Sure, It's Easy to Hate the War

Needless to say, there's quite the antiwar sentiment around these days. I'm not sure there's anybody who doesn't agree that war is a bad thing that we'd rather not have--even George W. Bush and John McCain (although they specify that war is really bad but unfortunately necessary anyway). How do you approach the subject in any way that can shed new light or understanding. Mrs. Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk and I were talking about how someone can approach antiwar drama in our present climate. She said that there are a number of her fellow playwrights who are trying to come with "war is bad" plays, and while you can't really fault the premise, so what? We all agree that war is bad. What next? That appears to be the tougher part. I haven't seen Stop-Loss, yet. It seems to approach the issue through the stories of those fighting the war and being taken advantage of by the government and the military. Despite their understanding of the agreement they've made to fight for a certain period and to come home, the rules for reassignment are getting changed after the fact. One way into talking about a subject that seems saturated is to find a personal story that can draw people in and engage an audience, but like most things, that's easier said than done. We don't necessarily have to come up with something new to say, some new angle on how war's dehumanizing or some other obvious assertion. But we have to make people feel and care, maybe even enough to do something (although what they do is fodder for a whole other series of posts--if not a entire blog). That's a plenty tough assignment for all those "War Is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things" playwrights.