April 6th, 2010 by Rachel | Tags: American Culture, Anthropology, Material Culture, Photography | 1 Comment »
During a couple of summers, when I went to France, I brought photographs and videos of my high school life. My high school years were wonderful experiences and full of dynamics like most American high schools. Watching school plays that were close in caliber to Broadway shows, wearing pajamas one day and tacky clothing another day, watching movies and munching popcorn after school, cheering at sport games, watching the crowning of the homecoming queen, and dancing under the dazzling lights were examples of memorable vibrant moments.
So, when I showed these photographs and video clips to my French friends, they were astounded by the kind of life that we Americans have. While they have seen these images in American films, they thought these moments were complete fantasy alive only in our imaginations. However, when they saw my pictures and heard my stories, they could not believe that these realities truly exist because school dances, sports games, club events, school plays, and spirit days do not exist in their high schools at all. French students go to school and learn and work hard, and then, they come straight home right after classes are done, whereas the American students have fun at school by having fun events such as pep rallies, watching school plays, or getting dressed and staying after school for hours to have fun by participating in extracurricular activities.
My conversations with my French friends about my school experiences made me realize that I am living in a unique culture and that Americans really do have a unique culture. I always thought that we Americans didn’t really have our own culture because all the other people from other countries had the same taste in films and music, and many people in other countries speak English too. However, I now realize that our high school life is not just a normal everyday life experience, but also is a unique cultural experience. For foreigners, this experience seems very exotic.
Traveling and staying with host families abroad did not only teach me about their culture of the country, but also it led me to discover my own culture too. Thus, I was inspired to do a photography project on homecoming weekend in high school.
I captured my friend, Lauren Fuess, living in her momentous life through the homecoming event at her high school. Like any other American high school student, she participated in numerous activities including band. She joined her band group and plays the clarinet at the pep rally, then at the practice for the football game, and finally, at the football game. Then, she attended the dance the next day. Like most teenage girls, Lauren showed her enthusiasm about the dance by taking time to fix her hair, putting on make up and buying the most beautiful dress. Some high school students attended the dance with a date and like Lauren, some attended with their friends.
Since my blog focuses on the subject of material culture, I should add a little blurb about the material culture of homecoming. I imagine fashion companies bring in huge amount of revenues from purchases on dresses, tuxes, shoes and jewelry. It is really incredulous on how much teens will spend their money for one weekend, and this does not include just clothing, but also dinners, limos, make-up, manicures and pedicures, and flowers.
1 Comment
Hmm
April 6, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Yay! I seriously hope you didn’t just realize that we do have an enjoyable culture 😉
Now if we can just fix the public school education system, we’d have it all!