Classify your artifact. Classifications are helpful to understanding your artifact. Once you’ve placed your particular artifact in a larger group, you can make connections between your artifact and the general characteristics associated with that group. In addition, sometimes describing your artifact from within a larger, more generalized framework makes it easier to identify important features. Usually, an artifact can classified in various ways and placed in a number of groups.
1. How do you classify your artifact? In what groups can you place your artifact? What connections can you make to other artifacts in the group?
MY ARTIFACT, LUFFY’S STRAWHAT, I CLASSIFY AS THE FOLLOWING:
- PHYSICAL
- APPAREL
- LEISURELY
- NOSTALGIC/MEMENTO-IC
- HERALDING
- DEMOCRATIC
- SYMBOLIC
Compare and contrast the artifact. Comparing your artifact to others allows you to generate new ideas about your artifact.
LUFFY’S STRAWHAT VS. MARINE CAPS WITH MARINE LOGO
- PHYSICAL / PHYSICAL
- APPAREL / APPAREL
- LEISURELY / LABORistic (to wearers? [Luffy, Marines])
- MEMENTOic / MEMEMTOic
- HERALDING / HERALDING
- DEMOCRATIC / SOCIALISTIC (NOT INDIVIDUALISTIC VS. SOCIALISTIC)
- LIBERTY VS. SECURITY
- SYMBOLIC / SYMBOLIC
- Exclusive / Exclusive
LUFFY’S STRAWHAT VS. WELL-GROOMED (Hipster?) MUSTACHE
- One-Wearer / Many-Wearers
- For Body / FROM Body
- Easy-going / Polished
- Inclusive / Exclusive
2. Identify points of similarity between your artifact and others. Then identify points of difference with other artifacts. How is it similar? How is it different?
Points of similarity: 1) Outward Presentation of Inward Representation, 2) Numerology (with regards to person(s)), 3) Group Identity.
Point of difference: 1) Extrinsic Purpose, 2) History, 3) Ontological Obtainment Method
Create an analogy or metaphor for your artifact. Analogies and metaphors are ways of making connections between your artifact and other artifacts (anything goes… items of clothing, locations, holidays, texts, products, etc.). Be creative here… try to make (il)logical leaps.
3. What metaphors or analogies suit your artifact? (Explain if needed)
Symbolic as a Clock: working towards a certain time to come (when Pirates clash versus the other major world leaders, the World-Government and Marines).
Ontologically as an Identity “Wall”: some can be included within what it represents, some can not.
Deceitful as a Small, Physical Object: because they signify large forces at work in the world.
In a synthesis: Luffy’s Straw Hat could represent a Small, Physical Clock that acts as an Identity Wall !!
Examine cultural narratives. Cultural narratives are common storylines used throughout culture, telling how things typically happen. Once you identify cultural narratives that apply to your artifact, you can examine them for assumptions and stereotypes. For example, stereotypes (or rigid, generalized ideas about the character and behavior of people with certain identities) are a kind of assumption (or set of assumptions). As with cultural narratives, you may think you are not affected by these assumptions and stereotypes. However, their pervasive presence in the culture means that everyone is affected by them. Naming these assumptions stereotypes can aid you when describing the impact of culture and values on your particular artifact (or your artifact’s impact on culture and values).
The assumptions operating in cultural narratives found in movie plots and song lyrics also get played out in social practices and social institutions. Social practices are shared, habitual ways of doing things. A variety of guidelines exist for the social practice of dating, for instance: who will initiate the date, who will decide where to go, who will pay. Social institutions are larger, more formalized organization the direct our shared social structures. Questions to explore (pick and choose): I’ll take a brief shot at all of them for brainstorming and save what I can for later!
4. How is your artifact characterized? (How do people/media/groups characterize it?)
Extrinsically/Superficially, it seems to represent leisure and idleness. That is, the straw hat represents those who lay back on the beach, sipping on a margarita in the sand, or at least that’s the cultural narrative I think of when considering straw hats. There is the opposite end of the spectrum, those rice paddy hats, or, as ripped from Wikipedia “Asian conical hat”. This one tends to be associated with hard, back breaking work all day under the sun in wet, sticky, humid, marshes and rice paddies. There is a red stripe across it, and it makes me think of the cultural association of good luck in China; in Japan it is considered the color of the sun (powerful). The hat almost always stays with Luffy, whether on his head or strapped along his neck, hanging down his back, so it is something that is indicative of his personality, kind of like some tattoos are meant to be for their wearers, or at least that might be a cultural narrative associated with things “very close to you”.
For many of the individuals I’ve heard and groups I can think of, the straw hat is very much limited to the aforementioned, though I will be on the lookout for divergent views.
5. What cultural narratives govern your artifact?
More or less the same answers as above. It can also be said that because a hat is worn on the head, a place of significance and identification for many, it is increasing more important than, say, Luffy’s sandals (but this is an assumption!).
6. What assumptions, stereotypes, habits, social practices, and institutions frame your artifact?
I like this questions; for some reason it gave a twist to my mind (like you would a lemon to get more juice from it). The institution of entertainment, more specifically, one in the manga creation series. Certainly the creators gave much thought not only to what their straw hat was going to be/mean before it existed, but they probably looked around at the other manga to see what related artifacts they brought to the arena and why.
As for social practices: reading, commentating online, and video commentating online! Exchange of words, but also, when the events come around, cosplay! The habits are very similar I would say, only that cosplay opportunities aren’t often taken seriously until a big comic convention comes around, but when it does and you have peers to come with you, usually it is a habit that everyone in your group is an individual member of the pirate crew, and wear your respective symbols (ohh! This is good, I should compare each individual members’ symbols and their relationship to being all brought under the “Straw Hat” pirate crew name).
Stereotypes of Straw Hat? Most people believe, as a sign that Luffy will become the King of the Pirates, that it is a kind of “Supremacy Symbol”, it represents something that won’t die or die out. I guess one could say it’s like some religious or national symbols that won’t pass even after its members have been persecuted/marginalized (Christian Cross, KKK Confederate Flag). If it ever came to be fallen, it might be comparable to, like, Germany’s Nazi symbols, but I’m stretching it a bit here…
As for assumptions about the straw hat? Same as the stereotypes, but I guess what differs is when people consider the Straw Hat’s past, before it got into the hands of Luffy. The biggest assumptions are that the hat gets passed down from lovers of freedom who have some sort of good will in their hearts, although even this is highly contestable because the pirate twice before Luffy had the straw hat was apparently pretty crazy about “turning the world upside down.” (Gol D. Roger). Another is that all who had the hat probably had a D. in their name.
7. What doctrines or practices affect your artifact? (Or, what doctrines or practices you’re your artifact affect?) Political parties and platforms? Religious? Ideological? Which ones? Are there cultural “rules” and practices? Which?
Doctrines: The actual manga, the TV series, political censorship by states (open right now in most places, I think).
Practices: Reading, viewing, discussing amongst friends, cosplay.
Effect on Culture: definitely ideological, in the sense of demonstrating people that freedom is not simple to obtain; it is fated (what the hate symbolizes, that it is Luffy who will become the next Pirate King, and as Luffy interprets this it means he will be the freest man in the world), that is, there are forces that will try to tilt you towards and against it, and it is reach for, that is, you yourself have some influence to affect what kind of freedom you will obtain, and not just what fate dictates. People wear it to symbolize ideas like this, or even because they would like to recognized for their fondness of the show. People display it in their rooms I’ve seen on videos as a “personality marker” of sorts. It has (like other popular physical things) become a commodity to be bought and sold for the aforementioned purpose, and many other times for cosplay.
8. How does your artifact affect culture? How does culture affect your artifact?
Ahh, accidentally I explained how in my response to #7, which only asked of me to respond to the “what” of cultural artifacts, thought I talked about the “how” too.
Anyhow, I think I’ve some new ideas after playing around with these heuristic strategies, though I’ll likely have to think harder about how to integrate these into my next essay…..