I am so terrible on writing on here and apologise to the very limited audience that reads this.
I have recently become more aware of the term 'culture' and it's definition. I think I was made aware of it by the 'culture society' at uni. I had a strong reaction in which I profusely swore never to go near it...It has nothing whatsoever to do with disliking their activities (theatre/wine/ballet)
In fact I absolutely love ballet and dedicate a lot of my time to it. But the thing that irked me about it was their sense of superiority of elitism. In fact the connotations that come with the word 'culture'; that you need an education to appreciate it at all! Or to access it.
I'm not for one second pretend that I value programmes such as 'Snog, Marry, Avoid' as much as I value the works of Shakespeare. But to dismiss the 'lower' form of culture as meaningless and not worthy of attention is to limit the knowledge that can be gained from the world.
I think there are so many important messages that could be contained in, for example, Dr Who (I chose Dr Who because of my avid fanaticism of it) which are not considered as important as those contained within Chekhov. Within Dr Who there are so many themes concerning imperialism, humanism and so on. And exactly the same can be said of Twilight or Sex and the City. It may not be culture in the stiff, priggish way of looking at it. But it still represents society and history and the changing contours of morality. So why must we condemn these so utterly as entertainment and nothing more.
It is also important to note that some of these programmes unwillingly make statements about society which may help us reflect on what may need consideration in society.
For example, take Sex and the City 2 (which incidentally I loved!). SATC 2 got a huge slandering in the press and by the feminist soc for playing to gender stereotypes, racial stereotypes and class stereotypes. And yes it absolutely did. But it can also seek to expose the contentions and ignorance in east/west culture. Although it may also be used to reinforce these stereotypes we need to remember that we must always use any literature/art/film as a springboard into the multi facets of each.
In brief, the whole rich white women in the middle east could be seen as the embodiment of American Imperialist culture and there desire to dress the entire world in Jimmy Choos. But it can also be seen as just that: drawing awareness to this in the hyperbolic presentation of some of the themes. It satirises itself and the women in it (and makes you love them!)
Anyway, this is enough ridiculous rambling...sorry its disorganised and illogical but I spent all of my energies in The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/autism-and-genetics-a-breakthrough-that-sheds-light-on-a-medical-mystery-1996221.html 9 likes on my comment...makes me happy.
Xxx
