사회적 분위기 변화와 어거스트 윌슨에 대한 평가의 변화

Shift in the Social Mood and Change in the Evaluation of August Wilson

Focusing on the critical and audience responses to the 2001 Broadway production of August Wilson’s King Hedley Ⅱ, this paper argues that the change in the evaluation of Wilson was essentially the aftermath of the shift in the social mood toward conservatism in the 1990s. The paper first looks into the responses of critics and audience to the play’s Broadway production and highlights that a major objection to the play stemmed from the fact that the play represents African Americans as victims of white racism. Wilson’s former plays represented similar racial issues and won applause and praise. Then, why did King Hedley Ⅱ’s 2001 Broadway production drew extremely negative responses from both critics and audience? The paper suggests a societal change as a convincing answer to the question. The societal change was triggered by the economic expansion in the 1980s, which contributed to the expansion of the middle class both in the white community and the black community. The expansion of the middle class in turn intensified the shift in the social mood toward conservatism in the 1990s. Conservatism tends to keep a distance from racial issues in general and the discourse of victimization in particular. On the basis of this observation, the paper concludes that the change in the evaluation of Wilson was a casualty of the shift in the social and cultural mood in the 1990s.