We are finding more questions than answers when we were working on our group presentation. With so much information that we have covered this year, it is really difficult to provide a full analysis of the three cultures. Even as we begin to limit our perspective to one subject, we find more questions than answers. I have found in this class that the amount of material covered that we haven't fully been able to solidify elements of a culture because elements are different between individuals. We may have a cultural identity but, as a culture, we are represented through politics and media. Therefore, coming from a location that is not that culture I am only aware of what that country presents as its cultural identity. Which raises an interesting question: Is there such a thing as a "Cultural Identity?"
Do all African-Americans appreciate Jazz music? Do all gay people wear pink and love Cher? Are all Southerners lazy and unintelligent?
"ALL" is a limiting word. One would think it was inclusive, but in retrospect it is limiting on the choices/facets of a culture. George Bush saying the country was welcome to the Pope's ideas. Bullshit. There is no such thing as a collective "we."
So.... as we perform our group presentations I find that we can only accurately portray a skewed version of reality. The plays we read--- one person's opinion. The videos we watched-- that producers view. Can you study a culture without immersing yourself into it? Can you, as a student, try to represent an entire culture? No. No. No.
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I think when one evaluates or 'judges' a culture, a good place to start is with the leaders. So by using this loose, yet inviting, standard today we can look to Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton and Sen. McCain. All of whom appeared on WWE Monday Night Raw April 21st.
They represented us in honorable fasion by delivering speeches that are very 'wrestlingesque'.
McCain made sure to mention "leave Iraq: never". Clinton says to call her "HillRod' and vows to be the last man standing will be a woman.
And Obama (who steals my impersonation of him doing the Rock) delivers the catch-phrase 'if you smell what Ba-ROCK is cooking'.
We are a media generation with 12 minute attention spans.
So When attempting to represent American culture, remember our leaders.
My jaw dropped when I read that the three leading presedential candidates were on WWE Monday Night Raw. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I also saw Senator Clinton make an appearance on the The Colbert Report and a via-satelite-appearance of Senator Obama last week. On one hand, I admired their gutsiness to go on a show with a host notorious for embarassing guests, but on the other hand, it seemed to make a bit of a circus of the election. It made it sort of seem like a popularity contest, which I suppose it is, glorified though it may be. Inspired by Gerry's post to examine leaders as a sort of marker by which to judge a culture, what does this say about us? That we're not interested in politicians unless they do a little dog-and-pony show? Surely the candidates wouldn't have appeared on WWE unless they felt that there is a substantial number of Americans unresponsive to their stumping who might prove more receptive if they merely appear in front of a violence-glorifying, silicon-implanted backdrop. (Which is not to knock the WWE as I, myself, am a fan of organized wrestling and Ultimate Fighting.) I wonder how much pressure they felt to appear once their opponent had agreed to make the appearances and whether or not they hated doing it. Part of me feels that if they didn't want to do them, they compromised their own values. At the same time, I would rather my candidate did all he/she could to win. Where is the line drawn? Upon thinking about this, I feel that I want an unreasonable number of things out of a leader (or potential leader). I want them to take the issues and their resolutions seriously, but also have a sense of humor. I want them to be honest, but not pass up a potentially valuable campaigning opportunity. I still can't decide if these two examples of non-traditional campaigning for or against the candidates. I'm sorry that I missed that I missed them on WWE. I would have liked to have seen that...maybe.
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