Time Capsule: The Twentieth Century and Beyond-Popular Culture and the Humanities - Assignment Example

 Unit 9 Project: Time Capsule A Letter of Introduction To you, a fellow living a hundred years into our generation’s future, Greetings! This is a time capsule, written in the early part of the twenty-first century. It was written in order to preserve the thoughts and culture of the people living on the planet, as well as to convey them to you, a reader who lives in a different time and era from ours. By reading this time capsule, we from your past are hoping that you would become aware of the way people have lived before you, as well as to develop an appreciation of cultures as well as the moral standards of twentieth and twenty-first century Earth-dwellers. I would like to start off with a description of my life, as it is happening right now. Currently I am studying in college, and doing a part-time job to make ends meet. After I finish my classes I go to work, and this pretty much constitutes my Monday to Friday schedules. On weekends, I go to recreational activities as well as church, both to relax and calm me down, as well as to spiritually nourish me and help me get through the following week. As a student with a part-time job, while most of my life consists of studying and working, I also have a chance to spend holidays, as well as some breaks in between the semesters. I often go home to our house during Thanksgiving, to celebrate with my family. I also attend some parties if given the chances to, so I could spend time with my friends. For me, being with the people that I care about the most is one of the things that I hold with importance, because it is the least I could do to remain in their memories, as well as them in mine. Thus, one of my goals in the future is to be able to spend time with my family and friends, while at the same time being able to have a stable job and income so I could take care of myself as well. While some components of the belief systems that shall be mentioned in this time capsule are pretty much generic and are at present widely-accepted by most cultures across the globe, there are still some beliefs here that are not so acceptable with most at present. There are still wars being fought, due to the differences in the beliefs, religions, and customs between the two warring factions. However, I am hoping that during your time, things would be a lot more different, and that people are much more open-minded and accepting of things which they do not relate to or understand much. Also, I am eager to find out if problems such as hunger and poverty already got addressed as well, so we from your past are doing as much as well can so that you may have that kind of future, and while I may not live that long to see it, I have high hopes for you. With me mentioning my hopes and dreams, as well as my daily life to you, I am presenting you some of the things that the current culture is already experiencing, so that you may have an idea on how we think and live, what constitutes right and wrong, some trends in popular culture, as well as to what is beautiful and aesthetic for us in the twenty-first century. I hope that after you read this you may have an insight on things from a century ago. Please enjoy, and may you gain wisdom that will help you in your own life. Sincerely, Someone who lived a hundred years before you An Example of Morality and Decision-Making In the twenty-first century did not change much from where it began from thousands of years ago, and that while some minor changes happened due to the modernization of man, it is still a strong guiding force in the everyday living of people (Cunningham & Reich, 2009). Morality is based on the concept of being able to relate to the feelings of others, and deciding to go for the best way of action that would benefit a greater part of the population (Janaro & Altshuler, 2012). One of the most well-known examples of upholding morality in the twenty-first century is the relentless efforts done by the International Committee of the Red Cross or simply Red Cross, which is a non-profit organization and is dedicated to giving free medical services and other forms of assistance to the impoverished communities around the world (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2010). The group was established after the founder, Henry Dunant saw thousands of soldiers which needed medical attention, but did not get any due to lack of people to do it, and some of the deaths that were caused by their injuries could have been avoided if there were a lot of volunteers to help those in need. The efforts put by the volunteers of the Red Cross involve having a mindset of empathizing to the plight of others. By putting oneself in others’ shoes, realizing the importance of living, and thinking of ways by which the tragic losses of human lives can be prevented, the organization is able to show that being kind and helpful to others is a conscious effort of deciding to uplift the spirit and lives of those in need. An Example of Happiness Happiness is one of the most hard to define concepts, even in the twenty-first century. Most people say that to be happy is to be content, while for others happiness is a part of aesthetics, of being in the sight of beautiful things, or fulfilling something which a person desires (Janaro & Altshuler, 2012). While for some, attaining wealth, power, or the attention of many people gives them happiness, and many believe happiness is something that can be reached by a single person and is dependent on his or her own capacity. However for me, I define happiness as something which is in between becoming content and fulfilled, not necessarily of the material things, but more on the inner peace of a person. While it may somewhat coincide with the definition of happiness according to some theories, I give much more importance on the intangible things. I believe that having material things such as nice and expensive items could only give temporary affirmation of the abilities of a person, as these things are prone to being obsolete or even breakdowns. But for me, having inner peace, fulfillment and contentment with whatever things I have, and having a strong relationship with my family and friends are the most important things for me to be fully happy. Also, whatever I am right now, these people accept me for what I am, and this is very important to me in a world where materialism is replacing true compassion for others. An Example of Literature Literature is the result of the formation of languages within a culture (Janaro & Altshuler, 2012). To be able to appreciate literature is to appreciate the culture of the person who wrote it. For me, one of the best examples of literatures were written in the twentieth century, with the best ones being short stories due to these works being rather fast to read and at the same time are able to give the readers something to think about. It is like compressing a certain point in time in a way that is easily digested by the reader. One of the most well-known short stories with these qualities is exemplified by the short story The Old Man and the Sea, written by Ernest Hemingway in 1952. It is a story which illustrates how man is able to triumph over trials of the mind, of the body, and of the spirit, as well as his ability to show compassion amidst extreme situations. The setting of the story may be a small fishing village somewhere in Cuba, but the trials that the main protagonist experiences resonates with the trial that each person has to experience, especially when this is the worst one yet. This is the kind of literature that is worth preserving for future generations, especially after a hundred years, in order to show readers that we, as people are not limited with what we could comprehend, and that trials are always present in our lives to test our strengths. At present, many people have started to believe that they have limitations, and that the only way to achieve their goals is by lowering their own expectations. However, for me I believe things differently, and that man has evolved to overcome obstacles with his mindset and core values. Overcoming these trials makes us stronger that we were before, and prepare us for other situations that we might encounter in the future, and the story best represents that characteristic of humanity to be emulated by others. An Example of Art Art is related to the ideals of a culture, and it is also the product of man’s endeavors to reach the ideals of beauty, aesthetics and happiness (Reitz, 2000). However, this kind of thinking changed during the beginning of the twentieth century, and has been an ongoing process which still happens in the twenty-first century. Art and beauty itself became a broad concept, and that such things became subjective, depending on a person’s viewpoints and mindset. Thus, I think that one of the best examples of artworks that show beauty based on the skills and the represented ideals of the time is a painting by the surrealist Salvador Dali, with the title The Persistence of Memory, originally La persistencia de la memoria in the Spanish language. It is a painting which shows clocks looking like these were melted by something with a lot more power over them, and that time is something subjective and dependent on the perceptions of the Figure 1. The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dali (1931). (Museum of Modern Art, 2010). observer. The artwork shows how science and art have started to emerge during the beginning of the modern age, as well as the fact that before things were created, these were all just fleeting thoughts and dreams, made into reality through the hands of man. At present, the painting is housed in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and hopefully it would still be there after a hundred years. But just in case, I have placed a picture of the painting on the following page, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art website (see Fig. 1) (Museum of Modern Art, 2010). An Example of Music The decades before the start of the twenty-first century had created some of the best, if not the best and most meaningful songs that were still relevant up to this day. One of the most well-known songs that is still appreciated by many people up to the beginning of the twenty-first century is the song Imagine, sung by John Lennon, and he composed with his wife, Yoko Ono (Curriculum Corporation, 2002). The lyrics may have been written around the 1970’s, however the meanings of the song were strong enough to remain relevant even four decades after it was written. This song is very significant and is important to be preserved for future generations because it tells of the importance of being able to think of the situations of the less privileged, and building a better world that creates equality among all citizens, which is still rather unattainable even in this modern era. In relation to the innate ability of humans to feel empathy for others, the song speaks of the power of people to change the world for the better, if only they would try doing it. This can be initiated by people imagining themselves to be in the situations of other people, especially when they are in the most unfortunate situations. Doing this could help spread out empathy and make people think less of themselves and more of others. An Example of Film The latter parts of the twentieth century and the earliest parts of the twenty-first century have seen movies that are both full of substance as well as quality in the special effects and cinematography. Most well-known director in this category is director James Cameron, who has made several movies that not only smashed box-office records but are also full of lessons and ideas to ponder about (Kapell & McVeigh, 2011). His movie with the title Avatar, released in 2009 was first of its kind in it using 3D video techniques as well as other innovations during this time, like motion capturing to create computer graphics animation of human movement as smooth as possible. It is a science fiction film which tells of the story of humans invading another planet in hopes of harvesting one of the rarest and most expensive elements in the entire solar system, at the cost of the lives of both human and alien species. What makes this film impressive aside from the intermingling of special effects and live action is the storyline, which talks about the greed of man as well as the possible damages that could result from it. It serves as a reminder of the dangers of too much selfishness, and how it would backfire on people and civilizations. I am hoping that in the future there would be less greed proliferating in your time, because when greed is removed from the culture of the people, not only would the resources be distributed evenly to all, but also it would help perpetuate a mindset of abundance, which in turn would prevent the onset of a greedy mind, and so on. An Example of Popular Culture The year 2012 has been predicted by Mayans to be the end of an era, and the start of a new one. It could be possible that the new era has already arrived, because this year also showed the world that people across cultures are starting to accept new things as well as seeing them for what they are. Thus, popular culture during our time is not only consisted of the current trends in the localities, states and government, but also shows that trends in other places are also able to enter into mainstream culture. This idea of globalization was started by the internet, and has been a continuing process of delivering and exchanging different ideas and traditions across nations, without these same people leaving the comfort of their homes (Janaro & Altshuler, 2012). This year of 2012, something phenomenal has happened in the internet, which caused a stirring in the minds of people, whether positive or negative. This year, Gangnam Style, a song with incomprehensible lyrics and sung by a rather plump but funny South Korean male rapper named Psy has made an astounding record of having more than 900 million views in Youtube, a well-known video-hosting website on the internet at present. What makes this thing phenomenal is that the number of views of this song has exceeded the number of the estimated population of the country, estimated to be near 50 million in 2012 (Lahmeyer, 2003). This means that the rest of the world also appreciated and viewed the video as well, despite them having no idea what the lyrics were all about. This also spawned greater appreciations of many people for the South Korean culture, which would have been impossible if it wasn’t for the internet or the open-mindedness of the viewers. While I personally do not fully appreciate the song, save for the video being rather funny and somewhat slapstick in a way, I am in awe of the way that this video and song has been appreciated by so many cultures across the world, not just the South Koreans themselves. It was even a huge hit in the US, despite having lyrics that only the Koreans could understand, and for me this symbolizes the start of the full globalization process of the whole world. People are starting to become open-minded about the existence of cultures beyond their own, as well as being able to appreciate them without changing the content to suit their own taste. For me, the phenomenon is very crucial in the process of understanding and accepting of the fact that not one culture is superior over another, but it is possible for these cultures to coexist in peace and harmony. That is an idea worth preserving so that you, as people living in a much more advance civilization would continue to perpetuate and even improve on it. Conclusions To conclude this time capsule, I would first like to congratulate you on being able to continue the existence of human civilization for another hundred years. After reaching this last part, I am hoping that you have gained some insights on what are the cultural trends a hundred years before you. You might notice that we still have some problems that have persisted all throughout the history of humanity, such as abhorring differences in cultures, traditions, and ideas. However, we are also striving hard to change this kind of mindset, as well as giving emphasis on the importance of and respect to individuality, empathy towards others, as well as being morally upright in terms of decision-making. We are hoping that by doing these things, a much more peaceful and rewarding future for the succeeding generations would be created for you, as well as for your children. Also, I am hoping that by the time you have finished reading this time capsule, you would prevent committing mistakes which already happened in our time. It pays to recall the history of things to prevent bad things from happening in the present, as well as the future. Thus, to close this time capsule, I bid you farewell with the hopes that your future would be as bright and as warm as the sun, which brings light to everything it shines upon. References Read More