Producing Culture 2011, let’s go with that. Ideas swing back and forth colliding with new meanings, old understandings, a semester full of them. So focus on a few and run with it – Connection, Globalisation and quite generally, Culture.
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Connected to what?
Human’s, culture, objects, spaces, world, other. These are all things that we look at when people study culture, yet the one thing seeming to constantly pop up is the concept of ‘connection’. People connecting to each other, to objects, to animals, how they connect, how they don’t connect. We are constantly bombarded with the ideas associated with the relationship people have to anything and everything around them. Even then, one particular link can span across a huge range, such as objects. Bourdieu (1984) looked at objects as social markers, Marx’s saw objects as a commodity and means of capital, even Saussure’s linguistic knowledge, helped to understand objects as material culture (Woodward 2007). But what I am noticing more often than not, are the negative connections we make. Mucke (2008) writes in his piece on momentum, about the relationship between idea and subject, looking at the way in which people associate ideas with meaning and how these can be changed, relatively easily, if one has the right tools to do so. Understanding that it is almost impossible not to make links between something and something else, can be coveys through examples of intertextualtiy or intersubjectivivity, meaning the combining of ideas in text or subject. So really it’s the transfer of knowledge from one area to another.
If we look at the concept of otherness in relation to connection or the flowing of ideas, the focal point of most theoretical perspectives is how we are ‘not’ something or the ‘difference’ between something and something else. But why is that? We understand that difference helps to define what something ‘is’ by what it ‘is not’, and this is important, both internally and externally (Wise 2011). Yet it seems that with the constant defining and redefining of how we are ‘different’, also comes across as a justification of one’s own sense of self. So we are constantly pointing out what is different so that in some backwards way we figure out where we fit in. This could stem from the ideas of separation throughout the world as people become more and more individual on a global stage. This urges the concept that through otherness we are thus redefined, for example by ‘not’ being male, white, and young, we are therefore defined as being something else. So in a way it is the constant connection we have to defining ourselves, that gives us some inkling to who we are and where we stand, bringing us to the idea that it is perhaps what is ‘not’ said that helps us the most. Or is this simply too involved? What about heading back to basics?
So if indeed we do live within a society, dominated by the fact that there are considerably strong ideological forces at play, within the binaries of our culture, the way in which we engage with others must reflect on us as performers on a global stage. The concept of connection, on an external level must therefore be influenced by globalisation. Globalisation as stated by During (2005) is a “master term used to name, interpret and direct the social and technological transformations of the contemporary era.” It conveys the idea that humans are overcoming all different boundaries, including geographical and technological, the more physical boundaries, yet mentally in some cases it seems like people could indeed be taking a step backwards. Keeping to our houses, rooms and computer screens, delving deeper into worlds within worlds, where reality seems likely to bend. So could the next step be to stand again outside, so that we gain an objective view of ourselves, and what it is that we do, living within the world that has been create around us.
Truth or Reality? Simplicity or Leadership?
Spinning off from the topic of connection and thinking about growth and expansion, the ‘idea of progress’ also comes into play. This concept often comes up whenever questioning the ways of the world, or our ideas on what we think the world is about. J.B. Bury (1920) wrote about the ‘idea of progress’ and whether or not human progression was a positive or a negative, in terms of success within society and finding happiness, which really does make us think about what we know and why we know it. We are fed pieces of information from when we are born, which if not questioned seem to be ultimate truths, and most people take this knowledge for granted because not often are we given a reason to question it. The dominant binaries which function within all aspects of our culture seem to be placed so perfectly so that we keep taking these ideas at face value. Even in today’s culture hints, questioning the truth come out in many different forms, including fantasy TV shows or science fiction.
TV Shows such as Doctor Who or even the latest vampire craze True Blood, portray these ideas about what’s real and what’s not, which is done somewhat ironically, because it’s done using TV shows which focus on ‘different’ and alternate realities. In the 2007 Series 3 final episodes of Doctor Who, there was a portion of the story which focused on a communications network called “Archangel” which was used to subconsciously influence people around the world, specifically used to influence them to vote for an enemy of the Doctors, into a position of political power. In fact he became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In True Blood the latest season will be looking at the hidden truth behind creatures supposed to be pure of heart. The fairy people hide their true forms so that they are trusted. This seems simple and silly, but these are only two shows in a genre perhaps not as main stream as Home and Away, but these are just an example of how ideas associated with reality come into context in popular culture. On a larger scale commercial media plays a huge part in the fabrication of news and information for the public eye, producing layers upon layers of stories picked and chosen to be published for the public by someone, who I’m sure, has a bigger interest in gaining capital than most people. Gonzo journalism is one example of how in this portion of the commercialised businesses around the world, different tacts are taken to acquire a different view on otherwise ‘normal’ issues.
Doctor Who archangel scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxHt-L1N-4E&feature=related
True Blood fairy scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pt-clMON2E
Doctor Who archangel scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxHt-L1N-4E&feature=related
True Blood fairy scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pt-clMON2E
The other big problem with masses of people being engrossed in dominant ideologies means that people do become oblivious to other forms of truth. It could be simpler that way. People who live day by day in scheduled and allocated slots of time, selling their own time as labour, are living life like most of the population. Capitalist societies function on the day to day workings of labour markets, producing commercial goods for people to purchase, with money earned by them selling the only thing already available to us, time (Thompson 1967). This is an underlying aspect of life which seems to be overlooked or again just taken for granted, which makes it worthless in noting, so it’s then cyclically reinforced again and again by all levels of class within societies, for it’s what makes the world tick. So is there any means to escape or step out of this train of thought? Or is it something engrained within our culture so deeply that most of the time we are vacantly unaware that it is even a choice?
Personally I think having a good read of Arjuna Ardagh’s, Awakening Into Oneness (2009) might not be a bad place to start. Not that I have, but I would like to.
Catalyst
So realising the kind of world we live in can be a shock to the system. But the power of the mind can be a very wonderful thing, for again we start making links between pieces of information which have been sitting dormant waiting for these new ideas to enter our minds. Chaos at first with many numbers, facts, images, sounds, flooding our brains, like a domino reaction bricks fall into place, but also flow, so that we are able to make sense, some of the time, of what it is we’re thinking about. Suddenly the mind goes back to Muecke’s (2008) momentum, movement, the kick-off of ideas which began the ball rolling. So why is it that we obsess with things such as difference and otherness, yet we still don’t fully notice and see the wool held over our eyes? It’s like when you really see what’s going on, you don’t want to, because we ourselves are so different to the natural function of things.
Again it’s like the idea of progress, where we’re not sure if we’re working towards better or worse, yet we keep going, pushing ourselves around in the same circle. Yet connected we all are to each other, why then do we not simply stop? It’s hard to imagine a world where people really are truly connected, not just ‘globalisation’ where people can speak across hundreds of miles in a second, or when the time it takes to get from one place to another is irrelevant, what about a global consciousness. When not only do the people who have the means and privilege to be educated in universities gain knowledge about the world around them, but so does each and every individual? And not solely education, but all areas of knowledge, and move back to simplicity, where work is not defined by your time, or the amount of money you earn, but by the joy of doing something you love. Muecke (2008) looked at change in thinking as a reaction to something else, perhaps this is what needs to happen to make larger change occur, a realisation which shifts people’s ideas so that we gain a clearer understanding, not shrouded by the wants and desires of an old regime.
Who knows, we could get there one day.
Let’s wait and see……
These ideas about change, connection, interaction and realisation have been interesting avenues of cultural studies which I believe are important concepts to consider. These perspectives have been touched upon by many and I have thoroughly enjoyed putting in my two bobs worth. It is often said that the most constant thing in life is change, even if we do not know the outcome, we take it as best we can. I think what we can learn from this is to not take everything at face value, even if it comes across as the most solid idea, remember that it could in fact just be another person’s perspective.
I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping in.
Chelsea Evans
References
Ardagh, Arjuna 2009, ‘Awakening Into Oneness: The Power of Blessing in the Evolution of Consciousness’, Sounds True Inc, Canada
Bourdieu, Pierre 1984, ‘Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste’, Routledge, London
Bury, J.B. 1920, ‘The Idea of Progress’, The Echo Library, Fairford
During, Simon 2005, ‘Thinking Globalisation’ from ‘Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction’, Routladge, Oxford pp.81-95
Muecke, Stephen 2008, ‘Momentum’ from Anderson, Nicole & Schlunke, Katrina (eds) ‘Cultural Theory in Everyday Practice’, Oxford University Press, Melbourne pp.287-95
Thompson, E 1967, ‘Time, Work-discipline, and Industrial Capitalism’, from ‘Past and Present: A Journal of Historical Studies’, No.38, December pp.56-63, 70-97
Wise, Peter 2011, ‘Lecture 1: Week 2’ Producing Culture, Griffith University, Gold Coast
Woodward, Ian 2007, ‘Understanding Material Culture’ Sage, London
Video Sources:
Drwhobaddalek19 2009, ‘Doctor Who The Sound Of Drums Scene 13’, Youtube.com
TheTrueBloodSource 2011, ‘True Blood Season 4: Part 2 of the First 6 Minutes!’, Youtube.com
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