Entertainment as Ritual in Contemporary Culture


	Entertainment as Ritual in Contemporary Culture

abailart

7-1-2009 4:29 AM

300 views

tags:

anthropology, culture, entertainment

abailart says:

Interesting article with reference to Michael Jackson's life and productions as an example of entertainment's role in modern 'ritual', and how neuroscience, particularly 'mirroring', is relevant.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/9416d542-97db-416a-a3a0-5aa0cf8787bb/1C2447F9-9A4E-4215-9A93-7EFDCFA8E06D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://neuroanthropology.net/2009/06/30/neuroanthropology-and-the-contemporary-culture-of-entertainment/" href="http://neuroanthropology.net/2009/06/30/neuroanthropology-and-the-contemporary-culture-of-entertainment/" style="font-size: 11px;">neuroanthropology.net</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://neuroanthropology.net/2009/06/30/neuroanthropology-and-the-contemporary-culture-of-entertainment/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/neuroanthropology.net/img/08007633-C1B1-4A98-959C-DFE54966010D" alt="Thriller Ipod" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://neuroanthropology.net/2009/06/30/neuroanthropology-and-the-contemporary-culture-of-entertainment/"><P>Over the last century, anthropologists have often chosen to study exotic symbolic systems — rituals, myth, art — and frequently managed to illuminate the cultural logic underlying what seem initially to be “irrational” practices.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://neuroanthropology.net/2009/06/30/neuroanthropology-and-the-contemporary-culture-of-entertainment/"><P>So why haven’t anthropologists leapt to study one of the most exotic and powerful symbolic systems in human history?  I’m talking about the Western (and predominantly American) system of “entertainment”.  Not only is this system central to contemporary Western culture, it has arguably played a major role in the breakdown of the cultures of many indigenous communities.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://neuroanthropology.net/2009/06/30/neuroanthropology-and-the-contemporary-culture-of-entertainment/"> some interest in the topic has emerged in the last couple of decades. Much of this material is promising; often authors pursue the insight that in some ways <A href="http://www.amazon.com/Recasting-Ritual-Performance-Association-Anthropologists/dp/0415182808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245530268&sr=1-1">entertainment activities are similar to rituals</A>.  This is not only an accurate observation, but it points to the possibility of beginning to map how entertainment works to establish some of the central meanings of contemporary life.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/1C2447F9-9A4E-4215-9A93-7EFDCFA8E06D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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