The big picture at present

The big picture can mean literally anything, I mean the phrase itself is defined as:

 "A broad, overall view or perspective of an issue or problem."

(Dictionary.com, 2011)

Because of this its remit covers everything, so I am free to find widespread subjects to look into and try and see how they fit into the big picture. I plan to find my own angle on the larger issues that affront mankind trying to stay away from what people have already said, hopefully I will come up with some interesting results.

(Anders C, 2010)

And this is my first topic of discovery! an image I found about the season finale of doctor who! A very popular series at present.

But away from the actual topic of doctor who the image itself, it seems to be a depiction of Pandora’s box in dome subterranean resting place disturbed only by the doctor. But looking at the focal point of the image the glowing aqua lights give the feel of old world technology, against the black material of the cube adds a sinister tone to it also. Another thing I notice is the main visible point is a design which imitates an eye on each side of the cube, because it depicts two eyes but they do not in any way line up it adds another unnerving element to the cube, it’s a strange image.

I have chosen this image because of its references to a religious story, Religion has played a major part of defining humanity. However I wanted to cover the actual religious basis in the past section of this blog and cover a popular culture reference in this section.

As I have already said this image is concept art for the season finale of Doctor who, the popular Tv series. This shows it is popular and marketable to use ideas themed on religious ideas in modern media culture.

However I think that it would be best to look at the large issues that we face as a culture in the modern day.

OVERPOPULATION

(Eugenecho.com, 2011)

I feel that it is necessary to mention the start of my medicine at present post in this section as it links perfectly to this subject.

The subject talks about the aims of modern medicine in making the human lifespan longer and preventing death, however due to the massive overpopulation caused by allowing humans to live longer and die less the planet will soon have 4 times the population it can sustain, making humanity its own greatest threat.

(Ryerson W, 2010)

I feel that for this reason if you look at the big picture medicine is not actually helping humanity so much as leading it to a different type of problem, one that is much harder to solve. A good example of the media presence of this fear is the Happening, a movie about plants  which evolve to cause humans to commit suicide in response to the human population getting too large.

This Horror film shows that the theme of overpopulation is popular in our modern culture simply because it exists, because horror films only really work when the fear is based on some sort of realistic possibility even if it is simply speculation. I will be exploring this theory more thorughout my blog by looking into true horror stories in my past posts.

(Shyamalan M, 2008)

I think that I can move onto another large factor in peoples definition of the big picture, you see I think that people see the world differently depending on their perspective, a large part of what goes to defining this perspective for each and every person is Human nature.

HUMAN NATURE AT A GLANCE

Human nature is an interesting idea, everybody talks about it but nobody can actually define it. The basis of the idea is that it is not only our experiences that define us but those of our ancestors and their ancestors, information passed through to us by our DNA. This information governs our actions and preferences; however this doesn’t always result in actions by people perceived as 'good'. The results of human nature include things such as racism and sexism, prejudice is usually a direct result if not partially because of our human nature. Some examples are included in this list of 10 politically incorrect truths of human nature:

(Gondry M, 2001)
This image is taken from a comedy film called human nature

The first truth is that men like blonde bombshells, not a popular truth. However evolutionary psychology shows there is a link between each of these features that makes them the most attractive.
(Miller A, 2009)

Personally I do not agree, however it’s interesting to see the explanations.

 Finally blue eyes, blue eyes are not an indication of health but they do make it easier to see when the pupils dilate, which is the easiest way to see when somebody is looking at something they are interested in.
(Miller A, 2009)

A good example of this in media is Species, a movie about an alien who wishes to breed with humans and chooses a blonde hair blue eyed female body to do so.

(Donaldson R, 1995)

This Movie shows that horror films play upon true fears people have by playing on the idea of an alien race could pretend to be exactly what we want out of life to get us at our most vulnerable. It also shows these psychological truths about human nature due to the form which she takes.

Another truth given on this list is that having a son reduces the chance of divorce. The reason behind this truth is that a man is measured by his wealth, status and power; these things require the father to be consistently investing in the son. Whereas a woman’s status is measured mostly by her natural beauty and youthfulness, the parental involvement in a daughter is less important than in a son.

This form of study is interesting, mostly because it highlights the human race as what it actually is, mammals. A race just like any other, with its own trends and preferences predetermined by its nature. It’s easy for us to see ourselves as superior to other animals or even detached from the common systems which govern animal behaviour.
(Miller A, 2009)

A good example of this is planet of the apes, where humanity is reminded how close they are to apes and their roles are reversed.

This film shows good marketability for the fear of our predetermined roles, along with the fear of another race of beings finally rising up and knocking us from our position from the top of the food chain.

(Burton T, 2001)

I also find it interesting when people say that we are defying our own nature with the advent of technology and shaping the planet to our own needs. I do not believe that to be possible at all, as although the changes to the world and our lifestyle change our nature I do not think we are in any way defying it. I think that it is simply the next step of our natural progression, seeing as we got to this point following our nature we have in no way defied it, simply changed it. I do not see a way of possibly defying human nature as it is inbuilt into us and governs what we do on a very crucial level; it seems to me that it is simply just another illusion given to us by our pride.

Well I am starting to develop some proof that horror films are based on true fears which is what makes them popular, but i feel I am getting ahead of myself. To return to looking into the issues that define our perspective of the world I will now look into another great part in defining how we percieve the world.

CULTURE:

This is an image defining the many different cultures around the world

(Image from blog by Fahmi D, 2011)

Culture is defined in many ways; usually it defines a series of communal goals, attitudes and beliefs. Basically it is a word used to define the series of imprints that being part of a collective leaves on the human mind. These imprints define parts of the world to us as they represent the human collective in that area and we feel slightly outcast because of our differences. (freedomdefined.org, 2011)

This has a large media presence but usually not in the entertainment areas so as to not offend, however culture has a very large media presence in the form of music. Music is often linked to the culture which created the music, a good example is this recent book that has been released for the kindle which is a collection of essays and interviews to represent black music culture. The existance of this Ebook shows marketability for Culture themed ideals in the modern world and further strenghens the argument that ideas linked to large ideas are the most popular ones.

(Banfield W, 2011)

It can also be used to describe an understanding of the arts using the phrase "high cultured", the phrase is also used to describe the creme de la crème of the arts themselves and a cultures most prised works.

A famous example of such a thing is the Mona Lisa:

(Vinchi L, 1519)

The Mona Lisa is a very famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci however in present day culture this figure painting doesn’t have much of an impact on us. However people are fascinated by Da Vinchi and it seems anything he is attached to is a success, a fine example of this is the book which through popularity became a film.

'The Da Vinchi Code'

 Spawned from the many conspiracy theories that follow around the brilliant renaissance painter.
This book shows popularity even in the modern day for Da vinchi and High culture, however it shows also that it has bled through to the modern day in a very different way then how it was popular back then. People arnt so much intrested in the painting but more the mystery that surrounds him now.
 

(Brown D, 2004)

 However oddly another figure painting of less fame has made an impact on modern Internet culture.

(Ducreux J, 1793)

Joseph Baron Ducreux, (1735-1802) was a French painter who painted a self-portrait of him pointing at the observer with an expression of smug superiority.

This picture however has become more famous than the actual artist, because the Internet has picked the image up and super imposed over it archaic vocabulary versions of modern day hip hop lyrics. This form of joke is called a meme, a joke which has many possibilities and a simple formula to create so that many people can make them and share them in all their different forms.

This 'Meme' shows popularity for the figure painting, but more then that is shows that things that were popular back when they were created can come back and be popular again in very odd ways. It seems that when somthing was amazingly popular or marketable that popularity returns in new forms given time.

(Hipforums.com, 2011)

This small avenue of research ties into the big picture as my viewpoint on art, one of the major forms of human expression. Expression in this way has played a large part of human life as a whole, from the large
amounts of money attached to high cultured art to the simple graphic designs of every piece of sold items. My view on this topic has covered how the popularity of great pieces of work has survived and brought about odd avenues of replication. As time passes it seems we do not forget our greatest expressions triumphs and we also seem to try to make our own version of them.

Speaking of artists, I like this image:

This image created by by an upaid artist is very popular on deviantart, a free art community. However it shows marketability for the idea of cross species because if its popularity on a free art society.
The mighty bear maid. Hm...begs the question why haven’t animals crossed species...

(Drachenmagier, 2011)

According to the University Of Bloomington Indiana the crossing of closely related species can rapidly propel the evolutionary process. (Indiana university, 2003)

 So why can’t special splicing such as the one shown here work? I mean there will absolutely be problems with it but surely on some level and in some way it will be advantageous in creating new species.

Let’s see if there is any basis for this...

"The evolutionary continuity between humans and other animals suggests that some dimensions of personality may be common across a wide range of species"

(Gosling S, John O, 1999)

This quote from an abstract in a psychological journal mentions that it is widely accepted that human beings share a lot of the traits found with animals and vise verse, however although it says that cross-special breeding would be advantageous it does not offer any proof that it is in any way possible apart from saying we share the DNA of certain animals.

Cross species breeding fits well into the big picture as my take on evolution. The idea being that we are made strong by our diversity and merging or different types of DNA it seems odd to me that cross special breeding isn't possible as yet another way for humanity to ensure its survival and diversity. A popular media reference of this cross species mutation is the cartoon and comic series Teenage mutant ninja turtles, the story of 4 turtles who are mutated by radioactive substance and become super crime fighting anthropomorphic creatures.

This popular comic series shows marketability for the idea of evolution and cross species merging. An idea which has been popular with certain popular fears throughout the world.

(Eastman K, Laird P, 2010)
 

Another avenue or research I should look into is the appearance of the phrase 'the big picture' in the media, what I have found is a magazine known as "The big picture magazine". The magazine seems to be centred around looking deeper into the world of cinema and analysing parts of it to find hidden meaning, it is in publication today which makes it relevant to today's media presence.

(Yazdani M, 2009)

Another link I have found to the phrase "the big picture" is a media outlet on Boston.com. The website covers all large issues in world news in the form of a blog, this is another media based version of the phrase the big picture. In this sense the big picture is a collection of news reports which effect the entire world, for this reason it is relevant to justifying the big picture's media presence because it covers all important and popular news stories at present.

This image is from the recent Occupy wall street protests, a important and popular media event. This protest in itself shows popularity for big issues, simply put if so many people are willing to get together, face adversity and endure hardships to force people to accept and react to their opinions then it has to be a popular idea!

(Turner L, 2011)

Well, this has been an intresting post! I have looked into a lot of influencial themes throughout this post and boiled them down into popular ideas and refrances which they effect. Through this method I think what I have found is that The main popular ideas that we hold true to these days are based upon things we either believed true in the past or at some point were popular before. The way I have shown that is by showing that a lot of popular horror films are based on fears we believed to be true, I have also looked into Human nature as a possible explination for this.

I think I shall now look into the past and see if I can find origins for the popularity of these ideas, whilst also looking into some other issues which were important to us in the past.