Populist Hype: The Permeable Veil of Iraqi Invasion in David Hare's Stuff Happens | ||
| CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education | ||
| Article 5, Volume 86, Issue 1, April 2024, Pages 119-141 PDF (460.08 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/opde.2024.362816 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Gehan M. Anwar Deeb1; Ebtesam Mohamed Elshokrofy2 | ||
| 1Assistant Professor of English Literature October 6 University, Egypt | ||
| 2Professor of English Literature Damanhur University. Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The aim of the present paper is to apply the sense of populist hype to the Iraqi-War play, Stuff Happens (2004) by David Hare, that provides live testimonies from journalism, political meetings, and press conferences, along with fictional narratives of indoor conversations regarding war decision-making. Hare's technique of mixing real and fictional narratives shows the contradictions between what is said and what is done. Utilizing a theoretical concept synthesis of Populist Hype by Glynos and Mondon (2016), Noam Chomsky (1992) and De Cleen et al (2018), this paper investigates how David Hare dramatizes real characters like Saddam Hussein, George Bush, Tony Blair, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Kufi Anan and De Villepin, focussing on Bush's strategies in manipulating the public opinion to wage war on Iraq. Using wordplay, horror and terror, the United Nations, the media, and spoken and concealed narratives, as well as stooping to conquer, Bush misled the public opinion into believing that the Iraqi war was launched against terrorism and for America's security. Hare also highlights the suffering of the marginalized and war victims who pay the cost/price of the foolish war decisions made by arrogant, untrustworthy politicians. Hare presents two contradictory worlds and narratives about the war to answer the question, “What is the expense of lies – personally and as a country?” The paper concludes that history is shaped in the hands of powerful countries via populist hype. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| David Hare; Iraqi war; Populist hype; Stuff Happens | ||
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