Danijela Petković, president of the culture committee of the Center for geostrategic studies
Is theatre life or are artists playing life? Is the present described in classical literature or contemporary dramaturges write the future? Who are the artists, do they share the fate of the so-called Russian "Leech man" or the fate of the characters is shared by all the thinking people of modern society, already drowned by globalism? How does the "lishniy čelovek" of modern society live and pass? Who are these people and are we able to recognize them in the store, on the street, in the infirmary, in the bureau? Is grandma's Pension their bread and would a poor student of time Dostoyevsky make such a compromise? How much is the life or thought of the people of a society of neoliberal capitalism worth?
Nikolai Kolyada is one of the most successful dramatists of modern Russia. His plays are played all over the world, and today he is the head of the Association of dramatists of the Russian Federation. His monodrama "Mladez" was played at the premiere in Belgrade on the 28th. September 2023. Without pretensions to analyze the play "youth", we will try to answer the question of whether humiliated people are just inspiration for works of art or represent something and someone more specific than that?
The monologue in one act was published in the Journal "Ural", No. 5, in 1996. One of the best and most tragic plays of Nikolai Kolyada.
In the classical interpretation, the term "lishny chelovek" in nineteenth-century Russian literature can be defined as a man of considerable ability who cannot realize his talents. But, "Why Did God give her talents and not give her the opportunity to use them?"The story takes place in the nineties in the Soviet Union. Julia is a middle-aged, very talented actress who did not have the opportunity to realize herself in the art world because the world is governed by some other rules that are not described in her book morality and life. It is clear that the untalented are making progress, that the director only helps actresses with whom he sleeps, that the director is homosexual and only helps the stronger half of humanity, that all wars have stopped and that the comet is a "comet", not an atomic bomb that flies and threatens to destroy everything in front of it. How do pure souls pass, How does Julia pass who did not grow up in a family with strong social ties, but is only a smart and sincere soul, eager for self-realization? How? Not at all. Her life passes, years pass, she is unfulfilled in love, work, poor, and slowly slips into the madness in which her consciousness finds comfort. Nothing changes, no one responds to her screams. Society does not respond to the cry.
We are witnessing that in modern society there are various associations that protect the rights of"these and those". And who protects the rights of modern Julii today? Does class-to-class movement exist today and is there a place for children who are not "children and grandchildren of communism"? How are things in Serbia? Or how are things in neoliberal capitalism?
We all know that Democrats are descendants of former communists, that they promote the protection of human rights, gender equality language, democratic values of communist grandparents and fathers. Does a society that is so lacquered by "protection of Rights" leave room for ordinary bread desired by the people? Culture develops in a society where basic needs are met, where there is no hunger and survival, where grandchildren do not take from grandparents for cigarettes, and where descendants do not live on the personal care fees of already immovable parents. Has this democratic society created the conditions for the development of kulutra, for the personal development and advancement of the Serbian Julii? Is such capitalism in need of thinking people, or is it working for the total suppression of freedom of thought under the umbrella of "Free Thought"? Can I say today that I do not want tityula to be called a doctor of science, that I am not a psychologist, that I am female because I was born that way, and I am not educated to become a female? That I love men as a woman, and only in this relationship is the sex determination important. Am I putting my finger in the eye on new values or have the new values left room for me to think with my head in accordance with my non-global values? Does Julia have the right to scream that there are no contests that are legitimate and that evaluate exclusively expertise or must she remain silent that the selection is reduced to a couple of girls with exceptional sexual skills, family pedigree or loyal to an influential "media" that solves everything with one call?
And so there are a lot of questions that go on for years and decades as the talents decline, going mad, while the general interest is reduced to that of privileged "Democratic tityostas". Who is offended and humiliated today? Who cares about Julia today?
Julia is alone in her game world that gives her comfort. There is no responsibility for Wasted Life. The society "protection of Rights" does not protect the humiliated and offended because it has many serious obligations regarding the protection of animal rights, rainbow colors, promotion of gender equality and everything less important than the fact that the thinking man has money today to buy bread and milk. And most of them don't.
11. June 2024.
