in a
lot of genres including philosophy
theology a ton of poems several carol
sequences and 27 plays most of them
introductions to altos sacramentales
including the loa of the divine
narcissus which we'll look at in a
minute she wrote a few full-length
comedies including a pawns of a house
which includes a strong-minded young
woman who wants to become a nun and love
is more a labyrinth about theseus
ariadne and phaedra doesn't really sound
like a comedy but that hasn't stopped
anyone yet sorhano was born in mexico in
1648 the illegitimate daughter of a
spanish military officer she was mostly
self-educated and said that she wrote
her first play at the age of eight so
she was pretty precocious too she later
moved to mexico city where she begged to
be allowed to dress as a boy so she
could attend university but she had to
continue her education privately she
became a favorite of the spanish viceroy
and his wife and lived at court where
she continued her education learning
latin and also nahuatl she spent a few
years as a lady in waiting and then in
1669 she decided to join an order of
hironomite nuns a comparatively relaxed
order she'd already received several
offers of marriage but she knew that if
she got married she would have to devote
herself to her family and be subservient
to her husband boring but if she became
a nun she could determine her own
intellectual life and she did nice
during her lifetime one of her essays
was published though the bishop who
published it also added a critique of it
saying that as a woman she was wrong to
concern herself with worldly stuff like
writing and philosophy the bishop also
wrote the critique under the pseudonym
sorfilotea pretending to be another nun
sorhuana wrote a response to the
response reply to sister filotea and
it's here that we find most of her
biographical information but basically
she writes heck no filitea she quotes
the mystic saint teresa who said one can
perfectly well philosophize while
cooking supper and wrote that if more
women teach maybe young girls could
learn without being harassed so much the
bishop censured her not using a
pseudonym this time and later in her
life she probably had to give up writing
to avoid punishment she died in 1695
when she caught the plague while caring
for other afflicted nuns which is
heartbreaking but also righteous as heck
let's look at one of sorhano's plays the
loa of the divine narcissus the loa
which comes from the latin laos or
praise began as a prologue at the
beginning of a comedy that told the
audience what the comedy would be about
but eventually it evolved into a kind of
short allegorical drama that emphasized
christian teachings and was typically
associated with the altos sacramentales
lope calderon tierso de molina and all
of those golden age guys they all wrote
lois but sorhuanusloa does what lois and
altos are supposed to do it celebrates
humankind's redemption via the eucharist
but as a mexican woman of spanish
descent juanas loa also has a sneaky
reverence for native cultural practices
and might even function as a critique of
doctrinaire colonial rule let's speak
truth to power thought bubble occident a
crowned aztec dude enters alongside
america a queenly aztec woman occident
and america are regal as heck and the
first words of the play acknowledge that
oh noble mexicans whose ancient ancestry
comes forth from the clear light and
brilliance of the sun the character of
music tells them that since its harvest
time they must honor the great god of
the sun and war quits le poechtli how do
they honor him by mixing seeds with
human blood shaping it into a statue and
then eating the statue other figures
enter dressed in panchos and perform a
tokutin kind of indigenous dance already
the play acknowledges two cultures and
two performance styles european
allegorical drama and aztec dance now
the spaniards show up first religion
appears as a spanish woman and zeal as a
spanish conquistador religion is freaked
out by the whole human sacrifice thing
and zeal is like relax i got a sword
it's taken care of and religion goes
maybe we can try mercy before killing so
religion is like hey occident and
america maybe don't be heretics and
occident in america respond leave us
alone we are worshiping our god so zeal
is like okay back to plan a die impudent
america there's a huge battle and yeah
no prize for guessing who wins but
occident and america are still defiant
saying yes they're defeated but they're
gonna go on worshiping their god their
way and religion is like look your false
god is just a huge theological
misunderstanding of the true god so
maybe we can all just get on the same
page we worship our god with bread and
wine so maybe it's not so different
after all and occident and america are
like
well argued we'll adopt your god now
let's all get baptized thank you thought
bubble in the loa of the divine
narcissus exciting conclusion religion
is like before we do the baptism let's
watch an alto to learn more about how
great the eucharist is we're going to
call this alto divine narcissus because
in the narcissus myth narcissus and echo
both worship false idols get it and zeal
is all religion as a woman in mexico
isn't it wrong that you're writing alto
sacramentalize to be performed in spain
and then religion is like it comes from
my faith so
nope we good lights down in the end
christianity takes the win the aztecs
are successfully converted but here's
the thing oxidant and america aren't
portrayed as savages and even though
their ritual is definitely stomach
churning unless you're a vampire who
also is into whole grains it isn't
represented as violent or grotesque as
the character religion makes it clear it
sounds a lot like the eucharist if the
blood of christ thing wasn't at least
partially symbolic by incorporating
indigenous forms of performance and
treating native characters with dignity
the low above emphasizes christian
teachings and critiques the forced
conversion of native peoples favoring a
gentler and more respectful approach it
also includes a shout out to greek myth
an implicit acknowledgement of yet
another faith tradition guess what else
sorhana does by including the tocotine
an indigenous dance performed using
traditional music and costumes she
allows that performance style to
continue on
as even other christians were busy
stamping it out which is a classy bit of
subversion so thanks rhwana no wonder
you made it onto the peso thanks for
watching next time get your exaggerated
eye makeup ready because we are heading
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hilarious counterculture performance
style which is pretty much the closest
that a repressive 18th century society
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changed since its founding in 1776.
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