Today's discussion about the utopian society vs. dysopian society of the interenet shed some light to me on the positives and negatives of the globalized community. Although the discussion barely scratched the surface it brought up some very negative memories of how the internet can erode the physical and mental well-being of an individual close to you. I will continue with drawing from personal experiences to add my blogs.
The scene of Farenheit 451 of the show connecting with its audience was eery. The TV show was like a mix between a "choose your own adventure" book, a classroom quiz, and a cable network drama. It was eery in the sense that you could tell the character Linda was sucked it and there was no escape, accounting to the visual presence of the source of her information. The man's gaze was hypnotizing, his tone uncompromising and impatient, and Linda, being the good citizen, couldn't help but obey her master by answering the question in a hurried tone to the best of her knowledge. The TV show was like a mix between a "choose your own adventure" book and a cable network drama.
<<Graemsci>> A beauty of the internet is blogs like this where no idea or thought can go punished because the anonymity that a "screenname" offers. It is a true freedom of speech. Being a Kobe Bryant and Laker I love to go to YouTube and talk smack on LeBron James and say Kobe is better than even Michael Jordan. It's a way for me to voice superiority without the fear of being challenged, a high that many can attest to.
<<Material body>> Unfortunately the internet is not the link between mind, spirit, and body. World of Warcraft (WoW) is an role-playing game (RPG) that is advertised as promoting teamwork, community, and an escape from the bland, boring world. A very good friend of mine got hooked on WoW back in 2005. I literally did not see or hear from him until late 2006. My father, who has always been an internet junkie, had a worsening injury to his knee to the point of a necessary surgery to repair a torn miniscus. During the recovery stages, his computer was entertainment and company. This connection to his laptop bred to another unhealthy point; he refused to set aside time to rehab his knee to spend time in chatrooms and now has no better function of his knee than before the surgery.
This entrancing nature of digital media is destructive and unchallenging to an always developing mind. Yes, the immediate access to free entertainment is relaxing and computers can create endless opportunities for one searching for the right thing in the right place. But it can easily turn into a "needle in the haystack" search for opportunity and can result in a journey down a road to nowhere. The beauty of literature is there is a beginning and an end, affording time before and after for one's own physical health and time for others close to you. That is, the one's close to you in the physical world.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Cities Speak!
Barker's book breaks down six features that can describe cities:
Los Angeles, hate it or love it, beat it or root for it, is a city is among the most, if not the most unique city in the world. Modeled after no plan before it, Los Angeles city spans 498.3 square miles and connecting metropolitan areas including Ventura and Orange County make it one of the largest metropolitan cities ever. All superlatives aside comparing it to cities that are the most this or the best that Los Angeles space was created as the first "sprawling" city, utilizing the area east, west, north, and south before utilizing the space above that is verticality. Beginning in Europe, large cities' growth depended on high you could build. It wasn't until the 19th century that a skyscraper was built in New York to fully break the surface of a 4+ story building habitable to every day activities. Even now, when one looks at a picture of downtown L.A. it is noticeable to realize the lack of sky space utilized when comparing to other major cities like Chicago or New York therefore it is reasonable to question how space has been utilized efficiently and what differs in the citizens' respective time space geographies. How long it takes for a New Yorker to get to work compared to the two hour, ten mile drive on rush hour in the 405 of a working Los Angeles person is an example of the difference.
Within that shape of a city is its contents. What materials have structured its prominent buildings, what angles the rooftops take, and its physical geography relative to any point of the city speaks to what it took to create and sustain this particular city. One can predict the age of structure simply look at the materials and shape. What a city can say to an observer by sheer appearance is astounding.
Cities are the accumulation of all progress and accomplishment of us and those past. They are more than just of a stack of brick and steel. They speak, they grow, they change, they require maintenance and love, they are hated and adored, they label, they kill, they create wealth and house the poor. They contain the very organisms whose past fathers created them and will be around for as long as the human brain is alive.
- Plant life and ecology
- Power and surveillance
- Symbolic culture, suburbanization, and gentrification
- Postmodernism
- Information technology
Los Angeles, hate it or love it, beat it or root for it, is a city is among the most, if not the most unique city in the world. Modeled after no plan before it, Los Angeles city spans 498.3 square miles and connecting metropolitan areas including Ventura and Orange County make it one of the largest metropolitan cities ever. All superlatives aside comparing it to cities that are the most this or the best that Los Angeles space was created as the first "sprawling" city, utilizing the area east, west, north, and south before utilizing the space above that is verticality. Beginning in Europe, large cities' growth depended on high you could build. It wasn't until the 19th century that a skyscraper was built in New York to fully break the surface of a 4+ story building habitable to every day activities. Even now, when one looks at a picture of downtown L.A. it is noticeable to realize the lack of sky space utilized when comparing to other major cities like Chicago or New York therefore it is reasonable to question how space has been utilized efficiently and what differs in the citizens' respective time space geographies. How long it takes for a New Yorker to get to work compared to the two hour, ten mile drive on rush hour in the 405 of a working Los Angeles person is an example of the difference.
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| Look at all of that unused real estate |
Within that shape of a city is its contents. What materials have structured its prominent buildings, what angles the rooftops take, and its physical geography relative to any point of the city speaks to what it took to create and sustain this particular city. One can predict the age of structure simply look at the materials and shape. What a city can say to an observer by sheer appearance is astounding.
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| Sometimes cities can be misleading |
Sunday, October 24, 2010
How Fantasy Beats Sex: Response Paper
A vicious, pale teenager whose elongated incisors dripping with the fresh warm blood of an eaten victim who has fallen unconscious into said teenager’s arms isn’t a prototype picture a previous generation would be compelled to call “love” or even sexy, but Stephanie Meyer millions of adolescent teenagers today would disagree. There is a radical trend in entertainment that pleases and frustrates, but has become outrageously popular for its tension and relative safety that allows all ages to appreciate and follow. The idea of sex without sex has fit like a glove onto America’s ever-curious hand and has boomed since the beginning of its conception into entertainment starting with the romantic comedy genre. It started as a tool to poke fun at otherwise serious relationships struggling to find their comfort zone when it comes to a sexual relationship, but has blossomed into a billion dollar economy without ever showing as much as a nipple and I would personally like to know how.
Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga has sold over 100 million copies in 37 languages all over the world and it all centers around the relationship of Isabella (Bella) and Edward the vampire. Bella travels to a new home with no expectation of having a life, let alone finding eternal love but her ideas radically change once in Edward’s presence. First off, this decision of Bella’s to leave home and create a new life for herself and by herself is leagues away from the women’s world that Anne Waldman and Simone de Beauvoir must have lived in, women being so dependent and respondent to men’s wishes. She is an example of a maturing woman who leads the way and defines, not seeks to be defined.
Nevertheless Bella is a victim of nature like most of us and falls to prey to an immediate attraction. Diving into her psyche, the author reveals the mutual attraction buds once in each other’s immediate presence which is not uncommon. The gender norms that are being challenged today by the feminist/equality movement are strong and purposeful but should it end in success, it will be a success for individuals few and far between. Persons across the globe who do not identify as “straight” or “male/female” for any numerous reasons will hopefully be freed from wrongful persecution and judgment with an expansion of awareness, but the rest of the 98% or so of the population will continue to identify with the ever-fixed laws of attraction. A “transsexual literature, a hermaphroditic literature, a transvestite literature” as Anne Waldman hopes for is a romantic idea in terms of peace but ultimately not very sexy. Twilight is sexy because it is constant foreplay surrounded by tension thicker than the forest fog. As Foucault states early on in Chapter 3 of his thesis, “as if the speaking about sex were of itself more important them the forms of imperatives that were imposed on it by speaking about it.” In America and the capitalist world, it’s usually the idea that is considered most valuable, typically not the labor.
This is of itself a repression of sexuality in covering up the details, form and functions of the fundamental particulars that constitute a sexual act. This identity foreplay has been so sold that once people of the genre break through the discourse to what a sexual relationship truly is it has resulted in an explosion of sexual anomalies being revealed and explored but then being condemned by the governing body that encouraged the first phase of repression, allowing this type of entertainment to become an ideal.
One particular aspect of intrigue that keeps people reading Twilight is its unique take on agency of the book’s focal relationship, or what begets such a strong bond between Bella and Edward. Bella seemed to have the normal reasons to be attracted to Edward, but a diamond in the mind of the author Stephanie Meyer reveals itself when Edward reveals his reason for having such a strong desire for Bella. His extra vampire ‘sense’ decided that Bella, not by choice but by destiny, has him drawn to her like a bee to honey. This is nothing he won’t do to protect and love her. This idea of finding ‘the one’ is as original as sliced bread but has been disguised in so many ways that each time a new twist is put on it, it can be sold like wildfire.
So what makes up the Twilight saga into such a success, nationally and globally, is that it tickles the minds of a demographic that experiences the same questions and fantasies of similar situations of what could possibly be. It’s a lead in defining the new possibilities of women, but dresses up romance in a unique blanket of foreplay, tension, fantasy, but does so smartly enough to keep the messy truth esoteric and allow wondering minds to explore new ways of finding love, ways that previous generations thought impossible.
Love is the light at the end of tunnel of suffering that many endure at certain phases of their respective lives. Anthony Giddens calls this ‘personal meaningless’- the feeling that life has nothing worthwhile to offer. However when there is love, there is meaning and that is the most important reason to live above all.
Sources
Saturday, October 9, 2010
The Balance of Life
Sula. At first I thought it was just a funny name of a cooking spice. "I'm cooking fish tonight, drop by the market and get some sula or else it's going to turn out flaky and bland." Or it could be a virus. "Man, I messed up...that girl might have had sula." Thankfully Sula turned out to be a brilliant novel written beautifully from back to front with as good of character relationships and development as I have ever read. Not only was the text the perfect size for my picky eyes but the final message of the book, the way I interpreted Toni Morrison to have written it, hit so close to home in my way of thinking, that I was actually perfectly satisfied once the final page was turned. It's a close to a perfect book as I've read. A few others may have thought of it the same way; the author, Toni Morrison earned a Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1993 for her works.(source)
So far I have utilized my last few blogs not only as a reflection of our class discussions, but also as a bit of therapy. I spent 23 years in one area, Orange County, also known as "The Bubble" because it's tough to get in, equally or even more tough to get out. I adapt well but the move has opened my eyes and writing these blogs is a useful tool to spill some emotion, going through some new and tough experiences. Having said that, Sula's message in the end was a perfect example of what I strive to find. Balance! Once you're in the bubble, it's easy to get high on the affluent things around you so much so that it can make you feel like a piece of crap for being unworthy. Not to knock on Northridge or the San Fernando Valley, but the scale has tipped a bit the other way. I went from being a martyr in Orange County to the Sula in Northridge. Okay, not to that extreme, but I am looking for the balance. Sula absorbed and emitted all the evil in her town that it turned cheating wives into loyal partners, and inattentive parents into role models. All the girls feared her, all the boys wanted her, and she knew it. She was larger than life living in the Bottom and it showed in her willingness to accept and enhance her role as 'witch of the Bottom.' It worked because balance is the key to life, love, and happiness. Know who you are!
Sources
Morrison, Toni. Sula (1973, Alfred A. Knopf, New York)
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Scared Little Boy
This last week has been a very eye-opening experience in the classroom for me, and not just in English 313. I also have a Communications 360 class that is challenging the idea of gender equality and philosophical standpoints of masculinity and femininity in our culture and how language shapes all of this. Each class has seemed to coincide with each other's lectures and it has really helped me see clearly on these issues. Now I do NOT consider myself racist, homophobic, or anti-feminist, nor do I condone or support anybody who is. Some of the following questions or thoughts may seem that way but they are simply out of my raw curiosity and blissful ignorance of people's sensitivities. I am a very open person myself and rather insensitive to "hurt feelings" when it comes to challenging my own positions or identity so I propose these thoughts in the same way I feel I would give the most concise, honest answers should someone question me the same way.
Enjoy a little background of yours truly first. My father is from Argentina, my mother from the whitest state in the nation, Idaho which makes me a blend of sorts. I'm not close with my father's side except my grandmother, who raised me for 5 good years. However, I am close with my mother and her side of the family so I'm close to two of her three sisters. Almost all of my cousins on this side I know well or am very close with except Kyle and Scott, my only two male cousins out of nine. That makes seven female cousins. on this side of the family tree. Oh by the way I was raised with two sisters, Audrey and Veronica, and I have a stepsister, Jennifer. At any given point in my life, there are at least ten females in my family life that I love very dearly and essentially no males that I connect with and count on to be there for me.
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| This + me is my family reunion |
I am at a loss for words when I hear the females in my classes demand that they are the underprivileged sex. I wrote a blog about my opinion of the feminist movement, which should really be termed "Equality Movement" for the sake of queer individuals, but I digress. Let consider Foucault and make this ahistorical. I am not saying men are the underprivileged sex, far from it. If women aren't, men aren't, and queer individuals make up too small of a defined demographic to be considered a separate sex or class yet, then who is? Give me a break. No one! The great architect Daniel Lediske who created the Jewish Historical Museum in Berlin said it best when criticized about an aspect of his piece, "If you look into the past, you will have no future." This can apply in so many ways to this great Equality Movement. Women may be held down in a certain way, but in our culture they are undoubtedly the prized sex. It is unacceptable to disrespect a woman on public grounds in any way no matter what that female has said or done. In comparison to man, Warren Farrell said it best himself "men are the disposable gender; they die in war and from suicide four times more often than women, and are also the most common victims of violence, overwork and mental illness (Barker 304)." Men's standards are set impossibly high and unimaginably complicated, often threatening and scary. Not the "I might get made fun of" kind of scary. Men's standards are "well, I may lose an arm/my sanity/years of my life/my actual life but I'm doing what is expected of me" kind of scary. And people question why it's taking longer for young men to accept maturity and growing up these days? Because it's fucking scary. Literally.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Ethnography!
Ethnography - a research strategy often used in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology and in some branches of sociology. It is often employed for gathering empirical data on human societies/cultures. Ethnography aims to describe the nature of those who are studied (i.e. to describe a people, an ethnos) through writing - Wikipedia
Today was my first (intentional) ethnography. I have been quite the people-watcher my whole life and have reflected upon some observations but never as intensely as I have done today, nor have I reflected enough to write about it so today was a different experience. I utilized what turned out to be a fantastic spot to examine relationships of all types, and mostly serious relationships in heterosexual couples as well as families. I traveled to the Northridge mall on Tampa and Nordhoff this Sunday, September 19, 2010, at about 1:45pm and began my observations by finding a place to sit which happened to be between the JC Penney and Vitamin world under a large glass dome that allowed plenty of beautiful sunlight to infiltrate and fill the space with warm light. It was a prime time during the week and during the day to see people active and energetic; cruising around the shopping mall like they were floating on a cloud with so many visual stimulants present that even a magician could be impressed. What I came to apply to many observations was Saussure’s ideas of semiotics, Simone de Beauvoir’s notions of feminism, and our author Barker’s rules of culture, among many others.
Barker claims that without language, there is no culture and vice versa. The most prominent visuals throughout the shopping mall is undoubtedly the amount of advertisements by way of signage, lighting, displays, and laborers outside their respective retail stores shouting coupon offers “Buy one get one free! Last day and limited supply!” All these signs are translated to a language that tells us “Buy our products because you need our stuff!” all the while it’s telling me “Continue on with capitalism and moving money because it helps our business, our country, and you!”
There are also plenty of literal messages. For example “Shoes, Shirts, and Socks.” For those in need of any elementary clothing item I would recommend with confidence this specific store because of their sign that lets us know they are full of these items. Directional signs let me know where to go when I wanted to find a restaurant to have a good sandwich. I found the Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill by simply following the sign that said “Restaurants ^ “letting me know in which direction to go. How simple a sign could be, but, oh! What it encourages is astounding!
That simple sign cost me $13.50 but gave me a delicious cup of chicken tortilla soup, and although the service may have been stale, I ate a great tri-tip that was cooked perfectly and dressed with a sumptuous barbecue sauce paired with a nice branch of steamed broccoli to help it all digest well all the while finding a perfect spot to relax, watch a football game which I always enjoy, and help me do my homework. I highly recommend a good sit-down restaurant with peace but conversational buzz to just enjoy yourself and take time to reflect. None of this would have been remotely possible with out me knowing my language which enabled me to interpret the sign that may have said “Restaurant this way” but really meant “Exactly what you need right now, provided you have the capital, this way.”
Having a brand is also a language of advertisement, but it takes some experience in order to interpret what you will find. For example, an inexperienced foreigner wouldn’t have a clue where to decide to shop for nice cologne if you asked him/her “Macy’s or Spencer’s?” But us as experienced capitalists know to go to Macy’s for our cologne, and Spencer’s for a gag gift because that is what each brand markets. Evolved language in advertisement runs rampant through the mall because each sign signifies what niche of culture it offers.
Now once I finally found comfort on a spot on a bench under a well-lit area with plenty of foot traffic I did my best to take in some of Simone de Beauvoir’s messages of the male sex being the Absolute, and women being the “other sex,” that could not possibly envision themselves without a male counterpart. Nothing could be further from the truth here. Women weren’t trying to keep up with men by holding their sleeve, gleefully pleading for perform favors for their men. In fact, the mall is the perfect antidote to neutralize the notion of males being the superior sex. Beauvoir claims women lack “concrete means for organizing themselves into a unit.” Well the mall seems to cure that ailment. Rarely did I see a group of men wandering, but frequently did I notice small tribes of females ranging from teenagers to grown women out and about in their groups, chatting gleefully amongst themselves. Not only were they out, organized, and energized, but I expected to see them here in the mall and when I did see a group of males without female company here some cultural influence in me always thought to raise the question, “Are these guys gay?” How it has turned on its head. For every single mother proudly leading her children throughout her shopping conquest, it was a shock to notice a single father doing the same for him and his children without the guidance of a female counterpart. There are no slave/master relationships here. Not unless you consider patrons of the shopping mall slave to the business ventures of capitalism.
It’s incredible what information is possible to gather by just seeing a person and reading certain signs. Every assumption and pre-conceived notion conjured by my thoughts today depended all on Saussure’s concepts of semiotics. Without A there is no B and there is only A because there is B. Applying this to my observations, there is no wife without the husband, are there are no parents without the company of children. This stood out no more prominent then when I noticed a group of three walking about, one man and two women. The possibilities of their relationships shot off in my head like fireworks. I know the two on the right are in a relationship because they are holding hands while one single female walks casually at their pace moving forward, head angled so that she can talk eye to eye with the couple. She is single because the other two are together. The three of them are not all friends because the two in the relationship are not just friends, they are something more. This signal of a deeper relationship tends to make company in the immediate presence uncomfortable, mostly if their company is not in a relationship. This automatic negative feeling is felt by the majority of the population when seeing a situation like this and to be the one in the line of critical fire, like the single woman is here, is likely to want to be avoided. Sometimes we are forced or coerced into being that person, that ‘third wheel.’
But to let other observers know we are not a perennial nuisance, buzzing around and destroying the intimate moments of a couple by just being single, many don a sign that tells others, ”I, too, am in a committed relationship. No need to judge my capability of being desirable.” It’s a little gold band at the base of, cleverly enough, one’s ring finger and it is called an engagement or wedding ring. The use of the wedding ring, according to Wikipedia, traces its roots back to Roman times. According to the prayer book of Edward VI, after the words 'with this ring I thee wed' follow the words 'This gold and silver I give thee', at which point the groom was supposed to hand a leather purse filled with gold and silver coins to the bride (Kunz PhD. DSc., George Frederick (1917). Rings for the Finger). Obviously in this culture most of us don’t have the resources to afford a bag of gold for our spouse, but the symbolic ring has stuck around and proves to all that you have an eternal bond. De Beauvoir’s “Woman as Other,” has stuck out yet again and tried to prove her message by introducing the engagement ring. Both man and wife will wear the wedding band as a symbol of eternal companionship to one another but only will a female wear an engagement ring, the symbolic gesture of “I promise to promise.” Earlier, in the 20th century and before, a woman had to earn the engagement ring by proving she was fit to be alongside a man as proof she was not so inferior to be incompatible. This, however, has evolved into a more equal, if not feminine dominated gesture. Today, the man not only has to earn the privilege of female companionship and earn her trust to consider marriage, but now the engagement ring not only has to be present, but has to be good enough. That’s what else the mall is for. After spending a few minutes by the jewelry store I noticed a couple ogling the shiny jewelry. Unsure of whether it was a ring she desired or a different accessory, it was clear to me she was there to shop and he was there to buy. De Beauvoir’s message is being received by Los Angeles culture and women are gaining their power and influence to even the playing field. Unfortunately I don’t see it being done here on an intellectual level, but through a capitalist level. “Prove to me your worthy enough by showing me what things you are capable of getting…and give them to me.” Many kids are growing up with the feeling today that true love and the meaning of companionship is a Mercedes C Class and a diamond ring big enough to scratch one’s eyes while wiping away the tears of a failing relationship. Sorry to be cynical.
If there is no A without B, my observations proved that all A’s stick together as much as all B’s stay together as well. When I saw a white man in a relationship, what followed was a white woman, and when I saw an Asian woman paired with someone, that someone was always an Asian male. Biologically, all A’s beget A’s. In other words, if each pair had a family with them in the form of kids, the kids were naturally the same race and possessed similar features of the parents. This would lead me to believe if the children grew up seeing and A with an A (Asian with an Asian, or a Latino with a Latino), it would be defective to see an A with a B, the B in this case being a man or woman of a different race, let’s say white. Although I saw an even spread of different cultures and races throughout my observations, I made a point to distinguish each inter-racial couple. I may have seen a hundred different couples today, but only two couples stood out to me as inter-racial, the first being a black man with a white woman, and the second couple while I ate was a white man and an Asian woman. These were the most prominent of “mismatches” I failed to recognize as consistently as I had hoped for. Even people of the same style stick together. It is arguable that once a man or woman finds a suitable partner, he or she tends to adopt certain traits and styles of their partner, but that is when a B becomes an A. The young couple I saw were both rocker-types with several facial piercings between them, tight jeans, and loud designs decorating their t-shirts. The couple in the jewelry stored both dressed in business attire, the man confidently wearing a sport coat and button-up shirt with slacks as his lady dressed effortlessly in a quality-material blouse and appropriate length skirt with heels. I even noticed a couple who happen to be a bit different in personal appearance but made up for that discrepancy because they were both in a wheel chair, wheeling about observing what the decorated windows had to offer their tastes. Saussure might have argued that each A as well as each B and C depend on each other to be defined, but my evidence suggests while this may be true, each sign of A, B, or C are not always fixed nor eternal. Race is fixed, style is not. Language is fixed, but communication styles can evolve. These traits and signs are all defining features of the relationships that thrive in the Northridge mall.
(Works cited)
Barker claims that without language, there is no culture and vice versa. The most prominent visuals throughout the shopping mall is undoubtedly the amount of advertisements by way of signage, lighting, displays, and laborers outside their respective retail stores shouting coupon offers “Buy one get one free! Last day and limited supply!” All these signs are translated to a language that tells us “Buy our products because you need our stuff!” all the while it’s telling me “Continue on with capitalism and moving money because it helps our business, our country, and you!”
There are also plenty of literal messages. For example “Shoes, Shirts, and Socks.” For those in need of any elementary clothing item I would recommend with confidence this specific store because of their sign that lets us know they are full of these items. Directional signs let me know where to go when I wanted to find a restaurant to have a good sandwich. I found the Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill by simply following the sign that said “Restaurants ^ “letting me know in which direction to go. How simple a sign could be, but, oh! What it encourages is astounding!
Having a brand is also a language of advertisement, but it takes some experience in order to interpret what you will find. For example, an inexperienced foreigner wouldn’t have a clue where to decide to shop for nice cologne if you asked him/her “Macy’s or Spencer’s?” But us as experienced capitalists know to go to Macy’s for our cologne, and Spencer’s for a gag gift because that is what each brand markets. Evolved language in advertisement runs rampant through the mall because each sign signifies what niche of culture it offers.
Now once I finally found comfort on a spot on a bench under a well-lit area with plenty of foot traffic I did my best to take in some of Simone de Beauvoir’s messages of the male sex being the Absolute, and women being the “other sex,” that could not possibly envision themselves without a male counterpart. Nothing could be further from the truth here. Women weren’t trying to keep up with men by holding their sleeve, gleefully pleading for perform favors for their men. In fact, the mall is the perfect antidote to neutralize the notion of males being the superior sex. Beauvoir claims women lack “concrete means for organizing themselves into a unit.” Well the mall seems to cure that ailment. Rarely did I see a group of men wandering, but frequently did I notice small tribes of females ranging from teenagers to grown women out and about in their groups, chatting gleefully amongst themselves. Not only were they out, organized, and energized, but I expected to see them here in the mall and when I did see a group of males without female company here some cultural influence in me always thought to raise the question, “Are these guys gay?” How it has turned on its head. For every single mother proudly leading her children throughout her shopping conquest, it was a shock to notice a single father doing the same for him and his children without the guidance of a female counterpart. There are no slave/master relationships here. Not unless you consider patrons of the shopping mall slave to the business ventures of capitalism.
It’s incredible what information is possible to gather by just seeing a person and reading certain signs. Every assumption and pre-conceived notion conjured by my thoughts today depended all on Saussure’s concepts of semiotics. Without A there is no B and there is only A because there is B. Applying this to my observations, there is no wife without the husband, are there are no parents without the company of children. This stood out no more prominent then when I noticed a group of three walking about, one man and two women. The possibilities of their relationships shot off in my head like fireworks. I know the two on the right are in a relationship because they are holding hands while one single female walks casually at their pace moving forward, head angled so that she can talk eye to eye with the couple. She is single because the other two are together. The three of them are not all friends because the two in the relationship are not just friends, they are something more. This signal of a deeper relationship tends to make company in the immediate presence uncomfortable, mostly if their company is not in a relationship. This automatic negative feeling is felt by the majority of the population when seeing a situation like this and to be the one in the line of critical fire, like the single woman is here, is likely to want to be avoided. Sometimes we are forced or coerced into being that person, that ‘third wheel.’
 |
| We've all been there |
But to let other observers know we are not a perennial nuisance, buzzing around and destroying the intimate moments of a couple by just being single, many don a sign that tells others, ”I, too, am in a committed relationship. No need to judge my capability of being desirable.” It’s a little gold band at the base of, cleverly enough, one’s ring finger and it is called an engagement or wedding ring. The use of the wedding ring, according to Wikipedia, traces its roots back to Roman times. According to the prayer book of Edward VI, after the words 'with this ring I thee wed' follow the words 'This gold and silver I give thee', at which point the groom was supposed to hand a leather purse filled with gold and silver coins to the bride (Kunz PhD. DSc., George Frederick (1917). Rings for the Finger). Obviously in this culture most of us don’t have the resources to afford a bag of gold for our spouse, but the symbolic ring has stuck around and proves to all that you have an eternal bond. De Beauvoir’s “Woman as Other,” has stuck out yet again and tried to prove her message by introducing the engagement ring. Both man and wife will wear the wedding band as a symbol of eternal companionship to one another but only will a female wear an engagement ring, the symbolic gesture of “I promise to promise.” Earlier, in the 20th century and before, a woman had to earn the engagement ring by proving she was fit to be alongside a man as proof she was not so inferior to be incompatible. This, however, has evolved into a more equal, if not feminine dominated gesture. Today, the man not only has to earn the privilege of female companionship and earn her trust to consider marriage, but now the engagement ring not only has to be present, but has to be good enough. That’s what else the mall is for. After spending a few minutes by the jewelry store I noticed a couple ogling the shiny jewelry. Unsure of whether it was a ring she desired or a different accessory, it was clear to me she was there to shop and he was there to buy. De Beauvoir’s message is being received by Los Angeles culture and women are gaining their power and influence to even the playing field. Unfortunately I don’t see it being done here on an intellectual level, but through a capitalist level. “Prove to me your worthy enough by showing me what things you are capable of getting…and give them to me.” Many kids are growing up with the feeling today that true love and the meaning of companionship is a Mercedes C Class and a diamond ring big enough to scratch one’s eyes while wiping away the tears of a failing relationship. Sorry to be cynical.
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| 53% of Bridal Magazine's agree that two months salary is the minimum to spend on an engagement ring (Source) |
If there is no A without B, my observations proved that all A’s stick together as much as all B’s stay together as well. When I saw a white man in a relationship, what followed was a white woman, and when I saw an Asian woman paired with someone, that someone was always an Asian male. Biologically, all A’s beget A’s. In other words, if each pair had a family with them in the form of kids, the kids were naturally the same race and possessed similar features of the parents. This would lead me to believe if the children grew up seeing and A with an A (Asian with an Asian, or a Latino with a Latino), it would be defective to see an A with a B, the B in this case being a man or woman of a different race, let’s say white. Although I saw an even spread of different cultures and races throughout my observations, I made a point to distinguish each inter-racial couple. I may have seen a hundred different couples today, but only two couples stood out to me as inter-racial, the first being a black man with a white woman, and the second couple while I ate was a white man and an Asian woman. These were the most prominent of “mismatches” I failed to recognize as consistently as I had hoped for. Even people of the same style stick together. It is arguable that once a man or woman finds a suitable partner, he or she tends to adopt certain traits and styles of their partner, but that is when a B becomes an A. The young couple I saw were both rocker-types with several facial piercings between them, tight jeans, and loud designs decorating their t-shirts. The couple in the jewelry stored both dressed in business attire, the man confidently wearing a sport coat and button-up shirt with slacks as his lady dressed effortlessly in a quality-material blouse and appropriate length skirt with heels. I even noticed a couple who happen to be a bit different in personal appearance but made up for that discrepancy because they were both in a wheel chair, wheeling about observing what the decorated windows had to offer their tastes. Saussure might have argued that each A as well as each B and C depend on each other to be defined, but my evidence suggests while this may be true, each sign of A, B, or C are not always fixed nor eternal. Race is fixed, style is not. Language is fixed, but communication styles can evolve. These traits and signs are all defining features of the relationships that thrive in the Northridge mall.
(Works cited)
Chris Barker, Cultural Studies - Theory & Practice 3rd Ed.(2008)
Ferdinand de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics (Based on Saussure's lecture's at Univ. of Geoneva),(1906-1911)
Simone de Beavoir, The Second Sex, "Woman as Other" (1949)
Friday, September 17, 2010
Call Me Brick, Paul Newman
On Tuesday my class group and I did a presentation on the timeless Tennessee Williams play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Cat)." Our goal was to apply the current class themes of romance and class status and weave it to modern ideas and themes of today's romantic ideas channeled through media. So we did a Jerry Springer parody, Kerry Springer. We brought out the four/five most prominent characters on "stage" and enacted what would have been the cast of "Cat" on a trashy type talk-show. I channeled my inner Brick taking notes from Paul Newman's Brick as well as my own interpretation of Brick.
Using my own experiences as a celebrated athlete but (somewhat) alcoholic, I did my best to act out a good drunk, harsh, but still loved washed-up man-boy. Having faced similar experiences, I felt good playing the role and the fact that most of Brick's text was one-liners it made it that much more comfortable especially since I had never done a southern accent. The presentation went well as each "guest" including Maggie, Mae, Big Daddy, and Big Momma, contributed a good role to make the show work competently and achieve our goal of representing failing relationships, gender, class in society, and the birth of a new topic I hadn't much explored until the ensuing class discussion, ambiguity. Brick's ambiguity is what kept Brick afloat as the main focus in the play. Was his relationship with Skipper homo- or heterosexual? Does Brick still desire Maggie? Does he love his family? The presentation was a success and the acting was fun, but it wasn't easy to construct.
Being the first group to present put pressure on myself as one of the group leaders to come up with something creative and intelligent that would get a quiet class to talk with no other presentations with which to compare it. It has to be said that there were not appointed group leaders so some of us had to take the buck and put in more work in order to make it a success, but understandably so. In a group project of multiple university students dividing time between work, a full school schedule, and minimal time to prepare, how could one possibly expect schedules to match? In the end all six of us showed competency and cohesion as a group once it came down to it and I'm proud of the work we did. Now here's an actual photo of the group and me preparing our presentation.
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| That's me in the front |
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