Anna Deavere Smith's Docudrama Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992: Crossing Boundaries or Re-Mythifying the Orient? - 4 0 16; Ka-eul Yoo; 5 Plaridel. 14:1(January-June 2017). pp.1-16
ABSTRACT: Los Angeles, 1992 (1994), Anna Deavere Smith's 15th project in her On the Road Series, is a docudrama that explores American identity through the diverse cultural memories of the 1992 Los Angeles crisis. She works to make the play an open platform where racial minority groups in multicultural America can negotiateand coexist by repeating interviews from various groups who were involved in the L.A crisis. Despite the many advantages in her docudrama, the genre itself has been criticized, owing to the dubious characterisitcs of reality thruthfulness and neutrality that she emphasizes. This paper examines the characteristics of the docudrama that smith employs and investigates wheter Twilight Los Angeles, 1992 is effective in achieving her aim of shedding light on the diverse layers of American identity. In particular, this paper will focus on reality, one of the significant traits of the docudrama,and will investigate wheter or not this might cause other forms of racial discrimination. Morover,the researcher will analyze wheter Smith's racial representation is balanced so that the play becomesmeaningful to minorities and helps them work through their foundationaal historical trauma, that is the L.A. crisis, which already become part of thier cultural identity.
Keywords: 2 -- 0; 6; ANNA DEAVERE SMITH - DOCUDRAMA;1992 LOS ANGELES RIOTS -- KOREAN AMERICAN RESPRESENTATION; 20; 2