From: Wade T. Smith (wade.t.smith@verizon.net)
Date: Thu 22 May 2003 - 19:50:57 GMT
On Thursday, May 22, 2003, at 02:57 PM, Reed wrote:
> The physical props do not
> command or expect anything. Does a broom expect to sweep? Does it get
> frustrated if it doesn't of confused if it is danced with instead?
Ah, but, yes, a broom on a stage is _absolutely_ expected to be used by
the performer and seen by the observer. Don't confuse the simple
physical fact of an artifact or object with its position in a cultural
venue.
As I've made mention of numerous times, the example of the Tlingit
artifact is a very telling explanation that the physical fact of an
artifact is incomplete as an element of the cultural venue- the venue
establishes expectations for that artifact, and yes, any cultural venue
with a broom on a stage has expectations for that broom.
There is no need to anthropomorphize things, even if you've just
watched Disney's The Sorceror's Apprentice for the seventh time.
> But, after the performance has
> occurred, that media is neither necessary nor sufficient to "maintain"
> the
> pre-performance.
Indeed, and the performance model has never said it was. But what is
necessary for _another_ performance, one similar enough to be called
similar, to wrap a phrase, is a performer, an observer, and a cultural
venue also similar enough to be called similar.
Once Burton played Hamlet in London, he didn't have to go back to the
Royal Shakespeare to do it again. He went into the BBC and did it for
TV. Both venues, both physical spaces and times, both forms and agents
of transmission, allowed him to perform Hamlet (sorry to switch from
Macbeth, but I can't think of anyone famous for it that's done it on
stage and screen), because both were similar enough to allow Hamlet to
be performed, with Burton as the lead.
> Everything else is just a prop.
That is _not_ the case, although it is a fundamental error of the
memeinthemind model. (It is another example of the fallacy of confusing
the fact of physical existence with the fact of cultural position.)
Everything else is much more than 'just a prop' in a cultural venue,
although everything in say, a theatrical supply warehouse is just a
prop, and the memory and thoughts and functions of the brain can be
seen as a theatrical supply warehouse in the performance model, where
the ones that are needed to perform in a specific cultural venue are
the ones gathered.
After all, a cigar is often just a cigar, but, just as often, it ain't.
Yes, the cultural venue is the element of the memetic process that
_attempts_ to determine meaning.
- Wade
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