From an early age, I recognized that many pieces of pop culture are recycled and revamped stories. Much to my 3rd grade teachers surprise, I wrote a book report about the Lion King and how it is a simplified version of Hamlet. This story very much fits the MAYA- Most Advanced Yet Acceptable -model. The creators took what was a classic storyline, and morphed it with the widely accepted Disney format, to create one of the hallmarks of the Disney franchise. I feel that this model applies to writing as well, especially fiction writing. Characters often find themselves in the same tropes with just minor changes to make them unique; there is a reason that we all know of the “damsel in distress” or the “knight in shining armor.” Repeated stylistic choices and themes are what developed that we know of as genres. We come to expect cyberpunk novels to read differently than romance, and that is because of the repeated style choices. Thompson describes the wave of popularity when it comes to naming of children, but it also occurs with the publication of novels. Twilight for example, which had many of the traditional elements of a romance novel, with a twist of supernatural. After the success of Twilight, it seemed that all young adult content used vampire and/or werewolf elements to boost their readership.
I was really struck by the name example from Thompson’s article. Thompson really didn’t touch on how names can be extended stories of our parents. Many families have traditions to their naming practices. For example, in my family, first born sons take the father’s first name as their middle name; first born girls, have the middle name of Ann. My brother and I have stories behind our first names as well. My brother was named after the John Denver song “Merry Christmas Little Zachary”, and I was named after one of my parents’ favorite cities they had traveled to together. So even though we have fairly popular names, with conventional spellings, my parents sought a way to differentiate us from other children by telling a story.
I would also argue the MAYA model applies to a lot of nonfiction writing. Much like the Spotify example from The Atlantic article, it is beneficial to have support from already existing content. Even if the author is making new claims, they pull from the work of others before them. This is not only used to establish credibility and validity, but also appeals to the “mere-exposure effect.” This may not be as impactful for someone who is reading an article for general interest, however this applies heavily to professionals. Continuing education requires many professionals to stay on top of current research. This familiarizes them with other professionals in the field. So even if there is a new name on the research paper, they may recognize one of the other professionals that is cited within the work. Using medical journals as an example, physicians recognize the names of their colleagues, and the work that they have done in the past. All of the entries usually follow the same format, starting with an abstract and ending with a results/ conclusion section. While we are technically looking at new research, it is delivered to us in a familiar digestible format, and it uses pieces of information that we have already accepted.
2 thoughts on “Is This Really New?”
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I really enjoyed your break down of Thompson’s article. I am always thinking about how everything that we interact with is some sort of copy or a twist on an original piece. I think your Lion King example is right on point with this topic. I’m not sure what third grader is reading Hamlet, but you are much more of a scholar than I was in third grade!
I learned about a philosopher named Walter Benjamin last year and basically his whole life’s work was based around the idea that there is no such thing as an original, everything we take is from copy. A painting is a copy of what the artist perceived at the time when the image was painted. Photographs are just copies of the original moment that they capture. Now, I don’t think Thompson goes as far as Benjamin does to prove that much of our culture comes from copy, but I think the two parallel each other in some ways.
I also really liked how much the example of names connected with you. I, too, have the tradition in my family, where the first-born boy is named after the father’s first and middle names. I’m the fourth William Francis in my family and I didn’t really think about how that connected with the Thompson article.
Nice Job!
Interesting on the naming tradition stuff! In my dad’s family (Calabria region in Italy), the first born son took his father’s name as a middle name and the second born son took his father’s name as his first name (I guess people had so many kids back then, that odds were strong you’d have at least two sons?)
Interesting point about author names on research: “So even if there is a new name on the research paper, they may recognize one of the other professionals that is cited within the work. Using medical journals as an example, physicians recognize the names of their colleagues, and the work that they have done in the past.”
I wonder if we need to talk about “trust” more? In the same way kids are often picky eaters, as if it is some evolutionary defense against being poisoned. Do we do the same with what we read? We see a trusted name and we seek it out?