A Critical Analysis of Mark Ravenhill’s The Cane: Hegemonic Subjects’ Revolt against Authority

Year 2023, Volume: 17 Issue: 2, 153 - 166, 29.12.2023

Cüneyt Özata

https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1290195

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the hegemonic approach taken toward students in the British education system in the past from the perspectives of both the students and the teachers within the framework of structure and superstructure and to search for the erroneous disciplinary beliefs prevalent then. Mark Ravenhill chooses The Cane for the title of his play ironically, a choice which draws attention to the cane as a punishment tool employed by the authority to exercise its hegemony, and to the deficiencies of the previous educational system. Turning into a display of hegemonic power and authority, this punishment act will be analysed through the term hegemony, believed to have been given its final meaning by Antonio Gramsci, a Marxist theorist. To Gramsci, this term is defined as the sovereign demonstrating its supremacy through ideological devices/techniques in institutions such as schools and churches, where large numbers of members present in civil society. The Cane (2019) by Mark Ravenhill, a pioneer of In-yer-face movement in British theatre, is the product of a flawed discipline-based hegemonic practice England used in the past when ideologies produced theses and antitheses, based on a chain of events revolving around a chain of mistakes.

Keywords

hegemony, education, Cane, punishment, power

MARK RAVENHILL’İN SOPA ADLI OYUNUNUN ELEŞTİREL ANALİZİ: HEGEMONİK ÖZNELERİN OTORİTEYE BAŞKALDIRISI

Abstract

Bu makalenin amacı, geçmiş yıllarda İngiltere’nin eğitim sisteminde öğrenciler üzerinde gerçekleştirilen hegemonik yaklaşımı öğrenci-öğretmen açısından yapı–üst yapı bağlamında ele almak ve o dönemin disiplin anlayışındaki yanlışlıkları irdelemektir. Oyununun başlığını ironik şekilde Sopa (The Cane) olarak seçen Mark Ravenhill, iktidarın hegemonyasını uygulama aracı olarak kullandığı bir cezalandırma aracı olan sopa üzerinden geçmiş dönem eğitim sistemindeki yanlışlıklara dikkat çeker. Bir hegemonik güç ve otorite gösterisine dönüşen bu cezalandırma eylemi, Marksist düşünür Antonio Gramsci’nin nihai anlamını kazandırdığı hegemonya terimi üzerinden değerlendirilecektir. Bu terim, Gramsci’ye göre, egemen olanın, güç göstergesi olarak kendi üstünlüğünü ideolojik aygıtlar/yaklaşımlar kullanarak, sivil toplumun kitleler halinde bulunduğu okul, kilise gibi kurumlarda uygulamaya koyması olarak tanımlanabilir. İngiliz tiyatrosunda In-yer-face akımının da öncülerinden biri olan oyun yazarı Ravenhill’in Sopa (2019) oyunu, ideolojilerin kendi içerisinde tez ve antitezler ürettiği bir zaman aralığında İngiltere’nin geçmiş zaman diliminde uygulamaya konulan disiplin temelli yanlış bir hegemonya pratiğinin sonucunda meydana gelen bir dizi hatanın merkeze alındığı olaylar dizisini temel alır.

Keywords

hegemonya, eğitim, Sopa, ceza, güç

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