'Faust' Opera Video Stirs Angry Parents

[deadparrot]

BENNETT, Colo. - Some parents in this prairie town are angry with an elementary school music teacher for showing pupils a video about the opera "Faust," whose title character sells his soul to the devil in exchange for being young again.

"Any adult with common sense would not think that video was appropriate for a young person to see. I'm not sure it's appropriate for a high school student," Robby Warner said after two of her children saw the video.

Another parent, Casey Goodwin, said, "I think it glorifies Satan in some way."

Tresa Waggoner showed approximately 250 first-, second- and third-graders at Bennett Elementary portions of a 33-year-old series titled "Who's Afraid of Opera" a few weeks ago.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060202/ap_en_tv/faust_video

[marmar]

1. America, getting nuttier and scarier by the minute...

:crazy: :scared: :crazy: :scared:

[izzie]

61. I am with you on this,

Must be great fun being a kid in that house. You wonder why these kids are so narrow in their thinking.

[teacher_chick]

73. Mock election

At this school district they did a mock election...only like 10 students out of 200 voted for Kerry...the rest were all votes for Bush. What does that tell you?

[teacher_chick]

72. I dunno...might just be that Town

I think the whole world is getting nutty, but Bennett, the town in question, is by far the nuttiest town in all of Colorado...believe me, I taught there for two years!

[anotherdrew]

87. bunch of illiterate ignorant fools. why is this NEWS? why media coverage?

ignore these jackasses and they'll go away.

[CottonBear]

2. Good lord. If anyone needs a cultural education, it's the parents.

I suppose they are the book banning, bible teaching in school sorts. :(

Geez. It's an opera. Enjoy it as a great work of art!

[JerseygirlCT]

76. They have NO use for art. Or understanding it of it

I pity their children.

[northzax]

3. Casey Goodwin, ladies and gentlemen.

is this a joke "I think is glorifies Satan in some way" ??? really, this is from The Onion, isn't it?

[0007]

83. ...mumble mumble those words from the opera that most don't

understand are tongues from the devil....mumble mumble outlaw all opera ....it ...glorifies Satan.

Born and raised in Colorado Springs Colorado and man they we're nuttier than a Babe Ruth candy bar, back then... and I hear its getting worse by the day.

[Kagemusha]

4. Is it appropriate for adults, then?

Just wondering...

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Oh, my dear God. And we have so many modern-day Fausts.

These kids need to learn that story.

[Misunderestimator]

71. They're afraid of the children finding out what they did themselves.

[mikeytherat]

6. "I think it glorifies Satan in some way."

"I can't for the life of me think how it glorifies Satan but, as it is about Satan, it must glorify him. In some way."

All that O₂ going to waste...

mikey_the_rat

[GrpCaptMandrake]

13. So many fundies, so few lions! n/t

[mikeytherat]

14. Didn't all these people star as the elder townsfolk in "Footloose"?

I swear I've heard this dialog before...

mikey_the_rat

[progressivebydesign]

20. More like villager extras in Young Frankenstein (did they have torches?)NT

[mikeytherat]

28. No, the YF folks submitted to reason, and then had spongecake and wine.

I think these folks need a whole lot of wine and some Sponge Bob!

mikey_the_rat

[Mad_Dem_X]

36. LOL - they can't even articulate why

they are offended! :eyes:

[mikeytherat]

39. Yep: "I'm too stupid to know why I'm offended. Why it's almost as if

I've never seen the video in question."

It would be really funny if it weren't so sad and serious.

mikey_the_rat

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. This is hilarious!

I was REQUIRED to READ "Faust" in German my senior year in high school, and we spent half a year discussing the story by Goethe and another guy who wrote another version (hey, it's been 36 years since high school!). We saw at least one, if not two films of the story-all I remember was the devil swinging on a swing in a black and white film. But I don't think anyone back then thought it was inappropriate for a high schooler to watch.

[gauguin57]

22. That would be "Dr. Faustus" by Christopher Marlowe

One of these Colorado Kooks' great-great-great-great-great-great grandfathers probably stabbed Marlowe in the tavern because he "glorified Satan" in his play.

Good Freaking Lord! Doesn't this just want to make you give up on humanity?

[northzax]

88. these were second graders

not high schoolers, for the record.

[tanyev]

8. Just look how far we've come in 33 years.

They'd better not look too hard at some of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons.

[hobbit709]

15. I love those old cartoons

They're not even close to politically corect but they're great. I have about 30 hours worth of the old Warner Brothers and about 10 hours worth of Rocky and Bullwinkles on DVDs I burned fron VHS

[Inland]

27. "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit..." nt

[magellan]

55. Look at Bugs Bunny? They already have

Back in the early 90s there was some taxpayer funded research into the "homosexual inunendos" of certain Bugs Bunny cartoons. One of the cartoons of concern showed a bull blasting Bugs in the tail with an angry snort of air.

Outrageous but true. Repubs will read evil into anything. And they love spending our money on their paranoid witch hunts.

[mikeytherat]

74. Have you seen the "PC" versions of those old cartoons?

See Wile E. Coyote impact the desert floor? Nope; too violent.
See Daffy Duck get blasted by the shotgun, only to have his bill spin around? Nope; too violent.

If you ever see Loony Tunes or Merrie Melodies on broadcast TV, just check them out for a few minutes. They have been scrubbed of all violence, overt sexual references, and all satire and meaning. It is really, really sad. I am SO glad I have DVD copies of these classics.

mikey_the_rat

[brentspeak]

9. "Faust" is a little too grown up for 2nd and 3rd graders, but

only a moron could really believe that the opera "glorifies Satan".

[AnneD]

65. I agree...

the wee ones don't think on that level yet...Now show them Bugs Bunny's adaption of Wagner...they will love it....it is a great way to slide them into opera.

[toddaa]

89. Oh yeah, let's get them hooked on Wagner

That's just what this country needs, more elementary school Wagnerians. When things get out of control, we'll have them read Nietzsche. ;)

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Villagers Unite! Let us burn the books, destroy the operas, and

end a thousand years of culture! Let us return to the Dark Ages where devils and vampires and werewolves roam and steal our children. Storm the bastions of science. Do not enlight us!!

[thebigidea]

11. should've shown the Svankmajer version, give 'em nightmares for life

though I think my favorite take on Faust is Peter Cook's "Bedazzled"

"you fill me with inertia..."

[Missy M]

12. I think some of these parents have too much time on their....

hands. I wonder if any of these parents will sell their soul to a plastic surgeon so they can be young again. All the teacher was trying to do is give the students some appreciation for opera and it somehow turns into Satan being glorified. Has anyone informed the parents that Satan is not real?

[reprobate]

79. But to them satan is real, just as god is real. The two, btw, are

inseparable and interdependant. You can't have god without satan, and you can't have satan without god. Just as you can't have light without dark.

They represent the two sides of the human psyche. One without the other would be like trying to slice the head from the tail side of a coin. They are both necessary to form a unity.

[mikeytherat]

16. OMFG! A music teacher showed a documentary about an opera.

I've gone through so many irony meters in the past few years...and just pegged the needle on another one.

mikey_the_rat

[progressivebydesign]

21. And they've attacked her personally calling her a "satanist", and more.

Sounds pretty damn Christian to me! I marvel at the letters I've read to people that these pious people send out to complain about someone doing or saying something unGodly... they are filled with threats, attacks, name-calling, and often profanity. WTF is going on? Why are these people empowered into threatening everyone that doesn't agree with them??

[Inland]

17. I thought he sold his soul for knowledge (Goethe)

and that might not be the BEST lesson in school. Just thinking out loud.

[Lisa]

35. I suppose the teacher could spin it ...

... as Faust trying to get "easy" knowledge (without putting in study time)?

There was actually a rather fun version of this, on the educational TV channel in Ontario, Canada. They had a regular series about spelling and grammar, done by some talented comedians -- one of the episodes featured a student who wanted to become a famous writer, but without the hassle of re-writing and correcting his own work. Satan offers this to him ... the catch being that, after he dies, the writer has to toil forever in "editorial hell", revising the pitiful drafts of other suckers!

[transeo]

54. In the opera it's for youth and the love of Margeurite

Goethe's version was much more philosophical. Gounod's opera hardly glorifies Satan, it is actually a very beautiful, tragic love story with incredibly gorgeous music.

[Mr. Peanut]

66. A mind is a terrible thing to waste...

This is outrageous, isn't it? You'd think these parents would be glad that their children are being exposed to opera, and the arts in general.

Transeo, you are so correct. The opera is glorious, but it hardly glorifies Mephistopheles, and Faust doesn't fare very well, either. Mephisto lures him "with a tempting image of Marguerite at her spinning wheel, persuades Faust to buy Mephistopheles' services on earth in exchange for Faust's in Hell."—Wikipedia

"Faust ... became the most frequently performed opera at (the Grand Opera) and a staple of the international repertory."—Wikipedia

It has more hit "tunes" than most other operas, and the melodies are quite memorable.

I own all three of the "Who's Afraid of Opera" series and they are marvelous for children, especially because of the puppets. And marvelous because of Joan Sutherland, of course, whose voice and acting ability are matchless in the excerpts she performs to "educate" the puppets. "Who says opera can't be enjoyed by kids?"

[Davis_X_Machina]

18. How many of those houses...

...have radios that are turned off whenever 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' comes on?

[progressivebydesign]

19. I had no idea Colorado was full of religiously insane people.

I've read here that Colorado can be conservative... I guess, because it always had an image of being independent, that it would succumb to the Talibanerica mindset that is creeping across the nation. These parents are idiots. I can GUARANTEE, from my experience, that 90% of those children have been exposed to excessive violence, sexual content, and rude behavior, while watching tv at home. Sorta like the 3 3rd grade boys I saw renting Mr & Mrs. Smith at Blockbuster the other day, with a Dad.

It's starting.. isn't it? First they demonize liberals, then they start attacking culture, what next?? Burning books and museums? Forcing women from jobs and schools???

THIS IS WHY I AM AN ATHIEST!! I wasn't before.. those types of "believers" are what made me stop believing.

[donco6]

49. You're kidding right?

Colorado is chock-full of RW religious whackos. Hell, Focus on the Family is headquartered here. Promise Keepers was started by the former CU football coach. Colorado Springs is home to the head of the Evangelicals.

It's only the tiny islands of Boulder and Denver where the poison fog clears. Everywhere else is full of crazies.

[Critters2]

56. I didn't realize how crazy Colorado was

until I read _Fast Food Nation_. There's a lot of info there about how Colorado has become fundie. Quite a surprise.

[Blue_Tires]

23. next up on the fundie book ban list: "Paradise Lost"

where Satan actually is the twisted sort of anti-hero.....

[gauguin57]

25. Shhhhh ... don't tell these morons about "Paradise Lost."

You'll just give them ... IDEAS! They might, then, discover John Milton's "THE AREOPAGITICA" -- one of classic literature's greatest defenses of freedom of speech (and printing and thought)!!! And who knows where THAT might lead!

[Blue_Tires]

34. we won't mention Dante's "Inferno" as well

because right now, Dante's vision of hell at least seems a step up from this Colorado community! The KIDS might think it's Disneyland and all want to go there!

[gauguin57]

24. See the video for yourself, folks! SATANIC PUPPETS!

Duck and cover, kids! Joan Sutherland and her puppet friends teach you how to glorify Satan! Gaaaaah!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6301666518/sr=1-1/qid=1138988694/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5774921-6995949?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

Here's Amazon's description:
"World famous Joan Sutherland and her three delightful puppet friends bring to life two great operas - Faust and Rigoletto in a special way that the whole family is sure to enjoy. Sutherland introduces her puppet audience to the story behind each opera and then performs their highlights in complete costume with elaborate sets. At key moments the Dame returns to her puppets to reveal more about the opera's plot. As Maguerite in Faust, Sutherland falls in love with someone who sold his soul for eternal youth and pleasure. In Rigoletto as Gilda, she is in love with the flirtatious and corrupt Duke of Mantua to the despair of her father, the court jester. Who says opera can't be enjoyed by kids?"

[mikeytherat]

30. Satanic puppets? That is so cool!

And ya gotta LOVE the (situationally) ironic title - Who's Afraid of Opera?

mikey_the_rat

[gauguin57]

33. Yes! And don't those puppets look menacing?

Wow ... Who's Afraid of Puppets?

[mikeytherat]

37. Kukla, Fran and SATAN!!!

I mean, c'mon! Everyone knows clowns are evil, not puppets! Good thing they didn't show the kiddies Pagliacci!

mikey_the_rat

PS
Actually, Homer Simpson is afraid of puppets. Well, sock puppets anyway.

[gauguin57]

40. ROFLMAO!

Kukla ... Fran ... BWAAAAHAAAAA!

[0rganism]

68. I dunno, those puppets might be too intense for some high-schoolers

Why does Hillary chase vainly after violent video games when operatic puppetry presents a clear and present danger?

[wordpix2]

26. "not appropriate for a hs student": OK, let's teach them NOT to think

instead

[Mechatanketra]

29. They're not worried about glorification, but explanation.

As my brother once said eloquently about the fundy insanity over Harry Potter: "They're not worried that kids will see this and think the supernatural's real; they're worried kids will see it and consider that it (and similar tales ...) is just a story."

[gauguin57]

31. When are they going to ban the Bible?

I mean, the New Testament has Satan all over the place!

[daleo]

32. Faust, not appropriate for high school students?

It is perhaps debatable whether elementary students would gain a lot from the story, but high school?

Just think of all the bizarre and frightening religious imagery that regular church going puts in the heads of young kids. Nothing can compete with the lurid hell stories that churches regale kids with. I was never much of a churchgoer, but I used to tag along with a friend's family sometimes when I was 9 or 10 just to hear the scary stories. It was like watching a horror film - scary, but oddly compelling. In a way, that whole experience glorified Satan.

Not that I take any of it seriously now.

[Lisa]

38. "glorifying Satan"? More like "don't make the same mistake as Faust!"

I thought the Faust story (and the thousands upon thousands of variations of it in human cultures, ranging from the "trickster" myths of North American aboriginals, to the gruesome supernatural stories of Japan) offer some timeless advice to young people in particular. (See Bruno Bettelheim's notes on the seriousness of "fairy tales".)

For example -- be very skeptical of sweet deals offered to you by well-dressed strangers (be they talent managers, real-estate tycoons, weight-loss clinics, used-car dealers, politicians, etc.).

They probably don't have your best interests at heart, and it could cost you your savings, your reputation, your sanity, your health -- or worse.

Oh, wait. This is the Bush Era, isn't it. Nix the educational effort! We don't want the kids to catch on!


p.s. my high school put on a production of "Damn Yankees!" -- I suppose that selling your soul so a MLB franchise can profit from a pennant victory is okay?

[reprobate]

81. Lisa, your post can be boiled down to two thoughts:

1. There ain't no free lunch.

2. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

[Lisa]

85. and there's also a corollary ...

We've seen this happen so often, we could add "Fool me once, shame on you .... You fool me, you can't get fooled again!"

Or words to that effect.

[arachide]

41. Uh, I thought Satan lost...

if I remember the opera, he loses Faust's soul, because Faust has 2nd thoughts and gets into heaven (somehow). Maybe they should at least READ the damned story before they criticize it? Oh no, too difficult, I must watch American Idol...

[mikeytherat]

45. Yes! You actually saw and remembered the opera

(from a summary of the opera)

(snip)
Then, in joy, Faust died.

Mephisto rose up, and gloated at his former master's ultimate, inevitable defeat - and at the wretched fate that awaited all men: "Why have eternal creation, / when all is subject to annihilation?/ Now it is over. What meaning can one see?... "

But just as Mephisto reached to take the prize he had won, a host of angels descended and distracted him while Faust's soul escaped; it was the Devil who would taste defeat. Though Faust had sinned, even so he had struggled towards growth, knowledge, and transcendence. "Whoever strives in ceaseless toil/ Him we may grant redemption. the seraphs sang.

Then, with the Devil still raging, the angelic chorus flew into heaven, "bearing off Faust's immortal part."
(/snip)

Faust's soul goes to Heaven because he has grown and learned, and the devil is left holding the bag. Since Faust's soul goes to Heaven and the Devil takes it in the shorts, this is CLEARLY a "glorification of Satan."

Ignorant, book-burning dipshits.

mikey_the_rat

[sallydallas124]

42. A sure sign of low IQ

is concrete thinking

[Dulcinea]

43. I read "Dr. Faustus" in high school.

It might be a little over the heads of grade schoolers, but it's entirely appropriate for high school kids.

It's a classic! Maybe these parents should read it themselves & see if they still think it glorifies Satan.

[senaca]

53. I guess "Damn Yankees" would be out of the question too then. n/t,

[NativeTexan]

44. Those folks voted for the "Great Satan"....

....and they sold THEIR souls. So, they should be GLAD that the teacher is instructing the kids in the ways of their parents!

[KansDem]

46. "Leave It to Beaver" was the Faust legend repeated every week!

When you stop and think about it.

Consider:

Beav or Wally = essentially good kids

Eddie or Lumpy or Larry or Gilbert = "Satan" offering Wally or Beav "worldly pleasures" by getting them to do something they knew was wrong.

Beav or Wally + Ward = "Redemption" as Wally or Beav saw the error of their ways and accepted consequences of their actions. This was the "lesson learned" talk at the end of the show, accompanied by a much slower version of the show's theme song, accompanied by harp.

How can anyone criticize this approach to character building? What's wrong with these people!

These people would bitch about the rope they're hung with...

[Critters2]

57. And all the while,

June was in the kitchen making supper and/or chocolate chip cookies dressed in a shirt waist dress and heels. It really was Nirvana.

[WinkyDink]

47. Get yer Satan-free Christianity right here!

Don't sell your soul to Satan! Sell it to Bushco!

[gauguin57]

48. Folks, I needed a good laugh today, and you have DELIVERED, big time!

I have not laughed so hard at a DU thread in weeks.

THANK YOU, everyone!

[Betty]

50. and "The Producers" glorifies Hitler

right, tiny brains?

[wordpix2]

51. and they don't like Huckleberry Finn, either

[young_at_heart]

52. Has the US actually become "The Twilight Zone"?

A 33-year-old series is now inappropriate? Could these people please define "an adult with common sense"......glorifying Satan is a new one to me!

[Critters2]

58. Not a surprise, really

I have fundie friends who are worried about me because I don't believe in Satan as anything more than a metaphor. Apparently, if I understand their thinking (and Im not sure I do), not believing in Satan opens the door to Satan coming into my life and doing,...well, I'm not sure what, but something bad--REALLY, REALLY BAD! And they honestly think that they'll change my mind by nagging me about it.

My mom used to think the same thing about getting me to clean my room. That didn't work either.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

59. Leave it to a bunch of fundies to condemn an opera they've never seen

If they'd seen it, they'd know it warns people of Satan's temptation.

Dumbfucks.

[VaYallaDawg]

60. Starting to sound more and more like 17th Cent. Salem MA.

[displacedtexan]

62. Of course, the parents have no idea how "Faust" ends, do they?

I sort of had this same problem when I directed "Little Shop of Horrors" in
Summer Teen Theatre in Illinois (It's "Faust" updated).

When the parents read the script (Seymour gets eaten in the end-- not like the movie), they were
fine with it and actually thought it was "religiously sound."

[mitchum]

63. Onward, Christian Whiners

[kineneb]

64. good grief- I read Goethe's Faust in the original German

and thought it was really good. I also had a graduate music history class which required us to listen to Gounod's Faust.

What would these idiot parents say about Mozart's Don Giovani or Magic Flute? Cretians!

[McCamy Taylor]

67. Dont want kids to know its BAD to make a deal with Rove/Deavil.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

69. Here's the problem.......

the video is 33 yers old. All of us who are of the age to have seen it then, are now going what's the problem?
These kinds of people don't give anyone credit for having a brain or the ability to think for themselves. This country has turned on its' freakin' ear...........

[teacher_chick]

70. been There done that

I actually taught in Bennett for a couple of years. I decided to leave because trying to please parents all the time gets tiring. Teachers have to tread so lightly so they will not anger the parents. If the parents feel a teacher is doing a poor job than that teacher can kiss his/her job goodbye! Teachers get no support from the administration because the administrators are either from the town or are too afraid of what will happen to their careers if they ever take on a parent. Don't get me wrong, the parents have good intentions, they want nothing but the best for their children, but most of them are not educated enough to know what is good or bad. Did you know that the Faust Opera was actually located in the school's library? Did you know that the opera was actually written into the curriculum? Why don't they look to the person in charge of the curriculum or even the principal...the person in charge of the teachers, he should have seen the faust Opera on her lesson plans. I feel sorry for this teacher...she is burning at the stake and there isn't anyone in this town to help her put out the fire.

[Javaman]

75. My blog response a few days ago to this...

This one comes from the great state of Colorado.

It appears that Opera is the work of the devil, check it out...

BENNETT, Colo. - Some parents in this prairie town are angry with an elementary school music teacher for showing pupils a video about the opera "Faust," whose title character sells his soul to the devil in exchange for being young again.

"Any adult with common sense would not think that video was appropriate for a young person to see. I'm not sure it's appropriate for a high school student," Robby Warner said after two of her children saw the video.

Another parent, Casey Goodwin, said, "I think it glorifies Satan in some way."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2083954

Oy, where do I start with this one. Beyond the fact that Faust is one of the most brilliant of all the operas ever made, the basic story is the same through out history, people get tempted then redeem themselves. Holy Christ on a ferris wheel. These holy roller rightwing extremists have to get-a-fucking-grip. It's fucking opera. Unless forced to see opera, I seriously doubt a 2nd or 3rd grader is going to go up to his mom the next day and say, "you know, mommy dear, I have been giving some deep thought over that opera yesterday and I have come to the conclusion that, that old sot Satan is might keen. There I have said it mother, mighty fine keen. From this day forward, I forsake rock and roll, bump and grinding britney crap music for Opera!!! Give me Maria Callus any day over Shakera's belly button low riding sex appeal, I want to listen to the taunts of middle aged Rubenesque women singing the strains of Faust and The Marriage of Figaro!!!"

Holy fucking donkey dick, hell I didn't really understand or appreciate opera until I hit about 35. Unless you live in Europe where they actually have a real concept of music instruction or unless the kid is musician or have culturally aware parents or is some sort of prodigy will have the slightest inkling of wanting to listen to or let along get influenced by opera, I honestly think that these people don't have to worry.

Basically, these idiots need to get their heads out of there asses, ake the bible that is clipped to their noses off and see the fucking world. These are the same type of narrow eyed, big eared short attention span mouth breathers that still think that the statue of david is obscene.

http://filmguyrants.blogspot.com/

[CBHagman]

77. Ever hear of GOETHE, you nitwits?!

:banghead: Oh, this is moving in the direction of total insanity! Or inanity. I'm not sure which.

Seriously, the Faust legend was around for hundreds of years before Goethe wrote his Faust plays and Gounod (and other composers) took on the theme.

And you can just forget about Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique or Stravinsky's Histoire du Soldat, too -- too many supernatural goings-on there as well.

Aargh.

[noonwitch]

78. I don't think it's appropriate for elementary school-it's kind of scary

I do think it's appropriate for high school students to view, although I know of few high school kids who want to listen to opera.

It doesn't glorify Satan, for what it's worth.

[6000eliot]

80. I thought only Moslems react to culture this way.

[MissHoneychurch]

82. Never mind that "Faust" is an old piece of literature

and the most famous "Faust" is from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, written in the early 19th century and that ages of pupils have read the books in school without becoming Satanists

:eyes:

[winston61]

84. ignorant, white trash dumbasses

Don Giovanni is about a cockhound who gets his comeuppance. But that opera is about sex and going to hell, can't show that. How 'bout some dumbass Disney shit, Mom?

[triguy46]

86. The nerve!!!

Next they will be showing that erotic masterpiece of titillation and sexuality, "Schinler's List."

[PassingFair]

90. Poor teacher! This line is SO sad...

"I know I'm not accepted here, that I'm not welcome here by the parents," she said. "It's a very uncomfortable position."

Get Out NOW, Teach!

Sounds ripe for a "Children of the Corn" ending!

Malachi!