Brad: > I have long wondered how the symbolic "world" of > 1940s American popular culture was metabolized by > 1940s American people.
> "What must have been going on in the minds of > the persons who enjoyed this kind of stuff?" Where > I am coming from is my puzzlement that adults could > relate to such stuff as meaningful. Were they > as "ditz-headed" as this imagery? What effects did > this imagery have on their self-understanding in > their own middle to lower middle class and working > class lives? > > Does my puzzlement make sense? What are the conditions for > the possibility of adults seeking out this kind of > symbolic material to bring into their inner life? In the late 1940s, my family lived in a pulp and paper town on the British Columbia coast some three hundred miles north of Vancouver. It was a 100% working class place. I was a teenage high school dropout working in the local sawmill full time. My dad was a millwright in the paper mill. About the only entertainment people had was getting drunk, playing cards, or going to the "picture show". At the picture show we saw quite a lot of Fred, Ginger and Bing. We never took it seriously. It was entertainment. Next morning we plodded across the bridge to the mill, punched in, and went on with our daily grind. Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brad McCormick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2003 4:15 PM Subject: [Futurework] A different question > A friend once told me: > > Other than chance encounters, > You can only encounter in reality > What you have previously encountered in fantasy. > > In other words, our fantasy life shapes our experience > of our real life. > > I have long wondered how the symbolic "world" of > 1940s American popular culture was metabolized by > 1940s American people. (I've captured a few images > from the net at: > > http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/sq/astaire.html > > "What must have been going on in the minds of > the persons who enjoyed this kind of stuff?" Where > I am coming from is my puzzlement that adults could > relate to such stuff as meaningful. Were they > as "ditz-headed" as this imagery? What effects did > this imagery have on their self-understanding in > their own middle to lower middle class and working > class lives? > > Does my puzzlement make sense? What are the conditions for > the possibility of adults seeking out this kind of > symbolic material to bring into their inner life? > > In the end, it derives from personal experience: How > were my parents with their so superficial > imaginative life (which nonetheless did not prevent > them from having real problems that imagination > horizon did not help clarify or give them > a handle on!) possible? > > I am aware that there was more substantive symbolic > material in America at that time, although probably > a lot of it was known only to relatively small > circles But the fact that something like > Krazy Kat cartoons appeared in the newspapers > suggests some more substantive imaginative > life among at least some ordinary Americans.... > > Any thoughts etc. will be appreciated. > > Tea for two > and two for tea, > Can't you see > How happy we could be? > > Etc. > > \brad mccormick > > -- > Let your light so shine before men, > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
