Walt Kelly’s cartoon character, Pogo, famously said: “We have seen the
enemy, and he is us”. This statement resonates in viewing depictions of
outport society in contemporary Newfoundland drama. An ambiguity of identity,
the result of a lingering economic dependence, the region’s fluctuating
political status, and the insular nature of its communities, has been consistently
reflected in the region’s dramatic literature. Initially, the role of the
outsider takes on a predictable form, that of the colonizing monolith,
and is a response to specific, lingering, socio-political issues - confederation
with Canada, British colonial rapine, the Smallwood resettlement program.
In attempting to preserve their cultural identity, however, Newfoundlanders
have often participated in a reductive process which creates villains in
their midst. Newfoundland society – as is reflected in its drama – is riven
with interior, indigenous conflicts. Catholic against Protestant, fisher
versus merchant, “baymen” and “townie”. The “us” Pogo refers to becomes,
in the drama of Newfoundland, a continually contracting set of concentric
circles which constrict and stultify the life of the community.
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