Hand’s article relating to “Narratives of Promise and Threat’ certainly struck a chord with what is happening in the UAE at present. To ensure the sustainability of their society, great investment is being made in education. A completely new Western curriculum is being introduced with English, Science and Maths classes being taught in English. The promise of producing citizens with the necessary skills to compete in an international marketplace also has the threat of ‘eroding national identities’. “As educational development progresses, we will learn to embrace new ideas and develop new skills, but we will also remember that preserving and celebrating our culture and heritage are a vital and integral component to our future success.” ( Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili) Heritage and Culture is now included in the curriculum.
To move the curriculum forward licensed teachers have been recruited, the majority of whom are from America. Most fast-food restaurants are American and American movies are popular. There is an ambivalent attitude towards America and Americana. The influence is noticeable and is of concern.
” [Culture] is so ubiquitous that it, as it were, seeps out of the superstructure and comes to infiltrate, and then take over, the infrastructure itself. It comes to dominate both the economy and experience in everyday life (Lash and Lury 2007: 4).”
Hand also mentioned problems of control, circulation and exchange of information and states that “policing of digital information circulation is one of the fundamental forms of political influence and power in the modem world.” The free flowing information of the Web has not escaped state control. Censorship in the form of site blocking and content filtering is common. This makes teaching not impossible but more difficult. Magazines, books and films are also censored. I find this extremely frustrating. I had problems accessing Edinburgh University’s vle when I first started the MSc E-learning course. It isn’t blocked now. Film censorship is also annoying, often leading to the film making little sense to the viewer.
There is a definite divide of ‘digital information haves and have-nots’. The infrastructure is being put in place so that most will have access to the Internet but the more remote areas will have to wait a little longer.
The film Bendito machine (Episode 3 – Obey His Commnands) had a definite religious link. It could have been Moses on Mt Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments or it could have been Prophet Muhammad on Mt Hira receiving revelations of the Qu’ran. What it highlighted was a human tendency to adopt (follow/worship) something new and to just as easily discard when something assumed to be ‘better’ comes along. The film made good use of the colours red and black, which they are known to represent power. Although the film eXistenZ was about a gamer I made a creator and creation connection. What linked the reading and films for me was ‘power and control’. Humans are afraid of losing power and control.
‘Humans are afraid of losing power and control’
I think this is an interesting perspective on the dystopia films, and one that would be fascinating to consider further in the coming weeks. Loss of control seems to feature heavily in many science fiction narratives, whether it is threatening extra-terrestrials with unfathomable power, or villains who utilise science and technology to destructive ends. Can we read cultural trends by the fictional narratives they produce, and how does this vary across cultures? All this sense of loss, however, must come from a pretty strong feeling that ‘we’ were once in control. But were ‘we’ ever?
Good post Grace, and interesting question Jeremy!
I’ve definitely noticed the sense of a lack of control feeling and being overpowered by the system in allot of dystopic media or literature. But I hadn’t really considered it as a loss of control. That said, we do have a tendency as a culture to look backwards through rose coloured glasses and remember “the good old days”, even if they weren’t so good to begin with. Perhaps the speed of change in a digital culture makes us feel like we are moving ever further away from the good old days?