Well done with today's trial. While there are many possible discussions to be had--from philosophy to performance styles and skills--I was impressed both by the accuracy of your questions and answers and by the attention given by the jury. After school, one of the sophomore jury members even cornered me and gave me quite the explanation of why Antigone should have been found guilty. Therefore, despite the way the decks may have been stacked, you successfully got people thinking about the big ideas.
Speaking of...here's the link to the story about how Antigone was used in Ferguson to foster community discussion. (We made it about halfway in class--finishing the video is recommended, but optional.)
This weekend, please add a comment to this post, reflecting on any of the following: the trial itself, your part in the trial, thoughts and recommendations for improvement, and/or Antigone's relevance in Ferguson or today. Thanks!
(The calendar also says you're supposed to think about the November MOR this weekend, but that can wait a bit. I'd like you to read another classical work like Antigone, so I'll post a blog soon with some good recommendation lists.)
I also thought the trial went well and both the prosecution and the defense adequately supported their stance. Tyler and Brittany each did a phenomenal job cross examining and asked great questions. I think it is hard for the jury to make an accurate vote because they have not read the story and do not know all the details but I do not believe there is any way to avoid that. I think that the trial should be done before Creon changes his mind because Sophocles was proving that he thought Antigone was correct. The ending of the story should be kept out of the trial and the trial should act as the new ending, depending on the outcome. It is hard for the prosecution to win when the author of the story is on the defense's side.
ReplyDeleteI was very impressed with both sides, defense and prosecution. Although there was a decided outcome, I think that the way each side presented their ideas with sophistication and excessive thought. It was obvious to me that the questions were thought out and that each side had taken into consideration how the other side would respond. I felt like the trial wizzed by honestly, but I don't think that it was necessarily a bad thing. The main points were definitely hit and it was obvious that each side knew their stance well. Antigone is a tough story to base a trial on because like we talked about in class, Sophocles makes it very clear where he stands. Therefore any evidence would be swung by his opinion. It may be beneficial to provide a little more detail into the story and how it plays out. I know there was a summary at the beginning but it is short and only so the audience knows the characters somewhat. If the jury knows more about the story, their decision would probably have more well-rounded thoughts towards it. However, with that in mind, each side posed their thoughts well and I thought it was splendid!
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Trial required a lot of work and prep. I had a blast performing it with everyone. I had a great time asking questions and listening to arguments and watching everyone perform. I was especially impressed with Reid, Brittany, and Jayden as they fulfilled their roles wonderfully. Jayden made a great judge, Reid had a superb closing statement, and Brittany did a terrific job as the prosecution especially aginst Teiresias. Overall, I had a great time performing and everyone did a wonderful job filling their various, and admittedly strange, roles.
ReplyDelete*Jaden
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DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed reading Antigone and performing the trial, it was a really great experience and an opportunity to learn a lot. I'm glad you provided us with the link to the PBS video because it showed a real, tangible way that Antigone could be related to social and political issues in our world today. It's often easy to assume that classical literature wont be applicable to our lives because its old and out of date but that's the opposite of the truth, the issues addressed in Antigone are still prevalent today. Antigone deals with two sides of an argument where both sides are right in their own way and their beliefs are founded upon different virtues. This is one of the reasons why this singing/acting group applied it to the issues in Ferguson. I really liked the part where one lady in the video said "we are collectively the new Greek chorus and we need to speak up" because it directly related the play to something we can do in everyday life. Over all I really loved this project and think both sides did a fantastic job (especially the prosecution because, lets face it, they had it pretty rough)
ReplyDeleteThe trial was definitely an interesting experience, and while the outcome was unsurprising, I was impressed with both sides and how well each position was argued. I think this trial was colored by our class's previous experience seeing the trial (since most of us have watched it happen twice). We knew exactly the arguments we wanted to make and were supposed to make, which is how we were able to focus our points so clearly. I think that might have made it harder for the jury to understand the complete context of the issue, though. Reading the play, however, probably would have just made the jury more conflicted because despite what Sophocles seems to be saying, right and wrong in the context of Antigone are not completely clear. The PBS video was very interesting and definitely shows how something as old as Antigone can still apply to our society.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this trial was so much fun! Brittany and Tyler did such an amazing job cross examining both sides. I thought that every character was properly portrayed and acted out by each person in the class. Rebekah did an amazing job of directing the trial, and making sure the everyone was in time. Naturally, I am disappointed with the results that the trial, I am SUPER impressed with Hannah's closing statement. She was really able to win over the jury which I can only respond with, with super slow clapping and slow nodding of my head. What I would like to see happen though in the future if possible, would allow the jury to have more information in to what occurred in the play. I am not sure how we would be able to show them all of the information, but they need more of an insight then what we were able to give them. Because of how stacked the cards are against Creon, perhaps more information will even out the odds a little bit more. All in all though, this was a great way to recap on what we had learned and present it to others.
ReplyDeleteI believe the play overall was fantastic and a blast to be a part of. However since both sides had there questions and responses so well planned out I (as the judge) felt like I was not able to use my judicial powers to their fullest potential. I feel like both sides knew they only had 2 minuets to question and respond, they condensed as much as they possibly could and in doing so were not truly able to get as much out of those two minutes as they could. It seemed like both sides used a max of a minute thirty or so. Don’t get me wrong though, they time they used was all they needed to make their points. I’m just saying it might has brought out a few more objections if both sides had stretch out those two minutes more often. But the timing is my only “complaint” and I feel like if we had done a real rehearsal to see where everyone was at, that might have fixed this problem. So overall everyone did awesome and it was very fun to be apart of this trial/play. As far as my role in the play goes, I was honestly hoping for a guilty verdict because it would have made my closing statement make more sense. However since it was a not guilty verdict I tried my best to improvise on the punishments. The only reason I made a punishment towards Creon was because in my mind it seems to be something Zeus would do, so I gave Creon a punishment and tried to make it line up with the actually story and how he would be killed and replaced soon.
ReplyDeleteI personally loved doing this, I only would have thought it could be better if I was not defending Antigone. One thing I did notice was that the prosecuting side did not argue strictly to an earthly, non-spiritual viewpoint. I feel like if they did not even consider the spiritual to have any significance, and prove that it does not in this situation, they could have gotten more votes. Because Antigone did in fact bury the body, and she knowingly broke the law, By looking at it solely on that I think she would have been found guilty. That is if Hannah did not conclude with that fire closing statement.
ReplyDeleteI felt everyone did really well for their parts. Both sides used valid arguments, defended their points, and debated reasonably in general. The problem was with the topic of the trial, not the trial itself. Like Zac said, including the parts of the play after Creon changes his mind defeats the point of the trial, due to the fact that the end is where Sophocles hammers his own beliefs into the audience whether they agree or not. Since the play has a concrete support for Antigone, they have a significant advantage in the trial. (Of course, this isn't saying the defense did poorly and won because of the play. They did excellently.) Personally, I think the concluding thing for Antigone could be a debate without having to take on the role of characters. Not needing to manage a character's appearance, and being able to bring in more arguments from outside the text would add some serious depth to it. On the other hand though, the trial is fun. I just wish Sophocles was more neutral so we could have the best of both worlds. In the end, the biggest problem for me is how the end of the play makes the evidence basically insurmountable for the prosecution. Deciding to hold the trial before Creon's repentance would make it much more arguable.
ReplyDeleteI had such a blast preparing and executing my role in the trial! As an argumentative person, I am always looking to back things up with evidence & express my opinions eloquently, and I think that this trial provided a great opportunity for that sort of experience, which is great since our ap class is so focused on discussion and expressing personal beliefs. Also, anything done in a toga is a great time. I agree with what my fellow scholars in that it would probably help the jury to have a more complete understanding of what each side was truly fighting to gain, however I understand that this is tough since both sides are focused on grilling one another in the trial. I also love everything that the Ferguson video represents, it is so wonderful that people are out there using classical literature to solve contemporary problems. That is such a unique problem solving move that it sparks the community’s interest in an important way, and it allows people to understand what is going on around them with more clarity. I wish more people would approach their problems by looking backwards in time.
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