City of Emeralds

Just got to my favorite moment in “Wicked,” and decided to take a picture to mark the ocasion. This scene is why, despite all the differences in characterization, plot, and circumstance, I like Elphaba and Fiyero’s very different story arc in the novel every bit as much as I enjoy them in the musical. Despite knowing how the novel ends (in full), I’m resonating with their story quite a bit after reading the novel properly, because I see how it fits into her story arc. To put it simply, I’ve always seen Elphaba’s relationship with Fiyero, at least in book verse, as ultimately being the one good thing in her life. It was, to quote another character that I adore quite a bit quite literally her “brief flicker of light amidst an ocean of darkness.”  (It’s always a good day when I can find connections between my favorite pairings).

And, because Elphaba is less innocent, more closed-off, and much more jaded and cynical than her musical counterpart, this aspect of their relationship comes across very strongly in “City of Emeralds.” In a way, Elphaba in the musical was often denied, yet always very ready for love and affection, whether from Glinda’s friendship, her attraction to Fiyero, or from mentor figures such as Dillamond and even Morrible and the Wizard at points in her life. In that way, she and Fiyero fall for each other and come together very naturally, which is charming and heartwarming to watch.

This Elphaba, however, is resigned to being alone, and as a result, she and Fieyro work much harder at their relationship, which in turn becomes beautifully layered and complex because of its difficulty. This moment especially, “No! I’m not a harem, I’m not a woman, I’m not a person, no,” is so indicative of somebody who has accepted being alone so thoroughly that she’s begun to reject her own personhood suddenly letting somebody into her life. And it’s not romantic as much as it is jarring, difficult and frightening for her, and she’s not sweet as much as she’s often even more cynical and on the defensive. She struggles with being vulnerable, she questions her feelings every step of the way, and she’s far from perfect, but their relationship still becomes the point in her life when she is the happiest. 

"Why should I keep myself so safe?" he asked her, but he was almost asking himself…What is there that makes my life worth preserving? "I love you," said Elphaba." So that’s that then, and that’s it," he answered her, and himself. "And I love you.  So I promise to be careful." Careful enough for both of us, he thought.

What I love particularly love about this moment, though, is that it offers a glimpse of how Fiyero develops, and how he is affected by this relationship. Often with a pairing, when one character takes more of a central role in the plot, the other character become easy to overlook as merely an aspect of their partner’s plot arc. Here, though, the focus is solely on Fiyero, and how her realizes that Elphaba is also his brief flicker of light in an otherwise jaded existence. After seeing so much of Elphaba opening up to another individual and having her loneliness and otherness alleviated, it’s poignant to see the effect she has on him as well.

I love that there is an entire section of “Wicked” dedicated to their story; considering that the book is divided into stages of Elphaba’s life, I feel like that goes a long way in showing how important this period is to her. I genuinely think that any writer trying to write a very human and very layered relationship should read at least this chapter to see how to write characters that get into your head and make you care fiercely about their stories.

One year ago, I saw “Wicked” in Singapore. This winter break, I’m finally reading the novel for real this time. No skimming, no re-reading “City of Emeralds” over and over again, wishing it ended differently, no skipping ahead. I’m definitely liking this darker, more conflicted version of Elphaba, who is much more of a compelling revolutionary figure than an idealistic, spunky schoolgirl. When I saw the musical, I picked up on the conflict between internal change vs. external change; this theme is even more prevalent in the book. And as much as I love Elphaba and Fiyero in the musical, I also enjoy their arguably more mature and conflicted story arcs in the novel. 

Also seeing “Les Misérables” later today. It’s a good day for musicals. 

I’ve been meaning to watch “Sherlock” for some time now and it took seeing Martin Freeman in “The Hobbit” to give me that last bit of motivation. Needless to say, I’m loving that TV series thus far. This is genius. Can’t wait for their upcoming verbal sparring.

End-of-the-Quarter

My friend is an exceptionally talented photographer. We did an impromptu photo shoot in the Haggett Grey Lounge last week before her end-of-the-quarter dinner. 

I think they turned out pretty fantastically.

Didn’t know the Grey Lounge could look that classy. We look pretty good ourselves :)

The Hobbit

I saw “The Hobbit” a few days ago and pretty went through the entire movie feeling like I was back in 7th grade, excitedly watching “The Return of the King” when it came out in theaters, wishing I could escape to Middle Earth (or New Zealand). Needless to say, I loved the movie, and I personally loved how many times the filmmakers deliberately played up the tie-ins and nostalgia factor in the movie. Hearing all the familiar leitmotifs for the Shire, the Ring, Rivendell, and even Gandalf calling the Great Eagles made me smile. I loved how the Misty Mountain theme takes the place of the Fellowship theme in highlighting the dwarves’ crowning moments of awesome, to quote a TV trope term. I loved seeing the old actors reprise their roles, and I grinned like an idiot when Ian Holm’s Bilbo and Elijah Wood’s Frodo interacted on screen again. 

Also, I could just go on and on about wonderful I found Martin Freeman’s portrayal of Bilbo. He does it all so well: adorably awkward, brave, scared, conflicted, clever, fussy. I nearly shed a tear when he decides against killing Gollum in the cave. Despite being a silent scene, his acting was just that good. “Riddles in the Dark” was easily one of my favorite scenes, and poor, conflicted Gollum has even better CGI this time around. I thought Martin Freeman was spot-on with his characterization and it’s made Bilbo pull on my heartstrings in a way that the four hobbits in the original trilogy didn’t quite do, as good as they were. 

Also, the dwarves. Humorously, I distinctly recalled thinking back in the seventh grade that if they ever made a Hobbit movie, I’d miss all the eye candy that the cast of the Fellowship provided. I was very wrong. Can I just mention for a second how Bryonic Thorin is? He’s dark, brooding, suffering from a tragic past, and he acts like a proper Bryonic hero, complete with moments of staring out over a cliff top. I’m sure some viewers find that overdone, but I’m a sucker for anything that hints at that Romantic “Wanderer above a Sea of Fog” aesthetic. And that unflinching walk towards the Pale Orc… definitely goosebumps during that scene. I love that they went that direction with his characterization. I’m a bad Tolkien fan who didn’t reread “The Hobbit,” so I haven’t read that book for over ten years. I wasn’t particularly drawn to Thorin at that age, but this time around, I was mesmerized by his character onscreen. I enjoyed his adaptational attractiveness quite a bit, and I loved the time they spent developing his backstory. Balin’s loyalty to Thorin is sweet. Additionally, Fili and Kili are complete, adorable, attractive female fan service. It has got to be intentional. They even act like the Weasley twins. Not that I mind :) 

I suppose if I were to do a full-in depth review of the movie, or if I were watching it critically, I’d notice its various flaws and pacing issues more. But I pretty much watched it with the mindset and the expectations of an excited fan and as such, was pretty much swept away by the experience.

Escape

This evening, I went to a Lord of the Rings themed pub quiz with a group of friends. I haven’t touched, read, watched or thought much about Tolkien for the past few years, and realizing how much trivia I remembered from my days of being a thirteen-year-old discovering the fantasy genre and the existence of fan fiction and the online internet fandom was incredibly nostalgic, to say the least. Apparently, I still remember who most of the characters’ fathers are, even if “Frodo, son of Drogo” now conjures up a funny mental image of Frodo leading a khalasar. (Intertextuality for the win?) I’m pretty amused that I still remember what “Tig” is, and that I retained good bit of the trivia I picked up reading the transcripts of “Fellowship of the Ring” over and over again for all the spoof fanfictions I wrote. Also, I’m pretty proud that I remembered that Faenor created the silmirlis.

Nostalgia is a strange thing and I’m pretty sure that in general, re-living that nerdiness, or even seeing the Hobbit trailer reminds me of being that age and viewing literature, and probably a bit of the online fandom, as an escape from mundane reality. It reminds me of coming home from school on Friday, running up to my room and getting on my computer to read, write, discuss and generally immerse myself in an alternate reality. Though really, it was never so much losing track of reality as much as needing the occasional escape from it.

In any case, reading through my old scribbles is so much like going back in time and reading notes from a past self that it’s uncanny. When I reset “The Fellowship of the Ring” in a junior high school, which apparently earned me quite a few reviews on FF.net, it’s pretty amusing to realize how much that was essentially me re-imagining my current situation at the time as something more exciting and fantastical than it was. And yet, I definitely see a good bit of snark and my attempts to satirize the inane aspects of school (stress, social cliques, faulty vending machines, band parties) and then I’m sort of proud of my younger self. I’m most definitely looking forward to “The Hobbit”, if for nothing else, because it’s going to be a good two hours of straight-on nostalgic feelings and happiness. 

Eight Books

1. One book that changed your life: “Tam Lin” by Pamela Dean; I can’t count how many times I’ve mentioned this novel on personal statements and scholarship applications as one of the large reasons I ended up in the English major. 

2. One book you have read more than once: “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger. Going on five times now, if only counting cover-to-cover reads. Gets better every time. 

3. One book you would want on a desert island: “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding. It might be instructive, but mostly ironic. 

4. One book that made you laugh: “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut. So much sardonic humor. 

5. One book that made you cry: “Atonement” by Ian McEwan. That coda ending ripped my heart out. What-do-you-mean-they-didn’t-have-a-happy-ending? (Is it sad that I could come up with a quick list of at least 10 books that made, or nearly made me cry but I had to sit and think of a book that made me laugh?)

6. One book you wish hadn’t been written: I honestly can’t think of a book I dislike enough to wish it hadn’t been written. So, I’ll cheat and use another art form. I wish “Love Never Dies” had never been done. It destroyed all vestiges of my head canon and my interpretation of the “Phantom of the Opera” characters.

7. One book you are currently reading: “The Uses of Enchantment” by Bruno Bettelheim 

8. One book you have been meaning to read: “Wicked, the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire. I’ve seen the musical. I’ve read parts of the book (“City of Emeralds”, specifically. My goodness… tragic love story much?) I know how it ends. I haven’t read it cover-to-cover because I know it’s just going to be an emotional trial. I still mean to, with a mug of hot chocolate handy.

(Picture via sixbluemarbles)

Autumn

The UW campus is so lovely during the fall. Dead week is shaping up to be crazy between work and two research papers and I wanted to take a moment to pause and appreciate these little moments. 

Outside the law building on a sunny day + new phone

Quad on a foggy morning… love it!

Atonement

This seriously just made my day. According to the New York Times, the production is set to premiere in 2013 (!) and will be worked on by Michael Berkeley, who will provide the music,Craig Raine who will write the libretto and McEwan who will be giving creative input. While I have yet to research either of the other two individuals involved, I’m excited that McEwan will be directly involved in this project and appears to be friends with the other two.

"Atonement, the bestselling novel about class and love set in the second World War by Ian McEwan, is to be made into an opera. "

The Telegraph article gives some fantastic quotes regarding the direction of the production, which happily matches exactly how I would have envisioned the transition from text to opera. The basic plot of “Atonement,” (for those who haven’t been following my ramblings on the novel last year), revolves around “the doomed love affair between the aristocratic Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner, her bright but socially inferior lover. Cecilia’s younger sister, consumed with jealousy, makes a disastrous mistake that changes all their lives.” McEwan comments, “It’s not a chamber piece, that’s for sure. You can do some very dramatic things with this. If you were thinking of a large scale opera then what springs to mind is 380,000 troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. That would be quite a choir.” So, it’s going to be a grandiose choral work? Yes please! 

Given some of the other quotes coming from Berkeley and Raine, it sounds like I’m going to absolutely love the tragic, romantic direction they take the material.

From Berekley, “The love affair between Robbie and Cecilia is at a distance, in letters and the mind. (Sounds like my thesis all over again!) That’s something that music can do that no other art form can. You can have them on stage together singing a duet while he’s in France (fighting in the Second World War) and she’s in a hospital in England (working as a nurse)…The main challenge is to strip it down to something that is still very moving but more skeletal, that leaves room for the music to add another dimension.”

The concept of having Robbie and Cecelia singing a long-distance duet on stage is so lovely and very appropriate for conveying the theme of their prolonged separation. There is so much content to work through in portraying their distanced love affair that I’m wondering what’s going to make the cut? Their letters, with references to literary characters? Cecelia leaving her family? The half-an-hour coffee meeting? Am I the only one who wants to hear an aria or duet built around their constant “I’ll wait for you?” 

Admittedly, I suspect the theme of literary reality with the coda ending is going to get a bit lost in translation, as it did in the movie, simply because while the heart wrenching nature of the twist ending works in any format, it took on a very theoretical nature in book form and prompted me to wonder “what did I just read?” “Who’s thoughts did I just inhabit and which characters did I just get attached to?” A large part of the novel’s strength is its exquisite ability to explore interiority and inner emotions. You feel the headiness of young love and the shock of separation right along with Robbie and Cecelia, you feel Briony’s life-long guilt, you feel Robbie’s fatigue, anger and despair. As such, when Robbie and Cecelia finally reunite, no matter how briefly, you celebrate right along with them. When the ending came around, revealing that a large part of the interiority and thoughts of the characters was a fantasy invented by Briony’s guilty conscience, it was one of the few times a book moved me to tears and left me with the very uncomfortable feeling of not knowing who these (fictional) characters were or what they actually thought, as if they were real on some level. This reaction didn’t quite come through in the movie, even if they faithfully translated the reveal. 

But nevertheless, maybe it’s the romantic in me who devoured Robbie and Cecelia’s story with a spoon, but I’m not feeling too bad about the love story getting center-stage. I will say though, along the lines of sacrificing the theoretical “nature of literary reality” vs. the romantic plot, I do hope Briony isn’t portrayed as being motivated by jealousy, and I trust that McEwan will keep a close eye on that aspect. While that sounds like a common romance plot trope, it’s quite far from the reasons for her mistake, which had much more to do with her inability to identify between the characters in her writing and the interiority of the people around her. I almost want the opera companies to omit the twist ending from the program synopsis. I’m not sure they will, but honestly, reading about that twist in a brief synopsis is no way to experience it in full. 

Unfortunately, I doubt that this opera will be coming to the US, or Seattle for that matter, anytime soon, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get my hands on either a CD of the music, or a DVD release of the production. I’m sure that as beautiful as the music is sure to be, it’s going to make me feel like my heart’s been ripped at several points. 

Research

I’ve been nostalgic for the honors cohort and my quarter-long research topic. Fortunately, though, I’ll be working on two projects that fit right into my fairy tale fantasy fixation this quarter. To be honest, I think I expected to like postmodernist literature more, which had made me apprehensive about the final research project. However, Jeanette Winterson’s “Sexing the Cherry” is fantastic. She combines and retells “The 12 Dancing Princesses” with “Rapunzel" into a feminist commentary of a novel. She’s influenced by Bruno Bettelheim’s analysis of fairy tales. Combine the two, and I have a research project that continues my interest in feminist literature from last quarter with my desire to do something that gets into reconstructed and retold fairy tales. 

I first encountered Bettelheim in an LSAT reading prompt, of all places, and now that I have his book “Uses of Enchantment; The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales” checked out from the library and ordered off of Amazon, I’m wondering how I got this far through the English major without using or referencing his works, considering how much of my honors thesis dealt with reusing or reinterpreting myths and tales.

And in medieval literature, I’ve gotten my professor behind my idea to look at the influence of Beowulf in the Tolkein-esque fantasy sub genre, at least as the optional bonus paper. This is going to be a fantastic next month or researching and writing!

Halloween

Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of the year. Not only is it the begining of autumn, which is maybe the only time I enjoy rain on the roof and cold weather before I get utterly tired of it, but as a holiday it captures so many of the things I love: fantasy, stories, fairy tales, costuming, gothic aesthetics, the macabre, apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes, candy corn… the list goes on!

This year especially, my excitement for all things Halloween is upped by a new expansion of World of Warcraft coming out, the Nightwish concert, and most significantly, discovering Once Upon a Time. That show is crack for a fantasy addict! Not only does it combine and reinterpret a cast of fairytale characters (which I love), it purports that a multiverse of fantasy worlds exists (reminiscent of His Dark Materials), including Wonderland, a fairytale/folklore world, Neverland and a Gothic/Victorian/horror world. Additionally, the setting and costumes resemble a wonderfully anachronistic world that reminds me quite a bit of a Renaissance/fantasy faire, giving me an excuse to reinvent aspects of faire garb without feeling bad for failing at historical accuracy. Needless to say, I was particularly looking forward to dressing up and celebrating this year. 

Fittingly, it hasn’t even been the 31st and I’m already having a fantastic Halloween (season) including a wine and cheese party last weekend and a house party on Friday. I spent last three days at my first convention, dressed in a Red Riding Hood/Ruby costume partially pulled from my own Ren Faire costume. Due to a serious twist of luck I already had most of her costume already, including a white chemise, green bodice and burgundy peasant skirt. All I added was a matching burgundy red cloak and a curling iron to the hair. I was quite pleased with the results. Also, for an incurable costume lover such as myself, there is something absolutely amazing and reality-escaping about waking up in a hotel room, getting dressed in fantasy garb and walking around the Hilton in costume for an entire day :)

Favorite moments:

-“Is it bad that seeing a unicorn head pendant reminds me of Robot Unicorn Attack?”

“Nope. Actually, that just made my day.”

-A little girl asking her mother (who was probably not with the convention) if I was Little Red Riding Hood

-Discovering that our hotel floor provided free breakfast, afternoon snacks and cookies

-Walking by a nuclear mutant section of the haunted house and cracking a Green Party joke.

Overall, it was a great experience, although I think I’ll try to find more heavily fantasy-themed conventions in the future! It’s rare that I take this much time to celebrate a holiday at all, but Halloween is special. It’s one of the few holidays that still kindle that childlike sense of excitement and festivity and simply for that, it’s worth taking the time to enjoy the season and shamelessly indulge in my love of fantasy and the macabre.

Turandot and Female Archetypes

A few nights ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Seattle Opera’s production of Turandot, which is quite possibly the opera I most wanted to see live. I was thrilled… from an artistic standpoint everything was wonderful. The sets were wonderful, acting was phenomenal, costumes were gorgeous, singing was amazing. 

Like many readers/art students I can live pretty deeply within the characters onstage, or within the pages of a book, and it wasn’t until last year that I realized that reader response  was something I could study in a university setting. But I digress. Maybe it’s partially a product of following the media buzz surrounding SlutWalk, or my growing interests recent issues such as victim-blaming, slut-shaming, contraception debates, etc. as they’ve appeared in the media, my studies and in my day-to-day life. For some reason, I left the opera knowing that I wasn’t going to blog about it in general terms, but I was going to focus on how Turandot and Liu have been treated and viewed as diametrically opposed female archetypes. 

It rather annoys me that critics dub Liu as the woman who is “hardly a feminist” and Turandot as the “ultimate feminist.” Yes. Liu is hopelessly in love with a man who barely notices her, and she kills herself to protect a man who immediately continues to try to win over her aggressor without blinking. I can see where the anti-feminist sentiments come from. However, let’s put this into perspective. Firstly, these are operatic characters. Operatic characters are often over-the-top and simplified down to raw, intense emotions. I think that it’s necessary to read actions and events in an opera differently than perhaps, a realist novel or contemporary movie, even when examining their archetypical roles. Secondly, this is Turandot. This is an opera where the female lead chops off her suitor’s heads out of revenge and men still line up to court her. Several times, these suitors are described as risking their lives for love when the object of their affections is not only indifferent, but malignant. Is it somehow not disempowering for men to gamble their life on a woman who quite specifically wants them dead, but disempowering for a woman to die for an indifferent object of affection?

I see this criticism occur all the time, when a female character acts flawed, or short-sighted, or unhinged, or obsessed, they are disempowered, whereas the same behavior in male characters gets them dubbed as crazy, or romantic, or realistic…. but never disempowered on a larger scale. I guess in a nutshell, I don’t read Liu as an antifeminist figure (though she is undoubtedly a tragic one who in my opinion, makes bad choices), because her actions don’t come from any sort of discernible male/female paradigm of behavior. Rather, they stem from the same sort of over-the-top, love-is-everything, die-for-true-love type of mindset that opera characters frequently demonstrate, and that the male characters such as Calef certainly demonstrate to a large extent. 

To the same extent, I actually dislike trying to read Turandot as a feminist. Again, I’m not sure the overal point and purpose of opera (overblown plots and larger-than-life charaters) work particularly well as a social commentary. Additionally, reciprocal feelings shouldn’t be viewed as being at odds with feminism, thus the general plot of her defrosting view towards love, so to speak, doesn’t strike me as one that is anti-feminist in nature. Though, and I wouldn’t have picked this up had I not read the stage notes afterwards, I do find it interesting that the powers that be restaged part of the choreography to have Turandot kiss Calef, rather than have him force a kiss on her which changes her mind. Probably a reaction to the dialogue going on about consent and non-consent, and I do appreciate the gesture, but it does underplay the fairytale aspect of the opera that uses the kiss as the gesture that rapidly changes Turandot. 

Wicked

Eventually, I’ll get around to retroactively blogging as a whole about my trip to Singapore over winter break. For now though, I’m listening to the Wicked soundtrack for the umpteenth time and remembering the amazingness that was getting to watch Wicked live at the Marina Bay Sands on Christmas Day. I had eased into the musical over the course of a year, latching on to a few of the songs before I even knew the story or considered reading the novel. (“I’m Not that Girl” just happens to be cathartic fodder for love life troubles). At this point, though, I knew the plot, read the novel… and wanted badly to see it live, even trying to get discount tickets while in London. 

Seeing it live was chill-inducingly amazing, and such a step up from watching grainy clips of “Defying Gravity” on youtube. To be fair, I’d grown so used to hearing Idina Menzel and Kirsten Chenoweth sing the songs that hearing different actresses for Elphie and Glinda sounded strange, at first. Not that I had any particular complaint with either of their performances; quite the opposite, in fact. Elphaba was wonderfully passionate without sounding brassy, while Glinda struck a nice balance between being perky, self-absorbed, yet sympathetic. The Wizard successfully brought out a softer side to the ambitious-evil-character persona, and Fiyero was simply… well, heart-meltingly charming and romantic :) I’d never liked “Dancing Through Life” much before as a song but seeing this particular Fiyero perform it live definitely changed my mind on that matter. In that vein, “As Long as You’re Mine” easily became hands-down my favorite musical numbers, surpassing even “Defying Gravity.”

In a conversation following the musical, I noted how effortlessly “Wicked” manages to appeal to different age groups. I noticed that a good deal of the audience were kids; they seemed perfectly content enjoying the colorful costumes, large dance numbers, and gorgeous stage sets and effects. (The Time Dragon Clock, by the way, hung above the curtain and covered the entire length of the stage). On a personal level, I recalled how “Wicked” more or less resonated with my high school self on a relationship/interpersonal level. I would have resonated with the struggles of maintaining a friendship through clashes of morals, ambitions, and romantic interests. I would have identified with Elphaba, and Glinda, respectively, as being the third wheel of a love triangle. I used to despise Glinda as the popular girl. This time around, I experienced the musical mostly strongly as a political and social satire/commentary. For instance, “Popular” can be seen as a mocking tribute to the bubbly popular girl stereotype of high school and the all-importance of the social hierarchy in a school setting that movies such as “Mean Girls” love to lampoon on. Alternatively, it presents quite a cautionary tale regarding the nature of politics; “political figures are in power because they know how to generate large amounts of support, not necessarily because they possess intelligence, expertise or aptitude in their field.” This cautionary tale seems highly, highly applicable to the area of US politics in general :)

I’m so stubbornly convinced that “Wicked” isn’t about accepting differences. At least, it isn’t even near solely about accepting the odd one out. At the turning point, Elphie’s physical differences are accepted…she finds a place in the school social circle, friends, and a powerful job offer. What struck me was how on some level, every character struggles between balancing and often having to make agonizing choices between the desires for affection, ambition, and morality, each to varying degrees. Strikingly, the one character exempt from this struggle happens to be the press secretary, who is arguably the evilest character in the entire musical. This certainly raises issues of the nature/critical role and thus responsibility in regards to the press and the public, and the potential for media manipulation to occur in any society. In somewhat of a post-modernist tradition, poetic justice isn’t served, and Elphie is exiled while Glinda, who spends the length of the musical placing ambition above morality and affection, waltzes into position where she can have all three without conflict. In reexamining, I wonder if “Wicked” wasn’t questioning the utility of outright rebellion in reforming a corrupt structure. One of the saddest and simultaneously most frustrating aspects of the musical remains that Elphie could quite possibly have done more cooperating with the Wizard and working from within rather than staging an open rebellion. Thus, the question remains whether one is morally obligated to openly defy a corrupt system, and what political obligations are in place in such a system.