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fandomhigh2012-01-04 04:58 am
steel-not-glass.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2012-01-04 04:58 am
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Is A Cigar Just A Cigar, Wednesday, Period 3
This was the second time Cindy had taught this class and this time it was for a much smaller group. Which meant it was fortunate she'd already been planning on changing a few things up, because treating this like a normal, full-sized lecture would just be stupid.
"Hey," she said, looking and sounding much more casual than she might otherwise have. There was only one new name on her roster this semester and only five students. Sticking to excessive formality would also be stupid. "Welcome to to Is a Cigar Just a Cigar? This is a class about symbolism, not smoking, and if any of you were horribly misled, I suggest you suck it up and enjoy the class anyway."
Okay, while she wasn't going to reuse all the material, she liked that joke.
"There are only a few of us here today, so I'm going to skip over the usual introductions; I know most of you, which means it's pretty easy to put a face to the name I didn't recognize." She gave Natalie a brief smileif she was there and continued right along. "You're all old enough that you can handle personal introductions if you don't know one another. And smart enough that if introductions aren't your style, I have every faith that you'll pick up one another's names before too many weeks have passed."
Seriously. Five students. Not hard.
"At their most basic, symbols are things that stand in for something else. They are so heavily ingrained in our cultural consciousness that when we see a particularly well-known symbol, we immediately think of what that symbol represents, paying little to no attention to what the actual object or image that we are looking at, even though most symbols have little to nothing in common with the concept it is representing. For example, in current Western culture, what is the easiest way to signal the intent to surrender?" She tapped the blackboard, where she'd drawn a flag in white chalk. "Waving a white flag. In fact, this symbol is so well-known, people needn't worry about not having a flag handy to get their meaning across. Almost anything white will serve: a sock, a pillowcase, a piece of paper, a bra. Whatever. What we have here is a series of symbols: a white shirt symbolizing a white flag symbolizing surrender. Symbols aren't stagnant or static; they change with the times and constantly evolve."
"Now then, because of the way symbols work, they are very much linked to a specific time and place. Some symbols may endure for hundreds, even thousands of years--our white flag, for example, is mentioned in both Roman and Chinese writings dating back from the first century CE--but they only have meaning as long as everyone recognizes them. Because the symbol is divorced from the concept it is symbolizing, not everyone is going to recognize symbols and their meanings. To someone not from our culture, a person waving a white flag is just a person waving a white flag. In a worst case scenario, that society might have assigned a different meaning to the same symbol--waving a while flag might mean a resolution to continue fighting with no quarter given."
Cindy held up her right hand, two fingers in the air forming a V. "This is usually seen as someone specifying the number two," she said. "With the palm pointed outwards, it can also be another symbol, the v-for-victory sign, which has also come to be recognized as a symbol of peace. When you turn your hand so your palm is facing you, however--" she demonstrated, rotating her hand, "--it becomes a rude gesture, at least to people from certain parts of the globe. It's the equivalent of showing the back of your middle finger from an otherwise closed palm to someone else, a gesture that has been around and meaning functionally the same thing since ancient Greece. So here we have two completely different meanings from the same gesture--three if we wanted to include using it to symbolize the number. How you interpret it depends on context and cultural understanding."
She dropped her hand back down to her waist, not wanting to give her students the two finger salute for longer than absolutely necessary. "These are symbols we see in everyday life--yes, even the vulgar ones. In literature, there are hundreds or even thousands more. But, like the ones we're used to, the literary symbols are all created the same way: repetition. Over the next fifteen weeks, I'm going to teach you some of the more common symbols you'll come across in literature, what they mean--roughly, anyway--and why. Unlike some of the more concrete symbols we use regularly, literary symbols often have more than one related meaning. For example, if we were reading about a dove, which is often used as another peace sign, it could be symbolizing flight, freedom, joy, or, yes, peace. I can't teach you every symbol used in literature, but memorizing the symbols themselves is less important than learning how to decode them yourself."
"Today, we've gone over two ways to be insulting towards someone with only a vague gesture; again, one that has no real relation to the sentiment expressed." Okay, so the meaning the Greeks gave the middle finger had a slight relation, but Cindy was going to let them find that out on their own if they were so inclined. "So what are some other symbols we have in our various cultures that have a very definitive meaning that is divorced from the actual physical gesture? Vulgar or innocent, whatever you feel comfortable with, and how often you've used it--or seen it used--in your own life."
"Hey," she said, looking and sounding much more casual than she might otherwise have. There was only one new name on her roster this semester and only five students. Sticking to excessive formality would also be stupid. "Welcome to to Is a Cigar Just a Cigar? This is a class about symbolism, not smoking, and if any of you were horribly misled, I suggest you suck it up and enjoy the class anyway."
Okay, while she wasn't going to reuse all the material, she liked that joke.
"There are only a few of us here today, so I'm going to skip over the usual introductions; I know most of you, which means it's pretty easy to put a face to the name I didn't recognize." She gave Natalie a brief smile
Seriously. Five students. Not hard.
"At their most basic, symbols are things that stand in for something else. They are so heavily ingrained in our cultural consciousness that when we see a particularly well-known symbol, we immediately think of what that symbol represents, paying little to no attention to what the actual object or image that we are looking at, even though most symbols have little to nothing in common with the concept it is representing. For example, in current Western culture, what is the easiest way to signal the intent to surrender?" She tapped the blackboard, where she'd drawn a flag in white chalk. "Waving a white flag. In fact, this symbol is so well-known, people needn't worry about not having a flag handy to get their meaning across. Almost anything white will serve: a sock, a pillowcase, a piece of paper, a bra. Whatever. What we have here is a series of symbols: a white shirt symbolizing a white flag symbolizing surrender. Symbols aren't stagnant or static; they change with the times and constantly evolve."
"Now then, because of the way symbols work, they are very much linked to a specific time and place. Some symbols may endure for hundreds, even thousands of years--our white flag, for example, is mentioned in both Roman and Chinese writings dating back from the first century CE--but they only have meaning as long as everyone recognizes them. Because the symbol is divorced from the concept it is symbolizing, not everyone is going to recognize symbols and their meanings. To someone not from our culture, a person waving a white flag is just a person waving a white flag. In a worst case scenario, that society might have assigned a different meaning to the same symbol--waving a while flag might mean a resolution to continue fighting with no quarter given."
Cindy held up her right hand, two fingers in the air forming a V. "This is usually seen as someone specifying the number two," she said. "With the palm pointed outwards, it can also be another symbol, the v-for-victory sign, which has also come to be recognized as a symbol of peace. When you turn your hand so your palm is facing you, however--" she demonstrated, rotating her hand, "--it becomes a rude gesture, at least to people from certain parts of the globe. It's the equivalent of showing the back of your middle finger from an otherwise closed palm to someone else, a gesture that has been around and meaning functionally the same thing since ancient Greece. So here we have two completely different meanings from the same gesture--three if we wanted to include using it to symbolize the number. How you interpret it depends on context and cultural understanding."
She dropped her hand back down to her waist, not wanting to give her students the two finger salute for longer than absolutely necessary. "These are symbols we see in everyday life--yes, even the vulgar ones. In literature, there are hundreds or even thousands more. But, like the ones we're used to, the literary symbols are all created the same way: repetition. Over the next fifteen weeks, I'm going to teach you some of the more common symbols you'll come across in literature, what they mean--roughly, anyway--and why. Unlike some of the more concrete symbols we use regularly, literary symbols often have more than one related meaning. For example, if we were reading about a dove, which is often used as another peace sign, it could be symbolizing flight, freedom, joy, or, yes, peace. I can't teach you every symbol used in literature, but memorizing the symbols themselves is less important than learning how to decode them yourself."
"Today, we've gone over two ways to be insulting towards someone with only a vague gesture; again, one that has no real relation to the sentiment expressed." Okay, so the meaning the Greeks gave the middle finger had a slight relation, but Cindy was going to let them find that out on their own if they were so inclined. "So what are some other symbols we have in our various cultures that have a very definitive meaning that is divorced from the actual physical gesture? Vulgar or innocent, whatever you feel comfortable with, and how often you've used it--or seen it used--in your own life."
Sign In (Week 1)
Re: Sign In (Week 1)
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Re: Sign In (Week 1)
Listen to the Lecture
Re: Listen to the Lecture
She just listened with interest, and took notes.
Re: Listen to the Lecture
Re: Listen to the Lecture
Re: Listen to the Lecture
Discussion and Activity!
Re: Discussion and Activity!
Re: Discussion and Activity!
She tilted her head at Natalie and suppressed a comment about it meaning inquiry, asking instead, "Any particular reason you chose that?"
Re: Discussion and Activity!
"It means a-okay here in America," he explained. "Which I guess might be because it kind of looks like the letters 'o' and 'k.' But I guess it's a pretty rude gesture in other parts of the world?" He put his hand down. "It can be used to mean zero or to call someone a coward or to refer to a crude piece of anatomy, among other things, too."
His dad was a businessman who did deals all around the planet. He'd been taught the importance of just not making hand-gestures abroad, period.
Re: Discussion and Activity!
as in his icon!, "is a facepalm. I guess it's a gesture of... exasperation? Like, someone just did something so ridiculous that you can't even look."Re: Discussion and Activity!
"It's a greeting," she said. "But I've heard that showing your hands as a greeting goes really far back. Open hands means you aren't carrying a weapon, right?"
Talk to Cindy
Re: Talk to Cindy
She liked to get straight to the point, yes. And TA-ship for this class would probably look good on her college applications.
Re: Talk to Cindy
Cindy never got sick. But she had found herself turned into a pair of glass slippers on more than one occasion.
"Are you volunteering?"
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Re: Talk to Cindy
Re: Talk to Cindy
Coffee for six people would not be hard.
OOC