20th Century American Culture is...
Culture is enigmatic. She cannot be constrained by the limits we put on her. There is no definition that encompasses all that is culture. The sheer enormity of the population over the lifetime of Earth ensures this. So does our creativity, and perhaps even brilliance, as a species. Yet even in failures or faults, culture is cultivated.
Understanding of American culture—specifically 20th Century American culture—can only be gained through experience and observation. As a young adult male in the 21st century, my knowledge of culture is indeed limited. I could even go so far as to say I am crippled in comprehension of culture. Relative to a wise philosopher or the most simple-minded adult, I appear to be floundering in the world with no conception of culture. And yet, at some point I must have gained some idea of what culture is, for I am well-versed in the high school level teachings of literature, history, economics, mathematics, and science. Perhaps I have received the raw material, but am not mentally or emotionally capable of fully understanding it for what it truly is, but have captured a gist of the idea. And on another side of the coin, in my years of childhood, I became a follower of the cultures of reading and television and video games and outdoor activities and arts. Indeed, it is very truthful to say that culture cannot be bound by a definition—surely my knowledge of culture varies heavily from the next young adult male and especially from an adult or elderly citizen.
But, to get to the meat and potatoes of the issue, my understanding of 20th Century American culture is limited to what I know of both the 20th Century in America and of culture in general. I know the Vietnam War occurred in the 20th Century, thus American culture like the movie Forrest Gump or the book Fallen Angels spawned in response. I know that the Government became more prevalent in the lives of Americans, and thus authors like Ray Bradbury and Aldous Huxley wrote literature in fear of the growing governmental power. I know that in the 1920s, times changed drastically with new concepts of culture, and thus Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, a classical of literature, about the prosperous times criticizing an expansion of materialism. I know that the film industry, new media, and the internet all emerged in the 20th Century, all of which were new ways for culture to form.
To my understanding, culture is differentiated from the inventions and arts and creations of the time, and integrated with respect to all of society and periods of time. Indeed, my perception of culture was just demonstrated as I unthinkingly made reference to calculus through the clauses with ‘differentiated’ and ‘integrated’: I see culture thus as connections of individual parts of my learning—even parts of a part of a memory and the smallest component of an idea—with another individual part or component. In my mind, combining ideas and memories and thoughts is the key ingredient to creating culture. For example, Internet culture in this century thrives on forums which merge ideas from conversations of other forums and life experiences, where individuals from all across the America (and even the world) repeat sayings or ideas and create writings or graphics or videos that all come together and become culture. Thus I repeat my claim, that my knowledge of 20th Century literature is limited by what I know of the 20th century. Since I lack a thorough understanding of the bodies of work (be it any sort of medium of culture) and events, my comprehension of the culture is incomplete. I can therefore only see the culture as being represented by the books that I have read—like Fallen Angels, The Great Gatsby, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and Lord of the Flies—or the movies I have seen—like Forrest Gump, Star Wars, or The Matrix. I understand that there was a change in culture through the movements for equal rights among men and women and people of all races, and the citizens of the United States become more united while culture expanded from the increased roles of an increased population who could now participate in creating culture. I realize that there is culture due to science, like NASA, to literature, like Dr. Suess, to politics, like the emotional changes in ideologies, and many more. I see that by itself, science, literature, politics, and ideology are forms and parts of culture. And I truly believe that culture can best be described as the sum of its parts, and specifically how people interpret and experience those parts. As such, the picture of the pieces of the camera side by side with the camera shows this belief. I see culture is a complex array of parts and pieces, all with their own specifications that combine together in a unique way to form something truly breathtaking.
My knowledge of culture is limited, but it is not nonexistent. My hope is that the 20th Century Literature class will build up my knowledge of literary culture while also compounding my knowledge of historical knowledge. I see culture as a wonderful tool to use as an advantage in my lifetime, and I hope that I can one day truly understand it and see it for what it really is.
Understanding of American culture—specifically 20th Century American culture—can only be gained through experience and observation. As a young adult male in the 21st century, my knowledge of culture is indeed limited. I could even go so far as to say I am crippled in comprehension of culture. Relative to a wise philosopher or the most simple-minded adult, I appear to be floundering in the world with no conception of culture. And yet, at some point I must have gained some idea of what culture is, for I am well-versed in the high school level teachings of literature, history, economics, mathematics, and science. Perhaps I have received the raw material, but am not mentally or emotionally capable of fully understanding it for what it truly is, but have captured a gist of the idea. And on another side of the coin, in my years of childhood, I became a follower of the cultures of reading and television and video games and outdoor activities and arts. Indeed, it is very truthful to say that culture cannot be bound by a definition—surely my knowledge of culture varies heavily from the next young adult male and especially from an adult or elderly citizen.
But, to get to the meat and potatoes of the issue, my understanding of 20th Century American culture is limited to what I know of both the 20th Century in America and of culture in general. I know the Vietnam War occurred in the 20th Century, thus American culture like the movie Forrest Gump or the book Fallen Angels spawned in response. I know that the Government became more prevalent in the lives of Americans, and thus authors like Ray Bradbury and Aldous Huxley wrote literature in fear of the growing governmental power. I know that in the 1920s, times changed drastically with new concepts of culture, and thus Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, a classical of literature, about the prosperous times criticizing an expansion of materialism. I know that the film industry, new media, and the internet all emerged in the 20th Century, all of which were new ways for culture to form.
To my understanding, culture is differentiated from the inventions and arts and creations of the time, and integrated with respect to all of society and periods of time. Indeed, my perception of culture was just demonstrated as I unthinkingly made reference to calculus through the clauses with ‘differentiated’ and ‘integrated’: I see culture thus as connections of individual parts of my learning—even parts of a part of a memory and the smallest component of an idea—with another individual part or component. In my mind, combining ideas and memories and thoughts is the key ingredient to creating culture. For example, Internet culture in this century thrives on forums which merge ideas from conversations of other forums and life experiences, where individuals from all across the America (and even the world) repeat sayings or ideas and create writings or graphics or videos that all come together and become culture. Thus I repeat my claim, that my knowledge of 20th Century literature is limited by what I know of the 20th century. Since I lack a thorough understanding of the bodies of work (be it any sort of medium of culture) and events, my comprehension of the culture is incomplete. I can therefore only see the culture as being represented by the books that I have read—like Fallen Angels, The Great Gatsby, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and Lord of the Flies—or the movies I have seen—like Forrest Gump, Star Wars, or The Matrix. I understand that there was a change in culture through the movements for equal rights among men and women and people of all races, and the citizens of the United States become more united while culture expanded from the increased roles of an increased population who could now participate in creating culture. I realize that there is culture due to science, like NASA, to literature, like Dr. Suess, to politics, like the emotional changes in ideologies, and many more. I see that by itself, science, literature, politics, and ideology are forms and parts of culture. And I truly believe that culture can best be described as the sum of its parts, and specifically how people interpret and experience those parts. As such, the picture of the pieces of the camera side by side with the camera shows this belief. I see culture is a complex array of parts and pieces, all with their own specifications that combine together in a unique way to form something truly breathtaking.
My knowledge of culture is limited, but it is not nonexistent. My hope is that the 20th Century Literature class will build up my knowledge of literary culture while also compounding my knowledge of historical knowledge. I see culture as a wonderful tool to use as an advantage in my lifetime, and I hope that I can one day truly understand it and see it for what it really is.