The “NY at its Core” exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York was an amazing experience that taught me about New York as a whole. For example, I saw pictures of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge which was fascinating to see as it is my favorite bridge in New York. The object that stood out to me the most was the maquette of the Statue of Liberty. It is a bronze statue by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi which became a souvenir in order to raise money to build the pedestal for the actual statue. It caught my attention because I have always enjoyed seeing this monument, whether…

Referencing Stuart Hall’s essay, Puccini’s iconic opera Madama Butterfly presents the Orient (the East) in binary opposition to the Occident (the West) through depicting cultural stereotypes. Cio-Cio-San’s loyalty to Pinkerton is clear as she is devoted to him. She incorporates feminine stereotypes into her behavior which can be seen as Eastern femininity. Pinkerton disregards her and sees their marriage as temporary and not a true commitment which shows his Western ways. It seems like the West exploited the East. The song “America Forever” in Madama Butterfly engages what Hall identifies as a stereotype of the exoticized “Other” because it captures the perceived notion of Western dominance and entitlement over the…

The musical Suffs on Broadway approaches the representation of the women’s suffrage movement by displaying the protests women participated in and the tactics they practiced to gain the right to vote. Some of these tactics included hunger strikes which represented resistance and a form of protesting. I believe this was a powerful part of the play because it really showed the distances these women went in order to gain support and it also displayed their perseverance. The fact that they were imprisoned also reveals the resistance they faced, but, instead of giving up, they refused to eat the food they were given. It is inspiring because the suffragists were the…

The musical production Hamilton has had an important impact on theater as a whole through redefining standards. I’m a fan of this musical because I appreciate how it catered to many interests in the form of having numerous music genres. It is about Alexander Hamilton, who was a founding father of America but it has a modern spin on it. The narrative is told using hip-hop, R&B, pop, and other types of music which makes it an engaging experience while watching this. As a whole, a Broadway production can tremendously impact someone through providing inspiration. For example, challenges faced by characters can make viewers aspire to make change in their…

I chose the artwork on a billboard that said America in which all of the letters were crossed out except “ME” because it stood out to me the most. At first sight, I only saw the letters “m’ and “e” which automatically signaled that there was a hidden message behind the other letters just being crossed off. The spacing between each letter is identical and the empty background outside of the letters gives more emphasis to the words. Delving deeper, the “X’s” on each letter except the “ME” are all slightly different shapes. The word “ME” inside of “America” brings up a tension between the two. I believe it’s referencing…