...gave way to a more anonymous style of sociability, oriented towards spectacles and celebrities and centred not only on salons but on le Boulevard, where shopping, the cafe, and the activities of a whole constellation of new and exclusive social clubs accommodated a larger more heterogeneous society. pg 189
Questions #5
• What is the place of the generalist in today's world?
• Is shopping the great leveler leading us to a non-
hierarchical world of consumption?
• What is the relationship between the spectacle and anonymity?
What would you call a spectacle in your world?
Quote #6
...the decadence of conversation could be blamed on crinnoline , which "invaded [women's ] moral life, debased their character by destroying their influence , reduces their field of action, and narrowed the terrain of their ambition. " pg. 209
Questions #6
• Do we live in a world where lots of brainy women have a strong
public presence in their own right?
• Is fashion a place where differences come together to create
a new civil world order?
• what does the obsession with physical beauty
and decoration do to the female brain?
and what is it doing to the male brain?
And what does it do to their interactions?
4 comments:
I am surprised by how much similarity I find in the descriptions of changes to 'mondaine' France and contemporary cultural angst.
it sounds like etalk daily would have fit right in! Does that mean we can evolve away from it ? at what cost? the 'terror" of the French revolution seems a heavy price and it preceeded the break down in any case.
Where are we in this evolution?
When we are thinking we are pretty are we just plain charming or just plain stupid?
Do we judge intelligence/desirability by looks or conversation.
Do we want to look at a person in front of us and converse with a person behind us, whom we don't have to look at.
How long and hard to we have to work to get past a human facade, how brave do we have to be?
I'm scared!
it feels like so much of our world revolves around the media of television, movies and advertising. which is all driven by advertising and consumerism. has the television and hollywood film become the arena of spectacle which appears to knit together the society, but rather cause us to feel separate, less than, and inadequate?
is this the old but perhaps more than ever valid or important question about beauty being in the eye of the beholder, or being only skin deep or real beauty coming from within?
what is beauty?
and what about intelligience? what is intelligience really?
what do we judge as intelligience or percieve as intelligience?
is it what has been learned, studied and is regurgitated or reconfigured in some fashion? or is it an innate something, which is there whether educated or not. something which is nurtured and encouraged?
personally i want to engage with the person within. not the face or rather not just the face. this means the whole person. and i need to use my whole person, not just my mind. is the face the doorway or the window? the facade?
and we do have to be brave to engage in this way. to engage in such a way is to engage with the authentic person or spirit/energy of the person. that can be scary. we become vulnerable or open.
oh.... door bell. gotta go. will come back to this.
Post a Comment