{"id":1548,"date":"2025-11-03T21:17:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T02:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2025-11-03T21:17:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T02:17:55","slug":"prophets-politics-and-doxai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/2025\/11\/03\/prophets-politics-and-doxai\/","title":{"rendered":"Prophets, Politics, and Doxai"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the series of articles by J. Bryan Lowder, \u201cPostcards on Camp,\u201d the author discusses the French philosopher and writer Barthes and his ideas on camp, describing it as \u201cthe rescue of nuance.\u201d Barthes refers to nuance as the direct opposition of the perceived and stereotypical, coining the term doxa. There are multiple instances of challenging doxical conventions included in Tony Kushner\u2019s play, Angels in America: a Gay Fantasia on National Themes<\/em>. By challenging these doxical conventions, Kushner complicates the ideas of politics during the Reagan Administration and spiritual authority in Mormonism.<\/p>\n

One example of this is Roy Cohen\u2019s character, which challenges the doxical convention surrounding political inaction in regard to the AIDs epidemic. The Reagan Administration is criticized for their lack of initiative in combatting the AIDs crisis, which stems from the disease primarily affecting stigmatized groups. Cohen\u2019s character holds lots of political influence and power, yet he is diagnosed with AIDs. Cohen says to his doctor \u201cNo<\/em>, Henry, no<\/em>. AIDS is what homosexuals have. I have liver cancer\u201d (Kushner 2013, 47). Roy makes this distinction, lying about his condition, as a result of his internalized homophobia and because he is aware of the power and influence he could lose if others were to find out that he was diagnosed with AIDs.<\/p>\n

Another example of this is the angel\u2019s declaration of Prior Walter as a prophet, challenging the doxical convention surrounding homosexuality and religion. In the play, Prior and Harper meet in his dream and her delusion, and Harper says to him \u201cOh! In my church we don\u2019t believe in homosexuals\u201d (Kushner 2013, 32). Mormonism is a central theme to this play; it plays a major role in the lives of characters Harper and Joe. In Mormonism, acting upon same-sex attraction is considered a sin, often resulting in the homophobic and exclusionary attitudes towards homosexuality from Mormons. The idea of a gay man dying of AIDs being declared a religious figure is a doxical convention in and of itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the series of articles by J. Bryan Lowder, \u201cPostcards on Camp,\u201d the author discusses the French philosopher and writer Barthes and his ideas on camp, describing it as \u201cthe rescue of nuance.\u201d Barthes refers to nuance as the direct opposition of the perceived and stereotypical, coining the term doxa. There are multiple instances of … Continue reading Prophets, Politics, and Doxai<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5699,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5699"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1549,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions\/1549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/lgbtqlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}