I find the psychology of culture fascinating. What is it that we get out of reading an adventure story? Why do people love horror? What’s with collecting books in the digital age? As a result I have another guest piece up on CURNBLOG, looking at cinema as a way of controlling and taming our world, and as I wrote it I obviously think it’s worth your while reading it.
The thing is, the same ideas I’ve applied to films in that article, and that I took from John Berger’s book on art Ways of Seeing, also apply to books. Whether it’s the shelves full of books giving you instant access to accumulated knowledge; reading as a way of understanding and mastering skills; or just reading stories of adventure to make daily life feel safer by comparison, reading is a lot about owning, controlling and taming the maelstrom of ideas and events around us. That means that, in an age of growing complexity, it’s tempting to fall back on ownership as a safe way out, buying the latest toys to feel in control, piling up more books, more DVDs, more games and action figures.
It’s no accident that we’ve created our current consumer culture.
This is part of why many people aren’t just going to leap on the latest, smartest technologies like e-readers and digitally streamed films. And also part of why some people will – it’s being in control by riding the crest of the cultural and technological wave.
I know I’ve been over this territory before, but if you have any thoughts please share them below. I’m still mulling over the implications of this, and you, smart readers that you are, often help me refine my thinking.
Picture by Jim via Flickr creative commons, of the sculpture Sitting on History by Bill Woodrow.