Operatic reflections: Mozart’s Magic Flute , #MeToo, and families in primary care

[摘要] If you’ve ever seen Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, you will know that its plot is problematical. GPs who are confused by it can at least console themselves that it isn’t so different from much of our work. The opera carries uncanny echoes of seeing family members who have torn loyalties, bring us contradictory accounts of each other, or say things we find deeply uncomfortable. There are reminders of all those occasions when we suspect abuse or coercion, but don’t know whether to trust our intuition or believe a denial. Here I want to look at the plot and how different directors, including a modern feminist one, have dealt with the issues it raises.Briefly, the heroine Pamina is the subject of a tug of love between her mother, the Queen of the Night, and a man called Sarastro who rules a cult devoted to the pursuit of wisdom. Sarastro is in loco parentis for Pamina’s late father who was connected to the cult, although some productions make him Pamina’s actual father. Believing the Queen of the Night to be a bad influence, he abducts Pamina but leaves her exposed to the attentions of a slavemaster called Monostatos.So far so good, and many of us have looked after families who are similar in some ways. In the first hour, the opera seems to invite our allegiance to Pamina’s mother. She persuades a young prince called Tamino to rescue her daughter, showing him a portrait with which he instantly falls in love. When he arrives at Sarastro’s temple, however, there is an abrupt change of perspective. Sarastro turns out to be a wise and much-loved ruler who hopes to initiate Tamino into his cult. He also reveals it was his own plan for Tamino to marry Pamina, and her wicked mother has been in his power all along.Tamino is soon convinced. Frankly, many GPs may take longer, particularly in view of some unpleasant misogyny and racism in what Sarastro says, and his negligence in failing to protect his daughter from abuse. Nevertheless, by the end of the opera Tamino has successfully undergone initiation into the cult, the Queen of the Night has been defeated, and it is clear we are meant to be delighted.

[学科分类] 卫生学