Milwaukee's Daily Magazine Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009
Today
Hi: 44
Lo: 30
Mon
Hi: 42
Lo: 32
Tue
Hi: 46
Lo: 32
Section Sponsor
Article Tools
Print this Article
Make text larger
Related Twitter Posts


    Follow us on Twitter ...
    In Milwaukee Buzz Blogs
    Hey, McCloud!
     
    By Jennifer Morales
    Special to OnMilwaukee.com

    E-mail author
    More articles by Jennifer Morales

    What is a blog?  For us it is a short blurb that we write when the mood strikes us.  It can be first person, funny or informative. In short, a blog is whatever we want it to be. Published May 30, 2007 at 9:28 a.m.
    Tags: milwaukee shakespeare, jennifer morales

    I'm sorry if you missed Milwaukee Shakespeare's production of "Henry IV (Part I)," which closed this past Sunday. The black box of the Broadway Theatre was transformed into the suggestion of a wood-beamed English pub, with the audience split in half on either side to watch the gambols and wagers of Falstaff, and then into a battlefield for Hotspur's bloody rebellion against the king. The staging put the viewer in the midst of the jokes and the scheming, the battles and the bawdry.

    Shakespeare's spot-on depictions of barroom boasting and bloodlust show us time and again that the human animal hasn't changed too much in the intervening 400-odd years. I'm always stunned by the Bard's ability to push an unwanted mirror in our faces, his arm stretching across centuries to show us our flaws.

    This time it was the ethnic stereotyping in "Henry IV" that caught my attention. The Scots and the Welsh are mocked throughout the play, sometimes subtly and sometimes with a heavy hand. The Scots, represented in the character of the Earl of Douglas who's come to support Hotspur's coup against King Henry, get the worst of it. "The Douglas" is a brute of a man, eager for war and claiming that the word "fear" isn't even in the Scottish vocabulary. He's the Terminator in a kilt, but not quite a man. Other characters make fun of his accent and there's a bit of a suggestion that he might be compensating for something.

    It reminded me of the old Monty Python sketch, "A Scotsman on a Horse," in which a tartan-sporting, feather-hatted Scots dandy rides purposefully toward a church where a wedding is in progress. When he finally arrives, he breaks up the ceremony in the nick of time by scooping up the groom and running away with him. The homophobic gag obviously draws on some longstanding English stereotype of the Scots that we don't drink with the water here in the U.S.

    And then there's that joke about if the Rolling Stones had written their "Hey, you, get off of my cloud," line in the dialect of Scottish sheepherders ...

    The anti-Scots bits didn't run out with the end of "Monty Python's Flying Circus." I found a tutorial on YouTube today called "Scottish 101," in which the filmmaker tells us that if we learn the basic vocabulary he seeks to teach us, maybe the locals will hold off a little while and not punch us the minute we get off the plane in Scotland. But we will eventually end up in some physical altercation in Scotland, language lessons or no, he promises.

    YouTube and the bestiality jokes aside, I do think we're getting better as a species. I think we are beginning to understand what stereotyping costs us in terms of safe and successful communities, in justice and in human rights. We've come a long way since Shakespeare's time, but not far enough.



    More Information ...

    Post a comment / write a review.

    Recent blogs/briefs by Jennifer Morales
    What is a blog?  For OMC, it is a short blurb that we write when the mood strikes us.  It can be first person, funny or informative. In short, a blog is whatever we want it to be. Basic training
    Oct. 20, 2007
    I got a little heated at an MPS school board meeting this week. The board was gathered ...

    What is a blog?  For OMC, it is a short blurb that we write when the mood strikes us.  It can be first person, funny or informative. In short, a blog is whatever we want it to be. Indiana Jones and the temple of kaboom
    Oct. 07, 2007
    As a middle-schooler, I wanted to be Indiana Jones. I was always digging holes in the ...

    What is a blog?  For OMC, it is a short blurb that we write when the mood strikes us.  It can be first person, funny or informative. In short, a blog is whatever we want it to be. The unbearable queerness of being
    Sept. 22, 2007
    To celebrate our birthdays, Tina and I bought tickets for each other to this past Wednesday's ...

    What is a blog?  For OMC, it is a short blurb that we write when the mood strikes us.  It can be first person, funny or informative. In short, a blog is whatever we want it to be. Sticks and stones
    Sept. 15, 2007
    Have you heard about the lesbian gang epidemic?

    What is a blog?  For OMC, it is a short blurb that we write when the mood strikes us.  It can be first person, funny or informative. In short, a blog is whatever we want it to be. My own private Idaho
    Sept. 01, 2007
    When I heard about U.S. Senator Larry Craig getting busted for soliciting gay sex, I laughed ...



    OnMilwaukee.com is part of the In Click Network. Other In Click sites include: 30RockReport.com | Behind The Scenes at OnMilwaukee.com | BetterRecipes.org | Bimmer Digest | Brain Brawn & Body | BrewCityBeats.com | Brewcitybigscreen.com | britneysnation.com | BritPop Rocks | Brooklynbanter.com | CactusLeagueReport.com | Caffeinateddigest.com | Culinary Piedmont | Cycling Chainring | Daily Lost Update | Daily Milwaukee News | Daily Spa | DannyGokeyMilwaukee.com | Dogs Blogs | EarthFueled.com | Edible Wisconsin | FanaticPhotog.com | Gadget Deals and Steals | GolfLinksWisconsin.com | H1N1 Alerts | H1N1 Blog | H1N1 Prevention | H1N1 Reporter | H1N1 Tracker | HogEnthusiast.com | Informed Runner | iPhone Daily Report | Man United Nation | Milwaukee Brewers Nation | Milwaukee Bucks Blog | Milwaukee Dad | Minnesota Wild Nation | MomMilwaukee.com | My Super Stocks | MyGayMilwaukee.com | MyHangoverHelper | News on Draught | NY Mets Nation | OnAtlantaGA.com | OnAustinTX.com | OnBaltimoreMD.com | OnBirminghamAL.com | OnBostonMass.com | OnBuffaloNY.com | OnCharlotteNC.com | OnCincinnati.com | OnClevelandOH.com | OnColumbusOH.com | OnDallas.com | OnDCmetro.com | OnDenverCO.com | OnDetroitMI.com | OnDoorCounty.org | OnFortLauderdale.com | OnGreenBay.com | OnHartford.com | OnIndianapolisIN.com | OnKansasCityMO.com | OnLakeCountry.com | OnLosAngelesCA.com | OnLouisvilleKY.com | OnMadison.com | OnMemphisTN.com | OnMiamiFLA.com | OnMilwaukee.com Cars | OnMilwaukee.com Metro Headlines | OnNashvilleTN.com | OnNewOrleansLA.com | OnNYCny.com | OnOrlandoFL.com | OnPalmSprings.com | OnPhiladelphia.com | OnPhoenixAZ.com | OnPittsburgh.com | OnPortlandOR.com | OnProvidence.com | OnRichmondVA.com | OnSacramento.com | OnSaltLakeCity.com | OnSanAntonioTX.com | OnSanDiegoCA.com | OnSanFran.com | OnSanJose.com | OnSeattleWA.com | OnSinCity.com | OnStLouis.com | OnStPetersburg.com | OnTampaBay.com | OnTucsonAZ.com | OnTwinCities.com | OnWichita.com | OnWindyCity.com | Packers Posts | Porsche 911 Fans | PriusFans.com | Roller Derby Network | SnuggieFans.com | SummerfestRocks.com | Swine Flu China | Swine Flu Reporter | The 24 Reporter | The Barack Obama Fan Club | The Brilliant Manager | The Comic Book Reporter | The In Click | The Office Fan Blog | TheHDTVReporter.com | TheNetbookBlog.com | TheNewParentBlog.com | Trueguitarheroes.com | Vintage Mets | VW Busses | WaukeshaWeekly.com | Weekly Media News | Wisconsincustomhomenews.com | WisWomen.com | Woodworker Digest