Our Culture

12/5/08

So today I began a little bit of Grad school searching. Looking at all the specializations of some of the professors began to make my mind tick a bit.
It's amazing to think about all the different perspectives that can be taken when it comes to the analysis of culture. The word "culture" alone connates so much.
Now I know that the idea of American culture is a long discussed topic. People feel that we are all essentially immigrants and that there is nothing that truly defines us as a nationality.
Do American's really have a culture? It's a loaded question, I know, but if you seriously take a look around and try your best to take into perspective the level of which our beautiful 50 states have become the "melting pot" it is, where does the culture come from? All of us have our heritage, even though some like to deny it, and there is always those people that exclaim "we're all immigrants!". So where is our culture, what defines us as Americans. Is it the sex-driven pop scene? The frialators? The Ford Excursions? or the Dunkin' Donuts. How do we say "here is how I celebrate my culture" - by driving 80 on the highway in a truck sized for 8 carrying 1, bobbing your head to Britney's "Womanizer", sipping double shots of caffiene noisely through a obnoxious orange straw and chumping down on a microwaved meal on the go.
Makes me proud. But please disagree if you feel necessary, I would honestly love to be proven wrong so maybe I could start looking at our "culture" as something to take pride in instead of looking like some kind of eutopian, greed/sex driven mish-mashed experiment. Almost makes me think about a really awful school project I did when I was a freshman in highschool creating a "eutopia" and setting down your own basis of laws and such. It was all based on reading "The Lord of The Flies" and the idea of whether or not a Eutopia could exist at all. But I'm getting off the subject.
So what is American culture? Do we have culture? Can we call ourselves a cultured nationality? Can we even call ourselves a nationality at all?
And how does this culture, or lack there of, fuel our musical interests, our industry and our marketing tactics. Does a person consider their heritage while creeping up and down the aisles of Newbury Comics, or if you're not from around here, Wal-mart/Target/Best Buy. Does a consumer of Irish descent feel the need to celebrate his love for the color green, drinking heavily, and punching fists by picking up the latest Dropkick Murphys album and humming along on the way to the liqour store. How deep does the subconscious affect of our heritage go when it comes to our musical interests?
I feel like there is a big part of the me that can not sympathize considering that my knowledge of my heritage is limited. As far as I have been told in no particular organized fashion that my ancestors range from Cherokee Indian, to Welch, to Scottish, to Portuguese. I just don't know what is truth and what is not. Does my feeling of not have any ancestry affect how I relate to music that is based on a strong ancestry? Sometimes I feel it does, that I can't connect with an artist on that level and it leads me to not be as interested in their compositions.
The search will continue, and next time maybe I'll have some research to base my incoherent ramblings on. That should make my opinions a bit more viable. Or not.