ENGLISH 1A

In Class Essay 1 

 

Hollywood Culture

 

Culture is a somewhat nebulous concept. It encompasses the behaviors, values, language, and products of a society, being both shaped by and shaping the individuals present. American culture, as all cultures invariably are, is different than other global cultures, and should theoretically work to add cultural variety in the global cultural scheme. However, being an American (and thus the American culture) has somewhat transformed into an image-obsessed, homogenized, superficial state of being, disconnected from nature and reality. An artifact to represent such a culture, could be a Hollywood studio. A Hollywood movie/TV studio itself is a reflection of the content which it creates, and as such demonstrates the ideals presented in the society it engenders. A Hollywood movie studio is representative of American culture because it recreates and sets the ideals of American society. It acts as the brain of American society. It is a rather small and centralized location that synthesizes information collected from the rest of the body, creates an image that the person can comprehend, and shapes subsequent behaviors and thoughts.  A Hollywood movie/TV studio both creates and reflects a homogenized and superficial image, and perpetuates a disconnect from reality, ultimately causing an ego-centered society. 

 

A Hollywood movie studio both creates and reflects American culture, shaping the perspectives of its viewers and outlining their social priorities.  While I am a fan of movies and would be the first to point out many cinematic masterpieces and express that movie making is a valid and integral art form in American culture, the movie industry has lost its original intent. A Hollywood movie studio rarely creates artistic expression nowadays, but rather a sort of brain washing mechanism. Hollywood TV has become the perfect and most effective way to allow for a reality in which "Identical images flow into our brains, homogenizing our perspectives, knowledge, tastes, and desires," (Lasn, 11).  When there is a constant stream of ideas and images flowing into the American psyche, it logically follows that many people watching the same images would be unified in their perception of those images. In a culture such as America's, in which there are many subcultures, and cultures from other countries, access to the same virtual content can actually serve to create a common culture and unify society. However, with millions of people watching an identical version of reality, it can become a problem if the content created in these movie studios does little to encourage thought, discussion, debate, or dissent. Often times, the society reflected in Hollywood TV and movies is an extremely violent, sexual, or perfect one. With rather extreme models of behavior, the society which watches this content is subsequentally influenced to behave in similar ways, creating a society in which beauty is defined as character X from movie X, and the proper way to handle a disagreement as character Y from TV show Y. Hollywood studios in effect act as a microcosm of the American society, thus in their existence and the content they produce demonstrating the superficiality of society. With infinite capabilities to create and capture wild fantasies in these studios, there is little need to film outside, in the real world. Much like in the movie "The Truman Show" (which was probably also filmed in a TV studio) in which a man's entire life is unknowingly spent on a movie set for a TV show of his life, the American people are indirectly spending their lives within Hollywood movie and TV studios. In a culture that encourages conformity to set and fictitious ideals, little progress can be made. Without variety of perception or debate, advancements in music, science, technology and other aspects of culture are made less likely and less influential.  

 

The act of watching content created in the micro-reality of a Hollywood TV and movie studio (and the content itself) disconnects viewers from reality. This phenomenon occurs in two ways: by physically removing the viewer from nature or social interaction, as well as shaping the expectations of the viewer for the real world to look and behave like the world created in a studio. A disconnect from reality and into the world of a TV/movie studio is detrimental to society in a variety of ways, one of which is leaching the time of viewers from performing societally or individually beneficial tasks. When one immerses oneself in the virtual world of television or a movie, time that could be spent improving or learning a skill and enjoying nature or the company of others, is forfeited and replaced with time spent in relative mental inactivity. Americans watch and produce more TV and movies than most other countries or cultures, and as such, more American time is spent absorbed in a false reality, created possibly even in a single warehouse. As a result of a certain image of reality being set in movie studios, the viewers' expectations of reality are shifted to expecting the fantasy and excess of Hollywood realities. These expectations foster movie/TV emulating behavior, which translates to a society as superficial as the ficticious Hollywood reality it's based off. Time spent in disconnect, both physical and emotional, creates apathy in the viewers, both towards the content in the movie or TV show, as well as in real-world issues, or manifestations of the TV content in reality. When a person watches TV or movies, he/she is not engaging with the content, but rather, passively recieving it. When a viewer can nonchalantly watch a brutal murder, perfectly beautiful romantic relationship, or malicious political corruption, because he/she knows its not "real" (but created in a studio) it conditions the viewer to passively absorb atrocity, or unrealistic perfection, and desensitizes him/her to similar real-life scenarios. When the human ability to empathize, or critically analyze and question a situation is stripped away, the society becomes a dangerously apathetic and docile one.

 

A homogenous perspective of apathy towards human issues eventually creates a self centered society. The time spent in disconnect form the social and natural world, as well as the goals transmitted through TV and movie content, promote a focus on a "main character" rather than a system of beings. The reality created in Hollywood studios disengages humans with the natural world around them, the one in which humans have lived for all of time. If a person never or rarely experiences a situation, such as nature, for themselves, he or she will be unable to feel a connection to that scenario. Without an emotional, spiritual, or physical connection to something greater than oneself, a "public good" such as the environment for example, one is unable to feel responsibility or belonging to it. This creates a more isolated environment (both physical and mental isolation when watching the movie-studio reality, and isolation in the social world that is influenced by it), and as such a more self-centered one. If in one's own life, one is always the main character, and as such, all thought and action must center around them, it is nearly impossible to fix greater societal interests, or align people's own self interests with greater social or interpersonal goals.

 

An American cultural artifact that influences the behaviors, values, language, and products of American society, shaping and being shaped by the society, are the Hollywood movie studios. The studios are a tabula rasa for the fantastic, and provide a form of escape from reality, stunting cultural growth as their products homogenize cultural tastes. By projecting unattainable images of reality to the society, societal expectations become unrealistic and unified, causing a cultural stagnation of dissatisfaction.  As people watch the false realities created in Hollywood movie sets, they disengage from global realities and empathy gives way to apathy or ignorance. The result of social, global, political, or environmental interest is an ego-centered perception of life and how it should be, and little alignment of the self with the other. If a Hollywood studio is truly representative of American society, it seems then, that American culture doesn't quite promote a society at all. 

 

 

Reflection

I think it’s fascinating how even though I’ve lived within the American culture my entire life, when I actually study it all the different ideas and different perspectives on my own thoughts that emerge, how deep the study of culture can go. I learned that there can be many interpretations of American society, and the artifacts that represent it. I found it interesting how in the responses, most of us chose artifacts that connected with the ideas and themes presented in “Culture Jam”, such as televisions or trivial consumer goods, and fewer chose more foundationally American symbols, such as the Constitution of the U.S.. I think that because of the critical nature of “Culture Jam” many of us have been influenced to critique or question the problematic aspects of American culture. While this may lead to more “negative” essays, I think this a valuable learning experience, as it prompts us to question the society’s faults, rather than praise it’s merits.

I learned that sometimes in my writing I try to fit complex ideas into complex sentences that don’t necessarily carry the point. For example, in my conclusion paragraph I wrote “The result of social, global, political, or environmental interest is an ego-centered perception of life and how it should be, and little alignment of the self with the other. “ I’m not quite sure about what idea I meant to carry across here, but I think I could have done so more effectively had I wrote more concisely and simply. I think it’s much harder, and much more effective,  to write pithy essays rather than longer rambling ones. I hope to learn how to carry across my ideas in clear and concise ways in my essays, and use more discriminate word choice.