Hey y’all Max here.
I always knew I would go to court one day, but I never expected that PLP would send me there.
Our latest project was all about revolutions and court trials, and we played either defence or prosecution, deeming whether the revolution we studied was effective or ineffective.
This project started with us reading a book that is historically significant and also very relevant to the project. That being said, the book was also about farm animals- the book being Animal Farm by George Orwell. At the same time as reading this, we studied Crane Brintons diagram of a revolution. Crane Brinton was a historian who theorized and studied revolutions. His diagram was an in-depth look at how a revolution starts, grows, and dies. Anyways, Animal Farm and Crane Brintons theory went together perfectly because Animal Farm follows the structure perfectly. We would then meet in groups after reading each chapter to discuss and analyze the events. It is a short book ( 10 chapters ) so it didn’t take long to finish.
Around halfway through Animal Farm, everyone did a simulation of sorts that mimicked what the incubation stage ( the period before a revolution where unrest and frustration is usually accumulated among the commoners ) typically looks like. It was called nation X, and it took place inside the main PLP room. It was a long process but basically there were 4 groups, groups A and B which were the “ common folk”, and groups C and D which were the law enforcement and the royalty. There were jobs and a taxation system, which were held afloat by a store that sold real candy for fake money. Really. Needless to say, the Nation X activity ended with general unrest, and a nation divided. If nation X was a good way to prove how hectic and chaotic a revolution could be, it worked.
When we finished reading Animal Farm, we wrote a three-paragraph essay that explains Animal Farm and how it connects to Crane Brintons theory and structure of a revolution. This demonstrates one of the curricular competencies, connecting. By using evidence from Animal Farm and other sources, I was able to refine my understanding of what I have read and demonstrate it in my three-paragraph essay.
Preparing for the court cases was no easy task. It was a mess getting all the information together and organizing with the opposing team, who needed to know our script, witnesses, affidavits, and any additional information they may have needed. There were 4 revolutions you could have been assigned to, French, American, Haitian, or Xinhai. On both the prosecution and defence, there are a team of lawyers plus one person who would represent a witness, a historical figure who would present their personal recount of the events that were being argued at the court case. I myself was a witness for the defence team of Xinhai. I acted as Sun Yat-Sen who was one of the leading figures in the 1911 Xinhai revolution. As a witness, it was my job to know information about the revolution by heart, and be able to honestly answer any questions the defence and prosecution may have for me. My understanding of the character I was portraying demonstrates my knowledge of continuity and change, one of the curricular competencies. Ultimately I brought a script with me during my court case, though I barely referred to it.
As for the actual court case itself, we presented it in the theatre ( the Vortex ) at the winter exhibition. Each case lasted around 20 minutes each. When it wasn’t my performance time, I directed people down to the theatre, waited backstage in the green room, or saw the rest of the exhibition. Overall, it was a pretty great night. I thought we were going to mess up some of our lines a few times, but no one really seemed to make any big mistakes.
To wrap up this blog post, I need to answer the driving question, which this time around was:
“How might we as legal teams determine the effectiveness of a revolution?” Now, this is a question that I feel I could answer only answer after doing this project. In short answer, the only way to determine if a major historical event was or is ever relevant is either by throughly studying one, like we did in this project, or choosing to study historical events for a living. Even after this project, I’m certain there are things about the Xinhai revolution I still don’t know about; perhaps in this project all I truly did was skim the top of the revolutionary iceberg. Even so, I still feel as if I can honestly answer the driving question with this: We can determine the effectiveness of any major historical event with hard evidence, and thorough research into all areas of whatever historical event, no matter how obscure.
If I didn’t explain the court case well enough, PLP also recorded them. Here’s mine – Xinhai Revolution court case