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I am teaching my students about material culture and cultural texts. Basically, anything can be considered a cultural text. Our focus right now is on American culture of the 20th century. What object/artifact/movement/text/etc. would you say best embodies American culture. We just got finished reading a creative non-fiction work called "The Hummer Project" where this guy would draw pictures of hummers parked in lots while the owner shopped. When they came out to their car, he approached them, offered his "gift" (the picture), and asked that they engage in a 15 minute conversation with him about the ethics behind purchasing their car. This brought us to the idea that the flux of SUV purchases in the last decade could be seen as cultural text for our purposes. So, what do you see as evidence of American existence???
The American Dollar.
It embodies what it is to be American (USAan I believe is more appropriate. It is a bit egotistical to say ‘american’ and mean the U.S. when in fact everyone this side of the planet is ‘american’).
-Spend spend spend-the american way
-Conquest for world domination and influence-last time I checked, it was the coin of the realm. You can go almost anywhere in the world and they’ll take dollars.
-Gotta get rich-the dollar embodies the american dream, get rich or die trying
-Problem solving-throw enough money at it, and you’ll get your way. especially in the courts
-Sue sue sue-If someone does you wrong, sue the living shit out of them. Take their dollars and F’em over. If you are down on your luck, sue a corporation. It is cheaper for them to settle and you get a cut while the lawyers line their pockets.
-Roll it up and snort a line-the drug pandemic is astonishing and got that way because of the dollar to be made.
-Bling-Can’t have bling w/out dollarsIs this on track?
Yes.. totally on track.
Never underestimate the power of the American quick-fix: technology and a whole lot of cash.
Thanks, Kurticus.
Oddly enough…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070125/hl_nm/rampant_consumerism_dc”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070125/hl_ … umerism_dcI think calling Sydney the "the Dolly Parton of cities in Australia, the most vacuous" was unfair. Being a Tennessee girl, I can think of plenty of women more vacuous than Dolly. Try the Paris Hilton of cities. But then again, she really is representative of American culture. Thanks for the interesting read. I might have to share this with the class.
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