Poll: Is Great Britain Culturally dead?

[MrJKapowey]

Today (30/11/10) at school the debating society put on an interesting debate: This house believes that Britain is Culturally dead. Now I went to this debate thinking that after some brief resistance the proposition would gain a landslide victory; I was very much surprised when they lost.

Aside from the personal insults the opposition used, there argument was weak and consisted of countering the first proposition speakers speech and not much else. I just wanted to see what the fellow Escapians (is that how you say it?) thought on this matter and whether they agree with the decision of the vote.

 

[Drakmeire]

to me it just seems like the other side was just better at debating, just because you lose an argument doesn't always mean your wrong.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Went to the theatre last Saturday to see an adaptation of Lysastrata in Wolverhampton by Actors of Dyonisis theatre company. A famous greek play about women trying to get the men to make peace by abstaining sex. I went a few weeks before that to see a creative adaptation on the fairy tale Red Shoes by Kneehigh Theatre Company, which blew my mind and was enough to make my mind restless while I tried to sleep that night.

I am British.

Culture lives on.

Calumon: I like Bakeries. They're part of that thing you said, right?

 

[Newtilator]

You saw kneehigh red shoes? Dude, I really wanted to see that. Lucky Calumon.
But no, I don't think it is. In terms of creativity, we create many great films, shows, and especially plays. If you are talking about the audience... well, I suppose it's just a different type of culture.
Theatre fans! See The Woman in Black at the fortune theatre in London. You will be terrified. It is absolutely brilliant. British masterpiece!

 

[Trivun]

Today (30/11/10) at school the debating society put on an interesting debate: This house believes that Britain is Culturally dead. Now I went to this debate thinking that after some brief resistance the proposition would gain a landslide victory; I was very much surprised when they lost.

Aside from the personal insults the opposition used, there argument was weak and consisted of countering the first proposition speakers speech and not much else. I just wanted to see what the fellow Escapians (is that how you say it?) thought on this matter and whether they agree with the decision of the vote.

The term is 'Escapists'. A person on this site is known as 'an Escapist'.

Anyway, hell no. I live in the UK and we are far from culturally dead. I'm in a university city, Leeds, and just a year and a half ago when I was walking with friends in the student-dominated area of Headingley, looking at houses to rent, we came across a group of Morris Dancers performing in the street. One of the friends I was with even joined in, after a bit of cajoling from said dancers. And every time I go to Millennium Square in the city centre, there's something new and exciting going on, and something cultural. Right now there's a German Christmas Market until a few days before Christmas, and after Christmas there'll be an outdoor ice rink for the next few months. The entire city hosts a festival every year called 'Light Night', where various shops, institutions, museums and art galleries (of which Leeds has plenty) and the university itself all open for a whole night to host cultural events and attractions. Leeds has a thriving music scene, in fact along with Sheffield and Manchester it's one of the main cities in the North for new music in recent years. We have regular film festivals, including at least two international film festivals (one of which is held at the university every year).

My point is that Leeds itself is culturally thriving. And so are many other cities in the UK. To all those who say Britain is culturally dead, I ask you to check your sources and make sure that you aren't just talking out your arses on this matter...

 

[BennoVonArchimboldi]

Today (30/11/10) at school the debating society put on an interesting debate: This house believes that Britain is Culturally dead. Now I went to this debate thinking that after some brief resistance the proposition would gain a landslide victory; I was very much surprised when they lost.

Why were you surprised? What makes you think that Britain is culturally dead?

It might also be helpful to hear what your definition of "culture" is.

 

[topwomble]

Mainstream culture is still culture, you know that right? When archeologists from the distant future look at what Britain was like now, they'll see the plays and the arts and such, but they'll be much more fascinated by Facebook and XFactor, even though those are some of the most hated aspects of our society.

 

[marcooos]

Today (30/11/10) at school the debating society put on an interesting debate: This house believes that Britain is Culturally dead. Now I went to this debate thinking that after some brief resistance the proposition would gain a landslide victory; I was very much surprised when they lost.

Aside from the personal insults the opposition used, there argument was weak and consisted of countering the first proposition speakers speech and not much else. I just wanted to see what the fellow Escapians (is that how you say it?) thought on this matter and whether they agree with the decision of the vote.

Good question but it's nothing that hasn't been fielded before my firm belief is that rather than cultural death it's more a transformation i know that technically invalidates the statement of culture but what do you define as british culture?

 

[credop]

I'm British and i have to say no and yes.

It's difficult, old fashioned culture has deterited but not gone. However a new form of culture has arose. Just because it's new doesn't mean it isn't British or Cultural. I think you need to look at your definition and argue if British Tradition has gone rather than culture.

EITHER WAY.

I love to be british and so: What ho'! May we play polo among the quarters?.
Steroetype: Yes.
Loving it: Yes.

 

[IAmTheVoid]

Went to the theatre last Saturday to see an adaptation of Lysastrata in Wolverhampton by Actors of Dyonisis theatre company. A famous greek play about women trying to get the men to make peace by abstaining sex. I went a few weeks before that to see a creative adaptation on the fairy tale Red Shoes by Kneehigh Theatre Company, which blew my mind and was enough to make my mind restless while I tried to sleep that night.

I am British.

Culture lives on.

Calumon: I like Bakeries. They're part of that thing you said, right?

Completely unrelated, but studying Ancient History at Reading and Lysistrata came up recently. Hilarious play, I'd love to have seen it performed.

It depends what you mean by culture, really. We have good theatre, museums, and although we have some televisual farts so to speak (X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, ugh), we have many good programs to make up for it (Doctor Who, Being Human, Sherlock, for example). Although in terms of music we may not be dominating like we used to in the 60's/70's, but we're not too bad- Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, The Kooks spring to mind as relatively new bands, but we've still got most of our metal giants touring too.

What I think their original point might be is that Britain doesn't have a culture as pervasive as it used to be. I'd agree if that was the point they were trying to perpetuate- I'd say that role's been taken by America, no matter how popular they are- but on the fundamental point of being 'dead', no, definitely not.

 

[C95J]

of course no, nowhere near, I would like to know how it is dead...

 

[manythings]

I'm British and i have to say no and yes.

It's difficult, old fashioned culture has deterited but not gone. However a new form of culture has arose. Just because it's new doesn't mean it isn't British or Cultural. I think you need to look at your definition and argue if British Tradition has gone rather than culture.

EITHER WAY.

I love to be british and so: What ho'! May we play polo among the quarters?.
Steroetype: Yes.
Loving it: Yes.

Do you love to be english or british?

Culture is always there it just depends on how many people are looking for it. I imagine in the forum there were always philosophers complaining about how culture was dead now.

 

[PowRightInTheKisser]

im gonna have to say yes and no too

in terms of patriotism and such, that other countries have in bucket loads, we are dead. or dying. mostly cos we are made to feel guilty for things that happened in the past. not just by ourselves. have you ever gone to a foreign country and had them judge you negatively purely cos you are british. i have been many times

on the other hand britain have a thriving culture that i love. it might be hard to define simply because we're immersed in it daily. i recently went on holiday to canada. a country which i had previously regarded as quite similar to our own. and i came back with a whole new appreciation of our british culture. im not saying canada was a bad place because i loved it. it just took me going somewhere so different to appreciate my own culture

so yeh. vive la british culture

 

[MrJKapowey]

My point is that Leeds itself is culturally thriving. And so are many other cities in the UK. To all those who say Britain is culturally dead, I ask you to check your sources and make sure that you aren't just talking out your arses on this matter...

My source is the town of High Wycombe and the area where I live. In G.B.

To answer other posts, I don't define British Culture or Culture in general. I also don't claim to and don't know how to. It's a very hard thing to do, but the debate was on culture like TV, Music, Films and Art.

I've found that people at my school and around where I live are more interested in preserving our history, not our culture. Also we seem to have more of other cultures than our own. The only things that I can think of (where I live) that is a part of our culture and isn't scorned is types of beer, English pubs, fish 'n chips and bonfire night.

The arguments against were mostly Britains got Talent, The X Factor, Big Brother, I'm a celeb get me outta here, Damien Hurst, (forget the name) but the unmade bed lady, a quote from workers at Pinewood studios ('90% of what we make is sh*t and we do it for money'), Lady Gaga and some other singers and some other stuff...

 

[BennoVonArchimboldi]

in terms of patriotism and such, that other countries have in bucket loads, we are dead. or dying.

Don't confuse patriotism with jingoism...

mostly cos we are made to feel guilty for things that happened in the past. not just by ourselves. have you ever gone to a foreign country and had them judge you negatively purely cos you are british. i have been many times

I've never been made to feel guilty abroad because of actions in Britain's past...unless you mean the football hooliganism of the 70s and 80s, that seems to be one perception of the British that doesn't seem to have died down. Although I still wouldn't say I was made to feel guilty about it.

 

[electric discordian]

We exported Simon Cowell and RIcky Gervais. I advocate we pull out all the plugs and slowly sink doing the world a favour!

 

[Thyunda]

My point is that Leeds itself is culturally thriving. And so are many other cities in the UK. To all those who say Britain is culturally dead, I ask you to check your sources and make sure that you aren't just talking out your arses on this matter...

My source is the town of High Wycombe and the area where I live. In G.B.

To answer other posts, I don't define British Culture or Culture in general. I also don't claim to and don't know how to. It's a very hard thing to do, but the debate was on culture like TV, Music, Films and Art.

I've found that people at my school and around where I live are more interested in preserving our history, not our culture. Also we seem to have more of other cultures than our own. The only things that I can think of (where I live) that is a part of our culture and isn't scorned is types of beer, English pubs, fish 'n chips and bonfire night.

The arguments against were mostly Britains got Talent, The X Factor, Big Brother, I'm a celeb get me outta here, Damien Hurst, (forget the name) but the unmade bed lady, a quote from workers at Pinewood studios ('90% of what we make is sh*t and we do it for money'), Lady Gaga and some other singers and some other stuff...

My source is the area of Stoke-on-Trent. Now that's a real dead city.
Culture is culture. What we have right now is a celebrity culture, a form of idol worship, but far from praising. We've reached an excess of boredom that seems to lead us to terrorise other people instead of finding things to do...so I won't go as far as to say we have a hateful culture...we just have an unpleasant demeanour. S
Still, culture's evolved from hating entire races to 'hating' individuals now, at least.

 

[AfterAscon]

Culture is hard define and so when examining your own cultural norms they are not very obvious. Britain does has a rich culture and is clearly evident by how radically different parts of our isles are, Geordies, scousers, brummies, cockneys etc (I only used English regions because I'm not that knowledgeable of specific regions in Scotland and Wales). Each region also has a rich history be it mining, shipbuilding, steelworkers which have all influenced their beliefs, dialects and everything else. Also for people saying that Britons are not particularly patriotic, well that's just part of our culture.

Culture does not equal art, or anything snobbery like that. Culture is everything.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'd say our culture is as strong as it's ever been, it's just not very popular with the masses, as they're choosing X Factor instead...give it 5 years and I'm sure things will swing back.

 

[Woodsey]

Depends on what type of culture we're taking about. If it's the BNP or EDL's idea of British culture then I fucking hope so.

We're multi-cultural, so there's no standard type of culture that can be applied, and that's a good thing.

I'd say our culture is as strong as it's ever been, it's just not very popular with the masses, as they're choosing X Factor instead...give it 5 years and I'm sure things will swing back.

X Factor is part of our culture.