As Zac Thriffiley pointed out in class (much more eloquently
than I would have), the city of Detroit has had a very strong connotation with
social and economic collapse in the last few years. The title certainly would not make any sense
to an audience that saw the play before Detroit’s collapse. Given the modern housing situation in first
ring suburbs and the presence of the new neighbors, Sharon and Kenny, I would
say that the point of Detroit is somewhere
between dashed expectations and unstoppable deterioration.
Throughout the 20th century, Detroit has been a
highly successful and important city, often noted as the automobile center of
the world. However, Detroit took the
economic collapse especially hard, and any hopes of continued financial success
were ruined. In Detroit, Ben and Mary have high hopes for their new neighbors, and
when it turns out that they are just drug-addled squatters, the effects are
pretty devastating.
The decline of Detroit was something that most people could
not help to fix. The options for many
people would be to get out of town (as the majority did), as the deterioration
of the city was inevitable. Onstage,
this is shown by the houses falling apart.
Also, Ben and Mary are helpless to stop the drug-fueled descent of Kenny
and Sharon. Really, the only thing that
Ben and Mary did wrong was befriend these drug addicts and stick with them; I
would say that this strongly parallels people not wanting to leave Detroit
because they think that their fortunes would turn around. These people were hurt the most.
Also, as I stated in class, it’s actually fairly similar to
the title of David Mamet’s Oleanna. No, the play is not set in New Norway,
Pennsylvania, and Detroit is not
necessarily set in Detroit. That’s not
the point.
I totally agree with you Jordan (and/or Zach lol). I mentioned the city as a symbol in my post and although I did not think it declining was that essential to the play, I can see how vital it is now. I did not read this as a financial crisis as much as I did a social crisis because from my perspective, Sharon and Kerry were still on that dope, so it made since that they didn’t have much. You don’t need furniture when you’re in that state of mind, so even though they probably couldn’t afford it, they would not have gotten it regardless. The suburb falling apart and no one really being there does speak volumes about the economy, however I still think the social fallout is just as big of an issue.
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