Power

In the movie Freaks and Geeks, we all observed the power struggles at play between the different characters and conflicting groups. Power struggles or structures aren't just apparent in shows like Freaks and Geeks or movies like Mean Girls. They exist everywhere, through all our lives.

I want to mention a very interesting exercise we did in my directing class. My teacher, Ms. Gecker, placed five chairs onstage: four red ones and a black one. She then asked us to arrange the chairs in ways that would clearly give one chair power over the others. The resulting tableaus were very interesting. Many people tipped the "subservient" chairs forwards. We all immediately associated this position of the chairs with the way people used to kneel to emperors, kings, queens, etc. I thought it was very interesting that we were all able to see the chairs as people. The way the chairs were placed gave them connotations of body language. Some other people merely changed the line-up of the chairs, placing one apart from the others, with the remaining chairs "facing" towards them. It was very clear that the chair that stood apart was in power.

In our lives, we often have structures that reflect power, and we don't question them. In school, the teacher's desk is always bigger than the student desks, and it stands at the front of the room, with all the student desks facing towards it. In a courtroom, everyone faces towards the judge's table. Upon entering an office building, one usually encounters a receptionist's very prominent desk. At a restaurant, the host or hostess has a special stand near which everyone waits to be seated. Most of our tables are rectangular, and the most important figure in attendance sits at the head. We have these physical set-ups that clearly reflect power and control. What would happen if a student sat at the teacher's desk or if someone climbed over the receptionist's desk in order to speak to the person behind it?

Another thing I want to mention about the chair exercise is that people frequently put the black chair in power over the red chairs. It's interesting to note that what made this chair different also gave it power. In the show Freaks and Geeks, the ruthless Alan has so much power over Sam and the other "geeks." He's different than them, but he's also different from the other students. During the dodgeball game, another kid referred to him as a psycho. I'm interested in how Alan became that way. Did they call him a psycho, and in response, did he become what they already thought he was? Or if not, what factors about his environment turned him into the person he is?

When I was a kid, my parents would always tell me that the mean and nasty kids I encountered on the playground were just dealing with problems of their own. And in a sense, I can see why that might be true. I knew a girl who would verbally attack me on a regular basis. Finally, I found out that her father abused her. We don't always know the circumstances that make people the way they are. But I'm also frustrated by the attitude that my parents had. They wanted me to ignore those other kids on the playground, and later in life, the kids at school who also made fun of me. And while I recognize that they were probably just trying to take control over something, anything in their lives, I didn't understand why it had to be me. Why are we so fixated on power that we have to know we're superior to other people? Why do we have to control others? Why do we need power? What is so wrong with just letting everyone be?