Lying gets a trigger warning now? 👏
— JenNewlun (@NewlunJen) November 20, 2022
Trigger warnings were a parody of themselves about 15 seconds after they came along.
This newest (well, 4 months old) case is a play at Princeton which looks absolutely horrible despite their best claims to make it sound like it has nuggets of interest.
Self-harm through burning is discussed during the scene where Portia and Quincy are on the stage left balcony (Act II), the scene after Quincy and Vincent talk to the Administration (Act II), and On The Other Side of Failure (Act II, cue: Quincy enters holding a broom).
Internalized homophobia is discussed in the scene where Ambrose and Vincent talk in the gym (Act I, cue: Ambrose leaves the Marmorei in the gym), throughout I Love You, I Swear, and depicted in the scene before I Love You, I Swear
Stalking is discussed in the scene after Quincy sees the saints for the first time (Act I, cue: Saint Jude leaves), and depicted in the scene transitions at the end of Where Can I RunHowever, the big bit that caught Christina Sommers attention (and apparently the enthusiastic support of Jen) was this bit:
Lying/manipulation is discussed in The One Who Pulls The Strings (Act I, cue: Portia tries to leave the newsroom), the scene where Beatrix is interviewed by Portia (Act II, cue: Beatrix and Portia bring out the interview chairs), the scene after Where Can I Run reprise (Act II, cue: Quincy storms off with the saints) and the final scene (Act II, cue: the pyre is wheeled in by the Marmorei), and depicted in the scene where Vincent and Beatrix are in the newspaper archives
The first thing you think of is how weak and pathetic these poor students are that they are troubled by a fictional depiction of lying.
The second thing, which really destroys it all, is a reminder that the play is 100% lying, as almost all plays are. For example, at some point on stage you're going to see a woman named Lana Gaige: the problem is at no point during the event does she accurately state her name as Lana...instead she acts (pretends/lies) as if her name was really "Ambrose", while another person on stage named Tobias Nguyen falsely says his name is "Vincent" and constantly refers to Lana by the false name "Ambrose". Indeed the entire conversation isn't true: they are claiming events and feelings which they haven't experienced or felt. Almost like, and try to follow along carefully with me on this, as a fictional work everything discussed is a lie.
There are no real people named Quincy, Vincent, Beatrix, nor Portia. It's all a lie: one wonders if other plays without "lying/deception" being triggered would cause these poor darlings' minds to blow open.
