Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371314
- eISBN:
- 9780199870585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter argues that cultural diversity and cultural development are compatible with the assumption of a biological human nature that provides human universals. It shows that children’s films are ...
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This chapter argues that cultural diversity and cultural development are compatible with the assumption of a biological human nature that provides human universals. It shows that children’s films are shaped both by innate emotional needs and cognitive constraints and by specific cultural norms, using examples from Finding Nemo, Spirited Away, Lassie, Bambi, and others. It refutes the blank slate theory of the human mind—the strong version of culturalism—and also the arguments for strong biologism. It discusses the mechanisms of cultural variation and also those that promote cultural stability and universality, including a discussion of functional bundles of universally salient story elements. The effect of some of these mechanisms on genre patterns is illustrated, and an alternative, functionalist explanation is provided to Altman’s postmodern genre theory. Finally, the chapter argues against monolithic theories that claim that given periods or cultures—for instance “modernity”—can be characterized by means of homogeneous features, proposing instead that cultures are time-spaces in which many different forms exist and interact, so that heterogeneity is not a property of modernity, but typical of culture in general.Less
This chapter argues that cultural diversity and cultural development are compatible with the assumption of a biological human nature that provides human universals. It shows that children’s films are shaped both by innate emotional needs and cognitive constraints and by specific cultural norms, using examples from Finding Nemo, Spirited Away, Lassie, Bambi, and others. It refutes the blank slate theory of the human mind—the strong version of culturalism—and also the arguments for strong biologism. It discusses the mechanisms of cultural variation and also those that promote cultural stability and universality, including a discussion of functional bundles of universally salient story elements. The effect of some of these mechanisms on genre patterns is illustrated, and an alternative, functionalist explanation is provided to Altman’s postmodern genre theory. Finally, the chapter argues against monolithic theories that claim that given periods or cultures—for instance “modernity”—can be characterized by means of homogeneous features, proposing instead that cultures are time-spaces in which many different forms exist and interact, so that heterogeneity is not a property of modernity, but typical of culture in general.
Nancy Yunhwa Rao
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040566
- eISBN:
- 9780252099007
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040566.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
In this expansive project, Nancy Yunhwa Rao examines the world of Chinatown theaters, focusing on iconic theaters in San Francisco and New York but also tracing the transnational networks and ...
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In this expansive project, Nancy Yunhwa Rao examines the world of Chinatown theaters, focusing on iconic theaters in San Francisco and New York but also tracing the transnational networks and migration routes connecting theaters and performers in China, Canada, and even Cuba. Drawing on a wealth of physical, documentary, and anecdotal evidence, Rao brings together the threads of an enormously complex story: on one hand, the elements outside the theaters, including U.S. government policies regulating Chinese immigration, dissemination through recordings and print materials of the music performed in the theaters, impresarios competing with each other for performers and audiences, and the role of Chinese American business organizations in facilitating the functioning of the theaters; and on the other hand, the world inside the theaters, encompassing the personalities and careers of individual performers, audiences, repertoire, and the adaptation of Chinese performance practices to the American immigrant context. The study also documents the important influence of the theaters on the Chinatown community's sense of its cultural self. Presenting Chinese American music as American music, Rao's work significantly revises understandings of American music by placing the musical activities of an important immigrant group firmly within the bounds of music identified as "American," liberating it from the ghetto of exoticism. Firmly grounded in both Chinese and English language sources, this study offers critical insight into both historical and contemporary questions of cultural identity in the American context.Less
In this expansive project, Nancy Yunhwa Rao examines the world of Chinatown theaters, focusing on iconic theaters in San Francisco and New York but also tracing the transnational networks and migration routes connecting theaters and performers in China, Canada, and even Cuba. Drawing on a wealth of physical, documentary, and anecdotal evidence, Rao brings together the threads of an enormously complex story: on one hand, the elements outside the theaters, including U.S. government policies regulating Chinese immigration, dissemination through recordings and print materials of the music performed in the theaters, impresarios competing with each other for performers and audiences, and the role of Chinese American business organizations in facilitating the functioning of the theaters; and on the other hand, the world inside the theaters, encompassing the personalities and careers of individual performers, audiences, repertoire, and the adaptation of Chinese performance practices to the American immigrant context. The study also documents the important influence of the theaters on the Chinatown community's sense of its cultural self. Presenting Chinese American music as American music, Rao's work significantly revises understandings of American music by placing the musical activities of an important immigrant group firmly within the bounds of music identified as "American," liberating it from the ghetto of exoticism. Firmly grounded in both Chinese and English language sources, this study offers critical insight into both historical and contemporary questions of cultural identity in the American context.
Anne C. Rose
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807832813
- eISBN:
- 9781469605630
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807894095_rose.5
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter examines how the South reacted to a psychology of personal development. The analysis revolves around three themes: traditions of care for the mentally ill in communities; strategies of ...
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This chapter examines how the South reacted to a psychology of personal development. The analysis revolves around three themes: traditions of care for the mentally ill in communities; strategies of self-therapy devised by troubled individuals; and routes of cultural migration by which psychological innovations reached the South.Less
This chapter examines how the South reacted to a psychology of personal development. The analysis revolves around three themes: traditions of care for the mentally ill in communities; strategies of self-therapy devised by troubled individuals; and routes of cultural migration by which psychological innovations reached the South.
