Talk:The Decision (play)

Explicitly rejected translation of the title

Despite its ideologically-motivated use by the FBI in the early years of the Cold War, the English-language translation of the title Die Maβnahme may not be rendered as Disciplinary Measures; Brecht rejects that translation explicitly in his House testimony (p.34). Discipline is not the concept to which the title refers, but actions taken. DionysosProteus 14:32, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

As a matter of fact, "Disciplinary measure" is a good translation though.

The title means "The Measure", but measure as in "legislative, executive, jurisdictional, disciplinary" measure, not as in "meter, kilogram, second" nor as in "size" nor as in "amount of some stuff".--2001:A61:260D:6E01:40DF:76B1:4964:C7A6 (talk) 13:10, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

Brecht and Communist Party Membership

The part on Brecht joining the CP in 1930 seems to be wrong. As far as I know, there is no record that he ever joined any party. If I recall correctly, Martin Esslin touches on this in Brecht: A Choice of Evils. The German playwright prided himself in being an “independent” artist. I did look at p. 265 in Otto Friedrich’s Before the Deluge (HarperPrennial, 1995), which is cited under endnote 14. Nothing there about Brecht being a CP member. Lloyd Billingsley’s Hollywood Party (Prima Lifestyles, 2000) p. 197 is cited in endnote 15. I don’t have access to this work. Can someone quote the relevant passage? -- Teddybear007 (talk) 18:37, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: moved per request. Favonian (talk) 16:32, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

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The Decision → The Decision (play) –Note: The article The Decision (TV special) mentioned below was moved days ago from The Decision (LeBron James).
The theatrical play does not appear to be the primary topic and should be moved to make way for a disambiguation page. Since the TV special, The Decision (TV special), involving basketball star LeBron James aired on July 8, 2010, there has been an increase in page views which suggest that primary traffic is no longer for the play. Traffic for "The Decision" quadrupled since the TV show, and the increase seems related to traffic for the page regarding James' "The Decision". Similar patterns are seen two years later in June 2012. Notably, "The Decision" had 901 hits on June 22 and "The_Decision_(LeBron_James)" had 716 hits the same day. A GNews search for "The Decision" "Lebron James" has 4,940 hits that outnumber the 164 hits for "The Decision" "Bertolt Brecht", Brecht being the writer of the play. I'm allowing for the fact that there might be more accurate searches for the play.

Some can debate that an artistic play has more enduring notability than a sports story, but note that James is among the best players in basketball history. I am not contending that the basketball article is the primary topic. I only contend that based off page views and Google search, the play is no longer the primary topic, and The Decision should become a disambiguation page.—Bagumba (talk) 01:55, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

Note: Notification has been left at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Theatre, Wikipedia talk:WikiProject National Basketball Association, and Talk:The Decision (TV special).—Bagumba (talk) 02:05, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

• Do not move. 1. The LeBron James article is really an article about his move to the Miami Heat masquerading as an article about a special titled The Decision; 2. Wikipedia should give precedence to subjects discussed in long-term, scholarly literature over flash news stories; 3. I'm not sure you accounted for the German title in totaling up hits. –Roscelese (talk ⋅ contribs) 02:08, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

  The news search was from archives, not a current news spike, unless two years is considered a "flash news". I did not include German sources, and I invite more accurate searches as I'm not a domain expert in theater nor fluent in German. I will add that the NBA also has an international following if we are to use accurate comparisons, but this is also an English Wikipedia; not sure how it is best accounted.—Bagumba (talk) 02:24, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

  "Wikipedia should give precedence to subjects discussed in long-term, scholarly literature over flash news stories" I don't think that should always be the case. I think it really depends on the notability of the subject.—Chris!_c/t 04:22, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

• Comment While I only presented data for two months of page views, this should not be dismissed as a mere spike. Data from the two pages in any month in the last two years shows enough hits (if not a majority) on the basketball-related page to suggest the play is no longer a primary topic.—Bagumba (talk) 02:32, 28 June 2012 (UTC)
• Move so that The Decision can be a disambig page. At this point, it is hard to determine which subject is more notable. So this move makes sense.—Chris!_c/t 04:22, 28 June 2012 (UTC)
• Comment I think LeBron's TV special is clearly the more popular topic now, so I wouldn't oppose a move. That said, I don't think it's so bad to give preference to the more "traditional" encyclopedia topic. We do have some evidence for long-term interest in Brecht's work [1]. I'm not sure many people will be talking about LeBron's Decision in 70 years. Zagalejo^^^ 21:38, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

The "traditional" topic averaged only 10-20 hits per day before the TV special. Even if decades from now interest in LeBron's decision faded, the barrier of readers needing to know to click through hatnotes does not outweigh the benefits of convenience for a topic such as Brecht's with such low traffic.—Bagumba (talk) 22:07, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

• Comment I forgot to account for another page for a book, The Decision (Animorphs). If we look at June 2010 before the LeBron James special, the views for "The Decision (Animorphs)" was 726 compared to "The Decision" with 511. Even before the TV special the Brecht play was not the primary topic. The TV special coming afterwards makes me more convinced there is no primary topic here.—Bagumba (talk) 09:13, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

• Woah, Animorphs? Haven't thought about that for a long time. I'm kind of surprised that article even exists. But like I said, I'm not opposing a move. I just wanted to bring up some issues to think about. Zagalejo^^^ 06:32, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

• Support. Bagumba's comments have convinced me there isn't a primary topic, I agree The Decision should be turned into a dab page. Jenks24 (talk) 10:06, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.