Notes de tim, mise à jour 14/12

A : The Organic Meaning of Culture

Culture is what makes identity of the people.

Racine/ Shakespeare
- abstraction/ concrete (pragmatic)
- pure/ overwhelming
- elegance/trivial (bawdy, colloquial, familier presque vulgaire)

King Lear :
king is “ in short and musty straw”
le roi est dans de la petite paille moisie

Phèdre :
Plus abstrait, pure et élégant, selon l’esthétique française de l’effacement.

Il est difficile d’enlever des parties à Racine, tandis qu’il est des plus aisé de supprimer des pans des œuvres de Shakespeare.

However, there are misunderstandings between artists and their cultural country.
- writers: Ralph Ellison, “Invisible Man” (story on black society in US) was not appreciated in USA while reknown in the rest of the world.
- Composers: Philip Glass and his minimalist music was not welcomed in US, while in rest of the world...
- Film directors: Orson Welles, Jules Dassin or Woody Allen were dispised in US but appreciated in the rest of the world.

a) Defining culture

1) Depends on one’s upbringing

- Sir Arnold Toynbee or David Beckham?
He wrote “New Universal Religion”, a story of history in 10 volumes (Les Annales of Fernand Braudel is now far better). Also to link with the “Clash of Civilizations” of Samuel Huntington.

- Lee Strasberg or Desperate Housewives?
The Actor’s Studio is an acting school focusing on psychology. It was developed by Lee Strasberg and his The Method. Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Robert de Niro went there. It is dispised by others such as Anthony Hopkins.
Desperate Housewives is Hollywood show based on appearance of actors.

2) Depends on one’s subjective interests

Comparing two 18th century English painters, there is a big difference of the represantation of the paintings.
- William Hogarth (1697-1764) painted plebeian violence, public execution and harlots (bitches). He inspired Fielding’s “Tom Jones”, and Dickens’ “Oliver Twist”. It is the representation of the chaotic mess waiting to be cleaned up by the Age of Reform (1820-1870) which would givea democratic impulse to society, and equality between the different regions of the UK.
- John Constable (1776-1836) painted family portraits, which are comfortable, gentry.

3) Trends

- Arms culture
The 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution (1787) (the Bill of Rights were the 10 first amendments made just after the Constitution, condition for it’s acceptation), the 2nd Amendment, so, is
” A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Ignoring the beginning of the amendment, US people have developed a culture of bearing weapons.

- Culture of Complaint (claims or compensation culture)
The number of judicial claims in US is astounding. In those cases, lawsuits make policy, and replace the democratic process (senators don’t want to vote for laws which would be bad for their career, so they make judges do so)

Culture is so wide ranging that the absence of a Secretary of Culture in US is meaningful.
In UK, it’s only recently that a Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) was created.

Alan Bloom, “The Closing of the American Mind”
According to Alan Bloom, culture is
- uplifting and edifying
- it constitutes a people, with its customs, styles, tastes etc.
- It binds individuals into a group
- It is a work of art

Culture shouldn’t be limited to the lofty realms of high brow culture.
”Everything bad is good for you”, by Steven Johnson, claims that media and video games increase the cognitive skills, as collateral learning.

In media and radio broadcasting (émissions), there is an opposition between what people want, and what is good for them. What should broadcasting bring?
Should popular taste be untramelled (respected) or educated, orientated?
(CNN belongs to Ted Turner, as Fox or TCM. PBS is the US public broadcasting, with funding from the State and endowments/donations. This is very criticised by the media.)

b) Values attributable to culture

1) Strength and weaknesses

In dictatorship, culture is censored. This shows the danger culture represents, its strength, but also its weakness to resist such censorship.

In China between 1966 and 1976 took place the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards destroyed chinese work of art and culture, and all the former culture was banned (chinese and occidental)

Arthur Miller’s “Timebends”
The author talks about domestic affairs, internal relations and America’s culture of faith.

In this text, he explains that the “real america”, the average american), reacts against sophistication, there is an anti cultural trend.
The text shows also the tradition of isolationism of America, and that they believe to be the Chosen People, with a religious interpretation of American destiny and a messianic role of the American culture. This idea made America do immoral things as placing dictatorship in South America, because they believed that they were bringing light to those people.
There is therefore a Civil religion (with John Winthrop, a puritan author of 1650, considering America to be “a city upon a hill”, or “Gad’s New Israel”).
Although the US Constitution stipulates in the first Amendment the there should be a separation of Church and State, the religion is omnipresent in politics.

Culture of faith
- Americanization of faiths (in any place of worship of any religion, there will be an American flag)
- Sentimental piety (shown)
- Theological naiveté
- Idolatrous worship of US values
God and religion are used in US society.

In this text, Arthur Miller also talks about HUAC, the House of Un-American Activities Committee.
This is linked to Mac Carthyism, the Korean War, the trial of the Rosenberg, the Alger Hiss case and, in general, the Cold War.
- On the 6th August 1954, an A-bomb was launched on Hiroshima. On the 8th, Russia invaded Korea under the domination of Japan. On the 12th, another A-bomb was launched on Nagasaki.
President Trumen did a Preventive War against Communism when North Korea, Communist, supported by China and Russia, invaded South Korea, Capitalist.
During this war, Mc Arthur, hero of the Pacific War, wanted to nuke China, and Truman fired him.
At the end of the war, Korea was divided around the 38th parallel, as at the beginning.
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were prosecuted for apssing A-bomb informations to the Soviets, and were sentenced to death in 1953.
The US administration needed to show that Soviets were a threat to America and wanted to rule the world, in order to justify the American intervention in Korea.
- Alger Hiss was a State Department Official who was accused of having communist sympathies, and lost everything, although he had an important position.
- Mc Carthyism was against any sort of socialism.
People who were linked to socialism or communism were put on a Black List. It was a “witch-hunt” against communists. It ended around 1957.
Roosevelt was accused to enter in the Second World War to help the Soviets. Truman was accused of firing Mc Arthur in order to protect the Communist Chinese.
Every one was under threat.

The New Deal 1933-1939, by Franklin Delano Roosevelt
It was aimed at the relief and recovery of the country from the world financial depression and unemployment.
It was also concerned with social security.
The New Deal gave more power to central government to resist the depression, at the expends of the differents states. This created an unbalance of power between the federal government and the states, which is very important in American minds.
- 1776: Declaration of Independance of USA
- 1783: Treaty of Paris ending the war between the USA and England, and recognised the USA.
the Articles of Confederation were created as a first constitution.
- 1787: US Constitution and Bill of Rights
The first article of the constitution listed the powers of the federal government.
The 10th Amendment stated that the states kept everything else.
Mc Carthyism was a reaction to this centralisation of power.

Mc Carthyism was a reaction to this centralisation of power.

The balance of power between the federal government and the states is a
very important and difficult issue in the USA, while the United
Kingdom had a very centralized power until 1998, where Devolution took
place and more power was given to regions such as Wales and Scotland,
with a government for each.

The American Constitution defines the powers to federal government and
to the states in article 1 section 8, and the 10th Amendment.

However, there has been ways for the federal government to bypass
these limits to his power.
- The Commerce Clause, article 1, section 8, clause 3
with the Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) (which by the way increased a lot
commerce in USA). The Supreme Court decided that in this matter at the
border between interstate trade and intrastate trade, federal
governement had legitime power to deal with it.
Other cases were used to give more power to the government.
One of them was the Civil Rights Act 1964.
Since 1898 and the case Plessy v. Ferguson, the status between blacks
and whites in America was "Separate but equal", they were equal, and
had to have an equal number of services, but were separated and
couldn't mix.
From the Commerce Clause, arguing that this segregation was affecting
interstate commerce and was going against the free circulation of
goods, the Civil Rights Act was possible.

- Necessary and Proper Clause, article 1, section 8, clause 18
This clause is very vague, and one doesn't know if "necessary and
proper" means indispensable or convenient for the federal government.
The case Mc Culloch v. Maryland 1819 decided that "necessary and
proper" meant convenient.
This gave birth to implied powers, allowing the government to do
whatever he wants.

According to Arthur Miller, Mc Carthyisme was a reaction against the
New Deal and against the swing in favor of the federal government.
After that period, President Reagan (1980-88 ) and then George W. Bush
applied themselves to limit the power of the federal government in
favor of the states.
(Some say that it was done too much, causing the federal government
not to act during the Katrina disaster)

2) Relation between Culture and Moral values

a) Political Commitment

Ezra Pound was an American poet living between 1885 and 1972. He wrote
many famous poems such as "The Cantos", and is the father of
"imagism". This encourages clarity of images and experimentation with
verse from free choice of subject matter (focusing on personal
experience).
Ezra Pound was also very fascist, and was arrested after the Second
World War for broadcasting fascist ideologies in America.
See text in syllabus p.9
A Pact:
Walt Whitman is the “father” of american poetry. He wrote “Leaves of Grass” and “O Captain, My Captain”.
In a Station of the Metro
Good example of imagism. It is how Pound sees the metro.

b) Cowardice

Elia Kazan was a famous film director, of films such as "A Streetcar
called Desire" or many other ones. Unfortunately, he cooperated with
the House of Un-American Activities, naming names. This broke his
career, and when he received an oscar, half of the public refused to
applause and remained seated.
See text in syllabus p.10.
Arthur Miller was very hurt by the attitude of Kazan, as he considered him as a brother, and himself refused to testify to the HUAC.
Kazan took this decision in order to be able to continue his career and produce films.

c) Snobbery

Kasuo Ishiguro received the Booker Prize (important prize only bor
British authors) for his book "Remains of the Day".
In this book, cultivated men want to push back the mass out of political power because of their ignorance, because of snobbery. They are disdainful and contemptuous.
This book also refers to appeasement policies. Those are for example the Dimilitarized Rhineland (where Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles), the Abyssinian Crisis (where Mussolini took over Ethiopia), the Spanish Civil War (where Mussolini and Hitler supported heavily Franco) or the Munich Accords (where France and Britain allowed Hitler to invade Czechoslovakia)

d) Psychological disorder

Joseph Conrad, in his "Heart of Darkness" (which became a byword for horrors of war and famine), shows the darkness of a man, psychologocally disordered, living in the middle of wilderness, it shows the darkness of the jungle, the darkness of Africa (criticised by black community) and the darkness of the civilization, of the mind of man, as did Mark Twain in his "Huckleberry Finn".
This novel of Conrad is inscrutable, implacable, inextinguable, it expresses loneliness and weariness.
It is to be qualified a dystopian novel, such as Clockwork Orange, 1984, Fahrenheit 541 or Lord of the Flies.

All these bad effects of culture being true, there are still many cultivated people who defended and defend moral obligations, such as Zola, Camus, Hugo.

3) Culture as a vehicle of ideas and ideology

See Wilfred Owen, a war poet, or an annex on Harry Potter, showing how this novel shows liberal capitalist values.

B: Culture of the English Speaking World

a) Angla-Saxon Culture

It refers to the culture after the anglo-saxon invasion of the 5th century, and until the 11th century when William the Conqueror invaded Britain.

Britain was a Roman Province for 4 centuries up to Hadrian's Wall.
However, law in England is not influenced by Roman law, while it is in Scotland.
This is due that law in England was taught not a lot at university, but more in Inn's Court, where practical things were taught, not theory of Roman law.
In Scotland, in opposition to England, law was learnt on the continent, where Roman law was predominant.

Interlude sur le film
"Mrs Brown"

Benjamin Disraeli was in opposition for 25 years, and Prime Minister only for 3 years.
William Gladstone served in 4 cabinets in 25 years, and was therefore much more influential.
Gladstone was important of national affairs, and his Judicial reforms and his awakening towards Irish home rule.
Disraeli was more interested in the development of the Empire, and was a fervent supporter of monarchy.

a) the Judicial Reform is symbolized by the Judicature Act (1870)
This was the merger of Common Law and Equity into a same administration, because of the rivalry existing between them since the 16th century, as was shown by Dickens in "Bleak House".
Concerning Common Law and Equity, I'll scan and put on the forum pages we received in Legal English.

There were originally 7 courts
- Queen's Bench (dealing with contracts and torts)
- the Exchequer
- Comme Pleas (dealing with criminal)
- Chancery (dealing with Equity)
- High Court of Admiralty (dealing with ships and navigation)
- Court of Probate Wills
- Court of Divorce, with Matrimonial Proceeding
It then became
- High Court of Justice, with QBD (Queen's Bench Division), Chancery and Family
- Court of Appeal
- Appellate Committee of the House of Lords
Concerning the different courts, I'll also give a sheet

b) It's under Disraeli that the development of the Empire in India and in the area of the Suez Canal took place. He had therefore a successful international policy.
Even more, compared to the failure of Gladstone's one, symbolised by the Alabama Crisis:
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), England sold a war ship, the HMS Alabama, to the Confederates. At the end of the war, the winning Union asked for reparations to England. This lead to the first international arbitration, which condemned England to pay 15 million dollars.
This was seens as a fatal blow to the English honor, and Gladstone was despised for it.

c) Disraeli was very fond of monarchy, and gave Victoria the title of Empress of India.

The Venerable Bede
A benedict monk who spent most of his time in monastery of Northumbria. He is the first anglo-saxon author.
Bede spoke about English kings converted by St Augustine (not the one who wrote City of God)
The Pope Gregory had sent 14 monks in Great Britain to bring the Holy Word to kings and kingdoms.

a) King Edwin of Northumbria
This conversion was not immediate, the king is hesitant.
Edwin held a Council, and it is the high priest of the old pagan religion who convinced him to be converted, which is a realistic way of describing this conversion.
The high priest considered that there was no virtue in the old religion, without any advantages on an economical point of view.
This conversion is therefore not at all emotional as was the one of Marie of Lourdes.
A comparison is made between the life of a man and the flight of a sparrow (moineau) which comes in a room during winter


Merci à Luc

b) Exceptionalism of English speaking world political culture

In the United States:
- Socialsim never took hold
- there is a very high male homicide rate (12.4/100.000)
- the rateof imprisonsment is above normal
- there is a high rate of litigiousness, of divorce, of teenage pregnancy
- the human rights narcism, with individual rights very developed while the economic, social and cultural rights are not embraced.
- judicial exceptionalism, considering practices of foreign countries as completely irrelevant
- American exemptionalism, where they don't comply or ratify different international treaties.

In England, see syllabus p.51
- there is no entrenched (inchangeable) constitutional provisions, every law is equal and can be modify by a vote in the Chambers.
- huge accountability of political men
- etc.

Why are the relations between the United Kingdom and the continent is exceptional?

1) Historiacal reasons

- There was an union proposed between France and the United Kingdom during World War II, but wasn't accepted by the French government.
- After World War II, another proposal was made by Winston Churchill, but not anymore with the united Kingdom.

This separation of the United Kingdom from the continent is due to different factors.

a) France rejected the United Kingdom twice in the sixties:
- the United Kingdom Imperial preference, to commerce more with the colonies, was badly seen for an economic union.
- If UK was to enter, France would loose its influence. In such matters as the CAP and the qualified majority, France was eager to protect its privileges. This is still an issue today.
- France was afraid that the UK would be a trojan horse for the USA in Europe.
- France was also afraid that if the UK entered the EEC, it would evolve in a supranational entity, prevailing over the national powers.

b) The United Kingdom rejected the project in 1950, for they wanted to remain master of their own house. They considered themselves to be one of the Big 3, and didn't want to mix with other countries.
UK wanted the EEC to be just a free trade area and not a common market.
The EU was also used by the United Kingdom as a scapegoat for its economical problems.

c) There is an isolation of the UK on British budgetary question (BBQ), a rebate on EU budget obtained by Thatcher, and on the liberalisation of services, on which topic the UK is favorable.

see p.55, the speech of Margaret Thatcher on the attitude of the United Kingdom towards Europe.

2) Legal reasons

a) The British Parliamentary sovereignty (defined by Albert Venn Dicey)
To enter the European Union, the United Kingdom had to ratify the Treaty of accession, as any member, but also had to pass the European Community Act 1972, which made European laws to prevail over parliament. Parliament stays sovereign, it is him who decided that European law should prevail, and could repudiate those laws.
However, it's resented as a lack of the parliamentary sovereignty.

b) This had an effect on the rule of precedent and the statutory law
- A magistrate should follow a European treaty and not a precedent.
The rule of precedent, backbone of Common Law, is therefore damaged by European treaties.
- The Merchant Shipping Act 1988 deals with the registration of British fishing vessels.
After Spain tried to bypass its quota of cod (cabillau) by registering its ship in England, the Parliament passed this Act which made it obligatory for british vessels to be 95% woned by british.
Spain opened a law suit in Britain and asked interim relief (it stops the effect of the law during the trial).
The House of Lords considered it to go against the will of the sovereign parliament, but still asked the European Court of Justice.
European law said that one can't discriminate someone for his nationality, so the ECJ gave an answer the 20th June 1990: the Factortame Decision.
This decision said that European laws overrides statutory laws.
The House of Lords was obliged to "disapply" the law.

Hello, juste pr savoir, ce qu il y a sur le forum c pas le cours complet d Itroduction qd mem....???? Je me demandais aussi si qq1 n aurait pas les reponses aux questions des films....merci bcp.
Hana