Weeks 10-12
Modernism:
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
What does 'The Wasteland' mean?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
Post-Modernism
1) What common qualities do 'the beats' share? Why 'beats'?
2) How is beat poetry linked to rap?
3) How was Bob Dylan's 'Masters of War' involved in controversy during the Bush administration?
4) On what grounds was 'Howl' accused of being obscene - grounds for the defense?
5) What kind of protest song/rap other media have come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
Modernism: What are some of the key features?
ReplyDeleteThe key feature of modernism is the deviation from basically everything considered traditional or 'high' in terms of literature. However, and bearing that in mind, there is a very real concern toward the use of language, more so how language can be manipulated to suit the modern context. Furthermore modernist literature bears focus on impressionism and subjectivity as a opposed to the traditional realism and objectivity. This focus upon subjectivity is heavily linked to stream-of-consciousness writing, which is my personal writing style. I believe that I tend to write in this manner due to the fact that nine times out of ten I have no idea what is going. However upon completing any free writing exercise I usually find themes within the words that bear direct relevance to my sub-conscious thoughts. Not only does this help me to understand my thinking process it also gives me further areas of study. However let's go back to the question at hand! Another feature of modernism is the blurring of distinctions between genres. A critical note on this; I believe that this represents a subjective breaking of boundaries. In the modern world distinction, difference and judgement only stand to separate people. Perhaps the blurring of genres stand to represent the future blurring of differences within people. With a global world fast developing this is particularly important. Further features of modernism include, but are not limited to, an emphasis on fragmented forms, a tendency toward reflexivity, self-consciousness and self-critique, the rejection of 'high' and 'low' in popular culture and a full scale rejection of formal methods and aesthetics in favour of on the spot decisions and discovery through the creative process.
For me modernism is a rejection of traditional methodology due to the fact that traditional styles of literature are not adequate anymore in describing the contemporary world. However I haven't done any exploration into what 'post-modernism' is so my opinion is fallible.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePost-modernism: Protest media and spirit of Protest
ReplyDeleteOk, so there is a vast array of protest material across all forms of media. This is due to the obvious fact that there are too many things to protest about in this 'post-modern' era. Some examples that spring to mind are Marvin Gaye, M.I.A, Neil Young, Radio head or if you're really feeling angry then you can turn to the likes of Rage Against the Machine, Immortal Technique, @peace, or Joey Badass. Joey's 'Survival techniques' are one of my favourites for an lovely and bitter stroll through all the depravity that is Auckland city.
Some lyrics from that tune:
Fucking ridiculous,
Finger to the president screaming Fuck Censorship!
Anyway is there a spirit of protest anymore? I can only speak from limited experience, and from what I've seen is that New Zealand lacks spirit in general. I was in Wellington at the beginning of year to see some friends and generally enjoy my summer away from the structure life of Auckland. While I was down there a protest took place against the controversial Trans-Pacific-Partnership Agreement. Corporate control has a big impact toward my anger at the world so I decided to go along to it. Anyway the first point that should be raised is that the day was not particularly nice. This did not dampen my spirit but unfortunately I cannot say that about other protesters either there or that were supposed to be there. All in all maybe a thousand people showed up to protest against something that poses a direct threat to our sovereignty (or supposed sovereignty). Now this did dampen my spirit, and further reiterates my belief that there is a lack of protest spirit in New Zealand. Furthermore upon our walk to parliament (on a Saturday-no MP's) it seemed like more of a family occasion then a moment of collective anger. This further dampened my spirit, and I fell into the sad pact that was really only there to show face value then creep back home to accept whatever fate was given to them. However I looked around at the people present, and within the sorry bunch of people I saw what I can only describe as radicals, I saw masks, I saw hoods and I saw a few people that had hatred toward the current system pouring out of their eyes. Now this does give me hope and I hope that these traces or protest spirit can survive and bring up those content that I was surrounded by on that sorry day.
On a world scale it seems that the protest is very much alive. Europe is a constant source a inspiration in this regard. Young Germans fighting back against the banking institutions. Scottish nationalists fighting for independence, Greeks left wings and anarchists forming 'Ex-Anarchic' an actual anarchist neighbourhood, the Catalonians long term independence struggle and the anti-fascist struggle in the Scandinavian and East European countries. On this note I live with a Czech Republican national for a wee while on K Road. One day we were discussing the rise a Nazism and Fascism in Europe and he put the situation into context for me. But more so he revealed to me what measures were being taken by everyday people to fight against the rise of racism. He had been apart of violent protest groups that would fight against the racist groups. This might sound a bit barbaric, but for me that it the definition of moral crisis. And in a moral crisis we must pick our side and be willing to fight it out. This must be the case if the protest spirit within people is to survive. If it doesn't we will slowly fall back into the delusion that we are free.
Post Modernism - How is beat poetry linked to rap ?
ReplyDeleteThe Beat Generation was a group of authors whose literature explored and influenced American culture in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized throughout the 1950s. Beat poetry represents a style of writing from the mid-1950s and 1960s popular in Greenwich Village, New York, and San Francisco, California. It incorporates a free-form type of writing that PROMOTES individualism and protests the loss of faith. The beat generation rejected mainstream politics and culture, using poetic writing to show how they rebelled to acceptable social norms.
(http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-beat-poetry.html)
Rap originates from the streets in which artists used rap battles instead of fighting to show their frustrations and concerns.
Beat poetry and rap can be linked because they are both an art form that is moulded around the concept of freedom of speech or the most obvious reason the ability is to creatively incorporate messages that has importance to the artist. Beat Poetry uses a poetic form with rhymes and rhythms that indicates their style. Whereas rapping uses beats to back up their freestyle rap. Rapping also consists of spoken word poetry which indicates the similarities between rapping and beat poetry.
References
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-beat-poetry.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapping
Post-Modernism Q 5: What kind of protest song/rap other media has come out in the last decade? Is there a spirit of protest anymore?
ReplyDeleteThere still is a spirit of protest around like in China in 2013 protesting about waste incinerators in Moaming as well as a PX chemical plant in Xiamen protest against in 2007,(Youzhi 2014). Also there is a spirit of protest in New Zealand in March over giant oil drilling companies drilling in this country and the environmental impact this will have on New Zealand’s clean green image, (Hope 2015). Whereas in 2011 in New Zealand protest for gay marriage people marched all the way to parliament in Wellington to let these people be able to get married in New Zealand, (Burr,2011).
The kinds of protest song and rap have come out in the last decade are Macklemore’s song same love, (Macklemore 2012), and the band named gossip with their song called standing in the way of control in the year 2006,(2011 Hutchinson) This song protests against same sex marriage laws. Another song that had come out was wake me up when September ends by Green day which was released in 2004. It protests against President Bush after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, (2011 Hutchinson).
The other modes of media that have come out about protests are one campaign on face-book demanding the Canadian Parliament rethink its C-51 bill because all the Canadian Government cares about is political parties not the Canadian public, (Regan 2015). Another media protest campaign on the media is on you-tube about Zero working hours in fast food restaurants like McDonalds in Brixton in London England and fast food workers wanting to be paid 10 pounds an hour living wage, ( Dee,2014). One other protest on you-tube about Muslim women protesting against femen campaign, (Jewish news one 2013).
References
Burr, L, (2011). Pro-gay marriage protest hits parliament. Retrieved from http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/progay-marriage-protest-hits-parliament-2011102016#axzz3cnmzytRk
Dee, T, (2014).Fast food rights campaign protest.Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMraSQL1Rj8
Hope, M, (2015). Protest stop deep sea oil in New Zealand waters 29 March 2015. Retrieved from http://merrilynhope.com/protest-stop-deep-sea-oil-in-new-zealand-waters-29-march-2015/
Hutchinson, K, (2011). The 10 most powerful protest songs of the 21st Century. Retrieved from http://flavorwire.com/143568/the-10-most-powerful-protest-songs-of-the-21st-century
Jewish news one, (2013).Topless Jihad backlash: Muslim launch racist protest against Femen campaign. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hevp3Fidf3U
Macklemore, (2012).The Heist same love. Retrieved from www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/macklemore/samelove.html
Regan, W, (2015). Senate sets Canadian democracy ablaze with bill C-51. Retrieved from http://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/06/10/opinion/senate-sets-canadian-democracy-ablaze-bill-c-51
Youzhi, X, (2014). China’s ‘nimby’ movement inspires spirit of protest. Retrieved from https://www.chinadialogue.net/blog/7094-China-s-nimby-movement-inspires-spirit-of-protest/en
MODERNISM
ReplyDeleteWhat does 'The Wasteland' MEAN?
1) how has it been interpreted? (cite examples)
2)what are some of the key features
3) In what way has it been influential
The infamous poem "The Wasteland" is about what was wrong with society in the early 20th century. ” It is about “what was wrong with society” in the early 20th century; absence of belief and spiritual faith, loss of civilization and lack of communication and community, corruption through sex and a society without any cultural value. The poem overall describes the affect the war had on Europe and how civilisation had been lost in the process.
The word 'WASTELAND' is a clear indication of being a metaphor to perhaps highlight the devastation left behind by the war and how society was in need for renewal of some sort.
Furthermore, Eliot uses images of tradition and ceremony, religious texts and pagan rituals. These impressions are like a divergence to contemporary life imitating an infertile world with spiritual death. In the northern hemisphere April is springtime which symbolises the rebirth of life and nature. “Europe has been compact to a waste land on which nothing has grown” and “What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow/Out of this strong rubbish?” Eliot uses other languages like French, German and Latin to imply the themes of ineffectiveness, isolation and infertility are universal.
The Wasteland” has become known as the most prominent poem of the 20th century and much literature around this time, and is still influential up to the present time. T S Eliot himself is also held as the most significant and influential poet who transformed the nature of literature and poetry the todays society.
References
http://www.enotes.com/topics/waste-land
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_Land
What does ‘The Wasteland’ mean?
ReplyDeleteThe New Zealand Oxford dictionary defines a wasteland as being either an unproductive or useless area of land, or a place or time considered spiritually or intellectually barren. A space perceived as empty, is the exact opposite of the wasteland which Eliot describes to the reader. Perhaps irony is a very broad term, however there is a hint of it in the title, as the text is overflowing with an array of places and lives and people. So many so, that it is a challenge to follow whilst reading. With the use of foreign languages and seemingly unrelated intertextuality I felt catapulted to and fro throughout the wasteland, straining to grasp any sense of meaning from one thing to the next. “No single consciousness presides; no single voice dominates. A character appears, looming suddenly into prominence, breaks into speech, and then recedes, having bestowed momentary conscious perception on the fragmentary scene.” (Leverson, 1984). It is evident that the text is rich, so rich and yet so lacking in clues that I would then read it ten times to be no more the wiser about how the content all relates. Leverson (1984) cites Eliot’s argument in regard to Leibniz’ theory of the dominant monad, where he challenged that if one can recognize two irreconcilable points of view, yet which happen to melt into each other, then Leibniz’ theory is rather unnecessary. Eliot’s point of view on the matter sways me to believe that the wasteland he describes is more of a unified land, or a world, where everything is so vastly different yet still all the same. The wasteland, which is deemed barren and or useless, is ironically at the same time all and everything.
Menand (1987) described the poem as being designed to make trouble for the conceptual mechanics of both ordinary reading as well as literary reading, and in terms of style Eliot eludes a literary grasp. This can explain why the poem is so conceptually challenging. It is also hard to immediately distinguish what Eliot wished to reveal about himself, as Menand explains “nothing in it can be said to point to the poet, since none of its stylistic features is continuous, and it has no phrases or images that cannot be suspected of –where they are not in fact identified as—belonging to someone else.” However the poem can be seen as the culture Eliot saw as it was around himself. The way which he merged and morphed objects and characters and races and religions is also a reflection of his own breakdown, rather than an expression of general reality. So where it seems as if Eliot is purposely confounding the reader, and even himself when it comes to interpreting the poem, he cannot help what he reveals about himself in his work.
Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” is a testament to how art can be timeless. Written to protest the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union in the 1960s (especially the buildup of the arms race), it was linked to protests against the Afghanistan and Iraq wars over 40 years later. In Boulder Colorado on November 12, 2004, a talent show was investigated by the secret service for alleged threats to President Bush’s life. Students at the show sang “Masters of War” for the talent show and later were accused of calling for the President’s death. While the the song does say that the singer feels about the masters of war that “I hope that you die / And your death’ll come soon,” it does not say specifically say who is wanted dead and certainly does not mention Bush. Previously at the same high school, students had protested the 2004 reelection of George W. Bush, so that could connect the school with protests against the president. Teachers and the principal at the school supported the students who performed the song and their right to protest the very contested election results.
ReplyDeletehttp://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=247437&page=1
“Howl” by Allen Ginsberg was the centerpiece of obscenity trial in 1957. A bookstore manager and the publisher of the book were both arrested after a copy of the book Howl and other Poems was sold to an undercover cop. During the trial the defendants managed to gather several expert literary witnesses to defend the poems’ literary merit. They succeeded as Judge Clayton W. Horn declared that the book was of literary merit and therefore not obscene.
ReplyDeleteReasons why the book was seen as obscene were its references to drugs, sex, and, perhaps most damning to the prosecution, homosexuality. A few of the notable lines include “with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, al- / cohol and cock and endless balls” and "who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy;” there are many others. However, even with these lines the prosecution had to prove that the book was obscene, in the judge’s words “Sexual impurity in literature (pornography, as some of the cases call it) is any writing whose dominant purpose and effect is erotic allurement; a calculated and effective incitement to sexual desire.”
The defense was that “Howl” had literary merit. It was a reflection on society and one’s place within the crumbling community of America. All the indecent language used was to paint the scene and appropriately discuss the subject. It’s kinda like the idea that if you say hell in reference to the place, you are not actually cursing. Horn’s defense of the poem was that “The first part of "Howl" presents a picture of a nightmare world; the second part is an indictment of those elements in modern society destructive of the best qualities of human nature; such elements are predominantly identified as materialism, conformity, and mechanization leading toward war.”
In the end the poem was seen as have literary merit and protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendment. Personally, I think if you find a poem like “Howl” you should be more concerned about the environment that produced such a work rather than if it obscene. While art does inspire and motivate, it is also a reflection of the world.
References:
http://mason.gmu.edu/~kthomps4/363-s02/horn-howl.htm
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/life_and_art/2010/09/how_howl_changed_the_world.html
Of course there is a spirit of protest nowadays! From the Button Poetry organization that promotes people speaking about whatever issues bothers them in spoken word form to movements like Occupy Wall Street, the belief in the ability that change can be had if people speak out has not died out. However, there can be a sense that such beliefs are divided. There’s so many causes, so many facets, too many and too few people. However, with access to more technology, people are able to connect and affect others in new ways. Counterintuitively, to many people, video games are actually becoming a new vehicle of protest.
ReplyDeleteAlthough video games have been the subject of many protests against violent media, it’s interesting to note that some people are now using it to promote a better world. At Champlain College, the university I’m from, a group of people produced Breakaway, a game that hopes to people to stop violence against women. The game was designed for the United Nations and remains free to play. The story follows a simple narrative about soccer, but tackles issues like gender equality, violence, and respect. Games being used as a teaching tool is not a new idea, but why can’t they used as a form of protest and education? Art is a reflection, reaction, and inspiration of the real world, so why not games?