Same bridge, different water.Originally Posted by rdenney
Same bridge, different water.
I'm interested in this, but let's please move away from nationality. Nationality is a dangerous and usually stupid concept. The OP (and yes, it was unintentionally, but still offensively written) is really asking more about cultural influences. There are disparate cultures within as well as "out of" countries. It depends on how micro and macro you want to get. There are even cultural differences that exist outside of geography (the culture within landscape photography doesn't exist without peer).
Today, the internet and the global age are changing a lot of this, so it's a very relevant subject to discuss now. I think that younger people will be less influenced by regional work, then what regional characteristics inform them as individual people. That is, they have every culture's work to sample now, which will be filtered through their own environmental upbringing.
Laslty, people get scared of generalizing (or if they're not, they're taken to task). I don't think there's anything wrong with it, as long as you're clear about it.
Why must this be the case? Somehow, this touches a nerve, as evidenced by the emotion of the responses in this thread, but for the life of me I can't understand why. Why is it dangerous to acknowledge that traditions and ways of seeing are informed by the soil on which they grow? Why is it dangerous to discuss and try to understand how those traditions and ways of seeing might differ because of that different growth?
I mentioned before the treatise by the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams titled National Music And Other Essays. In that work, he defended the notion that one can be both modern and still draw from his own cultural roots. He wrote that essay for a tour he made of American universities between the wars, and that was at a time when political nationalism was thought to be a more dangerous concept than it is today. He was devoted to English musical heritage having explored fully both folk music and also the music of the English Renascence, which was a time of great musical (and cultural) flowering in what is now the UK. He thought the Englishness of music during that period had been lost under the overwhelming influence of Handel and those who followed him, who brought German musical tradition to London following the Elizabethan period. Despite the times during which he wrote these essays, and despite his thesis, there is no hint that I can see of any anti-German sentiment in what he says, and favoring the revival of traditional British music in no way was intended to demean music rooted in German heritage.
Rick "wondering why people react so sensitively at the mention of the word 'national'" Denney
In some ways, I agree. But one thing I have observed which I do not at all understand: Young people spend their lives sitting in front of televisions listening to news broadcasts and Hollywood shows that filter out most regional accents. And yet those same young people demonstrate the strongest of the local accents and dialects in their respective regions. I have observed this everywhere in the U.S. Wherever these young'uns (so to speak) are getting their accents isn't coming from the pervasive influence of television or the Internet. Something else happens at the regional level that maintains those regional differences.
Where I think the Internet changes perceptions is in personal relationships. As a result of online activities, I know and share interests with people all over the world. One advantage of that is that I get to learn how they look at things, and they get to learn how I look at things. But how does that learning take place (especially on word-only forums) when we can't discuss those as national differences?
Rick "who grew up in Texas but who has no regional accent" Denney
Oh, I agree with you completely. The point is that it does touch a nerve, and everything you speak of can be talked about within the context of culture instead. Even culture identified with a national label.
It's just the word has become loaded. It's also limiting, as I was trying to say.
Edit: As for your second post, I think that's kind of what I was saying. People will maintain their regional flavours by being influenced by those around them, but they'll have a greater understanding of a homogenized world culture, as well some of the regions that inform it. Things like art (yes, television, though it's been true of television for awhile) can be consumed from many more places.
Last edited by tbeaman; 17-Nov-2010 at 07:12. Reason: wrote the first response before his second post
Region is not necessarily nation. Culture is not necessarily nation. I think people react to these because nationalism - particularly the strain of it called ultra-nationalism was responsible for so many atrocities in the last century, and before that and before that.
I certainly think that photographers have a very close connection to their regions (unless they just photograph products/celebrities in the studio) and it is probably more productive to talk of that rather than nation.
I think it's a group bonding/identity thing. I grew up mostly in California but spent a few years in Hawaii as a teenager. I slowly adopted the local dialect ("eh bra, you go beach today?"). This was almost a conscience attempt to fit in with locals, in effect advertising "I'm becoming one of you now." I saw the same transformation in other young neo-Hawaiian transplants. On vacations back to California my Hawaiian dialect was dropped immediately. I've seen many (cultural) Hawaiians use heavy dialect in familier/casual settings but turn it off in formal/business settings or trips to the mainland.
Adult transplants were much less likely to adopt the local lingo.
...Mike
I think you are right about the transplant thing .... I've lived here for many years, but refuse to talk "local". It always seems a sign of low intellect to me. ...
Whoa dude! I felt that way too, but being a skinny new haole boy I wasn't about to reveal it.In hindsight, it was a valuable experience. Not the experience of feeling the need to conceal my young unworldly opinions to avoid a high school ass wuppin', but the experience that later helped me understand that it's not good to make too many assumptions about people by their language/dialect. Except for Bostonians (paak da caar in Haavad yaad). (lame joke sorry.)
...Mike
I said it was a sign of it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a person is of low intellect. As Zig Ziglar always says, "you are known by the words you speak".Whoa dude! I felt that way too, but being a skinny new haole boy I wasn't about to reveal it.
...Mike
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks