Formulas and Culture (from The Study of Formulas).pptx

John G. Cawelti's book, The Study of Formulas, observes the establishment of recurring components in fiction. This presentation summarizes the foundational chapter "Formulas and Culture" from the book.

1. Formulas and culture From John G. Cawelti’s The Study of Formulas Fatihah Firdausi Nuzula (19/443409/SA/19898)

2. Formula

3. What is formula?

4. Formula is both a cultural product and influences culture through presenting and relating images, symbols, themes, and myths in conventional ways. It develops and changes through audience selection . One of the issues that comes up in discussions about formula is distinguishing the popularity of a formula with the popularity of an individual work. This could be achieved through identifying the formula that underlies the stories and examining how the creator treats such narratives in comparison to other successful works. The popularity of a certain formula signifies its importance to many people in a culture, and it becomes a matter of cultural behaviour . In order to explain this matter, we must first understand the relationship between literature and other aspects of culture.

5. explaining the cultural significances of literature

6. The Three Approaches Impact theories Deterministic Theories Symbolic Theories

7. Impact theories The oldest, simplest, and most commonly used theories Treats literary works on the assumption that they directly impact human behaviour , whether it is positively or negatively. Assumes that literary contents are political and moral problem, and tends to be used to promote or censor certain literary contents. (e.g. propaganda)

8. Fundamental flaws in The Impact theories Recent researches has shown that impact theories tend to oversimply complex social process – mass communications are mediated by the recipients’ social groups or preliminary attitude. The theories treat literary and artistic experiences as it would be other human experiences , despite the fact that they exist separately from our reality.

9. Deterministic theories Assumes that art is a dependent form of behavior that is manifested and shaped by underlying social or psychological dynamic . Among the most widely used of these theories are the Marxist and Freudian theories.

10. Fundamental flaws in The Deterministic theories They depend on prior assumptions that a social or psychological dynamic causes a certain human behavior. This causes a cyclical relationship between this original assumption and interpretation. These theories has a tendency to conflate literary and artistic experiences with other types of behavior.

11. Symbolic theories Also known as reflective theories, they dismiss deterministic theories by granting autonomy to artistic expressions . They argue that art and literature are consisted of symbols and myths – images and patterns that are charged with a complex of feelings and meanings, and therefore become modes of perception and reflection of reality.

12. KuKLICK’s Symbol–Myth approach According to Bruce Kuklick , some theoretical confusions in the symbol-myth approach prevent it from meaningfully draw connections between literary expressions and other forms of behavior. He points out that the dilemma surrounding the symbol-myth approach stems from the assumption that there is a collective mind (in which symbols and myth exists) and external reality (in which they are a mental transmutation of some sort). The solution to this, he argued, is to quit using symbols and myth to explain all kinds of behavior. A symbol or a myth is simply a generalizing concept to summarize recurrent aspects in a literary form .

13. Formula vs. Symbol-Myth Formula includes the whole idea of a story , and not just an element that is picked over the rest. Additionally, the notion of myth is ambiguous and vague, unlike formula, which is merely a set of generalizations about the way a story is put together . It’s difficult to pin down the connection between human behavior and mythical patterns. On the other hand, formula is easier to apply because it is empirical in nature .

14. Formula works and prevails because it derives from a large variety of cultural and artistic interests, and thus representing a universally effective story pattern in a dynamic way . Network of assumptions : basic values of culture, and furthermore, concerns of a particular era or subculture. This may be reflected in the formula that are popular within a specific scope.

15. Cawelti’s Hypotheses Formula stories affirms existing interests and attitudes by presenting a fictional world that aligns with them. Formula resolves and harmonizes tensions and ambiguities that comes up due to conflicts of interest between cultural groups or from ambiguous attitudes towards certain values. Formula allows the audience to explore the boundary between the permitted and forbidden in a safe, controlled way. Formula helps assimilating changes in values to traditional imaginary constructs.

16. Thank You!