Sunday, October 28, 2007
been a good girl last night & did my readings for tutorials.
as i read on, felt more & more disgusted & repulsive.
whatever i read, mirrors certain themes in some of my utopian books.
1. Space & Place - the past as the fiction of the present
there is a distinct difference between public & private image, very different images.
"Nostalgia is hence a construction of the past but a condition of the present." - Brenda Yeoh and Lily Khong.
time + memory + authenticity are called into question.
in preserving heritage sites, the history has always been revised, interpreted differently by respective leaders-in-charge, & edited & rewritten to suit the present. some things we see are constructed. when did our shophouses in Chinatown has such nice tiles & door frames, or even glass? dad loves to tell Milo & me about his childhood, seeing that he frequent Chinatown the most then.
"used to play with all the other kids at the back alley, then there are barbers there too, & played with marbles, chatek(?) etc...but now everything is so different already..." - dad.
yesh. there were no air-condtion units in the back alley then. artificail VS authenticity. if everything is constructed, then what is the truth? if everything is invented, then what is true? Is Chinatown/Kampong Glam/Little India today, really what it was then? truth is less important than attractiveness. our heritage sites serve many functions, one being tourist attractions with all the cooked-up dramaturgy. it seems like we're forming a utopia, filtering the undesirable & retain only those desirable in economic, cultural & social sense. what are they? pseudo-heritage.
this likens to 'England, England' by Julian Barnes, doesnt it? from the title, 'England, England', it's like e.g. Malaysia, KL. drawing inferences, constructing a second England, within England itself. extracting all the attractions in England, & putting them altogether in one place, so that it's convenient for tourists. imagine Sentosa, Zoological Garden, Bird Park & all our cultural heritage sites in one place. but it doesnt stop here. in the book, e.g Robin Hood, the character, was seen as an icon of England, & thus this character lives in the constructed England. however, they ignored the fact that Robin Hood is a criminal, & only extract the desirable qualities of Robin Hood as sympathetic, helping the poor etc. dramatise the character. this utopia, for one moment, may seem feasible. but what will happen to the original England? it'll collapse. & it did.
the book went on about identity crisis & elusive nature of memory.
had been dead helpful with my psy & sgp term paper.
2. Gender - female VS male, patriarchy system
after going through the readings, there are parallels to this other novel, 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwoods. disgusting, disturbing & sad. one of the themes: patriarchy state + polygyny. (if i remember correctly, it's something like that)
fyi, polygyny means a man with many wives.
this novel is really sad because the role of women is really downplayed. there are these generals/lieutenants, with a wife, plus a Handmaid. setting in post-Gilead, nuclear wat ended, but with all the radioactive substance + declining birth rate, thus pushed for polygyny. but they carried it out in the name of religion. so anyway, these Handmaids were given 3 chances to give birth, or else...
like all other utopian fictions, there is a protagonist who will try to break out of the system & so on. in this book, the protagonist (female) gave in, being too tired & crushed to carry on. wombs=national resource, as insisted by the state, using language that dehumanizes women & reduces them to mere baby-making machine.
"I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will... Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping." - Chapter 13.
the novel continues, reflecting increasing instances of the state being patriarchal, like how the women are no longer addressed by their names, but by the generals/lieutenants' names, e.g Offred -> Of Fred. belonging. loss of identity. they are, labelled.
this is really friggin disgusting.
3. The Milgram Study + Religion
i've dawned upon the importance & relevance of religion.
refer to video below which is on Milgram's Experiment
blind obedience.
there's another study, the Prison Study.
here's the link to Milgram Study in case the video gets cranky, & here's the link to Prison Study.
& that costume functioning as a label, illusion becomes reality. personal identity erased, & boundaries erased as they took on labelled roles. likens to the issue on identity. it's like labelling Black VS White, Male VS Female etc.
there's this other experiment that my tutor told us about.
the experimenter phoned this restaurant manager, & claiming self to be a police. thereafter saying something like that: I believe that one of your employees, Ms _____, has stolen money from the cashier, & ask to seek your cooperation in carrying out investigation...
& the manager indeed searched his employee to a really unethical extent; she was stripped. there.
are humans mindless? & to what extent are people capable of evil?
suggested by researchers, without religion, meaning no karma/afterlive etc, people are more prone to carry out evil deeds. so, i guess religion does help to keep people in check & regulate behaviors. this other experiment goes something like this: a person was covered in a long hood (identity not known) & the participant was sort of hypnotised into believing that he doesnt have any religion, there are no rules/regulations/laws/punishment/karma/afterlive/heaven/hell or anything of that sort. & was told that he could do anything he likes with the person who was blinded to the situation, completely helpless. - person was treated with violence. act of violence that usually will not be carried out by the participant.
4. Media + language
media, used to enhance imaginary product differentiation, aiming to influence consumers tastes & preferences & to persuade them to buy their goods. it influences people's perceptions of themselves, their society & the world.
a very interesting point to note about media:
literate societies are governed by written laws & by the principles & statements of a constitution, while oral societies (illiterate societies) are governed by knowledge preserved by certain speakers, predominantly the elites. writings are invented to represent speech. & language is an expression of meaning. remember this. it functions as a tool of communication, right, but what are you communicating? meanings. anyway, from this point, the media acts as a democratizing agent by breaking down the monopoly on information & knowledge previously held by elites & politically connected, because one doesnt have to be literate to understand the contents/messages transmitted by telly.
presentation was something like this, but zoomed in on rural aspects. this is much more easier to understand than political systems.
5. Power
when people talk about money, they are really talking about authority relations inside the households. & how these authority relations are controlled & by whom. but then again..it's still pretty subjective. gender-based/class based/ability based?
hmm..individualism VS collectivism -we they want the best of both worlds.
okayy. too exhuasted to carry on. trying to keep my eyes wide open.
losing..
gahh.
stop hate.
"universal love is the only path towards peace!" - Battle of the Wits
Stop Hate.
as i read on, felt more & more disgusted & repulsive.
whatever i read, mirrors certain themes in some of my utopian books.
1. Space & Place - the past as the fiction of the present
there is a distinct difference between public & private image, very different images.
"Nostalgia is hence a construction of the past but a condition of the present." - Brenda Yeoh and Lily Khong.
time + memory + authenticity are called into question.
in preserving heritage sites, the history has always been revised, interpreted differently by respective leaders-in-charge, & edited & rewritten to suit the present. some things we see are constructed. when did our shophouses in Chinatown has such nice tiles & door frames, or even glass? dad loves to tell Milo & me about his childhood, seeing that he frequent Chinatown the most then.
"used to play with all the other kids at the back alley, then there are barbers there too, & played with marbles, chatek(?) etc...but now everything is so different already..." - dad.
yesh. there were no air-condtion units in the back alley then. artificail VS authenticity. if everything is constructed, then what is the truth? if everything is invented, then what is true? Is Chinatown/Kampong Glam/Little India today, really what it was then? truth is less important than attractiveness. our heritage sites serve many functions, one being tourist attractions with all the cooked-up dramaturgy. it seems like we're forming a utopia, filtering the undesirable & retain only those desirable in economic, cultural & social sense. what are they? pseudo-heritage.
this likens to 'England, England' by Julian Barnes, doesnt it? from the title, 'England, England', it's like e.g. Malaysia, KL. drawing inferences, constructing a second England, within England itself. extracting all the attractions in England, & putting them altogether in one place, so that it's convenient for tourists. imagine Sentosa, Zoological Garden, Bird Park & all our cultural heritage sites in one place. but it doesnt stop here. in the book, e.g Robin Hood, the character, was seen as an icon of England, & thus this character lives in the constructed England. however, they ignored the fact that Robin Hood is a criminal, & only extract the desirable qualities of Robin Hood as sympathetic, helping the poor etc. dramatise the character. this utopia, for one moment, may seem feasible. but what will happen to the original England? it'll collapse. & it did.
the book went on about identity crisis & elusive nature of memory.
had been dead helpful with my psy & sgp term paper.
2. Gender - female VS male, patriarchy system
after going through the readings, there are parallels to this other novel, 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwoods. disgusting, disturbing & sad. one of the themes: patriarchy state + polygyny. (if i remember correctly, it's something like that)
fyi, polygyny means a man with many wives.
this novel is really sad because the role of women is really downplayed. there are these generals/lieutenants, with a wife, plus a Handmaid. setting in post-Gilead, nuclear wat ended, but with all the radioactive substance + declining birth rate, thus pushed for polygyny. but they carried it out in the name of religion. so anyway, these Handmaids were given 3 chances to give birth, or else...
like all other utopian fictions, there is a protagonist who will try to break out of the system & so on. in this book, the protagonist (female) gave in, being too tired & crushed to carry on. wombs=national resource, as insisted by the state, using language that dehumanizes women & reduces them to mere baby-making machine.
"I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will... Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping." - Chapter 13.
the novel continues, reflecting increasing instances of the state being patriarchal, like how the women are no longer addressed by their names, but by the generals/lieutenants' names, e.g Offred -> Of Fred. belonging. loss of identity. they are, labelled.
this is really friggin disgusting.
3. The Milgram Study + Religion
i've dawned upon the importance & relevance of religion.
refer to video below which is on Milgram's Experiment
blind obedience.
there's another study, the Prison Study.
here's the link to Milgram Study in case the video gets cranky, & here's the link to Prison Study.
& that costume functioning as a label, illusion becomes reality. personal identity erased, & boundaries erased as they took on labelled roles. likens to the issue on identity. it's like labelling Black VS White, Male VS Female etc.
there's this other experiment that my tutor told us about.
the experimenter phoned this restaurant manager, & claiming self to be a police. thereafter saying something like that: I believe that one of your employees, Ms _____, has stolen money from the cashier, & ask to seek your cooperation in carrying out investigation...
& the manager indeed searched his employee to a really unethical extent; she was stripped. there.
are humans mindless? & to what extent are people capable of evil?
suggested by researchers, without religion, meaning no karma/afterlive etc, people are more prone to carry out evil deeds. so, i guess religion does help to keep people in check & regulate behaviors. this other experiment goes something like this: a person was covered in a long hood (identity not known) & the participant was sort of hypnotised into believing that he doesnt have any religion, there are no rules/regulations/laws/punishment/karma/afterlive/heaven/hell or anything of that sort. & was told that he could do anything he likes with the person who was blinded to the situation, completely helpless. - person was treated with violence. act of violence that usually will not be carried out by the participant.
4. Media + language
media, used to enhance imaginary product differentiation, aiming to influence consumers tastes & preferences & to persuade them to buy their goods. it influences people's perceptions of themselves, their society & the world.
a very interesting point to note about media:
literate societies are governed by written laws & by the principles & statements of a constitution, while oral societies (illiterate societies) are governed by knowledge preserved by certain speakers, predominantly the elites. writings are invented to represent speech. & language is an expression of meaning. remember this. it functions as a tool of communication, right, but what are you communicating? meanings. anyway, from this point, the media acts as a democratizing agent by breaking down the monopoly on information & knowledge previously held by elites & politically connected, because one doesnt have to be literate to understand the contents/messages transmitted by telly.
presentation was something like this, but zoomed in on rural aspects. this is much more easier to understand than political systems.
5. Power
when people talk about money, they are really talking about authority relations inside the households. & how these authority relations are controlled & by whom. but then again..it's still pretty subjective. gender-based/class based/ability based?
hmm..individualism VS collectivism -
okayy. too exhuasted to carry on. trying to keep my eyes wide open.
losing..
gahh.
stop hate.
"universal love is the only path towards peace!" - Battle of the Wits
Stop Hate.
------------------------------------
2:29 AM
