Location: The Towers, Sunway.
This week's ENH lecturer's talking all about Struturalism and how did it derive from new criticism and what theory led to post structuralism and what post structuralism is all about... has got my head spinning... AGAIN.
Andrew said that after taking ENH, people will see literature in a different light and it'll (supposedly) help students to get a better understanding of texts/get a better grasp on ways to derive meaning from texts...
The weird thing about structuralism is that, besides being heavily flawed, it kinda make sense to me.
Coz I'm a victim of structuralism!!! why?
Look at our education system these days. Apart of the fact that it's unjustly based meritocracy, it is actually killing creativity with all these rigid rules in this education discourse...
Andrew was complaining about us being really passive, not voicing out our views in class, etc. But what's really happening is that I, DON'T HAVE A VIEW on some issues (like human rights & politics etc.).
I'm sure that there are many others out there who resonate with me. It's natural for us to accept things the way they are (expecially true when it's coming out from a reliable source) since we've been taught since kindergarten that to learn, is to memorize something, make sense of it and 'vomit' out the facts and figures learnt by memorizing it.
We don't challenge stuff! Like WHY do we need to write our scientific report in this particular way? WHY didn't we learn some particular literature and not others? WHY is our edu system this way instead of stimulating the thoughts of the younger generation, encouraging critical analysis and individuality?
Coz they want us to CONFORM.
Like what Hitler and Nixon had in common, they want to create an obedient world, having (making) everyone THINK & ACT the way THEY wanted, to create their ideal nation state, their utopia.
According to Andrew's lecture on structuralism, EVERYTHING we do or act has been scripted out for us. Originality is dead while the ones who are even meerly original/authentic are dead or non-existant.
An example would be the teenage culture these days... There are people who don't wanna conform to the current structure of teen culture (like listening to pop, wearing extra short mini skirts, being size 0 etc.) they adopt gothic trends or would wanna rebel by listening to oldies (like beatles etc) just because they don't wanna be like 'everyone else'.
But excuse me, by applying your black color lipstick and listening to Simon and Garfunkel has been done by people dating back to decades ago... You people are still conforming to a structure, just a slightly different structure, based on a different script that's all.
So whether or not you wanna blend in the trend, YOU are still making a choice within the structure, using a script previously written for whoever's interested.
Then he used Matrix as an example for structuralism. He said that the Matrix is all about getting out of structuralism. That's why, according to the structuralists' theory without a structure, there's (apparently) nothing - you know, the scene where the Architect was projected on a white background...
Back to the point of my problem, I'm still trying to jump out of the loop of conformation of my subconscious (whatever that means.. it sounded right to me.. now). I'm so used to the idea of accepting instead of questioning...
But the thing is, without a particular structure, a code even, a world cannot operate/communicate actually. Moreover, structuralism is supposed to be universal... transcending geographical boundaries and obstruction of languages. Without a standard structure, discourse etc, people will be seen as talking gibberish...
This week's ENH lecturer's talking all about Struturalism and how did it derive from new criticism and what theory led to post structuralism and what post structuralism is all about... has got my head spinning... AGAIN.
Andrew said that after taking ENH, people will see literature in a different light and it'll (supposedly) help students to get a better understanding of texts/get a better grasp on ways to derive meaning from texts...
The weird thing about structuralism is that, besides being heavily flawed, it kinda make sense to me.
Coz I'm a victim of structuralism!!! why?
Look at our education system these days. Apart of the fact that it's unjustly based meritocracy, it is actually killing creativity with all these rigid rules in this education discourse...
Andrew was complaining about us being really passive, not voicing out our views in class, etc. But what's really happening is that I, DON'T HAVE A VIEW on some issues (like human rights & politics etc.).
I'm sure that there are many others out there who resonate with me. It's natural for us to accept things the way they are (expecially true when it's coming out from a reliable source) since we've been taught since kindergarten that to learn, is to memorize something, make sense of it and 'vomit' out the facts and figures learnt by memorizing it.
We don't challenge stuff! Like WHY do we need to write our scientific report in this particular way? WHY didn't we learn some particular literature and not others? WHY is our edu system this way instead of stimulating the thoughts of the younger generation, encouraging critical analysis and individuality?
Coz they want us to CONFORM.
Like what Hitler and Nixon had in common, they want to create an obedient world, having (making) everyone THINK & ACT the way THEY wanted, to create their ideal nation state, their utopia.
According to Andrew's lecture on structuralism, EVERYTHING we do or act has been scripted out for us. Originality is dead while the ones who are even meerly original/authentic are dead or non-existant.
An example would be the teenage culture these days... There are people who don't wanna conform to the current structure of teen culture (like listening to pop, wearing extra short mini skirts, being size 0 etc.) they adopt gothic trends or would wanna rebel by listening to oldies (like beatles etc) just because they don't wanna be like 'everyone else'.
But excuse me, by applying your black color lipstick and listening to Simon and Garfunkel has been done by people dating back to decades ago... You people are still conforming to a structure, just a slightly different structure, based on a different script that's all.
So whether or not you wanna blend in the trend, YOU are still making a choice within the structure, using a script previously written for whoever's interested.
Then he used Matrix as an example for structuralism. He said that the Matrix is all about getting out of structuralism. That's why, according to the structuralists' theory without a structure, there's (apparently) nothing - you know, the scene where the Architect was projected on a white background...
Back to the point of my problem, I'm still trying to jump out of the loop of conformation of my subconscious (whatever that means.. it sounded right to me.. now). I'm so used to the idea of accepting instead of questioning...
But the thing is, without a particular structure, a code even, a world cannot operate/communicate actually. Moreover, structuralism is supposed to be universal... transcending geographical boundaries and obstruction of languages. Without a standard structure, discourse etc, people will be seen as talking gibberish...
Further, in Andrew's opinion, the only was to escape this structure is to GO MAD. Challenge the norm... but it can guarantee nothing more than a one way ticket to any asylum near you...
Or... this might happen...
Come to think of it, is structuralism another word for 'god' catered for the atheists?
p/s: I finally feel like this Monash Street Carnival is finally coming together~
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