【101-2 第三名】應外三 王〇喬：Cultural Theory and Popular Culture and introduction 4th by by John Storey

Cultural Theory and Popular Culture and introduction 4th by by John Storey

參賽者：王〇喬（應外三）
名次：第三名
書名：Cultural Theory and Popular Culture and introduction
得獎作品：

     After reading Cultural Theory and Popular Culture and introduction 4th Edition by John Storey, I found it particular deep but interesting to discuss about his hegemony theory. The cultural concept of the hegemony theory is introduced by the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci defined “hegemony” as a process of negotiation when two parties or cultural groups collide. In other words, hegemony is the result of resistance and incorporation between dominant and subordinate groups. Therefore, the hegemony theory pictures a society in which subordinate groups actively subscribe the values that incorporate them to the prevailing structures of the dominant group, and the people that appear as “dominant groups” are those who function as intellectuals in the society. Moreover, the dominant group does not “rule” the rest of the society, but rather, these intellectuals have reached a high degree of consensus with the subordinate groups. Therefore, the dominant group “leads” the society through moral and intellectual leadership. To make a further and deeper discussion of the concept of hegemony, I can think of three typical examples related to hegemony.

     The first example is the dominance and widespread of American culture and the popularity of McDonalds’ can be seen as a typical example of hegemony. To begin with, though McDonalds appears as an international corporation founded in different countries, in each country, there exists a variety of differences when it comes to the food served in the menus. For example, McRice burger, a ground beef burger, or chicken fillet, served with special sauce in fried rice cakes, can be ordered in the Taiwanese McDonalds’ menu.  Beer is offered in McDonalds’ in Germany, France, and a few other locations across Europe. Another example is the McTurco sold in Turkey, which is 2 burger patties covered in cayenne pepper sauce, and vegetables, and served on a fried pita. From all of these examples, one can see the widespread of McDonalds’ as a symbol of dominant American culture and the different “local specialties” that appear in the menus as subculture groups. It is a process of struggle and negotiation that brings the two together, and such equilibrium creates a variety of “localized food” served in the menus of McDonalds’ in different countries.

     The second example associated with the hegemony theory is another evidence of the successful dominance of American culture, that is, when mentioning about the American film industry. It is evident that American values are diffused worldwide through the film industry, and there are several main reasons that the American film industry has the ability to become a “hegemon”.  In terms of ability, one cannot deny that “the Hollywood system” has become a standard for the global motion picture industry because the United States has a solid global network, abundant production resources, such as prominent producers, actors and studios.  Furthermore, ever since the early 20th century, the United States has had a great interest in exporting films overseas. This results in attaining the advantage of monopolizing the global film distribution with nearly a market share of over 50 percent.  Moreover, the biggest advantage is, through such “filmic hegemony”, the U.S. is able to use “soft power” to maintain global hegemony. Unlike the earlier times when people used weapons (hard power) as a violent force to maintain power and dominance, the notion of “soft power” has flourished in the U.S. through different ways, via culture and ideology.  That is to say, the U.S. uses “filmic hegemony” as a soft power to diffuse its values worldwide and make the American influence more continuous and solid. The “filmic hegemony” mentioned above is one aspect of cultural hegemony, for often times, these films tell audiences what the world is or what the world is supposed to be.  Therefore, soft power deliberately enables the dominant ideology or culture, in this case, the U.S., to control one’s thinking and helps maintain its own the status quo.

     However, some people may be skeptical about the relationship between the spread of films and the control of politics because these people may argue that many Hollywood movies simply function as mass entertainment and do not always reflect American hegemony. Despite such claim, films and politics do have a correlation with each other, whether one is aware of it or not. That is why the American government has always been aware of the political function of Hollywood and maintained close ties with the film industry. Such awareness strengthens the power of “American filmic hegemony” because these films have the potential to represent the political, economic and military aspects of the U.S.

     One of the suitable examples of U.S. “filmic hegemony” would a further analysis of the James Bond 007 movie series, which is a masterpiece controlled by U.S. funding and in many ways reflects American perspectives.  Over a forty-five year period, the 007 series has achieved tremendous worldwide box-office record and has successfully showed the prevailing American values and cultures. To analyze the 007 series, one can first discuss about the general setting of the series, which is the Cold War, and this holds a premise of “America controlling in the West. Next, one of the series’ specific traits is that the international society is usually divided into “good and evil”, and the nationality of the villains is the key to know who the main enemy of the U.S. is. For example, the Soviet Union plays the villainous role with which the U.S. needs to confront. Furthermore, the American perspective on international politics became more evident after the release of Die another Day (2002). In this film, there was a reestablishment of the villainous role, which was substituted by North Korea. Such switch could not be just a coincidence, but rather an obvious proof of the spread of American political values.  Next, understanding the selection of actors in the 007 series is another evidence of American hegemony. The main character, James Bond, appeared to be as a more “Americanized Anglo-Saxon”.  Albert Broccoli, the producer of the series, chose Scottish-born Sean Connery to play James Bond instead of choosing the British actor David Niven, and this was a critical act of transforming “British” Bond into an “American” Bond”.  Moving to the themes in the series, the core values of the United States are threatened, and the villains’ plans usually include stealing the space shuttle and microchips, which are both advanced technologies of the United States.

     In addition, institutions and infrastructure which are important symbols of the U.S, such as the Federal Reserve Bank, are attacked by “the villains”. One might question why do these villains target strongly on attacking the United States, and the answer would  be that attacking the U.S. is the most effective tactic to disrupt international order. This shows that to threaten the value of the United States equals threating world peace. Therefore, James Bond holds the responsibility to settle down such chaos and restore international peace. Simultaneously, the high-tech equipment and the U.S military are keys to maintain world peace because James Bond is only able to complete his missions through these facilities. This fact can be explained as the superiority of the U.S. over Britain when it comes to science, technology and national defense.  The last interesting point to mention about American hegemony inserted in the 007 series is that the U.S. is seen as “good” in a rather unspoken manner, with which terms such as “safe”, “world” and “best” the U.S. would be associated. Such purpose is to reassure the positive values of the United States.  Therefore, the 007 series is a typical example of American “filmic hegemony”.

     The last example of the hegemony theory is adopted through the historical case of British hegemony in the Caribbean. In order to avoid conflicts and maintain control over the indigenous people, the British rulers instituted a “transformed English” as the official language. The so-called “transformed English” was a combination with new stresses and new rhythms introduced by the indigenous tribes, such as introduced from the African languages.  Therefore, this combination is another example of hegemony, which shows through the process of resistance and incorporation comes negotiation and the result of a combination of the dominant language culture and the subordinate language culture.  
 
     In conclusion, Gramsci’s hegemony theory allows one to view “popular culture” as a negotiated mix made from both “above” and from “below”, both “commercial” and “authentic”, which shows that it is a compromise equilibrium of  forces between resistance and incorporation.

【101-2 第二名】應外三 張〇文：Nineteen Minutes by by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes by by Jodi Picoult

參賽者：張〇文（應外三）
名次：第二名
書名：Nineteen Minutes
得獎作品：

What leads a tender-hearted juvenile to the road of slaughter? Desperation.

     Peter and Josie were once close friends. As time went by, they separated apart. Peter suffers severe bullying in school while Josie tries hard to merge into those bullies to make herself popular in school. Mourning over Peter’s dead brother who was a straight A student and athlete, Peter’s parents spend little time on their remaining son, which makes Peter isolated not from school, but also from family. One ordinary day, the accumulated burden caused by bullying, humiliation and violence disables Peter from enduring. Peter pulls the trigger, taking his revenge on everyone in campus with nineteen minutes.

     The first time I heard about the story of nineteen minutes, I was strongly convinced that the shooter must have possessed a cold-blooded heart. The death penalty would be the only appropriate solution to his murder. However, I turned out to be sympathetic over his life after reading. I even inwardly imagined he could be acquitted of all the charges and moved on with his new life in the end of the story. Jodi Picoult is an undoubtedly inspiring story-teller. She knows what the readers look for from her story and she meets their expectations. She also casts out questions about moral issues and humanity flaws, which allows people to reflect on themselves and also the society.

     The first disputable issue that hits me is how to define “evil.” When people commit a crime, we consider them villains. When good people commit a crime, doubts arise. Deliberately shooting people to death seems to be an evil deed, but after knowing how much Peter has suffered, can we conclude that Peter is evil? Those smart and athletic cool kids win honor for school but embarrass other slow students for fun. Can we judge they are evil? Josie, once peter’s best friend, humiliates Peter in order to merge into the cool kids. She traumatizes Peter the most, but she keeps feeling guilty for what she has done. How can we define her and the parents, teachers, and anyone who neglect the victims’ crying for help and unintentionally assist with bullying? Evil is never born, but made. Goodness exists in people’s nature. Once attacked by extreme force, it gets twisted, then producing evilness. Evil could not only be an instant thought, but also be expanded to devour the man’s original nature. Peter was previously a gentle kid, who would never be the ingredient for a murderer. “Everyone’s saying I ruined their lives but no one seemed to care when my life was being ruined.” The explosive desperation toward life ultimately twists Peter into a monster with eyes glued to revenge. The pursuit of peel acceptance devours the original nature Josie used to have and twists her into a traitor to real friends. Overdosed vanity and pride twists kids into devils without empathy. Selfishness and reluctance to face the reality creates the indifferent world.

     The society encourages people to bravely express their uniqueness, but once refused, people put on camouflage to hide who they truly are, and to better fit into the world. Peter’s softness does not cater to worldly expectation of being a man, and therefore he chooses not to reveal himself, laying low, being invisible in order to escape away from peel’s denial. Josie’s kindness does not qualify her for being a member of the cool kids, so she veils herself with abandoning Peter when he seeks help. The society has been so deformed that one’s merit turns out to be a demerit. Fearing for being excluded, people have to coat themselves with camouflage to survive this cruel and merciless world. Sarcastically, the education has been preaching people to retain the true colors of themselves but forgot to light directions to the outsiders who are constantly told “NO” by others in their environments, by bullies on campus, by parents at home. How to strike a balance between staying in the nature and fitting in the society still leaves uncertainty

     Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. － Confucius

     When the desperation drags Peter down to the bottom, he drowns himself in the attempts at revenge. Serving as a hypnotizer, revenge entitles Peter strength and confidence to overthrow the current society. The power revenge gives off is so devastating that Peter can transform himself into an aggressive, cynical bomber, that the bullies who used to tease on Peter taste the horror of desperation for the first time, and that all the people who always ignored Peter eventually pay attention to him. The effects revenge brings are simultaneously enormous that it rings the warning bell to the world, that Peter ultimately proves his self-existence to the world, and that Peter becomes the person that everyone wants to be, a person who cannot be judged by the world. However, the Author, Jodi Picoult, does not advocate revenge but tries to hold back this attempt. Retaliation serves as a two-sided sword. It stabs the enemy deeply, and cuts the holder back even deeper. Peter wins temporary satisfaction in nineteen minutes, but the vacancy remains forever. He never has a chance to breathe the air of freedom ever again. He will never see whether there would be a turning point in his life where outsiders are welcome, or a place like Utopia where loneliness can be erased with acceptance. He can never discover all the potential possibilities in life, either.

     All hatred leads to dead ends; all revenge ends in tragedy. If Peter had not sowed the seed of spite in his heart, he might have still encountered the same difficulties but faced them with positive attitudes. If Peter did not pull the trigger, he may still suffer depressing challenges, but life would be worth anticipating.
 
     I have been enlightened throughout savoring every written word in Nineteen Minutes. People and the society are inseparable. The society molds personality; personality creates the society. Contrariwise, the society suppresses personality; personality explodes it. Jodi Picoult never sets a standardized answer to the above issues. She leaves space for us to reflect on ourselves, refit the society and renew the world.

【101-2 第一名】應外三 江〇涵：The Song of Achilles

The Song of Achilles Written by Madeline Miller

參賽者：江〇涵（應外三）
名次：第一名
書名：The Song of Achilles
得獎作品：

In the movie, Troy, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the story focuses on the beauty of Helen and the invincibility of Achilles. However, the novel The Song of Achilles, written by Madeline Miller, emphasizes on a plain character: Patroclus. The story line centers on the love between Achilles and Patroclus and the struggle between fate and nemesis. Miller not only successfully re-represents the legendary war from an exiled prince’s point of view, but also leads readers to discover the answer, which did not lie in Iliad, why Achilles finally went to war.

Achilles withdrew from the Greek coalition because he felt being insulted by the commander in chief, Agamemnon. His anger came from their disrespect which disgraced his title of demigod and diminished his importance of engaging in the war. No matter how his fellows including Patroclus pleaded him for changing his mind and bringing back victory, he never approved. However, after Patroclus died, heart-broken Achilles went to war to take revenge from Hector, the greatest fighter in Troy.

In the movie version, the director merely concluded Achilles’s wrath as kinship. However, on a second thought, this kind of interpretation might not be convincing enough to explain why Achilles gave up his prestige and life to fight again. If Achilles valued kinship, he would never cruelly abandon Deidameia, the princess who bear his own child. Also, he would never leave his men in the lurch. From this stand point, we can infer that the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is beyond family love, and that is the point that Miller tries to deal with.

When it comes to the characteristics of a historical hero like Achilles, we may unconsciously think of masculine, bravery, and intelligence. However, Patroclus has none of these features, instead, he is weak, powerless, and even pissed off by his own father. Since they are so different from each other, why a great warrior like Achilles chooses a man like Patroclus to be his companion and lover? Miller herself explained that she left this ambiguous in the novel quite deliberately. In my understanding of this novel, I especially mention three aspects to answer this question. First, it is Achilles’s admiration for Patroclus that draws them closer and closer. Second, Patroclus’ life experience as well as his value toward life and human heart has a great influence on Achilles. Third, Patroclus’ unflinching love for Achilles connects them together. With these detailed description and strong argumentation, Patroclus, instead of Achilles, is shaped as a hero by Miller, and that is part of the reason why Achilles is so deeply in love with Patroclus.

Achilles admires Patroclus because of his courage to fight against fate. In other people’s eyes, Patroclus is nobody but a loser who is destined to fail and die. However, Achilles discovers the other side of Patroclus and keeps him accompanied. For example, Patroclus was not the most outstanding candidate of being Achilles’s companion, but he won the position without efforts. Achilles’ decision made people wonder, even Achilles’ father, Peleus, was once curious about why he chose Patroclus to be his companion. He asked Achilles, “For many years now, I have urged companions on you and you have turned away. Why this boy? ”Achilles simply answered, “He is surprising.” To a man who is so close to perfection, how could there be something that surprises him? I think, for a half-god like Achilles who is “the best warrior of his generation”, he cannot imagine how he survives in this cruel and unjust world if he has been so weak and powerless. As a result, he is surprised by Patroclus’ perseverance and courage. For example, what caused Patroclus to be exiled was that he accidentally killed a nobleman’s son who snatched a toy from him. The only time he dared to fight back, he was banished from his own country. Even though his life was so tragic, he never gave in to destiny. Instead, he gradually developed his expertise in medication and surgery in order to save those injured warriors. Patroclus’ persistence and goodness not only attract Achilles but also make him look the part of a hero.

Moreover, Patroclus teaches him how to be a real man. Even though Achilles is able to fight, to slay, but he know little about compassion, empathy, and good will. What he pursues is reputation and fame. Therefore, Patroclus shows him something more valuable than slaughtering. We can see this from the conversation, which took place after Patroclus was killed by Hector, between Briseis and Achilles. Briseis agitatedly and mournfully accused Achilles of letting Patroclus to fight in disguise. She said, “He (Patroclus) was worth ten of you. Ten! And you sent him to his death. You care only for yourself! ”
Patroclus showed him a man should care for the minority, for example, refugees and women who were treated as war prize. A man should not blindly slaughter and take someone’s life without compassion. This is the right reason why Patroclus replaced Achilles to fight and further caused his death because he could not bear to see both innocent Greeks and Trojan die for Helen. Therefore, he dived into danger and tried to capture Helen, the cause of the Trojan War, but finally was killed by Hector.

 What is more noticeably is Patroclus’s unconditional love for Achilles which builds up the foundation of their affection. Although the love between human and divine is only possible beyond the limits of humanity, that is, in death. Despite that he has to give in his life, Patroclus always considers Achilles’s need, feeling and reputation as the priority. For example, at first, Patroclus did not want Achilles to take part in the war because Thetis, the sea goddess as well as Achilles’s mother, predicted that it would cause Achilles’s death, which is equal to Patroclus’ death. However, he let him go and promised to go with him. On the one hand, he could not bear to see Achilles suffer from being underestimated by others. On the other hand, he knew by heart that Achilles was born to make a legend in the history. That kind of compromise cannot be made without great love. After all, love is a condition in which the happiness of another person is equally important to yours.

Just as the comment from New York Times “Miller has taken on a heroic task: to fashion a modern work of literature out of very ancient story.” At the same time, the individual roles formed by Miller differentiate from the original ones, especially Achilles and Patroclus. Achilles is more like a victim of destiny who lives under the shadow of her mother’s will and prophecy. On the contrary, Patroclus who believes in human goodness and his compassionate toward people make him more like a hero in this novel. Besides the characters with brand- new features, Miller’s subtly writing approach which starts from creating the dispute about the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, and then setting the mood for readers to discover the secret by themselves both contributes to the success of The Song of Achilles.