Lexington Books Ideological Battlegrounds: Entertainment to Disarm Divisive Propaganda

Can entertainment challenge divisive ideologies? Can we use theater, film, games, novels, and stories disarm the ideologies of fear? Ideological Battlegrounds: Entertainment to Disarm Divisive Propaganda introduces and develops Ideologically Challenging Entertainment (ICE) to challenge "us versus them" narratives. ICE counters polarizing perspectives by embracing multiple valid viewpoints without losing sight of facts. Additionally, this book explores the first ICE production, Two Merchants, The Merchant of Venice adapted to challenge ideologies related to the Arab-Israeli Conflict. A mixed-methods study of audience responses to this production showed that a significant number of audience members reconsidered their views, not only about the Arab-Israeli conflict but also about ideological divisions that were more personally relevant. Ideological Battlegrounds is unique, both in its conceptualization of entertainment as a means to address local and global conflicts and in its provision of evidence for the power of performance as a tool for confronting and influencing ideological change.This book offers a new approach to bridging dangerous ideological chasms that, without significant intervention, will only continue to worsen. Review The Department of Theatre and Film at UBC eagerly embraced the Two Merchants project in 2011 as it was a unique blend of practice and scholarship. Dana L. Solomon used a live theater event as the platform to test her belief that the theater could change minds and therefore change the world. Many of us have professed this for our entire professional lives, but Solomon tackled the belief head on and has provided analytic proof that we were right all along!--Stephen Heatley, University of British Columbia In Ideological Battlegrounds Dr. Solomon has developed a thoughtful and creative approach to engaging theater as a catalyst for critical discussions around the Arab-Israeli conflict. At the heart of this book rests her play The Two Merchants which effectively subverts and disrupts, enabling audience members to rethink and reconsider these ongoing tensions. I strongly recommend this interdisciplinary and insightful book.--George Belliveau, University of British Columbia In Ideological Battlegrounds, Dana L. Solomon opens up original and penetrating pathways toward understanding and possibly resolving what often appears to be an insolvable conflict. This book becomes more timely with the passing of each day. It is indispensable reading for anyone who hopes to even begin to comprehend the situation in the Middle East.--David Patterson, University of Texas at Dallas About the Author Dana L. Solomon holds a PhD in interdisciplinary studies from the University of British Columbia.