October 1, 2012

Questions Before Class < Questions After Class


Class today left me with more questions than I had walked in with. The overall understanding I came in with from the readings was that nothing is original because you base it off past thoughts, ideas works. Contextual meaning is almost as open as looking at a piece of art. The physical content it self sets the stage but it is then open to personal interpretation. It is the “sign” and we bring in all our ourselves and our thoughts into the understanding of the work. There are metaphors that are culturally shared, but they can always be looked into further. Social settings matter. However something I had not thought out was my personal use of metaphors.

At the end of class when we were trying to think of a metaphor that did not include the idea of winning and losing… I couldn’t think of one. I can decided whether this is because I personally am competitive or if my upbringing has afforded me this understanding of the world. I definitely think it was something to do with being American. Even when we were discussing the metaphor “time is money”, the class couldn’t think of anything else to parallel time to. I don’t mean to get all Broadway on you but… “how about love” (from RENT, get it?). Really though, today’s class left me questioning how many American norms I accept as worldly ones. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How about, "all the world is a stage?" There are many metaphors that aren't necessarily about winning or losing. That particular one is simply states that everybody is the star in their own life, nobody wins or loses. The idea you presented in your first paragraph, however, is very interesting. It is very true that nothing is original, everything that we say, we do, and we are, are simply products of the things we've of which we have been exposed.

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