Last night was my first night of class. I had those old "first day of school" jitters until we got started. Prior to the class I had purchased and read/skimmed most of the books. I was looking forward to learning more about the International Situationists. In my own reading ahead of time my conclusion was: What? I am not getting this, wait, I kind of understand that point, but, hmmm, hopefully everyone feels this way.
After my first class, thankfully, the 4 other women are in the same boat as me. We don't really get it, completely, yet. But, it is going to be a very interesting class.
We are going to dive into Debord/International Situationist cultural revolution ideals. Mainly these deal with a critique of Capitalism and what it has done to our lives as humans. They were writing this in the 1950s in France, but it is strange to see how we have developed since then.
The part that stood out the most to me in this first class what their ideal that people should be living for themselves, creating things to support/increase their own happiness rather than working hours a day at a job where the final outcome/product does not reflect you as an individual at all. Example: Barista at Starbucks works an 8 hour shift and at the end of the day what she has to show for her effort is a bunch of cups of coffee she couldn't care less about. I think this can be applied to most jobs in today's environment, and I often complain that it seems like no one is living their lives for themselves any more, rather we are all just following the crowd, creating more for everyone to consume... surviving rather than living. It makes me sad and frustrated on multiple levels.
Ironically, this thought process is exactly the reason I chose MA Lit instead of business school.
We also viewed a film by Debord expressing the IS views in Everyday Life (as above).
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| "The Passage of a Few Persons" Starring Debord himself (on the right) |
While, yes, I couldn't help but inwardly roll my eyes at the fact that we were watching the quintessential pretentious french independent art film, it was an interesting topic.
So tell me, Why do we waste so much of our lives working, creating nothing that holds any meaning to who we are as individuals?
I'm told that it's common for the British to turn that question upside down. Instead, they say they spend time working the highest paying job they can, so when they're NOT working they can have as much fun and leisure as they'd like. Work is work, life is life.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I agree with it, but that's one possible answer to your question.