bazillions of cultures

[beccaelizabeth]

Cultural appropriation

big argue

I wrote some stuff (kind of awkwardly) here a bit ago, about using the forms without the values or stripping the connotations from a symbol and how that annoys. And impoverishes, to some extent, because it narrows the stories you can tell, and the layers of meaning in them.

But not using the forms narrows the stories too.



also, there is a big assumption of 'dominant' culture
sociology of media last week, postmodern say no big blobby dominant culture (er, in the diagram with circles and arrows, there was just arrows), because everyone makes their own from parts

pastiche, bricolage, taking bits from all over and remaking them

familiar?

typical postmodern texts = cultural appropriation?



I do not think I am a part of dominant culture. I didn't used to notice, but sociology class has made it clear, there is a large well known opinion that I'm not only not part of, I'm not usually aware of. I find it strange and alien.

Fandom works for me. Lots of tidy defined texts, lots of talking about those texts, lots of words and symbols that I can read and connect to things. Seems like quite a lot of queer (readings, beings, whatever), but that might just be my reading list.

So can I only write about queer fen?

I've seen published novels taking place partly at conventions. I could write about that.

But conventions, while like each other in a lot of ways, have their own micro cultures too. Starfury is not quite like Wolf, and both are different from other organisers. Like different fandoms, some behaviours normal one place get funny looks in others.

Shall I then set all my stories at Starfury conventions?


... I actually have a fic involving Andrew, the Thistle hotel, those wiggly lights on the ceiling in the con area, Jedi chefs, and an explanation of how Andrew apparently has every Doctor Who episode on DVD. I could even set it at a Starfury convention, because they run cons for Charmed and Firefly, and there's no reason those shows can't exist in the Buffyverse.



My point isn't, "I am white and I have a minority culture too"
I mean I'm white, queer, disabled, a permanent student (unemployed), and only middle class by one set of indicators (if you only count the not-unemployed times of parental unit). Not exactly the default Jane Normal of popular culture. But I'm not waving a 'my minority just as minor as yours' flag.

My *actual* point is, there are a bazillion different cultures.

Tiny, tiny subcultures with a couple dozen people in it, massive class differences, difference between US and UK, all kinds of differences.

Is writing about goths cultural appropriation? How about punk? The more I read about punk in the subcultural studies stuff, the more I think theres a ton of values and stuff that get ignored when the pretty colors get focused on. The why gets lost behind the what. Same problem as with any other culture borrowing.

And really, in a properly written story, you aren't writing about 'punks', you are writing about this character who identifies as, among other things, a punk. Same as all the other stuff.

Like with studying for the education essay, can't just concentrate on ethnicity, because class and gender have huge impact on results too.



Is the argue about stereotyping? 2D characters representing categories?

Or is it saying that rich 3D characters from different backgrounds than the writer can't be right?
That ends up meaning only writing autobiography. Blah.



So while I get that there are power issues, history issues, all kinds of shallow reading / bad writing issues involved

I absolutely do not get people saying to stick with 'your own culture', because when you get right down to it each reader/writer is an individual within several different cultures, defined in lots of different ways, physical difference, history, experience, shared texts

and its amazing we ever communicate at all, there is so little overlap.

Might as well write about all kinds of people.
Specially if it means reading/learning about them first.



Okay, that came out even clunkier than expected, and potentially wrong. I'd have to poke books again to look up the postmodern stuff.

Summary:
Richness, layers, diversity, yaay.
Diversity of writing and readings.

Telling people what not to do, unyaay.


... I think maybe using bits of cultures can read like telling people what to do, what to be, what not to be. Like, reflecting people back with bits missing? Saying what they should leave out?

That be a problem.

But.

Cultures are acquired, through reading a bunch of texts (experience texts, book texts, film texts, all the sorts) and putting them together in your head to Mean Something.

New texts, new readings, new meanings.
=> new writings.

sometimes in other cultures?
sometimes in same usual culture looking at others?



I still have a problem with the whole 'culture' concept. My brain works more in units of one person. (To type a sweeping generalisation). Pouring them all in together and calling it 'a' culture makes no sense to me. I mean two people with all their big 'culture' categories the same can read a text in radically different ways, sometimes several ways at once. So what does 'a culture' mean anyway? Big collection of many differences, is what.


Meh. Shall post this even though I think I say it all wrong.