Enron Spectacles: A Critical Dramaturgical Analysis

Abstract

Enron shows us dramaturgy gone amuck. In this article, critical theory and postmodern theory are crossed to form a critical dramaturgyresulting in two main contributions. First, critical dramaturgy is differentiated from other forms of dramaturgy, showing how ‘spectacle’ is accomplished through a theatrical performance that legitimates and rationalizes, and casts the public in the role of passive spectators. Second, critical dramaturgy has important connections with public relations theory. While contemporary public relations is concerned with the building of relationships, critical dramaturgy looks at how corporate theatrical image management inhibits relationships by erecting the barrier of the metaphorical proscenium. The Enron scandal is viewed as the collapse of a corporate spectacle illusion into megaspectacle fragments. These fragments include the naming of Enron, the Valhalla Rogue Traders scandal, the Gas Bank, Greenmail, Cowboy Capitalism, the Skilling–Mark rivalry, and the Masters of the Universe theme. Intertextual analysis demonstrates how these fragments contribute to the ‘Greek Mega-tragedy’ of the Enron megaspectacle. The article integrates several corporate theatre processes relevant to understanding four types of spectacle: concentrated, diffused, integrated, and megaspectacle. The value of the critical dramaturgy conceptual work is to lift the romantic veil of spectacle theatrics to reveal the antenarrative fragments of stories marginalized and backgrounded.