Social and Cultural Impact of Notting Hill Carnival - Case Study Example

Topic: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT OF NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL (Name) (Institution) Introduction Rituals and ceremonies take a great part of our social life. These take various forms like carnivals or celebrations. In such events there is a continuous interplay of cultural forms and such occasions are often used as expressions of solidarity. Notting Hill Carnival is one such event that has continuously taken place on the streets of Notting Hill since 1965. Even though such events evolve to express the sentiments and identity of the people, it has been observed that there is a strong undercurrent of politics and power relations (Cohen, 1980). These events carried out at Notting Hill carnival have both positive and negative social and cultural impacts respectively. Case Study Music live performance is one of the major activities or event that occurs regularly at Notting hill carnival. Music is basically a message that is passed to the audience which carries with it the perception that the performer has towards different aspects of life and how those aspects affect life in one way or the other. It is expressed rhythmically towards the audience who in turn flow in it in order to make their own judgment on what the singer intends to pass to them. For example if the song is about love then the performer may choose to express their deep feelings they have about another person in such a way that the audience find themselves also moving in the same feelings . Sometimes the song can be sung as a warning or advice towards a particular group of people especially the youths not to engage in various dangerous activities such as drug abuse, unprotected sex which may result to unwanted pregnancies thus leading into abortion which may turn dangerous to their health. A song can also be permed to inform people of a social evil that may be prevailing in the society without their notice, for example corruption human trafficking to mention a few. Music performance being one of the activities at Notting hill carnival has therefore its negatives and positive social and cultural impacts. To better understand this impact it is necessary to break down the positive and negative impacts that music performance at Notting hill has in the social setting and the positive and the negative impacts that music performance has in the cultural setting. Positive Social Impacts When the music is about love the song may be aimed at strengthening the relationship between two people in love because the singer may use words that try to express the deep feelings that one may be having towards the other. This enables the two people to explore their love world and discover that they are important players in this field and therefore work tirelessly towards making their goals and objectives come true. This goes along way into solidifying the bond between the two. Attendants at Notting hill carnival will come out of the place replenished and their love relationship more stronger than it was before and even more confident of the fact that they are doing what they are required by nature that is to love one another. Second the music performance at Notting hill may act as a warning about some of the social evils which if left un-attended may turn out to be detrimental to the society as a whole, for example continuous drug abuse by the youths which might result into accelerated crime rates in the society, high rates of alcohol taking among the youths turning them into irresponsible people who can not be entrusted with the running of various society organizations, drug abuse which might affect their health and so on. The singer may choose to use the Notting hill carnival as a good venue where he or she can express his or her observations in the society about such matters that remain a problem in the society. Groups of youths can therefore go out of the Notting hill carnival warned and advised not to engage in such activities the result being a positive behavioral change among the youths which trickles down into the society as a whole hence impacting positively in the social lives of all the people in the society. The music performance can also act as a complement to the teachings the parents have already given to their children about life. Many a young people tend to believe more what their fellow friends in the same age groups pass as advice to them because they perceive their parents as people who are not conversant with the current issues and therefore the music played or sung by their age mates may put more weight to what they have already been taught by their parents. This is possible if the music is aimed at promoting positive morals among the youths who are more encouraged to see their colleagues advising them on some important social problems they might have passed through, such as drug abuse and the repercussions they faced and therefore would not like to see their fellow youths go through the same. This makes the message real when told by their fellow youth than when it is told by older people perceived to be of low influence to them which impacts positively in the society as a whole. Third, music performance at Notting hill enables young people to know that they can make it in life not only through education but also through cultivating their talents such as singing when they attend the Notting hill carnival. They get challenged by their friends or people in their age groups who perform in these celebrations. The result is that they get serious with life and change their perception about success in life from education dependent to other things. This enables them to bring out their full potentials and capabilities which would have otherwise have faded had they not attended the Notting hill carnival where they would get challenged. As a result the youths become self- reliance as they use their talents to the maximum. This goes along way into instilling strong self confidence in the young people and as they contribute positively towards the society they come from both inform of information and financially thus having a positive social impact in the society. Music performance at Notting hill can also be used to equip people with various skills which they can use to tackle inevitable life problems as they occur in life, for example, the message in the song can be to encourage people not to lose their hope even when situations are not good at all. This enables people to have positive attitude about life thus avoiding situations where people can go to the extent of committing suicide. This also contributes positively in the social aspects of life. Music performance at Notting hill carnival can also be used to express sincere feelings that the singer may have for people who might have lost their people in accidents, earth quakes, floods and other natural calamities thus enabling a large group of audience to feel the same through the words clearly articulated by the singer about that incident. This instills the feelings the victims of the incident may have into the audience thus necessitating people to develop love for one another and support one another. Music performance may also act as a source of information that the audience may not have regarding various issues that face the society and which the singer may want to pass to the audience, for example, presence of a killer disease, presence of a social evil in the society such as corruption which can be a useful information to the authorities in order to curb the occurrence of such activities in the society. In many social settings women were taken as inferior as compared to men and this resulted into abuse and mistreatment of women because a woman was perceived as a being with a minor role in the society. A music performer will therefore use his or her words in order to change the perception that people have towards the women which brings with it a positive social impact in the society where all groups of people respect one another. It has also positive impact in the health of people as the audiences are entertained off their hard duties thus developing a relaxed mind capable of making ample decisions. It also contributes into improvement of interaction level among people from different backgrounds thus enabling them live harmoniously in the society. This allows people to accommodate one another in terms of their beliefs, perceptions of things and the need to respect one another in spite of their places of origin. Negative Social Impact Firstly, the music performance at Notting hill carnival may cause a change in behaviors among the youths from good to bad especially if the language used in the song is obscene and does not carry any moral values with it. This change in behavior may result into other unwanted and condoned behavior such as theft due to drug abuse, unwanted pregnancies due to promiscuous behavior among young girls and even death when they attempt abortion .(Cohen 1993) If not controlled the behaviors that people may develop after attending such celebrations at Notting hill may result into bad relationships between the parents and their children because of the bad influences they may acquire from their friends in this celebrations, for example children may develop negative attitudes towards their Christian or Muslim values or teachings especially when the message they get from the songs at Notting hill does not have any moral teaching. It is worth noting here that most songs composed by young people these days do not have adequate or any moral teachings at all and therefore affect the lives of many young people negatively. If such Musicians participate in Notting hill carnival they are taken as heroes and adored by many youths who end up copying whatever they find those musicians doing. This may have adverse effects in the society as the youths stop being responsible and acquire behaviors that may destroy their present and future lives. Many youths end up developing behaviors such as drunkenness, smoking, use of hard drugs and other corrupt behaviors that they see in their friends when they attend such carnivals. These activities may affect the health of the youths negatively and they are more exposed to risks of contracting diseases such as AIDS and other dangerous diseases. Music performance at Notting hill can therefore have bad social impact. Positive Cultural Impact Since the Notting hill carnivore attracts people from all over the world every one of those who attend has his or her cultural back ground which makes the core of their beliefs. Though this beliefs may differ from one culture to the other they help us trace our origin and Music performance through reminding people not to forget their beliefs and getting brain washed by other cultures that do not make the core of their beliefs, for example, the music may be aimed at reminding the blacks of their traditions such as respect for all people especially the aged, observing their Christian values with a lot of integrity and prevent themselves from being alienated by the western culture which they are less conversant with. Music performance may also be held to enable other people interact and develop the respect for other peoples cultural beliefs thus creating a common environment where people can live without conflicts. Through such performances people get to know their friends deeply through observing how their cultural celebrations and activities are carried out and the negatives and the positives of such cultures. The young people through attending such carnivals get to know the different cultural events that their ancestors used to observe when and why they were observed thus enabling them get to know themselves better. They therefore develop confidence in themselves by discovering who they are and that they have roots of origin. This enables them develop such capabilities as to be able to restrain from influences that are not healthy and acceptable in their cultures. Music performance at Notting hill may also promote tourism in those countries from which the performers come from through their rich cultural beliefs that they portray during such carnivals. The audiences develop such a need to trace the participants back to their counties of origin to see and feel the environment behind which such people come from. As a result they visit such countries as tourists thus promotion of tourism in those countries which is also one component of culture. (Martin, 2005) Negative Cultural Impact Just as Music performance at Notting hill may have positive cultural impact it may also have negative cultural impact. Firstly, when exposed to immoral music the youths get to develop negative cultural values aimed at allowing any bad behaviors in the society. They ignore their cultural beliefs and the end results being suffering from engaging in uncouth behaviors. They are also exposed to the risk of completely forgetting their cultural values which make the core of their beliefs. The result is that they get swayed easily by any doctrine or teaching that they come across hence becoming a people without a proper destiny since they do not know where they come from. Fear of your culture being perceived as inferior may also crop up among the youths especially those who come from third world countries which may make them lose their self confidence. If exposed to such behaviors the youths can develop a rebellious tendency towards their own parents who may be striving to straighten them the result being continuous conflicts in the families. Since the family is the core unit in the society if problems emerge from the families then the society may not have a firm foundation with the risk being that even the cultural values slowly erodes away and people remain exposed to the risk of getting brain washed by values from other cultures. Notting Hill Carnival started as a response to the race relations in the UK as a local affair by the West Indian immigrants of the area. Today it is full-blooded Caribbean Carnival attracting millions of people from all over the world. Following the riots at the Carnival in 1976, it had been running peacefully but recently it has given rise to debate and controversies. It has been also observed that the organizers are shunning responsibility and the Royal Parks Agency avoid giving out the place to hold the Carnival (Bryson, 2001). In the wake of such incidences, it has become important to ascertain the sanctity of such events and the social and cultural impact that such events have in the society. With the original aim of the carnival slowly fading away even the cultural values are slowly affected negatively since most people who attend these celebrations are youths who do not have a clue of what the carnival are meant for. The riots proves that the main aim of holding such carnivals is not again in the minds of the people who attend the celebrations and people come with their reasons for participating in such carnivals ,for example to get drunk, or do other nasty things that are not acceptable in the society. References Amaratunga, D.et al (2002). Research in the built environment, (New York: New York Press) Allen, J. et al (2005). Festival and Special Event Management, (New York: John Wiley & Sons ) Cohen, A. (1993). Culture and Everyday Life, (New York: New York Press) Martin, G.(2005). Neighbourhood Change, Place and Identity in Notting Hill,( International Journal of Urban and Regional Research) Read More