In today's reading, Gibson analyzed a popular cultural activity in terms of its implications as ritual. He focused on how men interact with it and its implications for their lives. Can you think of other activities in popular culture that we might consider for similar analyses? You might broaden the scope of possibilities by including daily kinds of cultural rituals, that aren't necessarily practiced by everyone. For example, for my wife morning coffee can be compared to a ritual. Making such a comparison depends on you figuring out what constitutes "ritual-ness." What do we gain by analyzing in terms of anthropological language like that? What do we risk by attempting to read common, everyday practices as "ritual"?
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I can think of many rituals in a given day, for example a morning routine of showering, eating breakfast while watching CNN, doing homework during a certain break, eating lunch with a particular group of friends, etc. However, I want to discuss rituals in terms of media consumption because it is very interesting. In journalism 101 we talked about reasons for why people consume media-one explanation attributed consumption to the ritual model. It stated that people may choose get information not necessarily for intrinsic value of the information, but for the value that comes from reading or watching something with other people (ie it is enjoyable because it is done and discussed with others). Examples of this include watching American Idol with your friends or at home so you can talk about it with people the next day, reading a particular book series because all of your friends are talking about it, etc. We gain much in terms of analyzing activities as rituals because we understand why we do them, helping us decide whether they are worth continuing or not; however, by attempting to read everyday practices as a ritual, we may add value to them that is overblown.
There are some activities that can be analyzed similar to paintball. I think that football would be an example of it. This includes watching it and participating it. It is a collision sport. People are imposing their will on another person. It can be a ritual for someone to play it every week, however this eventually changes to be watching it everyweek. Fans of football, the majority of which are guys, are quite ritualistic in their watching of it. They have to sit in the same place, eat the same thing and do the same thing during half time. To me ritualness is something that happens and has great importance and signifigance. The time frame doesnt matter. It can occur daily or just once. I think their is a lot to gain by looking at these things. We get a deeper glance at something and help make sense of it. We can go back to its roots, much like paintball and war. Football can be viewed as something similar to that. We risk labeling something negativley as ritualistic. It can have a bad connotation in some senses
There are many things that could be considered ritual in our culture. A morning shower before school, getting home from school and turning on the tv while working on homework. Both of these are daily activities for me which could be seen as ritualistic. By analyzing these daily, weekly, or monthly things we do I guess we can learn a little more about ourselves and how we function. The one thing that I feel we risk in analyzing the little everyday things we do is making them into more than what they are. Putting to significant a meaning on the morning cup of coffee can distort the meaning behind it and make it seem more than it really is. Although turning on the tv while doing homework is a ritual for me it does not really have a significant meaning beyond just creating background noise and entertaining me while I work on homework. I would say the same for the paintball. though some may put a deeper meaning into playing it many, such as myself find it as something we can do that is fun and exciting. It is like any other sport. It is recreation and teamwork. It offers an adrenaline rush and a chance to develop a skill. I do not see it as more than that or even as a simulation of war, because frankly it is not comparable. Paintball is no more like war than your average videogame. there is no danger, no loss of life. By putting a deeper meaning into these so called "war simulations" I feel we run the risk of glorifying war.
The essay suggests that Paintball is a ritualistic sport for men. In many similar ways, shopping is the same for women. When shopping, women have a "target" that they want to "capture", such as a really good value on shoes, and they may have to fight others that stand in their way of getting what they want.
Also, women tend to shop in pairs or groups, which brings in the teamwork aspect described in the essay. But, by making these assumptions about women and shopping, many other possibilities are left out. What about guys who shop? Some women hate shopping, so is shopping never a ritual for them?
There are many rituals that everyone does differently every day. Wake up, take a shower, have some breakfast and start the day. There are rituals fro watching some sports, such as football, men hold football in very high regards. We love it, and we all have our own superstitious way of watching it. I like to think that for men, going out and looking for a girl can be thought of asa ritual. There are many ritualistic aspects to it, such as preparing. The man would get dressed up, put on some cologne and head out. There are different spots fro every man to perform their own ritual, such as bars, malls, church or pretty much anywhere else. The man chooses the girl out and proceeds to interact with the girl, like a mating dance. Words are mixed and the girl will either agree or walk away.
I think there are many other things we can analyze in life that can relate to other things. Paintball happens to be an easy thing because it directly relates to war. It is sometime more hidden to see certain things like that. In my opinion football can be considered a sport that allows people to properly vent anger, rage, and instinct to inflict pain. I think football allows you to constructively try your hardest to crush your opponent by any means necessary. You are told to shove him, hit him, push his pads into his throat, go for his legs to take him down, keep him down and if possible hurt him enough to scare him out of coming near you again. This is very primal and something that men love to participate in and watch. I think that an issue with turning everyday things into rituals is that you make something have more importance than its initial function. This can be dangerous because the loss of this ritual could then cost you more than just the loss of the activity. A loss of peace of mind and confidence could be caused if a certain ritual is missed or forgotten.
Many of us have rituals that we sometimes don't even notice. Shopping for women would be an example of a ritual I think. Rituals for include working out every morning at a certain time, watching certain tv shows, and eating certain foods. I think rituals in a sense are what you like to do everyday. Most of these rituals do not have a certain significant meaning behind them, but rather something that I like to do. By doing these rituals, we figure out why we do them, and what they mean to us. Most of the rituals I do are things that keep me active and healthy. Paintball is something that a lot of people can participate it, and we can analyze it. Playing football or soccer could be something that could be though of as a ritual for men or women. I think we can look at these rituals, but we shouldn't overanalyze them.
I, like almost everyone else, do things on a day to day basis that I would consider a ritual. Setting my alarm at night, waking up to brush my teeth, getting dressed, going to class, eating dinner. These are all very small "rituals" but they actions that are done over and over again day in and day out. I think a common ritual in america is watching and cheering on one's sports team. Wether it be a little league game or an NFL game, people watch and people support "their" team. Granted, many people don't care about any given team and never watch sports; however there are more that do watch sports than those who don't.
I also think that our rituals give us an insight into who we really are in terms of our beliefs and desires, which is why I think analyzing our rituals is important.
There are obviously people do in the same order everyday. This could be as simple as getting dressed for the day after getting out of bed or even doing homework for a particular class at a certain time in thee day. Even though we may do these things at the same time everyday it may be more considered part of a routine, rather than a ritual. I do not consider checking my phone before I fall asleep a ritual, but rather a routine. However, things that are more important to me I may consider a ritual. Attending Strouds Run every friday with my brother and friends is something I would consider a ritual. Something that is special and not just a task to go through the "motions" of day to day life.
In this story, he tries to explain paintball as a ritual to be compared to war. I think this is the only way people have to compare to the war environment. Like war there is one survival strategy; to out compete the other. I know I fully can not grasp the events of war, but we readily try to make comparisons.
Rituals come about our daily lives almost all day long. Such things as waking up at the same time, getting ready, and doing the same things pretty much daily. Watching a tv show at a set time one night a week becomes a big deal to someone and when you actually think about it, it has become a ritual to that person.
When you actually sit down and analyze the things you do on a daily basis you realize how much they have become rituals to you. It makes you wonder what got you started doing whatever it is you and why you do it that way.
there are so many everyday activities that can be considered ritualistic. we do things everyday the same way over and over again. we all have our schedules set for the week prior to the week even starting. we all have special times when we like to go to the gym and work out. we all like to relax at some point during the day as well.
the fact that all of our lives a ritualistic on a basic level in very interesting to look at. everyone does the things that seem right to them , and that is ritualistic in its own right (the feeling of independence).
There are many just simple daily rituals that I do, that I'v never really thought of analytically. For example, my friends and I always gather and play backyard football together. You could also look at this and take something out of it. You could say that men just love to compete and are always trying to be the best, and show others that they other better. There are little things that everyone does that you could pick apart and say something about.
There are many rituals in a persons everyday life. These are actions that people perform everyday without thinking twice about. There is also another kind of ritual, one that people perform that is special and sacred to them.
My everyday morning routine is a ritual for me and most people. I perform the same set of actions every morning. There are reasons behind everything we do and analyzing our actions as rituals will help to answer the question of why we perform the action.
Going to church is a ritual of mine. I go to church because it is a practice of my faith and an action that resembles who I am. Paintball is similiar to this, in that people play paintball because it resembles war and has become a part of who they are.
I think that rituals can be small, everyday activities (like meal times, getting ready in the morning, etc) or more ceremonial and rich cultural traditions (like holidays, or rites-of-passage for adolescents). I think that it is helpful to analyze rituals because they provide an insight into human's social concepts of what it is important to devote our time and energy to during the day.
I think it is important to analyze rituals, and questioning long-standing institutions and societal rituals can deepen our own individuality. It is important to avoid simply following a ritual because "that is the way it has been done for generations" and really stop to think about why you are performing it, and its origins. We must avoid group-think mentality, and be on guard against blindly following tradition. With that said, I think rituals can be positive to participate in because they are comforting, provide structure to one's life, and provide opportunities for rich interactions and memories with friends and community. If you evaluate such a ritual for yourself before you participate in it, you are one step closer to being able to evaluate cultural rituals and provide analyses and insights of such.
The first ritual that came to my mind was my weekly ritual of attending Mass. I would consider it a ritual not only because I do it every weekend, but also because I am expected to do it. I think that rituals are defined as actions that you are suppose to do or expected to do, rather than events that you routinely do.
I think that ritual is not a good word to describe actions that a person always does because it makes it sound like people have no control over these actions. I think that a better word to describe these actions would be "routine" or "habit".It seems like these words describe something you do because you chose to do it, rather than ritual which is more something you are told or expected to do.
I think that rituals can be small, everyday activities (like meal times, getting ready in the morning, etc) or more ceremonial and rich cultural traditions (like holidays, or rites-of-passage for adolescents). I think that it is helpful to analyze rituals because they provide an insight into human's social concepts of what it is important to devote our time and energy to during the day.
I think it is important to analyze rituals, and questioning long-standing institutions and societal rituals can deepen our own individuality. It is important to avoid simply following a ritual because "that is the way it has been done for generations" and really stop to think about why you are performing it, and its origins. We must avoid group-think mentality, and be on guard against blindly following tradition. With that said, I think rituals can be positive to participate in because they are comforting, provide structure to one's life, and provide opportunities for rich interactions and memories with friends and community. If you evaluate such a ritual for yourself before you participate in it, you are one step closer to being able to evaluate cultural rituals and provide analyses and insights of such.
I have a lot of rituals. Whether it's brushing my teeth immediately before bed or watching infomercials when I eat breakfast, I have many rituals each day. Most people have daily rituals that they do simply out of habit. I think that by analyzing rituals we can gain some insight into why we do the things we do, but if we start analyzing every little thing, we would go crazy. The reason people drink coffee in the morning is usually to wake them up. Analyzing why people do this could be a waste of time. Analyzing certain parts could be more insightful such as why someone must drink their coffee before taking a shower or making their kids lunches.
I think that rituals can be small, everyday activities (like meal times, getting ready in the morning, etc) or more ceremonial and rich cultural traditions (like holidays, or rites-of-passage for adolescents). I think that it is helpful to analyze rituals because they provide an insight into human's social concepts of what it is important to devote our time and energy to during the day.
I think it is important to analyze rituals, and questioning long-standing institutions and societal rituals can deepen our own individuality. It is important to avoid simply following a ritual because "that is the way it has been done for generations" and really stop to think about why you are performing it, and its origins. We must avoid group-think mentality, and be on guard against blindly following tradition. With that said, I think rituals can be positive to participate in because they are comforting, provide structure to one's life, and provide opportunities for rich interactions and memories with friends and community. If you evaluate such a ritual for yourself before you participate in it, you are one step closer to being able to evaluate cultural rituals and provide analyses and insights of such.
Among the average college student checking ones email or facebook could be considered ritual. These forms of communication allow us to connect with friends from back home and to coordinate schedules of activities here.
We gain insight into our own lives by looking at ritual.
All people have different rituals that they practice on a daily basis. It just depends on the type of person you are and what you find appealing or not. different backrounds, culture, and religion that can help with someones rituals.
Every morning I like to have come kind of breakfats whether it be a big one at the diner or a little breakfast bar on the go. If I do not have some sort of food in the morning it really messes up my whole day. Fodd in the morning allows me to function better.
My family is Catholic so we celebrate Christmas every year. Different religions like I said celebrate different holidays. The rituals define who someone is. Rituals can also be turned into traditions or sometimes like breafast is for me a routine.
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