Well, some people do double takes, since I'm not personally religious, but I am Religious Studies. Which means I study religion as part of the Humanities and Social Sciences (we're interdisciplinary). Apologies if you know this, but I am frequently mistaken for a theology student, and that is most emphatically NOT what I do. I'm closer to anthropology/sociology/history combined with literature/film study, all academic. I mostly do it because I am fascinated by mythology, and this allows me to actually study mythological themes and a bit of philosophy. My graduate studies will mostly revolve around the interaction of American and Japanese culture, as well as very simply their interaction (the pop culture being one aspect, but my doctoral ambitions are to analyze the whole shebang, historical, social, political, religious, military, etc.).
I actually think a lot of the uncritical opinions are extremely good and even valuable to academic discourse--provided they're articulated well. The problem is that a vast majority of people with an opinion don't even analyze why they might have that or demonstrate any awareness of their cultural/historical/media context. LJ is one of the few places where what you mostly get is intelligent discussion. This is why I love LJ.
Unfortunately, you are right. In these early stages, academics have to separate themselves from the mass opinions and have to mitigate their use of such opinions. We have to be a little more elitist. I'm not sure if I entirely like it, but if I have to be a pompous windbag to get video games respcted and acknowledged, so be it. I'll take one for the team.
In one of Ebert's tweets, he wondered if he could find any art history professor who would agree with him, and my first thought was "Well, of course you could. Probably quite a few. And they wouldn't be any less wrong than you are."
So true! And I actually know a few art history professors who would strongly disagree with him. I'm actually very disappointed with him, because I love what he has to say about film and culture. Just this one thing...
Oh, your undergrad sounds great! I love that idea, and it's so true. Film gives us images with which we stack reality against, rightly or wrongly. So did and do books, lest the film haters pile on about the visual culture and how it kills us. People seem to think that pop culture means nothing, and that's patently untrue. It is both externalization and a source for internalization of culture.
BTW, thank you for that book link in these comments! That will definitely be showing up in my thesis, I think. :D
no subject
I actually think a lot of the uncritical opinions are extremely good and even valuable to academic discourse--provided they're articulated well. The problem is that a vast majority of people with an opinion don't even analyze why they might have that or demonstrate any awareness of their cultural/historical/media context. LJ is one of the few places where what you mostly get is intelligent discussion. This is why I love LJ.
Unfortunately, you are right. In these early stages, academics have to separate themselves from the mass opinions and have to mitigate their use of such opinions. We have to be a little more elitist. I'm not sure if I entirely like it, but if I have to be a pompous windbag to get video games respcted and acknowledged, so be it. I'll take one for the team.
In one of Ebert's tweets, he wondered if he could find any art history professor who would agree with him, and my first thought was "Well, of course you could. Probably quite a few. And they wouldn't be any less wrong than you are."
So true! And I actually know a few art history professors who would strongly disagree with him. I'm actually very disappointed with him, because I love what he has to say about film and culture. Just this one thing...
Oh, your undergrad sounds great! I love that idea, and it's so true. Film gives us images with which we stack reality against, rightly or wrongly. So did and do books, lest the film haters pile on about the visual culture and how it kills us. People seem to think that pop culture means nothing, and that's patently untrue. It is both externalization and a source for internalization of culture.
BTW, thank you for that book link in these comments! That will definitely be showing up in my thesis, I think. :D