What is British about a drink from India? What is British about having a permanent or semi-permanent residence in an African commune, Spain, or the Antipodes?
While the labels of English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh are labels which have entirely native customs, idioms, stereotypes and practices associated to them. The notion of the British is homogeneous, countries and many customs that have come to be associated with the label British, we may be surprised to find that things that are iconic of the British are often of English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish origin, but we may find their origin as far as the Caribbean. This was the irony that characterised Britishness over the past two centuries.
Some people have come to recognise that the next century may see English as a universal language, but we may find that this would be the remaining heritage of the west. We may find a cultural shift, in these difficult economic times. Our values may change, our standards and expectations may accord to what is realistic, and Brtitain’s shocking debt that shall emerge after the recession may cause permanent damage. A further irony still, would be the universal legacy of the English language without the international dominance of the formerly native English speaking nation.
1. The family structure of 2.4 children is simply inadequate for our age: grandparents, live-in adults, uncles, single parents, gay families etc. has undermined old certainties
2. The characters fit outdated archetypes: the bumblebee man represents droll foreign TV (which we could have from a pre-digital satellite or cable network); the ‘disco stu’ character represents outdated nostalgia, in a sense, we have all become disco stu with postmodernity’s celebration of the past, and yet, no distinct figure as he is relevant anymore; comic book guy is an inadequate conception of the sci-fi and fantasy savant; for not all of us are fat, white, or male.
3. The history of such a family is becoming a bit inconceivable; given the original age of the simpsons from its original date, Bart’s character would now be the same age as my brother – 28. A 28 year old cannot maintain the guise of being 10 years old for very long (although people in their 30’s can reasonably do teenagers in hollywood films…)
Did you know that Courtney Cox was the first person on TV (allegedly) to say “period” (referring to mensturation)? What a blood revolution. Its strange how men are so taboo about a very everyday and uniquely female experience. They are scared of it that’s why! Attitudes towards mensturation are very peculiar. Early biblical accounts put it on the same level as having sex, in terms of its spiritual impurity.
In one of the introductory scenes of American Psycho (2000); there is a monologue wherewhich Bale’s character, Bateman, introduces us to his life. Yuppie 80s drug taking, women-using, elitist opulent wealth. Where there is a fundamental superficiality, of the kind where a person can cry for help, or where only the talk of false personalities and fake attitudes can prevail. Where people are forced to smile as the norm of social conduct, forced to perform in the stage, never to break the fourth wall.
There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, an idea, an abstraction, but there is no real thing.
