Ambivalence, Negotiation And Progress In Angels In America

The problem of homosexuality is one of the important themes in Tony Kushner's two- part play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Centering on the problem of homosexuality, the play seems to endow this subject with a strong sense of "power-oriented" nature. Note that the definition of "power" could have been twofold: either the commonly understood political power, the ability to exert influence on important matters, or in Foucault's definition of the modern form of "power" chiefly employed to discipline and regulate rather than to repress.Through putting the problem of homosexuality in the play within the context of what Foucault defines "modern power discourse", this dissertation sets out to examine the politics of homosexuality. Specifically, Foucault's "modern power discourse" is interpreted as the form of power of the government, also understood as "biopower", which is exercised through the discipline of human body and the regulatory control of population. Through examining the characters' identification or denial as homosexuals, their coming out process and homosexuality within the AIDS context in Kushner's Angels, the thesis argues that the problem of homosexuality is essentially a "power-oriented" one. In terms of the politics of this sexual orientation, Angels proposes an enlightening perspective as how to deal with homosexual individuals and their community, indicating a belief towards better integration of homosexuality into the complete humanity.