In the monolauge of “Twilight Los Angeles, 1992” Anna Deaver Smith, the Author and actor of the play states “It is not an answer. It is not a solution. I am first looking for the humanness inside the problems, or the crises. This spoken word is evidence of humanness. Perhaps the solution comes further down the road. ” When Smith says this, she means that she is looking for peoples “Humanness”, as in the things that make up human beings, such as thoughts and emotions when in the crises to tell the process of how and why the problem occurred.
In this Smith is not offering any specific solution. Rather she is documenting the way different individuals dealt with the riots which offers individual solutions to the problems smith dramatizes, but not solutions to the situation as a whole. The First monologue I would like to talk about is “The Beverley Hills Hotel” by Elaine Young. Young is a wildly successful Hollywood agent who finds solace at the Beverley Hills Hotel during the riots.
She explains in her opening sentences that she was recently separated and did not want to be alone, so she and her date went to the Beverley Hills Hotel. Despite the escalation of the rioting, and the alerts telling people “Don’t leave your homes” and “Don’t drive the freeway”. She acted as though it was a normal Saturday evening, saying her biggest problem was not being able to find a place to eat because all the stores were closed. This line of thinking just shows how out of touch with reality some people actually are.
She could not comprehend the actual gravity of what was happening, because her lavish lifestyle made her completely ignorant to the situation at hand. This offers valuable incite to the one of the major problems of the riots; which was the social divide between the rich community and the poor urban environment. The rich did not understand why the people in the urban areas were so angry. They were completely detached from the outside world. They just wanted to act like riots weren’t happening, using ignorance to hide from what was really going on.
The solution this this scene offers is ignorance, you can try to just put the situation out of your mind. Although I do not feel as though this is the way a problem should be delt with. It offers one type of solution to the individual within the crisis. The second monologue Id like to talk about is “God Zilla”, an interview spoken by “anonymous man #2” who is an agency office in Beverley Hills. He explains that there was a sense of tension in the air. He described it as so palpable you could cut it with a knife.
When he was at lunch at a restaurant he described the people eating at the restaurants all as white upper middle class. He described that the main feeling he felt was guilt. Guilt that everyone was going on with they’re daily business while people rioting in the streets. Also, racial guilt as he felt that the white community was responsible for the riots. The solution this offers to the problems smith describes would be to show how us how people need more diverse thinking.
It is not just the white community, black community, Latino community, or the Korean community all of these different facets of people are all part of the community. Once we can start to remember this it will aid in stopping this tension of racial divide. The humaneness smith is looking for in this situation is the feeling of guilt this man experienced. To feel guilt is something that is a strictly human quality and it shows that he feels empathy with the rioters. The third monologue I would like to choose is “National Guard” by Julio Menjivar.
In this interview Julio describes a time when he and his family were in the streets of Los Angelas during the riots. The national guard came and arrested him and other young rioters. He describes how the National Guard almost shot his family. Also, how the National Guard soldiers were so mad. Saying that they said “ugly things” to him and slapped a man for not knowing English. This crisis that Smith dramatizes is the excessive use of force by authority figures, and the dehumanization of people who are different in culture, or skin color.
Julio talked about how everyone was scared, and two men were crying because theyre handcuffs were too tight. He explains that he had never been arrested before or in any sort of trouble. Now only because is someone who fits the description of a rioter in the national guards eyes he was arrested. I believe the solution this offers is that officers or any type of authority to the law must learn to not dehumanize someone based on skin color, rather they must relize that every person regardless of skin color, culture, or ethnicity is the same.
The humaneness that smith was looking for was in the monologue when Julio was scared about going to jail and feared for the safety of the others around him. Through all the chaos he was still able to take consideration for the feelings for his family and the people around him. The last monologue I would like to talk about is. “magic” by Gil Garcetti. In this monologue he describes the “Magic” police officers have when in the court room.
He describes it as an aura like “I’m here to tell the truth and I’m here to help you, I’m here to protect you,” I can see how as a juror in someone in the court room police officers can be seen in this light. However, regaurdless of this they must be judged the same as everyone els, and in this I feel lies a solution. We must hold everyone to the same merit of the law regardless of skin color or a badge. The humanness in this that smith is looking for is that this man realized that police officers have are treated specially in the courtroom and that he does not approve of this special treatment.
