Letter 2: Exclusive “We”

Dear Reader,

A short one today.

I was going through my ANTINET when I came across this note that I took while reading Dani Snyder-Young’s “We’re All in This Together: Digital Performances and Socially Distanced Spectatorship.”

It details the “exclusive ‘we’,” especially as it relates to performances.

“Those who attend arts performances tend to fall into the exclusive “we” of those who care about justice but are largely removed from any injustice. Thus, they uphold the cultural capital “valued by the upper classes” (4).

Now, what does this mean?

Well, consider this: Let’s say I’m writing a show that includes the “we” of those who are socially distancing during a pandemic.

This “we” should be all-encompassing, right?

And yet there are those who refrained from social distancing and those who protested it.

Therefore, though I might write a “we” into the show, this “we” has excluded a population.

This can be extrapolated to different “in” and “out-groups.” Think BIPOC populations, LGBTQIA+ populations, AAPI and Indigenous populations, etc. Or social groups: left-wing, right-wing, etc.

When we write a “we” in our scripts in this way, we are excluding someone.

It’s interesting that this “we” can be used as an inclusive-but-not-universal form of the first-person plural often used by people who care about justice but who live their lives often removed from injustice and in some degree of safety.

Additionally, when you create a setting using this exclusionary “we,” you prevent those individuals outside of the “we” community from being understood. You can cause their motivations and actions to be seen by your “in-group” as black-and-white. Thus, a common understanding is lost.

I think it’s important to think about this as it relates to the theatre, especially those performances with an activist mindset or a “we’re all in this together” one (á la Snyder-Young).

This is definitely a concept I’ll be thinking about in my theatre studies quest.

I hope it’s something you can take into your lives as well.

Sincerely yours,

Ryan Rappaport