From the start Nova works hard to convince readers the society presented to us has no culture. Set in 32nd century Nova’s message The characters explicably tell us there is no culture but they show us evidence to the contrary. Culture is inevitable. I would like to focus on three supporting arguments; that Nova is a culture of appropriation, that work itself can create culture, and that cultural capital persists even when the applicable societies think otherwise. These layers blend together to create the unique culture presented in the novel.
Nova has clearly appropriated elements from 20th century Earth culture and Vegan culture. Cultural appropriation is when a culture adopts elements of another culture. Cultural appropriation is different from cultural exchange in that exchange is a mutual and unforced process. There can be no mutual exchange in Nova as the cultures they pull from are long dead. The novel refers repeatedly to a historic “Vega Republic," which flourished several centuries prior to the novel’s beginning. At some point in the past the Republic staged an uprising. During those years the Vegans created a new style in furniture, fabrics, and architecture. The uprising was suppressed but the styles created by the Republic persist on. The intellectual upper class views these remnants as a novelty. The 20th century is the dominant contributing timeframe. Throughout readers are dazzled by excess of the upper class that echoes American culture before the stock market crash of 1929. Prince Red throws a party reminiscent of Gatsby’s party in The Great Gatsby. Prince even goes as far as to have incandescent light bulbs run on an ancient generator. The word “airy” is used throughout, “…beautiful party. Per...
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...spects of society such as class, artistic tastes, and economic motivations have been passed down from generation to generation to form 32nd century culture.
The fate of culture is not to be worried about. The future of culture in Nova is an optimistic one. Lorq Von Ray’s quest will produce a major shift in culture for humanity. As readers we can only speculate on the future that is waiting for the inhabitants of Nova’s worlds. Culture is an inevitable and persisting force. Work, appropriation, reproduction, and cultural capital combine into one “inchoately modern” culture. As long as humanity is in existence culture in one form or another with persist and grow.
Works Cited
Delany, Samuel R. Nova. New York: Vintage, 2002. Print.
Farmer, John S., and William Ernest Henley. A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English. London: Routledge, 1905. Print.
The movie analyzed in this paper is The Mission. This movie contains several sociological aspects and concepts. The concepts most easily identified are the ones that will be discussed in the following pages of this paper. Those concepts are Social Inequality, Deviance, and Subcultures. Social inequality is the social differences that exist whenever one group of people has different access to the rewards a society offers. Deviance is a variation from a set of norms or shared social expectations. Finally subcultures are groups of persons who share in the main culture of a society but also have their own distinctive values, norms, and life styles. These three concepts are clearly recognizable and are the concepts most prevalent in storyline of the movie.
I have chosen to write a commentary on pages 100 to 103, Gatsby's second party because I feel it brings out true messages of the book and it portrays the more realistic, hones, darker side of the supposedly glamorous, high-class parties. It negatively shows how people are knowingly and openly breaking the law (National Prohibition Act), making fools of themselves, and putting on fronts in order to satisfy the equally false and shallow `celebrities' they wish to measure up to. Really, the only people who deserve to be admired are the truly honest ones, who are content within themselves and feel no urge to compete against the insecure status seekers. These people want to be remembered with respect and admiration, but in order to summon up the courage so speak up and be fun yet intelligent they get heavily drunk, forget about manners and etiquette and the plan to seem interesting and end up making utter fools of themselves, thereby being remembered with humiliation and pity. This party shows people as they come across throughout the book; Tom being domineering, Daisy being confused and indecisive and Gatsby still trying his ever best to impress Daisy. We can also witness the anonymity of the guests who are supposedly Gatsby's friends. Gatsby's previous party was elegant, glamorous and cheerful, whereas this one has "turned septic on the air." This party ids the antithesis on Gatsby's previous party.
The novel explains how people in their society don't even show any love and interest
...cieties, which are dreadful, dysfunctional societies. The citizens appear happy and in harmony; however, their joy is a façade because it is reinforced by science. These societies aim to achieve happiness and harmony through different technological means. Modern-day societies and governments use the media, legislation, and consequences to accomplish their goals, such as equality, harmony, and more. Although, Brave New World and The Twilight Zone reflect extreme utopian societies, they aim to warn people of the following risks: the power of science, the influence of beauty and youth, the function of the government, and more.
Carraway describes Gatsby’s party as a place where the high society of New York puts on fake personas to hide their cold loneliness on the inside. At Gatsby’s party, Carraway describes how “the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meeting between women who never knew each other's names” (40). Here, Carraway hints at the artificiality of the people at the
...c plot" limits and ignores the non-traditional female experience which is just as important to analyze. The Nan Princes, Lena Lingards and Tiny Solderalls of the fictional world deserve and demand critical attention not for what they don't do (the dishes) but for what they are-- working women.
Through juxtaposition, Katrina, “the only child of a substantial Dutch farmer,” being born into nobility represents the literal and metamorphic power of females. The farm is the central “stronghold” for the village that provides sustenance for the villagers. Similarly by depicting Katrina as “partridge or peaches,” Irving elicits Katrina literal power through wealth. Here the power of wealth is assign to a female character rather than men to illustrate how she is beginning to break the norms...
Ruth Benedict discusses her views of culture as personality-writ-large in her famous novel “Patterns of Culture”. This means that a culture is a magnification or reflection of the personalities of the people in a group. In other words, what one could say about a group of people could also be said about their culture. Benedict believes that what constitutes culture is not the material or external aspects but stems from a shared mindset, stating that “what really binds men together is their culture—the ideas and the standards they have in common,” (Benedict 1934:16). Basically, traits of a culture rely on inherent and intrinsic natural instincts. She emphasizes the notion that the individual and their broader culture share a “consistent pattern of thought and action” constantly intertwined through their principal ideals, motives, values and emotions (Benedict 1934:46). It is through this shared system of beliefs that core...
Several individuals mark Gatsby to be a man of great wealth, with a beautiful estate, and an abundance of friends. To illustrate, parties that are hosted at Gatsby’s house are magnificent, filled with professional entertainment, music and dancers, and guests varying from politicians to movie stars. Fitzgerald paints the picture of the parties at Gatsby’s house in great detail in this passage “The bar is in full swing and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names.” (Fitzgerald 44). It can be seen that these were extravagant parties filled with lust and alcohol. The evidence shows that no ordinary man would be throwing parties of this form, only a man with great wealth and resources would pull of such a feat. Furthermore, this was the prohibition era, which meant that alcohol and the consumption of alcohol was illegal. After this brief look into Gatsby’s life, one can understand why he was considered “great”, but to truly understand Gatsby’s greatness, one must look into his
My research is in response to the essay “Culture Baggage” by Barbara Ehrenreich on page 298. In her writing, Ehrenreich discuses on language, race, and ethnicity and how it applies to cultural baggage. Ehrenreich points out that there were many of other people who already knew of their beliefs and culture and they stood proud for their roots and in heritage, as she slouched back into her seat as if she knew nothing about her culture or where she really were from. Culture refers to the learned and shared behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values and material objects that characterize a particular group or society. Which is a group of people who share a culture and a defined territory, however society and culture go hand in hand neither
The 1920s, also known as the golden age, was a time of crime, art, music, literature, and unimaginable parties. The stock market was booming, the country was thriving, buildings were being shot up from the ground, cities drowning with people coming in to seize all the economic opportunities they have dreamed of. Yet, of all that we know about the 1920s no other book has ever been able to portray the golden age as well as the famous Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Of all the activities and events that were common throughout the time period, Fitzgerald makes it a point to depict the wild parties that took place in that time. He uses stylistic elements to show how Nick feels towards the parties and what their intentions are.
Everyone in the world belongs to a subculture. Each subculture has its own sets of traditions, relics, and artifacts. Relics and artifacts are symbolic, material possessions important to one's subculture. Relics are from the past; artifacts are from the present. These traditions, relics, and artifacts help shape the personalities of individuals and how they relate with others. Individuals know about these items through storytelling in the subculture. Families are good examples of subcultures. My family, a middle-class suburban Detroit family of Eastern European heritage, has helped shape who I am through story telling about traditions, artifacts, and relics.
While reading the article, Salter reads a sentence which in turn makes him stop and question himself about culture itself and what has become of it. According to Salter, “Culture is language, art, history, and customs.”
The concept of culture refers to the perceived generation to generation and is somewhat durable. To call such behavior cultural does not necessarily mean that it is refined, but rather means that it is cultured. Hence it has been acquired, cultivated and persistent. Social scientists have invented the notion of a subculture to describe variations, within the a society, upon its cultural themes. In such circumstances, it is assumed that some cultural prescriptions are common to all members of society, but that modifications and variations are discernible within the society.