ScholarWorks@경상국립대학교

초록

This paper examines Paula Vogel’s The Baltimore Waltz to look into its subversive narrative and analyzes how Vogel tries to engage audiences in a cultural dialogue to evoke an empathic response to the characters in the play. Vogel’s characters are often those hated in our society and audiences resist to empathize with them. However, this resistance can be overcome and audiences empathize with them precisely because of the cultural dialogue that they participate in. Vogel calls this ‘negative empathy.’ In the play, Vogel investigates the hatred for homosexuals and AIDS discourse through an imaginary European excursion and imaginary disease, ATD which is a metaphor for AIDS. The playwright deconstructs the stereotypes that have contributed to the prevalence of homophobia and challenges the dichotomy of innocent and guilty victims perpetuated by homophobic AIDS discourse. The subversive narrative that the play employs helps the audience confront cultural biases against hated groups and reminds them of an important lesson that we as humans are all equally valued.

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