THE VINE: TALK BACK - DECOY Article Response

BY KRISTOPHER KARCHER

A few days ago, reader James Beach responded to my last article about DECOY by Keith Walker.  I found it incredibly interesting and wanted to make a short post to respond to his comment.

THE QUESTION:  What would you do if you were in the same situation as the married couple in DECOY?  Would you give up your body and live in someone else's?

          “Maybe... much would depend on the particular circumstances. Popular movies have also asked this question (minus the heavy sci-fi quotient): BEING JOHN MALKOVICH offers 15-minute thrill-rides through the actor's body, while AVATAR provides space-travelers the opportunity to live as an alien in another ecosphere. 

         As far as my body goes, I've learned to live with my unique defects (a GQ model I'm not!) but the opportunity to experience life inside the vessel of another is appealing, if only for the novelty.

         I once had a waitress friend who would dress down (glasses, loose-fitting clothes, no make-up) or dress up (violet contact lenses, push-up bra and tube-top, "glamour shot" cosmetics) just to research what she already knew... the big titties got her the tips. In a way, I suppose that was her way to live inside a different body.

          Plastic surgery manipulates the flesh so that average-looking or ugly people can experience life from the vantage point of a body that they fantasize is attractive. (Usually they look fake or bizarre, however!) The old TWILIGHT ZONE series pushed this concept to the limit in the 1960s with an episode wherein a youth is forced  to live inside a "model body" (a dozen model bodies are displayed to choose from) and winds up loving the feeling after much resistance under the argument of the freedom of the individual and the sake of art.

         Long answer to a simple question, but then, what are we but molecules that are constantly rearranging themselves? We can logically get new bodies every seven years, if we can acquire the skill to master the molecule.”

While James makes many interesting points here, I wanted to focus on one point I really didn’t even think to touch on, body image. To refresh your brain, DECOY, a short play by Keith Walker in Series A of the Strawberry One-Act Festival at the Theatre at St. Clement's on August 23rd at 1pm, focuses on a newly married couple, the groom of whom is sick.  He is given an option to try a second round of normal treatment, or try a newer technique where the mind and everything who the man is on the inside is just transported into another body. Completely forgetting about just being sick, if you could have a new body—say look exactly like Zac Efron—would you?

I mean think of the possibilities here. You’d be hot, you’d be healthy, you’d be more agile and strong, and you would be hot! No more being insecure about love handles or the crook in your nose, you could custom design your body like you could a car. Yes we have plastic surgery now, but with this new technology your options would be limitless, and who doesn’t want to change something about the way we look?

I will be the first to admit that there are things about me that I would change, but I am a strong believer that I was given the body I’m in, and I can mold it into what I want naturally, and the things I cannot naturally change (other than piercings and tattoos), I’ve learned to love. For me, it is just a part of the human experience. BUT- I’m not condemning anyone who has “had work done.” Another part of being human is making your own choices. Everyone’s body is their own. Do what you want!

To end this post, I will leave you with this. There are normal civilians who have had crazy amounts of plastic surgery just to look like celebrities. The three depicted in the video below have spent their life savings and many months of recovery to look like Jennifer Lawrence, Justin Bieber, and Madonna. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55Csg0XCGIk

Sometimes plastic surgery goes horribly, horribly wrong. 

FROM DIVERGENT TO DECOY: Are We Ready For A Futuristic Freaky Friday Society?

     “Now I trust you’ve had the opportunity to look at our vessels out on display…?”

                                                                                       – DECOY by Keith Walker

Sifting through the plays of the Strawberry One Act Festival, Kristopher Karcher, the Riant Theatre’s literary intern and dramaturg, will be publishing a new article every week to talk about the topical issues that are brought up in many of the One-Act plays in our festival.

The question with a lot of new science nowadays is not, "Can we do it?", but, "Should we?" New medical treatments have people growing whole organs with stem cells. Scientists are creating designer babies by rearranging genetic information just so the child will have blue eyes. Hologram technology is so insane that dead artists are now headlining at world-famous award shows. Yes, with today’s technology we certainly CAN, but where do we draw the line? We’ve seen this question brought up in films and books a lot recently. Look at the new popular television show Orphan Black, where scientists are growing tails and changing their entire genetic makeup. Is there a point where we as human beings should stop fumbling with nature and just let it be? And Jody Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, where parents create a baby just for stem cells to cure their other daughter. Where is the line where we say, “No, this is not okay. We should not be playing God”?

But what if one of these controversial treatments could save your life, or even make you immortal? You’d be able to live to see your children grow, graduate, get married, and have kids of their own (and hopefully in that order). You’d do whatever is possible right? What if the treatment meant losing your body and transporting your thoughts, ambitions, and emotions into another person, a vessel for your soul? Would you still do it? Remember your life is on the line.   DECOY by Keith Walker,

deals with all of these issues when a newly married couple confronts a crisis with a possible new medical breakthrough. The Groom is sick and he isn’t getting better. He’s given two options, go through another round of treatment that may not work, or try a new treatment, a treatment that takes everything you are and puts you into a new healthy body. The play explores the couple’s love for each other and a man dealing with his own morality.

            Science fiction is huge right now, especially with the young adult audience. Book series like The Hunger Games and Divergent are experiencing a surplus of success as the overused trends of vampires, werewolves, and magic all die out. What is it that this new wave of genre has to offer us? Is it the promise of new technology? The need for change? Possibly. But what really grabs the attention of the readers and audience members of this new sci-fi craze is the fact that these characters are dealing with futuristic technology in a utopian setting, but are still dealing with the same human problems and issues we have today. These books, films, and plays allow us to face impossible situations and ask us, as audience members, what would we do? Perhaps this genre, more than any, helps us discover who we are, and what our moral limits may be.

 

            At the end of each article, I plan on leaving the audience with a question. Tweet us with your answer (@rianttheatre), or leave a comment below, and you will be entered into a drawing to win two free tickets to the night of your choice of the Riant Theatre’s Strawberry One-Act Festival!

This week’s question: What would you do if you were in the same situation as the married couple in DECOY? Would you give up your body and live in someone else’s?