Oxford University Press's Blog, page 1036
August 5, 2012
Putting the Higgs particle in perspective
On 4 July scientists at CERN in Geneva declared that they had discovered a new particle ‘consistent’ with the long-sought Higgs boson, also known as the ‘God particle’. Although further research is required to characterize the new particle fully, there can be no doubt that an important milestone in our understanding of the material world and of the evolution of the early universe has just been reached.
Exciting times! But why all the fuss? What is the Higgs boson and why does it matter so much? Was finding it really worth all the effort?
The Higgs boson is important because it implies the existence of a Higgs field, an otherwise invisible force field which pervades the entire universe. Unlike other kinds of force field (such as a gravitational field) it points, but it doesn’t push or pull. It was invented in 1964 in attempts to explain how otherwise massless particles could acquire mass.
The mechanism works like this: Without the Higgs field, elementary particles such as quarks and electrons would flit past each other at the speed of light, like ghostly will-o’-the-wisps. The elementary particles that make up you, me, and the visible universe would consequently have no mass. Without the Higgs field mass couldn’t be constructed and nothing could be.
What actually happens is that these elementary particles interact with the Higgs field and are slowed down by it, as though swimming in molasses. We interpret this ‘slowing down’ as inertia and, ever since Galileo, we have identified inertia as a property of things with mass.
Many of the predicted consequences of the Higgs field were borne out in particle collider experiments in the early 1980s. But inferring the field is not the same as detecting its tell-tale field particle. On 3 July we had hypotheses and compelling theoretical structures. The following day we began to gather hard scientific facts. Our understanding took a giant leap forward.
The publication of Higgs: The Invention and Discovery of the ‘God Particle’ is timely, coming only six weeks after the announcement. But I had the idea for a book about the discovery of the Higgs boson in March 2010, just as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider was setting a new world record for particle collision energy. This is perhaps the first example of a book that has been largely written in anticipation of a discovery.
Precisely what kind of boson has been discovered remains to be seen, and there’s hope of more surprises yet to come.
Jim Baggott is author of Higgs: The Invention and Discovery of the ‘God Particle’ and a freelance science writer. He was a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Reading but left to pursue a business career, where he first worked with Shell International Petroleum Company and then as an independent business consultant and trainer. His many books include Atomic: The First War of Physics (Icon, 2009), Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory (OUP, 2003), A Beginner’s Guide to Reality (Penguin, 2005), and A Quantum Story: A History in 40 Moments (OUP, 2010).
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August 4, 2012
Music and the Olympics: A Tale of Two Networks
Music, Television, and Audiences
Television networks use music to connect audience and program through theme music and short video spots called “promos.” Themes and promos carry what media musicologist Philip Tagg calls “appellative functions”, which summon viewers to the television screen. With an event as big as the Olympics, television networks need to attract as large an audience as possible to maximize commercial ad revenue. The Olympics are a big event, and networks want to make them a big media event, so they use “big” music in their themes and promos. Networks also use music to convey ideologies that match the beliefs and attitudes of the audience.
Music on BBC and NBC
For the 2012 Olympiad, both BBC (in the UK) and NBC (in the US) use “big” music for their openings and promotional spots. The BBC commissioned the pop-rock group Elbow to compose Olympic music. Elbow’s account of the creative process can be found on Pinterest. Their piece, “First Steps,” was recorded by the BBC Philharmonic and was subsequently edited to fit the opening of the broadcast as well as the various promotional spots. “First Steps” opens with a five-note horn call, which Elbow musicians Craig Potter and Guy Garvey say represents the five rings of the Olympic flag. The piece then breaks into a repetitious rhythmic pattern, perhaps signifying motion or action. Then, a long legato theme is played by the strings. Potter and Garvey report that this theme was meant as a “sympathetic” melody with a “twinge of sadness” — a sort of “loser’s theme” — to represent the majority of athletes who don’t win a medal at the games. The piece climaxes with this “losers” theme combined with the opening fanfare.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Rather than commissioning a new piece, NBC is relying on old “standby” pieces in its Olympic broadcasts. NBC has stuck with Leo Arnaud’s “Bugler’s Dream,” a piece so associated with the Olympics that now it is called the “Olympic Theme.” Arnaud, a French émigré to the US, was commissioned to compose the piece for an LP by Felix Slatkin in 1958. “Bugler’s Dream” was adopted by the ABC network for its coverage of the 1968 winter games, and then used for its weekly “Wide World of Sports” show. NBC obtained rights to the piece for coverage for the Barcelona games in 1992.
Click here to view the embedded video.
NBC also continues to use the “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” by film composer John Williams, commissioned for the 1984 games in Los Angeles. Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” begins with a chattering fanfare played by brass, followed by a militaristic drum cadence that pervades the remainder of the piece. After that, strings, winds, and horns play a smooth, lyrical melody. The piece ends with another flourish in the brass, similar to the opening fanfare.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Williams did not provide a “program” for his piece as Elbow does (at least I couldn’t find one), but it seems to represent the grandeur of the games, as well as a confident ethos, as in a victory parade. The tone is as if Roman legions (or perhaps Greek phalanx) are marching home in victory. NBC often conflates, or “mashes up”, Arnaud’s and Williams’ pieces together into one big Olympic promo.
The Formula for a Great Olympic Theme
A comparison between “First Steps” and “Olympic Fanfare and Theme,” reveals that the two pieces have a similar structure, shown as follows:
“First Steps”:
Brass Fanfare
Rhythmic Cadence
“Love/Loser’s Theme”
Climax (“Love” theme and fanfare combined)
Ending chords
“Olympic Fanfare and Theme”:
Brass Fanfare
Rhythmic Cadence
Lyrical Theme and Fanfare combined
Closing Flourish
Do we see a pattern here? It seems that there may be a formula for composing a great Olympic theme song for television!
Another Similarity
Another spot aired by NBC this summer opens with a dramatic wordless chorus (another feature also used in the full version of Elbow’s “First Steps”), but segues abruptly into a brass flourish similar to Williams’ finale.
Olympic Music and National Ideology
While similar, the Olympic music used by the BBC and NBC subtly reveals differences in national ideology. Williams’ confident and strident music for NBC conveys the American confidence (or even expectations) of striving for perfection and winning. The BBC music seems to convey the joy of participation and competition as the essence of the games. Elbow’s piece caters more to the majority of the athletes and countries who are likely to win few or no medals. Though both pieces are big and effective, the NBC piece caters to an American ethos, while (as in the opening ceremonies) the British seem to want to convey that the UK is hosting these games, but they are really for everybody.
Rodman is Dye Family Professor of Music at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He is the author of Tuning In: American Television Music, published by Oxford University Press in 2010. Read his previous blog post “Music and the Olympic Opening Ceremony: Pageantry and Pastiche.”
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August 3, 2012
Food Addiction
In July of 2007, we hosted the first meeting of its kind, the Yale Conference on Food and Addiction. This Conference brought together 40 experts on nutrition, diabetes, obesity and addiction for two days to discuss and debate the controversies surrounding food and addiction. What emerged were the early signs of a developing field, one with experts from many disciplines, all of whom were interested in whether and how food might affect the brains in ways similar to classic substances of abuse.
Now, some five years later, there is a more coherent field, meetings, many journal articles, and the hint that food and addiction is beginning to enter the national and global debate about the obesity crisis. Food addiction connects experts who, because of the typical professional specialization we all engage in, might be unfamiliar with each other. Researchers from general addiction medicine may never connect with endocrinologists working on obesity from the point of view of metabolism and diabetes. Internal medicine experts may have little contact with the bariatric surgeons and even less contact with the neuroscientists or addiction researchers.
Food addiction reflects a broad range of issues, namely the brain and behavior, hedonic overeating, fat, sugar and desserts, and fMRI and PET research demonstrating strong similarities in ways drugs and certain foods affect/change the brain. Food, sex, gambling, and internet gaming cause changes that are quite similar, if not identical, to those produced by classical drugs of abuse in the reward systems of the brain. There are also phenomenological and psychological similarities between food cravings and cravings for drugs. Moreover, neuroscience in developing anti-obesity CNS agents that did not target eating, but rather shifted food preference (so broccoli might become as reinforcing as French fries) has failed. Obesity is one of the world’s chief public health problems and the intake of modern, processed foods may contribute to the addictive processes.
In the past, addiction was defined by tolerance and withdrawal. The definition of addiction changed after cocaine researchers showed that cocaine was as addicting as other drugs despite being classified by experts as non-addicting on the basis of the lack of a clear abstinence syndrome. Addiction was more like a pathological, often fatal attraction. The definition of addiction has been changed and now. Pathological gambling is widely considered an addiction, as an example. What will occur with food?
Loss of control over food, eating more than intended, eating to pain and discomfort, eating to the point of physical, psychological, and social distress characterize many food addicts. Failed diets and abortive attempts to control overeating, preoccupation with food and eating, shame, anger, and guilt look like traditional addictions. It is all-too common for people to eat more than they intend despite physician and family warnings about consequences such as high blood pressure, cancer risks, type 2 diabetes, and joint/bone pain. Shame, guilt, relapse, and denial are also common among addicts.
Overeating and obesity may be candidates for Addictive Disease and should be considered a viable and testable entity, which can produce novel approaches and treatments for a major disease of unknown cause and with no fast and effective treatment. We live in a time when food is in abundance, manufactured, and available on demand. Highly palatable and so-called “fast food” can produce similar effects as drugs of abuse.
One can look at the issue of food and addiction in a clinical context, whether there are food addicts for example. The public health significance of the concept a food and addiction might be even more important. A key question is whether certain foods act on the brain in ways that create craving, withdrawal, tolerance, and other features of addiction to a sufficient extent to create a public health hazard.
It is in this context where public policies and application of the law might be affected. Smokers continued to smoke despite warnings about cancer, stroke, and heart risks. The world finally made progress with tobacco addiction by combining educational campaigns with public policies that restricted access, limited marketing, and curtailed the ability of the companies to pedal their products, especially to youth. There are a great number of policies meant to address obesity following these same principles. Restricting marketing of unhealthy foods, limiting their sales in schools, creating regulations for maximum portion sizes, and taxing some products are a few examples of public policies being considered seriously in the United States and abroad. Work on food and addiction may add an important impetus for such policies.
Everyone agrees that obesity is pandemic. HBO has even aired a series about the weight of our nation. Where the controversy begins is in deciding what to do about it and how much government involvement should be sought in guiding our food and nutrition choices. We believe that work on food and addiction will add a key voice to this discussion and is likely to be important as time goes forward.
Much more could be said regarding global obesity, new public health, prevention, intervention and treatment approaches which are now possible thanks in large part to research evidence linking overeating to fat-sugar-salty diets which produce effects on the brain that are drug and addiction-like. Too bad, exercise and vegatables don’t have this effect on all of us. We invite others to comment and contribute to this dialogue.
Mark S. Gold, MD and Kelly D. Brownell, PhD are the authors of Food and Addiction: A Comprehensive Handbook, which brings together food addiction experts from many fields, hospitals, and universities. It is based on their collaboration on the science and evidence linking overeating and food preferences to basic and clinical neuroscience. They are speaking at the American Psychological Association Convention this week and you can stop by Booth #1001 (Oxford University Press) to find out more.
Mark S. Gold, MD is the Donald Dizney Eminent Scholar, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Psychiatry. Dr Gold is a teacher of the year, researcher and inventor who has focused for much of his career on the development of models for understanding the effects of tobacco, cocaine, opiates, other drugs, and also food, on the brain and behavior. He began his work on the relationship between food and drug addictions while at Yale working with addicts in withdrawal. He has worked for 30+ years trying to understand how to change food preferences, make eating and drugs of abuse less interesting or reinforcing at the brain’s dopamine and other reinforcement sites.
Kelly D. Brownell, PhD is professor of psychology, epidemiology, and public health at Yale University and is director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Dr. Brownell does work at the intersection of science and public policy. The Rudd Center assesses, critiques and strives to improve practices and policies related to nutrition and obesity so as to inform the public and to maximize the impact on public health.
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Democratic Realism
Politics is messy. Period. It revolves around squeezing collective decisions out of a multitude of competing interests, demands, and opinions. In this regard democratic politics is, as Gerry Stoker has argued, “almost destined to disappoint.” And yet instead of simply defining Obamacare as a good illustration of what is wrong with democracy in the United States it’s possible to reject ‘the politics of pessimism’ that seems to surround contemporary politics and instead see the splendor and triumph of what Obama has achieved.
Stèle dite de la Démocratie: loi contre la tyrannie vers 336 a. C. Le bas-relief au sommet de la stèle représente la personnification du Démos couronné par la Démocratie. Musée de l'Agora antique d'Athènes. Photo by Marsyas, 2005. Creative Commons License.
Such an interpretation would take us back not to the ancient history of Pericles but to the modern political history and writing of Sir Bernard Crick and notably his Defence of Politics (1962). For Crick the fact that democratic politics was imperfect, that it tended to grind rather than flow and that it often produced sub-optimal decisions was not a failing of politics but its beauty. Democratic politics was a civilizing activity that allowed an increasingly wide and diverse array of social groups to live together without resorting to violence or intimidation. I’m not for one moment arguing that democratic politics is perfect or that all politicians are angels, but I’m suggesting that to define the complex outcomes of political deliberations in such pejorative terms risks spreading the cynicism and misunderstanding that weighs so heavily on those who have at least ‘stepped into the arena’ (to paraphrase Theodore Roosevelt’s famous speech).The creation of an alternative arena in the vein of a ‘government-by-lot’ as Pericles may well suggest will do little to address the underlying paradoxes, tensions, and frustrations of democratic politics. Pericles was no god; he was a manipulative demagogue and a hawkish populist who ruled through a faux democracy in which the majority had no stake. I’ll take no lessons from Pericles but instead bring the debate full-circle and back to a focus not on democracy per se but on American democracy as it currently exists.
Politics in American has mutated into a shallow and ultimately unsatisfying form of market democracy. Citizens have therefore become customers, political parties little more than companies and everything is available at a price. The problem, however, is that ‘democracy.com’ can never be like ‘amazon.com’. You don’t vote for your candidate and wait for the goods you have chosen to arrive like a book, DVD, or pizza. Democratic politics is about ‘we’ and ‘us’ not ‘me’ and ‘I’. Could it be that that ‘disaffected democrats’ who appear to inhabit the United States in such numbers have become so dazzled by materialism that they fail to see what really matters? Could it be that the public actually gets the politicians it deserves?
I’m actually quite glad that Obama turned out not to be Superman as too many people expect politicians to be able to deliver simple solutions to complex social problems without contributing to the solutions themselves. There are no simple answers to complex questions, no easy-wins, no magic-bullets, or technological fixes to the challenges that will define the twenty-first century (climate change, over-population, resource depletion, etc.). The public should be wary of the man or women — or ancient Greek statesman — who suggest otherwise. Now what would Pericles say to that?
Matthew Flinders is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. His latest book, Defending Politics: Why Democracy Matters in the 21st Century, has just been published by Oxford University Press. His book Delegated Governance and the British State was awarded the W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize in 2009 for the best book in political science. He is also the author of Democratic Drift and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of British Politics. Read his previous blog posts: “It’s just a joke!” on political satire, “Attack ads and American presidential politics,” and “Democracy as concentration.”
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Test Your Smarts on Dope
Why are certain substances used? How are they detected? Do they truly have an effect on the body? Cooper explains how drugs designed to improve physical ability — from anabolic steroids to human growth hormone and the blood booster EPO — work and the challenges of testing for them, putting in to context whether the ‘doping’ methods of choice are worth the risk or the effort. Showing the basic problems of human biochemistry, physiology, and anatomy, he looks at what stops us running faster, throwing longer, or jumping higher. Using these evidence-based arguments he shows what the body can, and cannot, do.
How much do you know about sports doping? Science Friday spoke with Chris Cooper, author of Run, Swim, Throw, Cheat, about the science of performance-enhancing drugs and the methods used to detect banned substances. Try the quiz and test your knowledge.
This quiz originally appeared on Science Friday.
Leslie Taylor is Science Friday’s Web editor. She has a background in oceanography and is passionate about getting non-scientists and young people to realize how cool science can be.
Chris Cooper is Head of Research, Sports and Exercise Science at the University of Essex and the author of Run, Swim, Throw, Cheat: The Science Behind Drugs in Sport. He is a distinguished biochemist with over 20 years research and teaching experience. He was awarded a PhD in 1989, a Medical Research Council Fellowship in 1992, and a Wellcome Trust University Award in 1995. In 1997 he was awarded the Melvin H. Knisely Award for ‘Outstanding international achievements in research related to oxygen transport to tissue’ and in 1999 he was promoted to a Professorship in the Centre for Sports and Exercise Science at the University of Essex. His research interests explore the interface of scientific disciplines. His current biochemical interests include developing artificial blood to replace red cell transfusions. His biophysics and engineering skills are being used in designing and testing new portable oxygen monitoring devices to aid UK athletes in their training for the London 2012 Olympics. In 1997 he edited a book entitled Drugs and Ergogenic Aids to Improve Sport Performance.
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Can ignorance ever be an excuse?
Trust: A Very Short Introduction
By Katherine Hawley
We have developed quite a taste for chastising the mighty in public. In place of rotten fruit and stocks, we now have Leveson, Chilcot, and the parliamentary select committees which have cross-examined Bob Diamond of Barclays and Nick Buckles of G4S.
Diamond and Buckles, Tony Blair and James Murdoch: all have been asked to account for acknowledged mistakes and wrong-doing in their organisations, from rate-fixing to phone-hacking, via the mysterious dearth of both Olympic security guards and Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. All have professed themselves shocked – shocked! – when the problems came to light. Murdoch notoriously does not recall crucial meetings and communications, Diamond was “physically ill” when he discovered along with the rest of us that his underlings had been fiddling the Libor, whilst for Buckles it was a “complete and utter shock” to discover only three weeks before the Olympics that his company had failed to recruit enough guards, despite signing the security contract years earlier.
Are these professions of ignorance genuine? It’s hard to be sure, though both Chilcot and Leveson have laboured to establish who knew what, and when; who saw which email or unredacted report; who attended which unminuted meeting.
It matters who knew what, and when. But does it really matter?
These are all powerful men, extravagantly well-paid (though Blair has reaped his primary financial rewards only since leaving office). Never mind whether they actually knew what was going on. It was their job to know!
At the heart of these enquiries, cross-examinations, and chastisements lies issues of trust and distrust, trustworthiness and untrustworthiness. When we trust, we take risks along two different dimensions. We trust in the sincerity and honesty of others, and we also trust in their skills, knowledge and competence. Failure along either of these dimensions is enough to trigger distrust: you cannot trust someone you take to be dishonest, but nor can you trust someone you take to be incompetent.
Just as trust has two dimensions, so does trustworthiness. Trustworthy people are sincere, for sure. But sincerity isn’t enough. We all have friends or colleagues who are ready to volunteer help or opinions at the drop of a hat, all with the very best intentions, yet rarely seem capable of following through on these offers, or coming up with genuinely reliable information. Along with sincerity, trustworthy people also need the skills and knowledge to make good on their promises.
Too harsh? Trustworthiness is a prized moral virtue. Is it really achievable only by those who have developed complex skills, studied for higher degrees, or memorised the Oxford English Dictionary? No. You can be trustworthy without doing all this, so long as you have a decent idea of your own limitations, and don’t make commitments which take you wildly beyond those limitations. Self-knowledge is crucial.
In our personal relationships, we often find it easier to forgive those who let us down through error and incompetence, than to forgive those who deliberately mislead us or make promises they have no intention of keeping. Still, we are wary of those well-meaning people who repeatedly let us down, and become reluctant to trust them, even if we are inclined to understand a little more and condemn a little less than we do with blatant liars.
But matters are different for Murdoch, Diamond and their ilk. They did not simply find themselves in charge of complex organisations; they volunteered for these jobs, knowing the demands of these roles. In offering themselves up for these positions, they took responsibility for their own trustworthiness in carrying them out: sincerity and good intentions are not enough, if competence and knowledge are missing. Again, frank self-knowledge is crucial.
Is it reasonable to expect one man to know the details of every corner of the organisation he leads? No. But it is reasonable to expect structures of reporting and review designed to bring systematic problems to the attention of those at the top. And it is reasonable to expect huge corporate salaries to buy some accountability from those who receive them. Ignorance is not an excuse.
Katherine Hawley is Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews and Head of the School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies. She is the author of How Things Persist (OUP, 2001) and co-editor of Philosophy of Science Today (with Peter Clark, OUP, 2003). Her most recent work, Trust: A Very Short Introduction publishes this month.
The Very Short Introductions (VSI) series combines a small format with authoritative analysis and big ideas for hundreds of topic areas. Written by our expert authors, these books can change the way you think about the things that interest you and are the perfect introduction to subjects you previously knew nothing about. Grow your knowledge with OUPblog and the VSI series every Friday!
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August 2, 2012
What Pericles would say about Obamacare
The mess in and around Obamacare is a good illustration of what’s wrong with democracy in the United States. Notice I do not say “what’s wrong with democracy.” Democracy in a truer form wouldn’t produce such monstrosities. Here we have a law designed to bring much needed benefits to ordinary citizens — which it will do, given a chance — while showering unnecessary riches on the insurance industry. The interests of a few have cruelly distorted a program for the many. A Republican House voted to repeal this law, even though it was based on policies devised by Republicans, mainly in order to embarrass a Democratic president in an election year. And all this irresponsible behavior concerns what is most precious to us: our health.
Some might say this sort of behavior is inevitable in democracy, but that is nonsense. Rather it is a product of features peculiar to our form of democracy, which was grafted onto roots established by thinkers like James Madison. Madison was deeply opposed to democracy and wanted us to have a republic instead, designed to prevent genuine rule by the people. Democracy was invented in ancient Greece precisely to keep special interests at bay and prevent party cliques from mangling the people’s interest with silly fighting.
Why not ask an ancient Greek? Pericles would say that one major cause of our trouble in the United States is money. A few weeks ago we heard that eight-figure gifts are now in play to influence this year’s election, thanks to the Citizens United decision. Pericles’ democracy was designed to reduce the power of wealth to a minimum and it did so. We know that, because for the almost two hundred years of democracy in Greece, the rich often tried to bring it down and replace it with oligarchy.
A second cause Pericles would point out is our dependence on elections. “Elections!” you exclaim. “But aren’t they the essence of democracy?” Not at all. Pericles’ democracy cut way back on the use of elections for two reasons: elections give money an opportunity to exercise power, and elections make cliquish infighting the norm in politics. What ought to be the norm (Pericles would say) is serious discussion of what is best for the people.
Elections, thought Pericles, give too much power to the rich and famous and too much scope to political parties. So powerful representative bodies in Athens, such as the Council (like our senate), the courts, and the lawmakers, were composed of representatives selected by a lottery to represent equally the divisions of the city, somewhat like an American jury. These representatives didn’t have to run for election, so they didn’t need to listen to special interests, build up a war chest, or do stupid things to embarrass a political party. All they had to do was carry out their duties as best they could and avoid any charge of corruption.
Imagine a council of 500 citizens chosen at random from our various regions to represent our citizen body, and then imagine them sitting down — with no worries about reelection — to find a solution to our health care problem. They would be given time to sort through the issues on the basis of expert testimony. If caught taking money from special interests, they would be subject to severe fines.
How would they be chosen? Pericles’ way of choosing representatives was so fair that it never led to complaints. It began with a division of the citizen body into tribes each of which represented the regions of Attica, and it ended with the use of a machine you can see today in the Agora Museum. All citizens who had sworn to uphold the law were eligible, apparently all felt an obligation to serve, and were paid a reasonable salary for the time they served. (Well, not quite all: Like the United States in its early days, ancient Athens did not give political rights to women, slaves, or resident aliens. To their credit, some of their thinkers at the time saw this as a problem.)
Taking electoral politics and money out of the deliberative process on health care might just produce what we all want — as fair a solution as we can reach. Why not try the lottery? It’s a lot cheaper than an election. Lottery or no lottery, we must do our best to take large sums of money out of the arena. Ask Pericles. The best policy isn’t the one with the richest supporters, or the one that does the most harm to the other party. Letting the super rich decide our fate is not democracy.
Paul Woodruff teaches philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has held positions for over twenty years as department chair, honors director, and dean. He served in the United States Army as a junior officer, 1969-71. His many books include The Ajax Dilemma: Justice, Fairness and Rewards, Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue, First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea, and The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched.
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Bust of Pericles wearing a Corinthian helmet. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original. Museo Chiaramonti, section I, #14. Photo by Jastrow, 2006. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
History lessons from Beijing taxi drivers
“You have made a grave error in deciding to focus on the history of the Silk Road. The most important, and the most interesting, period in all of Chinese history is the third century, after the overthrow of the Han dynasty, when China was divided into three major kingdoms.”
The Beijing taxi driver was dead earnest. Like many other drivers he listened regularly to radio broadcasts about Chinese history. At that moment, he was listening to a storyteller perform The Romance of Three Kingdoms and there was nothing I could say to persuade him that newly discovered documents made the history of the Silk Road more exciting to me.
Other drivers also liked to talk about history. When one driver told me that his favorite Chinese emperor was Nurhaci, the father of the man who founded the Qing dynasty in 1636, I asked if Nurhaci could count since he ruled in Manchuria but not all of China. “Of course,” the driver replied. “He was the real founder of the dynasty,” and he then proceeded to narrate the major battles that Nurhaci had won. His source? A multi-volume survey of Chinese history that he had read during the Cultural Revolution as a young factory worker.
Another driver was a Manchu who remembered me from a ride I’d taken four years earlier. (Foreigners don’t all look alike, I guess.) He drove just long enough every day to make 350 Renminbi (about sixty dollars) and then went home either to hunt migratory birds (he assured me that multiple varieties survived if you knew where to look for them) or to participate in a barter market that he and his Manchu friends had organized. With his cheery, relaxed attitude, he could easily have been the descendant of one of Lao She’s opera-loving Manchu relatives that he wrote about in his engrossing memoir of Manchu life in pre-1911 Beijing, Beneath the Red Banner.
Other taxi drivers tried to teach me some Chinese. As we debated which route to my destination would have the least traffic, I often heard local expressions like “whether you hug it in front of you or carry it behind you, it’s equally heavy,” which meant “six of one, half dozen of the other.” (Read: don’t get your hopes up, lady. All routes are equally awful.)
One driver recounted so many jokes whose punchline involved weird contortions of the expression niubi that my face turned red. Niubi literally means “cow cunt,” but nowadays the young and hip use it (or just niu) as a synonym for ku, the Chinese pronunciation of “cool.”
Conversations could turn serious, especially when drivers learned that I’d been in Beijing in Tiananmen spring. One driver refused to say anything about 1989 on our first meeting, but, several months later, when he picked me up again, told me about a cousin serving in the army who had cleared students from the square and a classmate of his sister who had been killed that night.
Even though I have been talking to Beijing taxi drivers since 1983, on my first visit, I was surprised this past year by how often and how openly drivers complained about corruption and the government. All the taxis have a listening device on the dashboard on the righthand side of the window, but the drivers explained that they could turn the devices off and spoke freely.
This is one of the funny paradoxes of modern Chinese life. You can express your opinions anywhere no one is watching or listening, and for the poor drivers breathing in Beijing’s air all day long in creeping traffic, why not open up to a total stranger?
Valerie Hansen is Professor of History at Yale University. Her books include The Silk Road: A New History, The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600, Negotiating Daily Life in Traditional China: How Ordinary People Used Contracts, 600-1400, Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1276, and, with Kenneth R. Curtis, Voyages in World History.
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Beijing skyline and traffic jam on ring road, China. Photo by coryz, iStockphoto.
Music and the Olympic Opening Ceremony: Pageantry and Pastiche
Pastiche- noun \pas-ˈtēsh,
a : a musical, literary, or artistic composition made up of selections from different works : potpourri
b : hodgepodge
Film director Danny Boyle’s gargantuan presentation at the opening ceremonies of the 30th Olympiad in London had little to do with the actual games, but had everything to do with his vision of Britain. The show was full of pageantry, drawing upon the 17th century English masque, a sort of loosely structured play with dance, music, costumes, songs and speeches, and festive scenery, with allegorical references to royalty, who would sometimes participate in the show. All elements of the masque were present, including the participation of the Queen herself, who stepped into the narrative briefly.
Boyle’s masque was a pastiche of media types and musical genres, combining live theater, cinema, television, and music video, with a vast array of musical styles. While the spectacle catered to the long forms of live theater and the cinema, it was the music that made the ceremony successful television. Music functioned in the diegetic spaces of TV (e.g., the live performances of musicians) in music-video style scenes, with close ups of the Arctic Monkeys, Mike Oldfield, the rapper Dizzee Rascal, and (Sir) Paul McCartney. The show also featured cinematic style “background” music that carried extramusical meanings.
Whether diegetic or background, all of the music of the broadcast conveyed meanings to the audience. Some of the meanings conveyed its nationality. It was all British (aside from one quotation of “In Dulci Jubilo,” a medieval German Christmas hymn!). But, much of the music conveyed through its genre or style. The music featured in the ceremony ran the gamut from classical to rap, and each of these genres communicated something different to the audience. Here is one perspective on the significance of the musical genres.
Classical music
Classical music represented the royalty and British patriotism. Her Majesty the Queen was introduced by Handel’s “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” from the opera, Solomon, and Music from the Royal Fireworks. Handel, though German by birth, spent most of his career in England, and is considered English. Kenneth Brannah’s Shakespeare soliloquy was accompanied by Edward Elgar’s “Nimrod” from his Enigma Variations, as theatrical/cinematic background music.
The ceremonies began by showcasing the venerable British choral tradition, and children’s choirs from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales were featured singing pieces emblematic of their area: England’s “Jerusalem” by H. Hubert Parry (the “unofficial” hymn of England), Scotland’s (“Flower of Scotland”), Ireland’s “Londonderry Air” (“Danny Boy”:–was there a pun intended here?), and Wales’ “Cwm Rhondda”. Children also sang the National Anthem at the flag raising.
Surprisingly, very little of the classical genre was used for the ceremonial aspects of the pageant.
Film music
Film music, as per usual, represents fantasy. John Barry’s James Bond theme was used in the parody of the popular Bond character with the real-life Queen. The significance of this parody was not lost on NBC television commentators, who commented on this scene as a highlight of the show.
The funniest bit, and most successful as television, was Rowan Atkinson’s appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra, with Simon Rattle conducting. The orchestra performed the Vangelis’ theme to the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, with Atkinson’s characteristic mugging. Vangelis’ theme also represented fantasy in Atkinson’s dream sequence. Atkinson’s bit was ironic in that it used classical music — usually considered “serious” music — as the comedic high point of the evening.
Light Classical music
Music popular in the 1940s and 1950s was featured briefly in the transition from the pastoral to industrial scenes. This so-called “Light” music is characterized by composers such as Leroy Anderson in the USA, and Eric Coates in Britain. More composers can be found on the Robert Farnon Society website. This music represents the nostalgia of the past in Britain.
Ambient/Environmental/New Age music
Ambient music served as the bulk of the ceremonial music, marking a shift of musical functions from classical to a new sort of minimal style. Pieces with “drums and drones” were played during the lighting of the torch, and during much of the ceremonies. Mike Oldfield performed his “Tubular Bells” and other ambient during the National Health sequence.
The theme of drumming, pervasive in “New Age” music of the 1990s was also prevalent throughout the night, with amateur drummers performing throughout the pageant, led by deaf drummer Dame Evelyn Glennie. The drumming may be a response to the over 2000 drummers featured in the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The remaining musical genres functioned largely as entertainment — as pure musical texts serving merely to be consumed and enjoyed by the audience. As with music in all historical eras, these genres were presented as highly valued, each representing a portion of British history.
Swing music
Though jazz is not a native musical form in Britain, a bit of swing music was performed during the National Health sequence.
Rock music
The bulk of the music of the evening was devoted to a cavalcade of Brit rock in its many forms throughout the decades of the 1950s to the present. In this mini-history of rock music, music by artists such as The Who, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Beatles, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, the Sex Pistols, Arctic Monkeys, Prodigy, ELO, among many others were featured.
Paul McCartney served as the musical finale, with a sing-along rendition of the Beatles’ 1968 hits, “The End” and “Hey Jude”. McCartney, as the survivor of the Lennon/McCartney song-writing duo, is the national musical treasure of Britain, and his performance as finale was the expected culmination.
Rap music
Dizzee Rascal (Dylan Kwabena Mills) served as the representative of rap, and while rap is a native American musical form, it is popular world wide, and Britain has produced its own rap artists.
Boyle’s masque promised “something for everyone,” and delivered through the pastiche of media styles and musical genres. This theatrical/cinematic/televisual presentation threw everything including the British musical kitchen sink at the viewer.
Ron Rodman is Dye Family Professor of Music at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He is the author of Tuning In: American Television Music, published by Oxford University Press in 2010.
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August 1, 2012
James Bond at the London 2012 Opening Ceremony
When James Bond and Queen Elizabeth II parachuted out of the helicopter (or appeared to) during Friday night’s opening ceremonies of the London Olympics, director Danny Boyle could think of only one piece of music to play: the “James Bond Theme.” (BBC footage; NBC footage; or check your local Olympic broadcaster)
Of all the dozens of recordings of 007′s signature music that have been made over the years, he chose the unmistakable original: John Barry’s recording of Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme,” from the very first Bond adventure, Dr. No, which opened in British cinemas 50 years ago, in October 1962.
Certainly no Bond fan witnessed Friday’s extraordinary moment — when the Queen actually turned to actor Daniel Craig and said, “Good evening, Mr. Bond” — without a gasp or at least chills down the spine.
And while we knew that it was Craig and a stand-in for the Queen in the helicopter (and that neither one of them actually parachuted out) that singular piece of music did precisely what it was intended to do — suggest to a worldwide audience, familiar with half a century of outrageous cinematic exploits, that 007 had performed his latest service for Queen and Country.
Throughout five decades, 22 official films and six different James Bonds, the “Bond Theme” has been a constant in the movies originally produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and now carried on by Broccoli’s daughter and stepson, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. And while post-production is still underway on Skyfall, the 23rd opus to be released this fall, there is no doubt that composer Thomas Newman will invoke the “Bond Theme” at some point during the proceedings. To do otherwise would be unthinkable.
The music of James Bond is a complex saga of Monty Norman’s original conception of a theme for 007; its transformation into the twangy-guitar-meets-big-band-swing recording arranged and conducted by John Barry; and the controversy that has occasionally arisen about the origins of the tune (and its formal resolution in London’s High Court in 2001).
Boyle’s use of the “Bond Theme” on Friday night only serves to confirm its place in the pantheon of great movie themes recognized the world over. Bond’s presence in the ceremonies was a fitting acknowledgment of author Ian Fleming’s contribution to 20th-century popular literature, but that 45 seconds of music is what reminded three billion viewers that this was really the one, the only, the original, James Bond.
Jon Burlingame is the author of the upcoming book, The Music of James Bond, slated for release this fall to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the billion-dollar movie franchise and the release of Skyfall. One of the nation’s leading writers on the subject of music for film and television, he writes regularly for Daily Variety and teaches film-music history at the University of Southern California. His other work has included three previous books on film and TV music; articles for other publications including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Premiere and Emmy magazines; and producing radio specials for Los Angeles classical station KUSC.
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Skyfall movie poster from http://www.skyfall-movie.com used for the purposes of illustration.
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