National Culture / National Identity

After reading "Introduction: On Interpreting a Javanese Art Form" by Ward Keeler I noticed that the Javanese shadow plays are really unique to their culture and hold a large place in Javanese society. Also they influence a lot of other forms of art in Java and is revered as highly prestigious.
For example, Keeler wrote that the plays are often used in Javanese conversation: "In a religious mode, people often remark that we are all really just puppets, moved by the ultimate dhalang, God." And also, just by watching Javanese Shadow Plays, Keeler learned a great deal about Javanese society. He was able to note through thick description that Ki Cerma rode to his gig on an old German motorbike, while wealthy dhalang ride to their gigs in a car or in a minibus with an entourage, because Ki Cerma who was old and losing the intensity in his voice was less in demand than other dhalang and therefore less wealthy.

I really liked that Keeler wrote that he used the concept of relationships approach to form a better understanding of Javanese Shadow Plays as an artform. So, without relying completely on the indiginous people's view of the plays and also supressing his western preconceptions, he could see how this art form interacts with the rest of the culture. For example, he looks at the relationship between the artist and the audience and observes what kind of reaction the artist wants from his audience and in turn what the audience wants from their artist. He then understands what is considered a good show to the Javanese and can start thinking of other relationships within the art form that can give him more clues to the culture.

I thought that this was really interesting, because I tried to come up with an art form that was unique only to American culture. I thought of what kind of art Americans might spend their money on when it comes time to plan for their weddings or birthdays. I thought maybe theatre, like Broadway, but most Western cultures have that, and then I thought, maybe movies and Hollywood are quite unique to American culture but they are embraced by most Western cultures too. So what is the national art form of America?

So I turned to pop culture and thought what kind of American would I be if I didn't discuss Britney Spears' heinous performance on the vmas. As an art form in America, music is extremely influential, especially pop music. And I just wonder if the Javanese ever applied Keeler's concepts of relationships to Britney Spear's performance what they would draw from it.... As an artist and audience relationship, the people watching the vmas, or the performance on youtube reacted to the "artist's" awful job with great interest and most likely laughter. So do they think that we think art is a joke? Or do they just think that us Americans are insensitve and silly and dont have any clue what good art is? All these questions made me realize that when looking at Eastern art or any kind of performance art, we need to take tons of situations and circumstances into consideration before we characterize it and not just look at one example of anything.