For most laymen, the answer is probably a resounding no. But for those (un)fortunate enough to be at law school, the reply might be a little different. With the legal labour market on both sides of the Atlantic at derisory levels, some students might need a bit of inspiration in contemplating other careers.
The following studied law to various levels - the worst perhaps being the legendary filmmaker, Federico Fellini, who apparently enrolled into law school to please his parents but never actually went to any classes.
Sergei Diaghilev
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Honore de Balzac
Leo Tolstoy
E.T.A. Hoffman
Henri Matisse
Wassily Kandinsky
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Federico Fellini
It is probably a good thing these figures did not become lawyers. The world would be a less interesting place without their contributions!
The clash of the historic legacy on society and optimism of a better economic future was highlighted previously. It demonstrated the potential avenues of tension and fusion between the forces of the nation and globalization, but let us consider the example of Malaysia and their MM2H visa programme.
Promotional video for the MM2H programme
"Malaysia My Second Home" encourages foreigners to set up their homes in Malaysia in return for the consequential economic stimulus that their stay will provide. In return for a £70,000-100,000 deposit, one can obtain a 10-year resident visa, providing one with a lifestyle that may be out of reach closer to home. With many coming from Europe and North America, spacious apartments, warm weather all-year-round, low taxes, good food, English spoken widely, lower cost of living, and domestic help are something akin to expected.
But what is surprising here is that the age of those applying for this programme are those over 50, closer to retirement age. It is not just the younger generation, but the older one too which have seemed to realize the economic potentials of a globalization. There are opportunities for a younger generation of manufacturers, of course, with relative high levels of education, a low-cost labour force, and the advantage of English being spoken. But it has been suggested that the older generation is not part of globalization as such, but a sort of curious group epitomising 'neo-colonialism'.
A sense of exotic adventure, to leave your dreary homeland and live in a previously unaffordable luxury; is this not familiar at all? Perhaps this is just the uneven consequences of a globalized economy, but it is relatively easy for the West to take advantage of the price differentials that come about when going to a poorer country. There are economic benefits for the host country of course; since these lands of potential are commonly known as 'emerging markets'.
The characters you might well find in a Poirot mystery. But where is Mesopotamia? Sounds exotic in any case!
But that familiar group of expat misfits is not so dissimilar to a century ago in Malaysia, or even around the world today. Let us visit the Shangri-La hotel in KL, Dubai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Moscow - delete as appropriate. As the Scotch flows, there is the accountant who goes very red with his inability to hold his alcohol, the housewife with immaculate dress talking about haute couture as if people actually know what its all about, the eccentric but odd German whose laugh lingers a little too long, and of course the 30-something woman who fidgets with her long, narrow cigarettes looking distinctly out of place in older company. This is not just the characters of a Poirot thriller, but the peoples in an International Racing/Cricket/Golf/Women's Association in a generic, cosmopolitan city in a land far, far, away...
With the knowledge that this is some sort of extended holiday - they will return to their 'homeland' at some point - no real effort is made to integrate with the locals. Well, only if they happen to live in the same gated community perhaps. The sprinklers of the immaculately mown grass hiss in isolation, as noone would bother to actually play sports on it... Perhaps they are more interested in the culture? The unimaginative captions in Mandarin are not of much use of in the local aquarium.
The economic benefits are clear to see, but is this a life worth living - with servants and sun, but without emotional connection or a recognisable cultural milieu?
Yes, if this were me or you, we would do exactly the same - indulge in the exotic with a glass of 'New World' Chilean wine while looking out from the balcony at the sun and those poor souls sweating every sinew in pulling rickshaws who will become slightly richer. There is at least something to look forward to in older age!
Everyone now takes globalization for granted. It is like dust gathering in a room you don't go into that much, and suddenly you realize this room is there, instantly coughing when you enter. For those who do not travel that much, it is perhaps difficult to imagine how the tentacles of capital have reached to such far-flung places.
And in turn, identity has been deconstructed and to a certain extent reconstructed in a totally new way. Nations continue to define most of us, but increasingly the globalizing economy is changing what identity means. And although it shouldn't be considered a problem to be a 'global nomad' type, it does impact on how some perceive their purpose. The cultural politics of the regions encompassing formerly glorious empires such as the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian ones reflect this uneasiness of a 'Golden Age' which has long past. Other revolutions in the second half of the 20th century ousting symbols of monarchy or autocratic power have also contributed to the questioning of purpose - especially in the Middle East (Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran).
Orhan Pamuk's part-memoir, part-homage to Istanbul
The suicide of Alireza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah in Iran, who was ousted in 1979 during the Islamic Revolution, is indicative of this sense of national mourning. Materially he was absolutely comfortable - living and studying in the U.S. - but with personal tragedies a further burden on his young life, he had terminally lost his purpose:
“It’s not a matter of luxury, it’s a matter of loss of identity, loss of connections … and all the time seeing something really unusual and strange [unfolding inside Iran]."
This is not however an apology for the repressive measures taken by these powers which left their population with no choice but to herald a new era of government and political power. It is the cultural and social mourning which accompanies such paradigmatic shifts to a nation's character, and the uncertainty surrounding the renewal of such a country. Coupled with this national renewal, the pervasive character of a globalized economy makes this pivotal period of cultural and social development especially fragile.
It does not help that the study of international relations - despite its advances - still uses the nation-state as the standard unit of study. Thus it is important to take smaller case studies to demonstrate what uncertainty can be created in such renewal. In the next post, I will concentrate on Malaysia, its post-colonial development and the impact of its visa system.
The designs of Dries Van Noten: "Being considered and labeled a “Belgian” designer is an integral part of my story. It is something I wear with pride, lightly, and is in no way a burden. It is always more pleasant however when it is used to describe rather than “box in”. Maybe we have finally got “what we were wishing for…” Fashion is now a global phenomenon rather than simply a “national one”. The globalization of images and aspirations has gone a long way to making this the case."
'Going global' has impacted on all aspects of life, and for the most part has been accepted in all its bewildering and exciting beauty. It is just the dregs of the past which persistently remain that continue to haunt those with any reminders of history around them.
Having previously come across Orientalism in politics and literature, it is with surprise that I flicked through an '...isms' book on fashion. Edward Said's paradigm has been used in all sorts of academic fields, and I have been particularly interested in applying it to the social/cultural politics of modern Turkey, and diasporic literature in Germany. The common theme throughout was the almost omnipresent, pervasive nature of power that extended through language and other symbols, which were ingrained into Western historical discourse.
But although Orientalism in the realm of fashion has the potential to be as prejudiced and misplaced as Chinoiserie was, its positive influence on style and aesthetics deserves attention. And furthermore, Orientalism as a cultural trend came to the fore at one of the most important and intricate periods of modern European history - at the turn of the 20th century. The nation-state project which would lead so disastrously to the First World War, was accompanied by a Communist revolution in Tsarist Russia and the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The modernist movement that followed the Great War came to epitomise the exciting yet vulnerable times that epitomised the whole of Europe in flux, politically (as documented extensively), but also socially and culturally. The commercialist instinct of the industrialised nouveu riche further complicated existing aesthetics and regional ideas of beauty - style marketing had arrived.
Paul Poiret's 'Sorbet' evening dress, 1912
The short-lived Orientalist trend that came and went in under two decades still has resonance today, with Paul Poiret and Serge Diaghilev being key proponents of it. While political history and ideology seeks to forget this short period in favour of a longer master narrative of the 20th century, it is a relief that remnants of the cultural history of this period survive to this day, and continue to be reinvented and reinterpreted. Powell and Pressburgers' classic, "The Red Shoes" was based on the wonderful colour and vigour of Diaghilev's Ballet Russes ballet productions; while Paul Poiret is commonly recognised as one of the most influential designers in the 20th century. Art is often submerged into history but can offer solice and meaning to one's life journey, as epitomised by this classic dialogue in "The Red Shoes":
- "Why do you want to dance?"
- "Why do you want to live?"
Having visited the Haunch of Venison gallery, I was taken aback by the tension and credibility of the thriller story told in Provost's "Stardust". I then watched the disappointing "My Blueberry Nights", which did not have half as much mystery or suspense as one would expect from Wong Kar Wai. Films ultimately must toe the fine line between reality and fantasy, where one relates to and is curious about the scene in front of us.
The 'cinematographic and narrative codes of Hollywood' which Provost uses to film footage from everyday life in Las Vegas and turn it into a story is impressive in questioning our pre-existing ideas about what we derive from cinema - escapism, voyeuristic insight into the lives of others, another meaning to one's life story, or merely a different perspective of the reality surrounding us. By including the likes of Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper, we question if it is the man himself or a film character we see in front of our eyes. Biopics are especially interesting because it is hard to imagine anything revolutionary being explored in them - take Mohammed Ali or Serge Gainsbourg, for example. Their narrative(s) have been told numerous times in various guises already.
A screenshot from Provost's "Abstract Action"
Provost's "Abstract Action" also warrants attention in its partially pixellated approach to show the distorted fragments of a gun battle. It reminded me of how realistic shoot-em-up video games have begun in becoming cinematic experiences themselves, while the pixels distorting the picture visually expressed the anger, power and chaotic destruction that guns are capable of. While epic gun battles between police and villains have long been experienced in cinema, it is the almost nonchalant way that these violent scenes are consumed by the younger generation - almost immune to the reality of the film/video game, it further scrutinises our perceptions of reality. Just like Facebook and 2nd Life has created the concept of an 'online' identity, digital technology in this way shows how easy it is to become detached from the tangible things which bore us due to their standardisation, mundaneness, and 'traditional' reality. Why go all the way to Vietnam to use shotguns and the like when one can safely do that in front of a HD screen in the comfort of your own home?
