Warriors of Steel: Representations of Machinery and Technology in British Heavy Metal of the 1980s

2021 ◽  
pp. 362-381
Author(s):  
A.S. Kolesnik ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
The Uk ◽  
And Behavior

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal is a remarkable phenomenon in British cultural history of the 1980s. Trying to identify themselves and to indicate their reaction to the social and political context in the UK, young musicians turned to the representation of fantastic worlds. The language of the “fantastic” in early British heavy metal was primarily associated with themes of mechanization, heroics, epics, mythology, fantasy and science fiction. The musical form was often emphatically epic and majestic, designed to create an audio picture to the lyrics. Visual representations — large-scale, spectacular, often theatrical live performances — played an important role in the representation of the “fantastic”. The semiotic element consisted of the signs and symbols of heavy metal (mascots, occult themes, mythological creatures, technocratic motives), which were reflected not only in the design of album covers and the metal bands names, but also in the clothes and behavior of musicians and their fans. The paper examines the specifics of the fantastic language of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands and, first of all, the representation of technogenic motives: how machines and robots were depicted, what techniques were used to create machine soundscapes, how this topic was played up within live performances, and finally, what cultural significance did references to machines and technology have.

The Industrial Context of Inception: From Production to Premiere

Inception ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 31-32
Author(s):  
David Carter
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Industrial Context

This chapter traces the production history of Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010). Nolan first tried out his treatment for Inception with Warner Bros. after making Memento (2000), but then realised the scope that would be required for the film and decided to gain more experience making large-scale films. After completing The Dark Knight (2008), Nolan finally decided to make Inception and spent the next six months completing the script. The filming took place in six different countries and on four separate continents, the main locations being in the UK, Morocco, Canada, Tokyo, Paris, and Los Angeles. Nolan has stressed that they deliberately filmed in six different countries, building enormous sets because he was interested in 'pushing the boundaries of what could be achieved practically, as opposed to computer effects'. Concerns for realism also governed Nolan's choice of cameras and film. Inception was released on July 10, 2010, and its opening weekend gross takings made it the second-highest grossing debut for a science-fiction film that was not a sequel or remake.

Locating the Black archive

2020 ◽  
pp. 207-218
Author(s):  
Hannah Ishmael ◽  
Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski ◽  
Kelly Foster ◽  
Etienne Joseph ◽  
Nathan E. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Archival Science ◽  
Archival Practice ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Archival Practices

This chapter takes the concept of ‘living heritage’ as a starting point to show the ways in which focusing on tangibility and intangibility, the formal and the informal, can be used to stretch the concepts of archival practice. It highlights the cultural and intellectual traditions, tangible and intangible, found within the Caribbean, Africa, and across the Diaspora. Accordingly, the institutions, organisations, concepts, and practices discussed here have a ‘pre-history’ both internationally and in the UK — a prehistory inseparable from the development of the intellectual and cultural history of African and Caribbean communities in the Diaspora. Despite this, an archival science capable of dealing with these complexities has yet to be developed. The chapter thus considers the ways in which Black-led archival practices in the UK have historically sought to both disrupt and define heritage practices. It makes a claim for the active, political and cultural incursions, disruptions, and interventions in the heritage sector by Black-led archives and heritage practitioners.

The Mudu Archaic City Site of the Spring-and-Autumn Period in Suzhou City, Jiangsu

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joint Archaeological Team Of Instit ◽  
Suzhou Municipal Institute Of Archa
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Autumn Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Regional Center ◽  
Water Gate ◽  
Spring And Autumn Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Eastern Zhou

AbstractIn 2009 and 2010, a series of archaeological investigations were conducted in and around the Mudu archaic city site located in the southwestern highland of Greater Suzhou, Jiangsu. The excavations revealed sections of the north circumference wall at Wufeng and the water gate of the south circumference wall at Xinfeng. The surveys identified the possible locations of the east and the west circumference walls. Diagnostic proto-porcelain and stamped potsherds were recovered. It is tentatively argued that both the north and the south walls were built and in use during the late Spring-and-Autumn Period. The Mudu Site, therefore, was a large-scale walled settlement functioned as a regional center of its time. These findings are instrumental in the search for the lost capital of Wu State of the Spring-and-Autumn Period, the understanding of the relationship among the various contemporary settlement sites, cairns, earthen mounds, and caches distributed in the region, and the reconstruction of the local cultural history of Eastern Zhou.

How Nauchnaia Fantastika Was Made: The Debates about the Genre of Science Fiction from NEP to High Stalinism

Slavic Review ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Soviet Science ◽  
Literary Politics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Science Fiction

Based on a detailed analysis of published and unpublished sources, Matthias Schwartz reconstructs the making of Soviet science fiction in the cultural context of Soviet literary politics. Beginning in the 1920s, nauchnaia fantastika (scientific fantasy) became one of the most popular forms of light fiction, though literary critics and activists tended to dismiss it because of its origins in popular adventure, its ties to the so-called Pinkerton literature, and its ambiguous relationship to scientific inventions and social progress. Schwartz's analysis shows that even during high Stalinism, socialist realism's norms were far from being firmly established, but in the case of nauchnaia fantastika had to be constantly negotiated and reconstituted as fragile compromises involving different interest groups (literary politicians, writers, publishers, readers). A cultural history of Soviet science fiction also contributes to a better understanding of what people actually wanted to read and sheds new light on the question of how popular literature adapts to political changes and social destabilizations.

scholarly journals The History and Continuity of Kuningan Weaving

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fendi Adiatmono ◽  
Arif Rivai
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Behavior Patterns ◽  
Digital Cameras ◽  
Transmission Method ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Visual History

Human work is influenced by thinking and behavior patterns. Weaving as a result of human culture is no longer something that is considered important. Birth and development have not been comprehensively explored. Kuningan as a weaving region cannot be separated from the problem. Its development stalled during Colonial rule.This research aims to describe the development of weaving as a home industry in terms of cultural history, form of motives and management. This study aims to (1) describe the weaving motif in the Kuningan home industry; and (2) design forms of motifs that are in accordance with the history of Kuningan culture; and (3) suitable management of art applied to the Kuningan area. This research is a qualitative research where the data obtained from observations, interviews, documentation, and participant observations are presented in descriptive form. The instruments in this study were the researchers themselves with guidelines for observation, interviews, and documentation. The tools used in this study are digital cameras and writing equipment. The validity of the data from this paper is obtained by perseverance / regularity of observation and publication of research results. Analysis of the data used in the form of reduction, presentation of data, and conclusion. The results of this study indicate (1) the weaving motifs of home industry production are not in accordance with the development of other textile arts, such as batik. Then the form of the motive produced is the result of interference from outside countries; and (2) Kuningan home industry weaving is not in the right management, as evidenced by the death of the industry in the present.This research uses the theory of visual history and methods of anthropological approaches, forms of aesthetics, and symbols that are relevant to the subject and subject matter of the problem. So, the context that was built to be legitimate, text, oral and visual, both now and past has been used as a reconstruction. The contents of the study and his work aroused community sensitivity in formulating natural and human development constructions. The general objective of this research is the point of awareness, that it creates filters, balance, and makes a counter of global forces that try to make Indonesian society artificial.This research is expected to emit reference needs for public creativity in general. The written phrases are expected to be able to inspire the sensitivity of the people of Indonesia, to further dynamize the transmission method in the construction of the community.

The Reception of American Science Fiction in Japan

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadashi Nagasawa
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
American Science ◽  
Japanese Science ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S

American science fiction has been a significant source of ideas and imagination for Japanese creators: they have been producing extensive works of not only written texts but also numerous films, television shows, Japanese comics and cartoons (Manga and Animé), music, and other forms of art and entertainment under its influence. Tracing the history of the import of American science fiction works shows how Japan accepted, consumed, and altered them to create their own mode of science fiction, which now constitutes the core of so-called “Cool-Japan” content. Popular American science fiction emerged from pulp magazines and paperbacks in the early 20th century. In the 1940s, John W. Campbell Jr. and his magazine Astounding Science Fiction had great impact on the genre, propelling its “Golden Age.” In the 1960s, however, American science fiction seemed dated, but the “New Wave” arose in the United Kingdom, which soon affected American writers. With the cyberpunk movement in the 1980s, science fiction became part of postmodernist culture. Japanese science fiction has developed under the influence of American science fiction, especially after WWII. Paperbacks and magazines discarded by American soldiers were handed down to Japanese readers. Many would later become science fiction writers, translators, or editors. Japanese science fiction has mainly followed the line of Golden Age science fiction, which speculates on how science and technology affect the social and human conditions, whereas the New Wave and cyberpunk movements contributed to Japanese postmodernism. Japanese Manga, Animé, and special effects (SFX) television shows and films (Tokusatsu) are also closely related to science fiction and have developed under its influence. Even as works of the Japanese popular culture owe much to American science fiction, they have become popular worldwide.

scholarly journals Archival Heritage as a Sphere of Kazakhstan Integration into the Scientific, Informational, and Cultural Space of Eurasia: 1998–2021

2021 ◽  
pp. 1106-1117
Author(s):  
Efim I. Pivovar ◽  
◽  
Irina E. Khanova ◽  
Marya V. Katagoshchina ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Science And Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Space ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Cis Countries

The paper is devoted to the activities of the Republic of Kazakhstan archives aimed at identifying, studying, and popularizing the historical and documentary heritage of Kazakhstan, and to the role of this area of historical and cultural activity in the development of international cultural cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia and other states of Eurasia. The authors’ hypothesis is that the commonality of historical experience in the field of archiving and the similarity of contemporary tasks of the historical and cultural policy of the CIS countries, including Russia and Kazakhstan, are the basis for the participation of archives in the development of Eurasian integration and cooperation in the field of science and culture. In Kazakhstan, this process received significant additional incentives over the period 1998–2021. The adoption in 1998 of the Law on the National Archival Foundation of the Republic of Kazakhstan can be considered as the beginning of a large-scale project to identify, publish, and popularize the archival heritage of Kazakhstan, and this work was initially carried out both in Kazakhstani archives and abroad — in Russia, Uzbekistan, Great Britain, France, Turkey, and other countries of Greater Eurasia. In the 2000s, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev in a series of articles and speeches had formulated an idea of referring to the history as the main source for formation of the national idea of modern Kazakhstan, including the approval of the world historical and cultural significance of the concept of the Great Steppe — the cradle of the Kazakh people. One of the central tasks in the implementation of this strategy was collection and promotion of documents related to the history of Kazakhstan in the international scientific and information space. In 2018, N. Nazarbayev came up with the “Archive – 2025” initiative, which further confirmed the role of the heuristic and archaeographic activities of archives and set the task of creating the most complete digitization of the archival heritage of Kazakhstan. The article provides an overview of the main directions of work of the Kazakhstani archives in 1998–2021: archaeographic expeditions abroad, publication of documentary collections, and scientific research on the history of the peoples, social life, and statehood of Kazakhstan in the 18th – 20th centuries, digitization of the archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan, conducting international scientific conferences and seminars. The facts revealed by the authors show that the archival heritage of Kazakhstan is an area of fruitful and productive cooperation of humanitarians of the countries of Eurasia and also an incentive for integration processes in science and culture in the post-Soviet space.

Making a market for Mexican food in Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Sinclair ◽  
Barry Carr
Keyword(s):  
Food Industry ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Cultural Proximity ◽  
History Of

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to account for the remarkable proliferation of Mexican restaurants and tequila bars in contemporary urban Australia, in the absence of any geographical contiguity, historical connection or cultural proximity between Australia and Mexico.Design/methodology/approachThe paper traces how the particularities of direct cultural contact, interpersonal networks and grass-roots entrepreneurism can open up new markets, and how the ground is, thus, prepared for subsequent large-scale international corporate entry to those markets. This research is based on interviews with key figures in the development of the Mexican food industry in Australia, interpreted in terms of the extant literature on cultural globalisation. The first-hand accounts of these participants have been interpreted in the light of available secondary sources and relevant theory.FindingsThe most striking theme to emerge in the study is the relative absence of Mexicans, or even Mexico-experienced Australians, in the making of a market for Mexican food in Australia. Rather, initially, Americans were prominent, as entrepreneurs and in forming a consumer market, while in later decades, entrepreneurs and consumers alike have been Australians whose experience of Mexican food has been formed in the United States, not Mexico. The role of hipster subculture and travel is seen as instrumental. Also of interest is the manner in which the personal experiences and interrelationships of the Americans and Australians have shaped the development of the Mexican food industry. This is not to ignore the much more recent participation of a new wave of immigrants from Mexico.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the scope of the study is national, the sharper focus is on the experience of Melbourne; it would be useful for future researchers to investigate other major cities, even if Melbourne has been the most pivotal of Australian cities in the history of Mexican food in Australia. The study has conceptual and theoretical implications for debates around cultural globalisation and “Americanisation”.Originality/valueThe paper provides a close-grained and suitably theorised account of how a particular consumer trend has become extended on a global basis, with particular attention to both individual experience and agency, and corporate activity.

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