Dramatizing History: Reading Bakhtin's Carnival in Kee Thaun Chye's Plays

This paper explores the representations of Bakhtin’s notion of the Carnival in two revisioned historical plays of Kee Thuan Chye. As a firm believer of freedom of expression, Kee Thuan Chye employs his plays as a medium to express his criticism towards and resistance against authority. His plays We...

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Main Authors: Bakar, Erda Wati, Yusof, Noraini Md, Vengadasamy, Ravichandran
Format: text
Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
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Online Access:https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss33/24
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1816/viewcontent/KK_2033_2C_202019_2C_20_26_2034_2C_202020_2025_20Forum_20Kritika_20on_20the_20Shifting_20Frontiers_20of_20Literary_20Studies_20in_20the_20Twenty_First_20Century_20__20Bakar_2C_20Yusof_2C_20Vengadasamy.pdf
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spelling ph-ateneo-arc.kk-18162024-12-19T03:24:03Z Dramatizing History: Reading Bakhtin's Carnival in Kee Thaun Chye's Plays Bakar, Erda Wati Yusof, Noraini Md Vengadasamy, Ravichandran This paper explores the representations of Bakhtin’s notion of the Carnival in two revisioned historical plays of Kee Thuan Chye. As a firm believer of freedom of expression, Kee Thuan Chye employs his plays as a medium to express his criticism towards and resistance against authority. His plays We Could **** You, Mr. Birch (1994) and Swordfish, then the Concubine (2009) form the corpus of this study. This study investigates how Bakhtin’s notion of the Carnival is represented in the plays which are reconstructions of history. Specifically, the constructs of the Carnival like the reversal of social hierarchy, grotesque realism, ambivalent laughter as a form of mockery, and self-fashioning from New Historicism are used to frame the analyses of the plays. The discussion reveals that those who were in power, namely the rulers and aristocrats of the periods evident in the plays, were guilty of various follies and flaws. The constructs of the Carnival also illustrate how historical truths can be questionable and identities can be re- fashioned by disregarding boundaries, structures, and hierarchies. 2024-12-19T06:05:24Z text application/pdf https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss33/24 info:doi/10.13185/1656-152x.1816 https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1816/viewcontent/KK_2033_2C_202019_2C_20_26_2034_2C_202020_2025_20Forum_20Kritika_20on_20the_20Shifting_20Frontiers_20of_20Literary_20Studies_20in_20the_20Twenty_First_20Century_20__20Bakar_2C_20Yusof_2C_20Vengadasamy.pdf Kritika Kultura Archīum Ateneo Bakhtin; carnival; Kee Thuan Chye; new historicism; resistance; revisioning
institution Ateneo De Manila University
building Ateneo De Manila University Library
continent Asia
country Philippines
Philippines
content_provider Ateneo De Manila University Library
collection archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic Bakhtin; carnival; Kee Thuan Chye; new historicism; resistance; revisioning
spellingShingle Bakhtin; carnival; Kee Thuan Chye; new historicism; resistance; revisioning
Bakar, Erda Wati
Yusof, Noraini Md
Vengadasamy, Ravichandran
Dramatizing History: Reading Bakhtin's Carnival in Kee Thaun Chye's Plays
description This paper explores the representations of Bakhtin’s notion of the Carnival in two revisioned historical plays of Kee Thuan Chye. As a firm believer of freedom of expression, Kee Thuan Chye employs his plays as a medium to express his criticism towards and resistance against authority. His plays We Could **** You, Mr. Birch (1994) and Swordfish, then the Concubine (2009) form the corpus of this study. This study investigates how Bakhtin’s notion of the Carnival is represented in the plays which are reconstructions of history. Specifically, the constructs of the Carnival like the reversal of social hierarchy, grotesque realism, ambivalent laughter as a form of mockery, and self-fashioning from New Historicism are used to frame the analyses of the plays. The discussion reveals that those who were in power, namely the rulers and aristocrats of the periods evident in the plays, were guilty of various follies and flaws. The constructs of the Carnival also illustrate how historical truths can be questionable and identities can be re- fashioned by disregarding boundaries, structures, and hierarchies.
format text
author Bakar, Erda Wati
Yusof, Noraini Md
Vengadasamy, Ravichandran
author_facet Bakar, Erda Wati
Yusof, Noraini Md
Vengadasamy, Ravichandran
author_sort Bakar, Erda Wati
title Dramatizing History: Reading Bakhtin's Carnival in Kee Thaun Chye's Plays
title_short Dramatizing History: Reading Bakhtin's Carnival in Kee Thaun Chye's Plays
title_full Dramatizing History: Reading Bakhtin's Carnival in Kee Thaun Chye's Plays
title_fullStr Dramatizing History: Reading Bakhtin's Carnival in Kee Thaun Chye's Plays
title_full_unstemmed Dramatizing History: Reading Bakhtin's Carnival in Kee Thaun Chye's Plays
title_sort dramatizing history: reading bakhtin's carnival in kee thaun chye's plays
publisher Archīum Ateneo
publishDate 2024
url https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss33/24
https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1816/viewcontent/KK_2033_2C_202019_2C_20_26_2034_2C_202020_2025_20Forum_20Kritika_20on_20the_20Shifting_20Frontiers_20of_20Literary_20Studies_20in_20the_20Twenty_First_20Century_20__20Bakar_2C_20Yusof_2C_20Vengadasamy.pdf
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