tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/christmas-2014-14004/articles
Christmas 2014 – The Conversation
2015-01-02T16:30:51Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35774
2015-01-02T16:30:51Z
2015-01-02T16:30:51Z
Esio Trot is one of the best screen adaptations of Dahl I’ve seen
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67921/original/image-20141222-31573-9aq8i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Dahl for Christmas.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Endor Productions/Nick Briggs</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Roald Dahl hated adaptations of his work, and often I agree with him. The original books have such a place in so many people’s hearts and open up the imagination so much that once on screen they can feel a bit faded. But the BBC’s feature-length adaptation of Esio Trot is another story. This slightly less well known book has been beautifully treated.</p>
<p>It would be hard, almost impossible, to harbour a grudge against this particular fairytale retelling, with a star cast including Judi Dench, Dustin Hoffman and James Corden. Esio Trot offers an indulgent retreat into a simpler world of a shy old man (Mr Hoppy) falling in love with the eccentric, fun-loving widow (Mrs Silver) who lives in the apartment downstairs. And it’s perfect for Christmas – Mrs Silver herself puts her Christmas tree up on the first of August every year.</p>
<p>I don’t approve of this adaptation because it’s true to the book, as you might assume. It actually takes quite a lot of liberties with the original text. James Corden’s narrator, for a start, is an inspired addition to the tale. His fast-paced storytelling takes place on his journey through London on the school run, as we just catch the bus, walk through the park, hop into a taxi, rush into the school playground, collect his little girl Roberta, and arrive home. This creates a distinct contrast between the urban rat race and the slowly blossoming love story, ideal for a sleepy New Year’s Day.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67929/original/image-20141222-31570-1792vwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corden’s narrator is an inspired addition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Endor Productions/Nick Briggs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The modern world is incorporated in several clever and subtle ways as we warm to Mr Hoppy. His Facebook status is “not in Facebook”. The story is also skilfully punctuated with the addition of a lift. It is in the lift where Mrs Silver and Mr Hoppy have their first encounter, where Mr Hoppy first falls in love, where the seasons move from spring through to winter and we see Mrs Silver pictured in an array of outfits from bunny ears to dresses for the dance marathon. </p>
<p>So what else is different to the book? The film begins by telling us that this is a “story full of passion and surprises, as indeed is our Mr Hoppy”. Mr Hoppy is “ours”, and as such, the viewers are instantly on side, in a way that isn’t so immediate in the original text. Looking back at my own edited collection of essays on Roald Dahl’s children’s literature, my notes on Esio Trot read, in a perhaps uninspired way, “marriage by deception”. </p>
<p>This may make me sound pretty down in the dumps, but in the original text this is essentially true. Mrs Silver is becoming increasingly anxious that Alfie, her much-loved tortoise, hasn’t grown, and this gives Mr Hoppy the perfect opportunity to execute an elaborate, fantastically bizarre plan of the type we often see in Dahl’s fiction – think of James’s peach escaping through being lifted out of the ocean by the seagulls. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67928/original/image-20141222-31563-a9j79j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Esio Trot, Esio Trot, teg reggib reggib!</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Endor Productions/Nick Briggs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mr Hoppy fills his own apartment with tortoises of the same colour but slightly larger sizes than Alfie, persuades Mrs Silver to chant a rhyme to make the tortoise grow – “Esio Trot” – and then when she is out he swaps Mrs Silver’s small tortoise for a slightly larger one using a large claw on a rod that he has engineered especially for the task. In the book, Mrs Silver is so enchanted by the change in Alfie that when Mr Hoppy asks her to marry him, she instantly accepts. Mr Hoppy returns the tortoises to the pet shops, with the original Alfie being bought by a little girl called Roberta (here’s the link to the narrator’s daughter in the adaptation) and they live happily ever after without Mrs Silver being any the wiser as to Mr Hoppy’s deception. </p>
<p>From the text, alone, as my notes indicate, I was clearly left with a bittersweet impression. But in the adaptation, there is something of a love triangle to unravel, with the addition of the unwelcome Mr Pringle who also tries to win Mrs Silver’s affections. Dramatic tension, of the Sunday evening viewing style, is created as Mr Hoppy attempts to cook for Mrs Silver and Mr Pringle while concealing all the tortoises in the kitchen. Mrs Silver is also made aware of the trick after Mr Pringle spoils it all for Mr Hoppy. So yes, the subversiveness of the original is painted over, but it does make for the perfect festive viewing.</p>
<p>The dialogue and exchange between Hoffman and Dench is as magical as Mr Hoppy’s beautiful botanic balcony. Corden’s narration is a tonic to all of us watching out for the metatextual as he walks through picture frames and is interrupted by his daughter while telling the story. Beautifully shot, creatively and cleverly retold this tale is not to be dismissed as “only” children’s. It is universal, comedic and a delight to all. </p>
<p>Would Dahl have approved? I’m not sure. But regardless, if this kind of material welcomes in and sets the bar for the New Year, then 2015 is set to be truly fantastic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35774/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Alston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Roald Dahl hated adaptations of his work, and often I agree with him. The original books have such a place in so many people’s hearts and open up the imagination so much that once on screen they can feel…
Ann Alston, Senior Lecturer in English, University of the West of England
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35797
2014-12-23T18:19:04Z
2014-12-23T18:19:04Z
Daft Christmas jumpers alert: ironic crazes become hip more often than you’d think
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68028/original/image-20141223-32197-120ex73.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't say you weren't warned!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=fhsVZtPviTZm90GqrQp3aw&searchterm=christmas%20sweater&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=157197116">gpoint studio</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Extravagant, garish and irredeemably ostentatious Christmas jumpers will shortly be gifted and unwrapped in many households in the UK over the festive season. Already last year’s editions have appeared at parties and other workplace events, often requiring a donation to charity as penance for wearing such tasteless attire. </p>
<p>How has this 21st-century Christmas ritual suddenly happened? There has been no inspiration evident from Parisian or Milanese couturiers for Santa Claus prints, embossed reindeer sweaters or snowman-patterned knitwear. The <a href="http://lapetitegarderobe.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/fashions-trickle-up-trickle-down-theory/">standard rules</a> of consumer behaviour regarding the dissemination of a trend have been largely bypassed. </p>
<p>If anything, celebrities who would normally influence the general public in adopting such festive fashion finery seem to have been much less relevant than usual. Instead social media has played a big part. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=christmas%20jumper&src=typd">Selfies and other tweeted pictures</a> of frolicking members of staff in restaurants and clubs have led to the Christmas sweater phenomenon becoming viral. </p>
<h2>What is fashion anyway?</h2>
<p>You can explain fashion in many different ways, but one of the best definitions is this one from the <a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/fashion">Oxford Dictionary</a>: “A popular or the latest style of clothing, hair, decoration, or behaviour.” Christmas sweaters are certainly popular, if only for a few days a year. They promote, or are intended to promote, behaviour that is fun and appropriate to the festive season. </p>
<p>Having said that, Christmas jumpers are some distance from our usual notion of fashion. At other times of the year, and in most typically “fashionable” contexts, they would be regarded as tacky and uncool. Neither are they designed to emphasise a particular part of the body, for sexual attraction or other reasons, which is a key component of many fashion trends. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68001/original/image-20141223-32216-1mlz09t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68001/original/image-20141223-32216-1mlz09t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68001/original/image-20141223-32216-1mlz09t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68001/original/image-20141223-32216-1mlz09t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68001/original/image-20141223-32216-1mlz09t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68001/original/image-20141223-32216-1mlz09t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68001/original/image-20141223-32216-1mlz09t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68001/original/image-20141223-32216-1mlz09t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How we chortled!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fashionablemusings.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ugly-sweater-11.png">Fashionable Musings</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They are fashionable only in an ironic or post-modern sense. Their purpose is arguably to satirise the style-establishment’s view that looking good is a serious business and that clothing is not just worn to keep warm. And they are far from the first fashion to have been initiated by consumers as a deliberately ironic rebuttal of the mores of the established order. So what follows is my countdown of six ironic fashions, some of which are now almost completely adopted by the mainstream. It might be asking over much to expect Christmas jumpers to make the same transition, but fashion history suggests you shouldn’t rule it out entirely …</p>
<h2>6. Full beards</h2>
<p>Facial hair in general goes in and out of fashion, but the extravagant beards now sported <a href="https://theconversation.com/fear-not-the-hipster-beard-it-too-shall-pass-24715">by western European and American “hipster” men</a>, which mimic the whiskers of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, are deliberately ironic. The fact that Islamic fundamentalists also wear long beards adds to the frisson.</p>
<h2>5. Tattoos</h2>
<p>Once largely only adorned antipodean tribespeople, sailors and bikers, tattoos used to be regarded as very much a lower-class phenomenon. Now <a href="http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/970/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx">studies indicate</a> that more than 20% of the UK population, both male and female, have one. Much of the popularity of tattoos is attributable to the huge media attention focused on musicians, sports stars and models who are pictured showing off their buff and immaculately inked bodies. Every new tattoo acquired by Rihanna, David Beckham or Cara Delevingne will quickly be copied by a fan somewhere in the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68004/original/image-20141223-32219-g10qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68004/original/image-20141223-32219-g10qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68004/original/image-20141223-32219-g10qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68004/original/image-20141223-32219-g10qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68004/original/image-20141223-32219-g10qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68004/original/image-20141223-32219-g10qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68004/original/image-20141223-32219-g10qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68004/original/image-20141223-32219-g10qtg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why have one hipster accessory when you can have two?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=cool%20tattoos&keyword_search=1&page=2&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=194761796">Sfio Cracho</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Punk</h2>
<p>Punk (and later grunge) apparel was deliberately anti-fashion, though paradoxically the king and queen of punk, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, were already established in the music and retail industries some time before the phenomenon really took off. Punk style was ripped T-shirts, safety pins, bin-liners and bondage trousers. These days, defamatory and sometimes provocative slogan prints, reminiscent of punk, are staple ingredients of modern chain-store clothing ranges. </p>
<h2>3. Underwear as outerwear</h2>
<p>This was originated by Coco Chanel in the 1920s, who took the jersey T-shirt worn then by women as a vest and redefined it as a chic outerwear garment. In the 1980s, Jean-Paul Gaultier designed the infamous stage costume for Madonna with the conical bra-cups. Now, such costumes are de rigueur for risqué female pop stars and the visible bra-strap is part of the fashion vocabulary of almost every teenage girl. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68007/original/image-20141223-32204-1c8h5cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68007/original/image-20141223-32204-1c8h5cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68007/original/image-20141223-32204-1c8h5cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68007/original/image-20141223-32204-1c8h5cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68007/original/image-20141223-32204-1c8h5cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68007/original/image-20141223-32204-1c8h5cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68007/original/image-20141223-32204-1c8h5cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68007/original/image-20141223-32204-1c8h5cy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coco Chanel, original T-shirt shifter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=cool%20tattoos&keyword_search=1&page=2&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=194761796">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Geek-chic spectacles</h2>
<p>As worn by every celebrity from Alexa Chung to Jay-Z, these have been the key eyewear style worldwide for the last ten years. The shape is copied from the typical frames worn in the 1950s, and the continuing popularity of black Ray-Ban “Wayfarer” sunglasses was a key influence. In the UK this shape was associated with the NHS, which makes the wearing of this style by good-looking fashionistas especially ironic. Nowadays wearing nerdy spectacles is a choice, rather than the fashion death-sentence it was when I was growing up!</p>
<h2>1. Jeans</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68008/original/image-20141223-32216-1k46y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68008/original/image-20141223-32216-1k46y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68008/original/image-20141223-32216-1k46y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68008/original/image-20141223-32216-1k46y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68008/original/image-20141223-32216-1k46y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68008/original/image-20141223-32216-1k46y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68008/original/image-20141223-32216-1k46y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68008/original/image-20141223-32216-1k46y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even cowgirls …</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/back+in+denim/search.html?page=2&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=218797609">Dohee Han</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These are the ultimate post-modern, ironic fashion product. Denim jeans were invented by Levi-Strauss in the 19th century, and quickly became the work clothing of choice for miners and cowboys because of the fabric’s durability. </p>
<p>They gradually became assimilated into the fashion mainstream as actors, who were playing cowboys in films and on television, began to enjoy the ease and comfort of the jeans cut over a more traditional trouser fit, especially once they were worn in. Later Marilyn Monroe wore jeans, making them sexy and desirable. Now jeans are made deliberately “distressed”, simulating the ravages of outdoor work that few of those that can afford the high prices top jeans brands command would ever willingly undertake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Pretious does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Extravagant, garish and irredeemably ostentatious Christmas jumpers will shortly be gifted and unwrapped in many households in the UK over the festive season. Already last year’s editions have appeared…
Mike Pretious, Lecturer, Business, Queen Margaret University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35689
2014-12-23T16:28:11Z
2014-12-23T16:28:11Z
Size is everything at Christmas and your oven is no exception
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67918/original/image-20141222-31545-a9igtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can your oven handle the pressure?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/seabamirum/3143610053">Seabamirum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At Christmas, size is everything: so says an online “<a href="http://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/d/oven-selector-guide">oven selector guide</a>”. And it is true, ovens are designed and optimised for roasting large birds. As a result, they are typically oversized for regular use – making their total energy consumption greater than necessary. It is not only ovens that are designed to cope with the special demands of the festive season.</p>
<p>Christmas is a moment of peak load within the kitchen, for parcel delivery services, and for road, rail and communication networks. Looking at this period helps us understand the relation between capacity, flexibility and energy demand.</p>
<p>Let us start with the oven. For many ovens, December 25 is the day of peak demand – in the UK, something like <a href="http://www.britishturkey.co.uk/facts-and-figures/christmas-stats-and-traditions.html">10m turkeys</a> are roasted at roughly the same time.</p>
<p>The key features of this event – many people and a turkey large enough to feed them all – are inscribed in the details of oven design. There are similarities between a Christmas dinner and a traditional Sunday roast, and it is perhaps not surprising that the European standard test of oven efficiency, the “<a href="http://www.eceee.org/ecodesign/products/Lot22_23_kitchen/Lot22_Task4_Final.pdf">wet brick test</a>”, is designed to simulate roasting a chicken. </p>
<p>No one knows much about how ovens are actually used, but we do know that the traditional Sunday dinner is in decline and that oven-baked pizzas are increasingly common. It would therefore be possible, and more efficient, to produce ovens optimised for normal use rather than special occasions. </p>
<p>The problem is oven sizes are fixed: having spare capacity through the year avoids the need for special measures, like renting an extra oven for the day – a strategy adopted by one of our great grandmothers in the 1930s. </p>
<p>While there are year round implications for energy demand, oven design is inseparable from the social conventions of Christmas. If turkey was not the classic meal and if roasting was not the norm – a large stew produced on the hob could feed as many people – ovens would not be sized and designed as they are today.</p>
<h2>Optimising for Christmas</h2>
<p>This is not the only situation in which year round capacity reflects anticipated peak demand and therefore leaves a surplus for much of the time. Cars, for instance, are generally able to carry four or more passengers plus all their luggage, yet on average they are occupied by just <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/243957/nts2012-01.pdf">1.6 people</a>. </p>
<p>However, capacity is not always fixed in quite this way. Consider systems for delivering parcels ordered online. In this case the Christmas peak reflects the need to dispatch a very large number of items and ensure they arrive before the critical day – in short, it is the need for simultaneity, not size as such, that matters.</p>
<p>While there are physical limits in terms of capacity – the volume of warehousing and lorry space is fixed, much like the size of the oven – the difference is that there is scope to work harder: to hire seasonal staff, and to push more items through the system. </p>
<p>Shipping and logistics businesses are simply not optimised for Christmas peaks, and no one would expect this either. In this example measures adopted to cope with extreme pressure are layered on top of a system that is in fact designed for regular loads, unlike the oven which is sized for peak demand.</p>
<h2>Christmas traditions: past and present</h2>
<p>Christmas peaks provide other insights into the patterning of social life and the energy demands that follow. In the UK there used to be a detectable spike in electricity demand associated with the Queen’s speech. At 3pm, other activities paused and televisions were switched on, closely preceded and followed by millions of kettles. </p>
<p>This is no longer so. Instead, the anticipated afternoon surge, once the turkey has been eaten, is in the flow of data. An estimated <a href="http://www.ombudsman-services.org/gadget-gifting-threatens-christmas-connectivity.html">136,000</a> extra gigabytes of data will be used on Christmas Day alone. These details provide a glimpse of wider, year round, trends in forms of information, communication and entertainment. As ways of spending time evolve – even on Christmas day – new peaks and surges occur.</p>
<p>Ironically, the extreme circumstances and the unusual synchronisation of Christmas reveal things about <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-we-learn-from-looking-at-electricity-use-on-christmas-day-20503">“normal” energy demand</a>. Appliances and systems are sized to cater for what are essentially <a href="http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=8263">social loads</a> like those of eating Christmas dinner together. </p>
<p>As Christmas also demonstrates, there are different types of peak and different types of response, such as maintaining idle standby capacity at all times (exemplified by turkey-sized oven), or designing and optimising for base load and augmenting that at critical moments (hiring seasonal staff). </p>
<p>Perhaps most important of all, Christmas peaks in demand arise as a consequence of what people do: as people use the internet more and watch less TV, new peaks emerge. Normal and extreme forms of <a href="http://www.demand.ac.uk/">energy demand</a> are alike in being embedded in the ongoing dynamics of daily life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janine Morley and the DEMAND Centre receive funding from the RCUK Energy Programme and EDF as part of the R&D ECLEER Programme.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span> Elizabeth Shove and the DEMAND Centre receive funding from the RCUK Energy Programme and EDF as part of the R&D ECLEER Programme</span></em></p>
At Christmas, size is everything: so says an online “oven selector guide”. And it is true, ovens are designed and optimised for roasting large birds. As a result, they are typically oversized for regular…
Janine Morley, Senior Research Associate, DEMAND Centre, Lancaster University
Elizabeth Shove, Professor, Sociology, Lancaster University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35271
2014-12-23T12:54:01Z
2014-12-23T12:54:01Z
It was German soldiers who made first move in the Christmas Truce
<p>The Christmas Truce is no stranger to popular entertainment – this year more than any other as its 100th anniversary is marked. The famous moment when British and German soldiers climbed out of the trenches in peace on Christmas Day 1914 has been replicated and ruminated upon in history books, film, and propaganda – and now advertising. In the UK, the supermarket Sainsbury’s 2014 Christmas advert dramatises the event, prompting <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30036471">cries of outrage</a> that it has trivialised it. But what really happened 100 years ago?</p>
<p>On Christmas Eve, 1914, the conflict that was soon to be called “The Great War” had dragged on inconclusively for almost five months. Most of the powers on the western front had assured their populations that the war that began on July 28 would bring a quick victory by Christmas. German soldiers confidently marched to the train stations that would transport them westward shouting “Nach Paris!” (“To Paris!”), while French troops heading in the opposite direction cried “À Berlin” (“To Berlin!”).</p>
<p>It quickly became evident that these war plans were doomed as under the deadly firepower of the machine gun and heavy artillery the powers were forced to dig themselves into a long line of parallel trenches stretching from the North Sea to Switzerland. Throughout the autumn and early winter of 1914, periodic efforts to break the stalemate failed. </p>
<figure>
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<p>In the meantime, the belligerent governments unleashed a powerful propaganda campaign designed to strengthen the morale of the soldiers at the front by assuring them that their efforts were essential to the preservation of civilisation. The main feature of those propaganda campaigns, captured in hundreds of posters printed and circulated widely, was the depiction of the other side as the quintessence of evil. </p>
<p>In Britain the epithet “Hun” was resurrected as a label for the German army that had invaded neutral Belgium on its way to France, violating the rules of war by executing innocent civilians in retaliation for the death of German soldiers at the hands of freelance Belgian snipers. German propaganda depicted the British as despicable traitors to the “Anglo-Saxon race” by intervening in the war on the side of France. </p>
<h2>The truce</h2>
<p>But this attempt to demonise the inhabitants of the opposite trenches as subhuman beasts was suddenly contradicted when a large number of German and British soldiers spontaneously launched was has come to be known as “The Christmas Truce”. </p>
<p>On Christmas Eve both sides erected Christmas trees on the parapets of their trenches and began to sing Christmas carols. On Christmas Day soldiers from both sides climbed out of the trenches and advanced into No Man’s Land, where they exchanged treats and holiday good wishes and arranged for the burial of dead comrades caught between the two lines. Contrary to the version put forward by Sainsbury’s, it was actually German soldiers that made the first move, with the British soon following. And historians dispute whether there was in fact a football match. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67946/original/image-20141222-15646-12wfv81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67946/original/image-20141222-15646-12wfv81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67946/original/image-20141222-15646-12wfv81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67946/original/image-20141222-15646-12wfv81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67946/original/image-20141222-15646-12wfv81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67946/original/image-20141222-15646-12wfv81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67946/original/image-20141222-15646-12wfv81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soldiers playing a game of football a year later on Christmas Day, 1915.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PA/PA Wire</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This informal cease-fire formed part of a widespread practice known by the slogan “live and let live” whereby soldiers refrained from launching aggressive operations toward the opposite trench during mealtime or teatime. But the Christmas Truce represented something much more fundamental than reciprocal consideration for the lives of others — fraternisation with the enemy. “Such a thing should not happen in wartime” complained Corporal Adolf Hitler on hearing of the incident. “Have you no German sense of honour left at all?” And French platoon commander Charles de Gaulle also denounced the few incidents of fraternisation with the enemy as “lamentable”.</p>
<h2>Since the war</h2>
<p>The century since the Christmas Truce has seen a long succession of attempts to use the event as a way of making a statement about war. A scene depicting the truce appeared in the 1969 British film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064754/">Oh! What a Lovely War</a>. The event formed the centrepiece of the 2005 French film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424205/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Joyeux Noel</a>. Two scholarly books devoted to the subject, Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton’s <a href="http://www.panmacmillan.com/book/malcolmbrown/christmastruce">Christmas Truce</a> and Stanley Weintraub’s <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Silent-Night/Stanley-Weintraub/9781439107133">Silent Night</a>, have delved into the available primary sources in a careful bid to separate fact from fiction. </p>
<p>In the run-up to the centenary of the event, the Christmas Truce became an object of considerable public attention in Britain and the United States. The <a href="https://research.ncl.ac.uk/martinlutherking/activities/worldwaronechristmastrucecommemorations/">Martin Luther King Peace Committee</a> at Northumbria and Newcastle Universities assembled a collection of material about the Christmas Truce to enable schoolteachers to provide their pupils with an alternative to what the pacifist organisation sees as the British government’s campaign to glorify World War I in its centenary years. </p>
<p>And then Sainsbury’s revealed their Christmas advert, which has since gone viral. Yes, it got some of the facts wrong, but the most important thing to remember is that the advert ends before the sequel to the real Christmas Truce: the resumption of the human slaughter that took the lives of some nine million soldiers before the war was over, a month before Christmas, 1918.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Keylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Christmas Truce is no stranger to popular entertainment – this year more than any other as its 100th anniversary is marked. The famous moment when British and German soldiers climbed out of the trenches…
William Keylor, Professor of History and International Relations, Boston University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35758
2014-12-23T12:08:06Z
2014-12-23T12:08:06Z
Revealed: the unparalled scale of big data analysis behind Santa’s naughty or nice list
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67886/original/image-20141221-31548-rax6eq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Santa's so busy he has no time to play, capturing data at 1.25Gb/s, the NSA way.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shannon-Long/knowyourmeme</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>After a year in which further details of national intelligence agencies’ shadowy surveillance networks were laid bare, a fresh leak of documents reveals the obsessive surveillance that extends as far north as Lapland…</em> </p>
<p>Santa’s Arctic Workshop (SAW) has deployed a multinational panopticon surveillance programme, according to leaked documents being called “the Snowman Files”.</p>
<p>According to these documents, the Arctic workshop runs a behavioural monitoring project, part of a previously wider undisclosed programme called “Operation Naughty or Nice”, which allows chief executive, Santa Claus, and a group of moralising elves to collect behavioural evidence of children worldwide through conventional and “enhanced” techniques.</p>
<p>Claus was purported to be inspired by the conventional surveillance techniques used by agencies such as the US National Security Agency (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data">NSA</a>) and the UK Government Communications Headquarters (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jun/07/uk-gathering-secret-intelligence-nsa-prism">GCHQ</a>). These organisations run extensive programmes that capture content and metadata, gleaned from search histories, emails, chat records, and even <a href="http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a554442/yahoo-webcam-images-intercepted-by-british-spy-agency-gchq.html">webcam images</a> worldwide.</p>
<p>The Snowman Files contain documents classified by Claus as Top Secret, not to be distributed outside the grotto. These are intended to train elves in intelligence gathering operations and big data analysis capabilities. They reveal claims of “data collection directly from the minds and bodies of everybody everywhere.”</p>
<p>SAW conducts real-time data collection, storage and processing directly from everyone in order to determine “naughty or nice” markers. Fuzzy algorithms are then applied to the markers to determine overall moral scores used to determine whether children deserve presents, or coal.</p>
<p>However, SAW is also said to employ “enhanced” techniques involving mapping neuronal activity when children are sleeping in order to perform whole brain emulation, according to the source of the leaked documents, Eddie the Snowman.</p>
<p>These techniques use <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22102985">metabolomic analysis</a>, the study of the chemical fingerprints left behind by biological processes, to emulate human brains. This information captures not only state of the brain’s neurons, but also the chemical environment – in particular the hormones associated with naughtiness and niceness. </p>
<p>“Operation Naughty or Nice is a major upgrade from SAW’s previous methods. This supplements self-reports at shopping centres, handwriting analysis of want lists sent to the grotto, and the use of elves to watch children when they are awake,” Eddie the Snowman said.</p>
<h2>Santa’s Arctic Workshop panopticon</h2>
<p>He revealed details of a truly astounding data collection operation. “In 2013, as the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/prism-slides-nsa-document">NSA Prism program</a> came to light,” said Snowman, “Santa decided it was time for an upgrade. I was tasked with setting up the datacentre. Whereas the NSA only stores exabytes of information, we needed to store Santabytes of data.”</p>
<p>An exabyte is one quintillion bytes (10<sup>18),</sup> the equivalent of one million terabytes. An average personal computer hard drive might hold half a terabyte (500 gigabytes), while the NSA Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center in Utah <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/07/24/blueprints-of-nsa-data-center-in-utah-suggest-its-storage-capacity-is-less-impressive-than-thought">is estimated</a> to store 12 exabytes (12m terabytes) of data.</p>
<p>To put that into perspective, GCHQ taps and stores data it intercepts from <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/21/gchq_nsa_spooks/">200 internet links worldwide</a> for three days, with data captured at around 1.25 gigabytes per second. With 1,000 gigabytes in a terabyte, GCHQ captures around one terabyte every 17 minutes, requiring a storage capacity of around 65,000 terabytes for the three days of collection.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67887/original/image-20141221-31563-89tm7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67887/original/image-20141221-31563-89tm7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67887/original/image-20141221-31563-89tm7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67887/original/image-20141221-31563-89tm7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67887/original/image-20141221-31563-89tm7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=253&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67887/original/image-20141221-31563-89tm7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67887/original/image-20141221-31563-89tm7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67887/original/image-20141221-31563-89tm7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Santabytes: not appearing in this list.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Research Trends</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It has been <a href="http://www.wired.com/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/">reported</a> that the Pentagon would like to be able to process yottabytes of data, where a yottabyte is one million exabytes, the sort of size estimated to be necessary to contain all the communications surveillance material of all US intelligence agencies. Even at £1 a terabyte (a <a href="https://www.backblaze.com/blog/nsa-might-want-some-backblaze-pods/">very low estimate</a>), one yottabyte would cost around one trillion pounds.</p>
<p>There is <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2013/10/09/extreme-big-data-beyond-zettabytes-and-yottabytes/">no internationally-accepted name</a> for a quantity of data bigger than yottabytes, so SAW had to invent their own. One Santabyte is one million yottabytes.</p>
<p>The metabolome biological modelling techniques deployed by SAW <a href="http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/brain-emulation-roadmap-report.pdf">require</a> around 10,000 exabytes per emulated brain. With 7.3 billion people currently on the planet, SAW’s storage runs to around 73 Santabytes of brain data, with a further Santabyte for all of the communications data from all of the world’s intelligence agencies.</p>
<p>This Santascale datacentre requires a tremendous amount of power to run. The NSA’s Utah data centre “<a href="http://www.wired.com/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/1">only</a>” uses 65 megawatts of electricity and costs around US$40m a year. SAW’s santa-scale data centre requires exawatts of electricity (which is more power than the Earth receives from the sun). But given <a href="http://www.noradsanta.org/">NORAD’s confirmation</a> that Santa Claus can travel faster than light, and “functions within his own time-space continuum” it comes as no surprise that his facilities can accommodate such power.</p>
<h2>Alleged elf surveillance network</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/12/16/the-elf-on-the-shelf-is-preparing-your-child-to-live-in-a-future-police-state-professor-says/">Concerns have been raised</a> about the <a href="http://www.elfontheshelf.com/">Elf on the Shelf</a> toy, and the normalisation of surveillance in the younger generation. Described as a “special scout elf sent from the North Pole” to “help Santa Claus manage his naughty and nice lists”, the “toy” is said by parents to children to be a “Christmas tradition”.</p>
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<p><a href="http://uoit.academia.edu/LauraPinto">Laura Pinto</a>, assistant professor of digital education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/commentary/whos-boss">recently wrote</a> that the Elf was “a capillary form of power that normalises the voluntary surrender of privacy, teaching young people to blindly accept panoptic surveillance.”</p>
<p>With what we’ve learned from the Snowman Files, it’s clear that Santa Claus does indeed have an exceptional surveillance network and the data-analysis capacity to know if you’ve been bad or good. Given the levels of surveillance we are now all under, it is as wise as ever to learn to “be good, for goodness sake”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jesse Blum receives funding from the RCUK Digital Economy Theme: grant reference EP/G065802/1.</span></em></p>
After a year in which further details of national intelligence agencies’ shadowy surveillance networks were laid bare, a fresh leak of documents reveals the obsessive surveillance that extends as far north…
Jesse Blum, Research Fellow, University of Nottingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35783
2014-12-23T11:56:40Z
2014-12-23T11:56:40Z
You can’t escape a sense of calculation when buying those Christmas gifts
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67942/original/image-20141222-31539-d8ehs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Selfless gift or token to secure honour?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-115424293/stock-photo-christmas-presents-and-ornaments-on-wooden-background.html?src=x3WaWktD4ptCoE5vnASulA-1-19"> Jenn Huls/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So O Henry tells us in his classic Christmas story, <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1014/">The Gift of the Magi</a>. It’s about a young down-at-heel couple in New York, who scrape enough money together to buy each other Christmas presents by selling their most prized possessions. The wife, Della, sells her hair to buy a platinum chain for her husband’s watch and, in an ironic twist, Jim sells his watch to buy Della two beautiful, tortoise shell hair combs. But though the two have perhaps “unwisely sacrificed” their treasures, we’re reassured “that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest … They are the magi”.</p>
<p>Henry’s tale has been endlessly adapted for stage and screen. Perhaps this is because there’s something in it that we find so uplifting. The couple’s self-sacrifice for each other in the face of adversity is striking. But then perhaps it is also because the story appears to offer us an example of what the Marxist philosopher and sociologist, Theodor Adorno, would call “real gift-giving” – the kind which finds “its happiness in imagining the happiness of the receiver”. </p>
<h2>Modern magis</h2>
<p>Henry first published his story in 1905. Looking back to it makes me wonder whether he would find any magi among <a href="https://theconversation.com/tis-the-season-to-spend-spend-spend-or-so-retailers-would-have-us-think-34880">today’s hordes of shoppers</a>. Adorno would probably say no. Back in 1951 <a href="https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1951/mm/ch01.htm">he observed</a> that gift-giving had: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Degenerated into a social function which one carries out with a reluctant will, with tight control over the pocketbook, a sceptical evaluation of the other and with the most minimal effort. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This might seem an overly bleak view of modern society, but there’s no escaping the sense of “social function” and calculation as we scroll through the “gift ideas” offered online, totting up how much we ought to spend and on whom as we go. But Adorno, at least, seems convinced that there has at some point been a golden age of “real gift-giving”, which is more than can be said for other theorists on the gift. </p>
<h2>Obligatory giving</h2>
<p>In 1925 the sociologist Marcel Mauss published what has become an influential <a href="https://archive.org/stream/giftformsfunctio00maus#page/80/mode/2up">essay on the present</a>. Investigations into the culture of gift-giving among Polynesian, Melanesian and north-west American clans revealed to Mauss that often just when gift-giving appears to be “voluntary, disinterested and spontaneous”, it is “in fact obligatory and interested”, compelling the recipient to return a gift for fear of incurring ill-luck or loss of status. Gift-giving between clans, Mauss found, was often competitive, with rivals using presents to secure hierarchies, political alliances and bonds over each other.</p>
<p>Following Mauss, Pierre Bourdieu suggests things are not so different in our own society. He draws our attention to “the sincere fiction of a disinterested exchange” with which we deceive ourselves. When we give presents we make ourselves believe we do so out of our consideration for others, but the truth, as Bourdieu sees it, is that we really do it to secure our own sense of honour and social standing. </p>
<p>And, as Bourdieu points out in his book, <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YHN8uW49l7AC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=gift&f=false">The Logic of Practice</a>, we often feel obliged to offer a counter-gift in the same way we might, in another situation, answer a challenge with a riposte. The feminist philosopher and writer <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3173505?sid=21104917699901&uid=4&uid=2&uid=3738032">Hélène Cixous agrees</a>. “For the moment you receive something you are effectively ‘open’ to the other”, she suggests, and it is this “openness” which we often perceive as “inequality”, as a “difference of strength”, a kind of “threat” that we have to neutralise by giving in return. </p>
<h2>The impossible present</h2>
<p>It’s precisely this notion of exchange, of reciprocity, that undermines the very notion of the gift, <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2Y5KbWiM6l8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">Jacques Derrida tells us</a>. A gift should by its very nature, according to Derrida, be “that which interrupts economy” and breaks the circle of credit and debt. </p>
<p>But is this really possible? Cixous suggests it is if we accept that state of being “open” to another by giving without thought of return and refraining from giving the counter-gift. The first seems easier, though that runs the risk of appearing smugly munificent, while the second is trickier: by choosing to not reciprocate, we run the risk of appearing rude, ungrateful, uncaring, broke, and at the very least badly organised.</p>
<p>There’s no question in Henry’s tale that Della will find a way to give a present to her husband – she has been saving for months. And yet in the end, it is the hug that Jim gives Della when he realises what has happened that elevates this particular gift-giving beyond exchange to the level of the magi. So perhaps Henry does point the way to “real gift-giving” after all. </p>
<p>And on that note, guilt free, I’m off to join the throng and finish my own Christmas shopping.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. So O Henry tells us in his classic Christmas…
Lisa Regan, Lecturer of English, University of Liverpool
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35206
2014-12-23T11:54:13Z
2014-12-23T11:54:13Z
Twelve reasons your children should watch films at Christmas
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67998/original/image-20141223-32194-xbmbdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">"No crackers, Gromit! We’ve forgotten the crackers!”</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-160767650/stock-photo-chinese-young-couple-with-their-daughter-watching-tv.html?src=pd-same_model-160767659-tQIeorLQADj3LRP1rv5Otw-3">Chinaview</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Christmas is a time for nostalgia, a time where even the most hardened cynics among us might reflect on our Christmases past with a certain warmth. And there’s no better way to set aside the slings and arrows of daily life than by shutting the curtains and snuggling up to watch a film. </p>
<p>This is not simply escapism or occupying the kids while the presents are wrapped. You shouldn’t need an excuse to encourage children to watch films but, in the spirit of the season, I offer you 12.</p>
<h2>1. Shared experiences</h2>
<p>Those of us of a certain age will remember the delights of settling down to watch the afternoon Christmas film. We all watched <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Dorothy</a> in her red shoes vanquish the wicked witch of the west and uncover the humbug Oz. We have all been invited to sing along to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Sound of Music</a> or been delighted by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084701/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Snowman</a>. These shared experiences act as a social glue – we may not all feel the same about each film, but we share a common experience of their place in our seasonal celebrations. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sing along with Julie Andrews, and half the nation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Connecting generations</h2>
<p>As a child my grandma used to tell me stories based on Hollywood melodramas as if they were fairy stories. This was my induction into the black and white world of the “weepy”. Soon I was an avid watcher of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000012/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Bette Davies</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Olivia de Havilland</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000046/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Vivian Leigh</a> films. Watching the films of our parents and grandparents connects us to their experiences and to their life histories. In doing so, children’s experiences of narrative are extended.</p>
<h2>3. Making the familiar strange</h2>
<p>If we only ever watch films of the same genre we may end up in a cultural cul de sac. Watching unfamiliar films helps children to see what is distinct about the films they usually choose and importantly that there’s a world out there for them to discover. Hollywood musicals such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047673/?ref_=nv_sr_1">White Christmas</a> or Westerns such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044706/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">High Noon</a> might take them out of their cultural comfort zones.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">High Noon, the classic Western – if the going gets tough there’s always a cinematic stand off to lighten the mood.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Learning film language</h2>
<p>Children who watch lots of films are not goggle eyed, just as children who read books are not risking their sight. My <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/children-film-and-literacy-becky-parry/?K=9781137294326">own research</a> suggests that when children have watched many diverse films they start to see the underlying film language or grammar and this helps them to develop their understanding of narrative more widely. If we said our children spent all day reading books no one would bat an eye.</p>
<h2>5. A break from cheese</h2>
<p>Nostalgia needn’t have an exclusive hold over Christmas. In the films of Tim Burton such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">A Nightmare Before Christmas</a>, children can encounter a visceral, visual feast. Adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0486655/">Stardust</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366780/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Mirrormask</a> also challenge ideas about just how scary children’s stories can be, while Terry Gilliam’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096764/">Baron Munchhausen</a> is full of grotesque, playful and Pythonesque quirks which offer children a break from the generic conventions of the Disney fairy tales.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Stardust, based on the novel by Neil Gaimon, has all the ingredients of a great Christmas film with magic and just a little bit of murder.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>6. Widening cultural experiences</h2>
<p>As a child in the 1980s it was regularly possible to watch black and white films, musicals and even the odd short film just by turning on Channel 4 and BBC2 at the right times. This is trickier now, which is why film festivals are so important for promoting international films. At this year’s <a href="http://www.leedsyoungfilm.com/">Leeds Young Film Festival</a>, the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2364975/">We Are The Best</a> was screened. A truly joyous and uniquely Swedish film, this is the hilarious story of a teenage 1980s girl punk band. </p>
<p>Film festival websites are a great source of new ideas for films for children. Japanese Studio Ghibli films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347618/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Cat Returns</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568921/">Arietty</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096283/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">My Neighbour Totoro</a> offer children a distinct visual style, humour and narrative – and are great stocking fillers.</p>
<h2>7. Imagining the past</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">In The Secret Garden (1993), a group of children discover a hidden garden and bring it back to life.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Victorian era was a rich time for children’s literature. Now, the many adaptations of the work of Dickens make great festive treats, especially when combined with Jim Henson’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104940/">muppets</a>. There are some other very powerful adaptations of children’s classics which deserve a particular mention. In Agnieszka Holland’s adaptation of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108071/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Secret Garden</a> we see new life breathed into Mary Lennox, a character sidelined by previous screen versions. Similarly, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366450/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Five Children and It</a>, E Nesbit’s classic tale exploring the second war and loss in the midst of magic and myth is brought to life by Eddie Izzard’s sand fairy. </p>
<h2>8. Developing empathy</h2>
<p>Film often physically presents the viewpoint of particular characters, asking the audience to imagine how it feels to see the world differently. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/">ET</a> explores the world from a child’s height as ET and Elliott see it, inviting us to laugh and weep with them. In the wealth of films about childhood from around the world, children can experience the world through the eyes of other children. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2073600/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Lad: A Yorkshire Story</a>, which won the audience and jury prize at the Leeds festival, is that all too rare a thing –- a British film for children. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">In the 2013 film Lad: A Yorkshire Story, Tom Proctor struggles after the death of his father, but then he meets a local park ranger.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>9. Suspending disbelief</h2>
<p>Being able to put doubts and disbelief to one side and imagine the unknown or unlikely is a skill some find harder than others. The late <a href="http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/education/annacraft/">Anna Craft</a> described this crucial aspect of creativity as “possibility thinking”. Films, especially those created for children, complete with wizards, talking animals and magic portals to other lands may be fantasy but they helps us make the imaginative leaps that might just help us change the world. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119095/">FairyTale: A True Story</a> delightfully examines this dilemma.</p>
<h2>10. Being Bored</h2>
<p>Boredom is under-rated. Boredom is a precursor to creativity and induces resourcefulness. Being bored helps us focus on alternatives. So if your children find your film suggestion boring, it might be time to put digital technology to good use and help your child make their own film. See <a href="http://learnaboutfilm.com/">learnaboutfilm.com</a> to help get you started. This is, after all, how Nick Park started on his journey to creating <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112691/">Wallace and Gromit</a> and other Aardman <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099317/">classics</a>, now staples of the British Christmas diet.</p>
<h2>11. Cry hard</h2>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Great Escape – a good action film for older children.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I once overheard a passenger on the train I was travelling to work in say “it’s not Christmas without the Die Hard films.” Much as I personally find this surprising, strong action and emotional impact are still key ingredients for the festive season. Perhaps this is the time to introduce older children to films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058777/">Zulu</a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Great Escape</a>, which provide these qualities in a very different way. For older children films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468565/">Tsotsi</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252444/">Rabbit Proof Fence</a> explore the extreme circumstances children are so often exposed to. We should not be afraid to let our children encounter sorrow on film – they need to see their own lives represented on the screen and to know that, yes, sometimes bad things happen.</p>
<h2>12. Laughing out loud</h2>
<p>The sheer joy of a funny film – what better gift is there at Christmas? The antics of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/list/ls005126419/">Laurel and Hardy</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0016488/?ref_=fn_al_ch_1">Monsieur Hulot</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000122/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Chaplain</a> or the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2580347/?ref_=fn_al_nm_4">Marx brothers</a> feature the sort of physical humour which is almost universally funny. But we have our own proud tradition of comedy in Britain, no better represented than by the Ealing Comedies. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041546/">Kind Hearts and Coronets</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048281/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">The Ladykillers</a> are great favourites in our house, but for me <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039478/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Hue and Cry</a> uniquely combines the Ealing humour with a story in which the children are at the heart of the narrative – solving crimes and putting adults in their place. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The LadyKillers – the classic heist movie with a British twist.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And if the adults are behaving badly over the Christmas period, children, make them sit and watch <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314519/">Pollyanna</a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044008/?ref_=nv_sr_2">Scrooge</a> while you treat yourself to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0845046/">Son of Rambow</a>,
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124653/">The Girl with Brains in her Feet</a>
or, a personal favourite, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104522/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Into the West </a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35206/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Becky Parry receives funding from Cape UK.</span></em></p>
Christmas is a time for nostalgia, a time where even the most hardened cynics among us might reflect on our Christmases past with a certain warmth. And there’s no better way to set aside the slings and…
Becky Parry, Lecturer in Education and Childhood Studies, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35755
2014-12-22T14:53:52Z
2014-12-22T14:53:52Z
We’re simply having an analogue Christmas time
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67888/original/image-20141221-31557-1is5b6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=426%2C763%2C4229%2C3255&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stalled.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">JMicic/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The British Christmas that <a href="http://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/christmas-carol/">Charles Dickens</a> serves up to us is rich in food and warmth, two things that in his day were often thinly stretched throughout the year in many homes. These days, for most of the year, the thing that many of us are short of is attention. So at Christmas we lavish it on each other.</p>
<p>My colleague <a href="http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/c3ri/people/professor-daniela-petrelli">Daniela Petrelli</a> and I have been studying Christmas as it is celebrated in a small sample of homes in Sheffield in northern England for some years. It’s what I call “slow research” – our moment comes but once a year. We’ve found that despite the torrent of phones, tablets, laptops and other gizmos that might be given as gifts, the Christmas holiday has not yet been thoroughly infiltrated by technology – in fact, the households we studied are more likely to switch off. On the whole, the use of technology at Christmas is interesting in that it stops being used. </p>
<h2>Reaching out, looking in</h2>
<p>In the period up to Christmas Eve, people widen out their social network to its fullest: weeks are filled with work parties, seeing friends, sending or emailing cards and reaching out to contact people worldwide who perhaps are only ever contacted at Christmast </p>
<p>Then, as the holidays start in earnest, the pattern largely reverses and the focus narrows to our nearest and dearest. We stop looking outwards. And we stop using the media that distract us. In some of the households we spoke to, using the computer, playing games or fiddling with phones were banned on Christmas Day itself (although texting and Twitter are making incursions in a low-key way, and Skype lends itself to providing contact with remote children or grandchildren). There aren’t even many photographs taken, unlike at weddings or when on holiday – occasions that sometimes seem to exist only to be recorded and Instagramed.</p>
<p>Instead people start doing things that are familiar from the last century, like watching the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0">Doctor Who Special</a> and the Queen’s Speech, all together, at the same time, and on the same screen. Families gather in the living room to play board games such as Trivial Pursuit. And this happens regardless of how boring some people find it – we heard how parts of the family timed their visits to avoid these activities. Christmas is a time for tradition, and perhaps due to their relatively recent arrival, most digital technologies have yet to be included.</p>
<h2>Giving presents, being present</h2>
<p>Meanwhile there is other evidence for the importance of shared attention. Families have developed their own rituals to ensure that the family participate in things together, rather than just end up in the same room, but with each absorbed by their own devices. For instance, one family has come to use opening presents as a shared ritual:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s done during the whole of Christmas Day – we might do a couple of rounds of present opening, and then go off and have a walk, and then a bit more present opening, and then make lunch. It’s very paced, so now people have often got presents at the end of the day. In fact, there is a competition to see who can drag it out the longest.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>People in our studies worried that they had not spent enough time choosing presents. They talked about making their gifts. They complained about Christmas cards from afar that didn’t have enough news in them. They assembled crackers from scratch. In <a href="http://www.academia.edu/9630402/The_Rhythm_of_Christmas_Temporality_ICT_Use_and_Design_for_the_Idiosyncrasies_of_a_Major_Festival">our last paper</a>, given this December, we wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… looked at with the eyes of efficiency, Christmas is merely time-consuming: shopping at the same time as a majority, handwriting cards and sending them through the post, putting up temporary decorations, making food that could be bought and so on.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But far from being merely “inefficient”, it is this very time-consuming, hand-wrought stuff that makes Christmas special for those households we spoke to. These preparations are small acts of devotion to the people they love.</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s no surprise then that the tools that take us out into the world or distract us from our surroundings, such as social networking or online games, have been banished for now. While there are, rightly, concerns about a digital divide, it seems that many of us are happy to step over that divide and become non-users for a day or so, at least once a year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35755/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Light is a member of the RSA and the ACM.</span></em></p>
The British Christmas that Charles Dickens serves up to us is rich in food and warmth, two things that in his day were often thinly stretched throughout the year in many homes. These days, for most of…
Ann Light, Professor of Design, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35530
2014-12-22T12:25:52Z
2014-12-22T12:25:52Z
The soundtrack to Christmas is changing – here’s a compilation of reasons why
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67897/original/image-20141222-31557-1sy03mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Perfect for every stressed Christmas shopper.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-11713570/stock-photo-a-dvd-and-cd-shop.html?src=I3Fa9BqpaYxAiRNMWuXjJg-1-12">Ollyy/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The festive season music charts are some of the most competitive of the year, and so Christmas is all about singles. This was especially the case in 2014, which saw the X-Factor’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/21/x-factor-winner-ben-haenow-wins-race-christmas-no-1">Ben Haenow</a> trump Band Aid 30 to win that crown of glory (and cash cow), the <a href="http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/x-factors-ben-haenow-crowned-2014-official-christmas-number-1-3373/">Official Christmas Number 1</a>. </p>
<p>But the festive season is also the time of that classic stocking filler: the Christmas compilation. The perfect gift for the person you don’t really know. A vanilla gesture of sorts.</p>
<p>So here’s a rundown of some of the compilations you might find in your Christmas stocking this year. If you get one, perhaps it’s something to treasure. Because it doesn’t look like this is a tradition set to continue. </p>
<h2>Greatest hits</h2>
<p>Career retrospectives from the likes of David Bowie and The Who are purposefully released in the latter stages of the year to make for perfect stocking fillers. </p>
<p>Such compilations are perfect for those unfamiliar with their works. No true fan would want to pay for all the songs they already own packaged up with a shiny new album cover, so that’s why they come out now. Other people buy them as gifts for those fans, thinking they’ve really sussed it. The same goes for live comedy DVDs.</p>
<iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:album:32AODg8lzwKusDg5rCq9N0" width="100%" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>
<p>Older generations <a href="http://www.statista.com/statistics/325097/age-distribution-of-physical-music-consumers-in-the-uk/">still prefer hard copies of music</a>. Younger music fans, however, the “digital natives”, know that such music compilations are increasingly redundant in the era of the digital download (legal or otherwise).</p>
<p>But such releases have retained their place in the canon of major artists. They’re inexpensive to produce. Aside from the odd new song or remix, there is little or no studio time involved. The songs have already been written and recorded. And in an era that is typified by nostalgia, with a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30216638">resurgence in vinyl</a>, for instance, there is also widespread interest in the back catalogues of older artists. So for now, they’re safe.</p>
<h2>Official movie soundtracks</h2>
<p>Film soundtracks have always been a sure gift, both highlighting some sense of musical nouse along with a conversation starter about your favourite film of the year. But sadly this particularly superior brand of compilation looks less likely than normal to lie under your Christmas tree.</p>
<p>This is because <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Handbook-Music-Studies-Handbooks/dp/0195328493">the slump in the sales of movie soundtracks has been greater than that of albums more generally</a>. Why this is the case remains open to speculation, but it may simply be a consequence of <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-07-23/sector-wrap-goldman-says-movie-theaters-struggle">reduced cinema attendance</a>.</p>
<iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:album:3y7Mwv7UqhABQqsGlzSL6n" width="100%" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>
<p>Importantly, many soundtracks have often acted as a sampler of particular genres, as with the popular alternative 90’s soundtracks for <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109506/">The Crow</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120177/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Spawn</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Matrix</a>, for example. They acted as a mixtape of sorts. Some films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109445/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Clerks</a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105415/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Singles</a> were even effectively sold on the basis of their soundtracks. </p>
<p>But with the ability to download single songs nowadays the appeal of such packages is, well, less appealing (though don’t forget the incredibly popular soundtrack to <a href="https://theconversation.com/guardians-of-the-galaxy-why-1970s-pop-produces-awesome-mixtapes-30804">Guardians of the Galaxy</a> earlier this year). </p>
<p>Movie soundtracks are adapting to the new listening trends dictated by the digital world. They have <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Handbook-Music-Studies-Handbooks/dp/0195328493">become more eclectic</a>, mirroring the new listening styles of consumers. People are more and more likely to listen to a variety of genres, due to the freedom of digital music. </p>
<p>So films still promote music very effectively, but this is far more likely to be a single track rather than an album. Think of Pharrell Williams’ phenomenally successful single “Happy”, which was written for the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690953/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Despicable Me 2</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q-GLuydiMe4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>There’s also a recent trend for popular musicians to act as composers for films. Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, for example, wrote the score for <a href="http://pitchfork.com/news/55070-radioheads-jonny-greenwood-announces-debut-us-performances-of-there-will-be-blood-score/">There Will Be Blood</a>, and Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor for <a href="http://variety.com/2014/film/news/gone-girl-soundtrack-trent-reznor-preview-1201310426/">Gone Girl</a>. Bringing these artists on board means bringing with them their legions of fans dead-set on completing their collections by snapping up their soundtrack work. So perhaps this isn’t the end of the line for this particular kind of album. </p>
<h2>End-of-the-year rundowns</h2>
<p>But it is hits of the year compilations that are probably the most likely candidates for stockings. Innocuous, yet assuming a relative lack of musical knowledge in the receiver. </p>
<p>Recently the 89th entry in the enduring Now That’s What I Call Music series became <a href="http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/now-89-becomes-uks-fastest-selling-album-of-2014-3318/">the fastest selling album of 2014</a>. This comes as something of a surprise given the general shift to streaming, but <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/dec/09/how-we-made-now-thats-what-i-call-music">the Now series has always been popular</a>. It’s an inexpensive way to access a wide range of songs. Such compilations act as “authoritative” playlists, providing an entry-level means to listen to songs by a variety of artists. </p>
<p>Despite this recent upturn I’m unsure how long this can go on. Free playlists on music sharing platforms provide a much easier and cheaper alternative.</p>
<p>And accordingly, I will be sticking to my own hand-picked playlists on my music subscription service of choice, and hoping that no-one will think so little of me to buy me either of the above three kinds of compilation. I don’t care for “authoritative” compilations of anything. Not when I can pick and choose as I please and take control over what I listen to.</p>
<p>So if you’re listening, Santa, there’s no need to bring me, at least, any stocking fillers this year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Caldwell Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The festive season music charts are some of the most competitive of the year, and so Christmas is all about singles. This was especially the case in 2014, which saw the X-Factor’s Ben Haenow trump Band…
Steven Caldwell Brown, PhD Student (Music Psychology), Glasgow Caledonian University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35512
2014-12-19T16:24:25Z
2014-12-19T16:24:25Z
’Tis the season of giving, or – for some – online microfinance
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67819/original/image-20141219-31570-12blayo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No fooling Santa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">francemora via shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At this time of the year, our mailboxes and inboxes get flooded with Christmas appeals. Many of them feature heart-wrenching and guilt-inducing images of people in need, the idea being that they tug at our purse strings. This method of fundraising has provoked debates over the idea of <a href="http://aidthoughts.org/?p=69">“poverty porn”</a> and the risk it runs of people getting tired of these images.</p>
<p>There is one kind of appeal that is different. It asks people to lend small amounts of money to budding entrepreneurs around the world, usually in developing countries. What has become known as microcredit or microlending has proven extremely popular with everyday people in the Global North.</p>
<h2>Enduring popularity</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.tandf.net/books/details/9780415856089/">My research</a> has shown that microcredit’s representational practices and the affective connections it forges between lenders and borrowers have much to do with it.</p>
<p>Firstly, images of microlending replace sad faces with smiling women, often in colourful traditional clothes in their places of work. These are photos of strong, responsible, enterprising women who work hard to elevate themselves and their families out of poverty. They are market women, vegetable growers, tailors and artisans. Men are usually absent from these depictions, much as they are absent from microcredit at large, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8322.12058/abstract">although that is slowly changing</a>. </p>
<p>These photos are usually accompanied by narratives of success, which generally take a standard format that recounts how a woman received a loan, started a business, grew it successfully and thereby escaped poverty. These representations speak of values with which the people asked to make loans can identify: improving one’s home, sending one’s children to school, growing a business. More often than not, these stories are positive and upbeat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67820/original/image-20141219-31545-1rsiw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67820/original/image-20141219-31545-1rsiw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67820/original/image-20141219-31545-1rsiw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67820/original/image-20141219-31545-1rsiw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67820/original/image-20141219-31545-1rsiw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67820/original/image-20141219-31545-1rsiw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67820/original/image-20141219-31545-1rsiw90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the women you can find out about and sponsor on Kiva.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hodag/3970411918">hodag</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Double investment</h2>
<p>In recent years, microlending has moved online, whereby it has managed to reach and win over wider audiences. For example, in the US, a social enterprise called <a href="http://www.kiva.org/">Kiva</a> has lent more than US$645m to close to 1.5m people in 85 countries around the world (including the US itself) since it was founded in 2005. The money has been raised, often just US$25 a time, from more than 1m lenders, mainly residing in the US, Europe and Australia, but also from developing countries. There are similar websites in <a href="http://www.babyloan.org">France</a>, <a href="http://www.wokai.org">China</a>, <a href="http://www.rangde.org">India</a> and other places.</p>
<p>Microlending websites strengthen the connections between lenders and borrowers by sending regular updates to lenders, keeping them informed of how the recipients of their loans are getting on. This gives investors satisfaction, both financially and emotionally, to see their borrowers succeed. It’s a double investment. </p>
<p>Online microfinance is successful by cultivating a sense of person-to-person connection, seemingly linking one lender with one borrower to reinforce this. It is similar to the charities which ask you to sponsor a child, but these connections hide the intermediary organisations, such as Kiva and its many microfinance partner organisations that are disbursing the loans on the ground. </p>
<p>Often, they aggregate the Kiva money, so that the loan made to a particular “Kiva entrepreneur” via their website is usually given to another borrower at the partner organisation. So the person-to-person connection is often an illusion rather than reality.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the promised transparency appeals to donors who have become wary of NGOs’ overheads and inefficiencies and want to know exactly where their money goes and what difference it makes. In contrast to one-off donations, lending is also a two-way exchange that keeps money in circulation, so that it can be given over and over again.</p>
<h2>Increasing criticism</h2>
<p>Microcredit is based on ideas popularised by Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his contribution to making the poor, and especially poor women, worthy of inclusion into formal financial systems. </p>
<p>In order to make up for the fact that the poor often have insufficient goods or property to make them eligible for loans from mainstream banks, Yunus organised them into small lending groups where women cross-guarantee each others’ loans. He thereby replaced physical with social collateral. Yunus himself has contributed much to microlending’s success, through his charismatic personality and his insistence on microcredit’s simplicity.</p>
<p>What the positive stories of microcredit ignore is that microcredit is also trading in debt and should more honestly be called microdebt. This has attendant risk. While in financial circles (and on Kiva), the risk is usually attributed to lenders, many critical scholars have shown that it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-save-the-soul-of-microfinance-32345">poor women borrowers who are exposed</a> to multiple risks when taking on loans, no matter how small. High interest rates, hard to understand contracts, predatory lending and abusive loan recovery practices, often in the absence of consumer protection legislation, have all been fuelled by micro-credit’s commercialisation. </p>
<p>The real impact microcredit can have in terms of alleviating poverty has also not been fully established.</p>
<p>In spite of these criticisms, the general public remains largely supportive of microlending. This is often because they are not aware of them. So, if you receive a Kiva gift card or are asked to <a href="http://www.lendwithcare.org">Lend with Care</a> this Christmas, it’s worth doing your research before you click the “lend” button.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35512/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anke Schwittay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
At this time of the year, our mailboxes and inboxes get flooded with Christmas appeals. Many of them feature heart-wrenching and guilt-inducing images of people in need, the idea being that they tug at…
Anke Schwittay, Seniour Lecturer in Anthropology and International Development, University of Sussex
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35598
2014-12-18T16:39:51Z
2014-12-18T16:39:51Z
Get into the festive spirit by not eating turkey this Christmas
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67664/original/image-20141218-31043-zijj3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Have you considered a Quorn Christmas?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/spursfan_ace/2866552400">David Reece</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If I say “Christmas dinner”, perhaps the following image is conjured up: a large table groaning under the weight of roast potatoes, parsnips, peas, Brussels sprouts, a jug of gravy, and in the centre “the bird”. A turkey. When slowly roasted and served with all the trimmings, turkey is delicious. I have very fond memories of eating turkey Christmas dinners. </p>
<p>If I had been asked what I was eating, I would probably have said something like the bird at the top of this article.</p>
<p>Yes, there is something a little ridiculous about the snood and wattle, the red fleshy dangly bits above and below the turkey’s head, but overall it’s quite a handsome creature. <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/raid-on-butterball-turkey-farm-uncovers-egregious-acts-of-animal-cruelty">This animal</a>, or the ones pictured below, not so much.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the latter are <a href="http://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm-animals/turkeys">rather more representative</a> of the sort of turkey that will be served up on Christmas day this year. This animal is in such a shocking state because it was kept in shocking conditions. It probably never saw sunlight, having lived out its entire 16-week life in a massive barn, perhaps a repurposed aircraft hanger, along with thousands of others. </p>
<p>As its breast muscles ballooned to gargantuan proportions it would have struggled to stand and so would have spent prolonged periods sitting on the thick layer of wood chip, urine, faeces and dead turkeys that constitute the floor. This mix of decomposing organic matter <a href="http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/production/poultry/managing-ammonia-production-in-your-turkey-litter.html">produces ammonia</a> which on contact with skin would cause festering open sores.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67674/original/image-20141218-31018-nabhg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67674/original/image-20141218-31018-nabhg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67674/original/image-20141218-31018-nabhg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67674/original/image-20141218-31018-nabhg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67674/original/image-20141218-31018-nabhg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67674/original/image-20141218-31018-nabhg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67674/original/image-20141218-31018-nabhg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For some turkeys Christmas can’t come soon enough.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/farmsanctuary1/2808680555">Farm Sanctuary</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’m sure turkey farmers don’t want their birds to suffer. But they have a strong incentive to produce the maximum amount of turkey meat (<a href="http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/3195/global-poultry-trends-2013-more-turkey-meat-eaten-but-less-per-person">global production was 5.6m tons in 2012</a>) with the minimal amount of time and expense. This has led to selective breeding and rearing methods that produce turkeys that mature faster and have higher adult weight. Perhaps the apex of such practices are seen in another bird farmed for its meat – the <a href="http://www.ukagriculture.com/livestock/broiler_chickens.cfm">broiler chicken</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1920s a farmer would rear a chicken for 120 days before it reached the weight of 1.5kg. Today, it takes about 40. This tremendous increase in the speed of development produces a range of <a href="http://www.upc-online.org/broiler/skeletal_problems.html">skeletal</a>, <a href="http://www.spottedcowpress.ca/chapters/06Abnormalities.pdf">metabolic</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19184851">skin</a> abnormalities. </p>
<p>Often the birds are <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001545">too heavy to even stand</a> and <a href="http://www.fwi.co.uk/poultry/hock-burn-is-a-weighty-issue-for-broiler-growers.htm">hock burns</a>, where ammonia has burnt the skin on legs and feet, are common. Some slaughter houses purposefully remove these marks as they tend to discourage the consumer. Unfortunately bacterial infections are harder to clear up. Recent investigation into UK supermarket chickens found that <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/11November/Pages/Majority-of-supermarket-chickens-carry-food-bug.aspx">more than 70% were infected</a> with campylobacter, a common cause of food poisoning.</p>
<p>Delving deeper into the <a href="http://www.eatinganimals.com">industrialised animal production system</a> quickly produces more disturbing material. The fact that, in many parts of the world, pigs are kept so <a href="http://www.ciwf.org.uk/our-campaigns/pigs/">confined in birthing crates</a> that they cannot turn around is wrong given <a href="http://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/pigheaded-smart-swine/">what we know about pigs</a>, their sociability, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/science/10angier.html?_r=0">consciousness</a> and capacity to feel stressed. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67669/original/image-20141218-31040-xph5rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67669/original/image-20141218-31040-xph5rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67669/original/image-20141218-31040-xph5rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67669/original/image-20141218-31040-xph5rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67669/original/image-20141218-31040-xph5rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67669/original/image-20141218-31040-xph5rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67669/original/image-20141218-31040-xph5rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These are live pigs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gestcrate01.jpg">Farm Sanctuary</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But it’s the <a href="http://www.butterballabuse.com/?lang=en">incidents</a> of <a href="http://www.9news.com/story/money/business/2014/09/17/animal-abuse-dairy-farm/15782887/">intentional</a> animal <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/11/yet-again-undercover-video-docuemts-savage-abuse-factory-pig-farm">mistreatment</a> that are truly awful. The reporting and undercover filming in such cases is admirable as these issues are important and should be discussed widely. </p>
<p>The link to one such video is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShCgGGqlrEU">here</a>, but in all honesty I cannot recommend its viewing as it is deeply disturbing. Adult pigs are kicked, beaten and electrocuted. Young piglets are lifted up and dashed onto the ground and left twitching in pools of blood. </p>
<p>These are extreme and hopefully isolated incidents. But it is still the case that our global food production involves the mechanised mistreatment of billions of sentient beings.</p>
<p>At this point, it’s important to stress that the response to these issues wouldn’t be solved by free-range or organic practices alone. If nothing else, there probably isn’t enough room on the surface of the Earth for the non-intensive farming of all the animals we currently have, let along the significant increase projected by the middle of this century. We need to care for our animals better and rear fewer of them.</p>
<p>The Earth has <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/global-livestock-counts">19 billion chickens</a>. There are more than one and a half billion cattle, about a billion pigs and a billion sheep. This <a href="http://xkcd.com">xkcd</a> cartoon gives some context for these numbers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67554/original/image-20141217-31021-1vz9lf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67554/original/image-20141217-31021-1vz9lf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67554/original/image-20141217-31021-1vz9lf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67554/original/image-20141217-31021-1vz9lf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67554/original/image-20141217-31021-1vz9lf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67554/original/image-20141217-31021-1vz9lf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67554/original/image-20141217-31021-1vz9lf0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spot the wild animals.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s an effective visualisation of the impacts humans have had on the biosphere and it asks us: why do we eat so much meat? </p>
<p>While population increase is clearly important, it is not so much the increase in total numbers of humans, but rather the increasing per capita consumption of meat. As nations develop, people become more wealthy and diets change, with increasing meat and dairy consumption being a common factor. In that respect, as <a href="http://ensia.com/voices/changing-the-global-food-narrative">others have argued</a>, when it comes to food security we don’t have a population problem but a changing diet problem. </p>
<p>Using land to grow crops to feed to animals can be grossly inefficient. A kilogram of beef requires somewhere between 7-21kg of feed. The land, water and energy that is used to produce animal feed could instead be used to grow food that would be directly consumed by humans. Fewer animals could be reared less intensively and with much greater sensitivity to their welfare. <a href="http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v4/n1/full/nclimate2081.html">Greenhouse gas emissions</a> from agriculture would be reduced along with other <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378014000338">environmental impacts</a>. </p>
<p>All of this is possible – and it’s worth pointing out that we currently live in a world where 800m go <a href="http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats">hungry</a> while 1.4 billion are <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/">overweight</a>. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-hit-peak-obesity-but-tough-measures-still-needed-to-tackle-waistlines-34898">increasing obesity crisis</a> starkly reminds us that we can have too much of a good thing and that <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/red-meat.aspx">includes meat</a>. </p>
<p>This Christmas, consider a non-meat alternative to turkey, and in the New Year think about reducing your total consumption of meat. It’s perhaps one of the greatest gifts you could give to yourself and the other creatures you share the planet with.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35598/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
If I say “Christmas dinner”, perhaps the following image is conjured up: a large table groaning under the weight of roast potatoes, parsnips, peas, Brussels sprouts, a jug of gravy, and in the centre “the…
James Dyke, Lecturer in Complex Systems Simulation, University of Southampton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35577
2014-12-18T14:10:33Z
2014-12-18T14:10:33Z
What the books you receive this Christmas say about you
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67636/original/image-20141218-31031-1ruk5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">50 Shades? How dare you!</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Olesya Feketa/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Christmas is a time to give generously and receive graciously. And yet… And yet. Many of us have opened Christmas presents and thought: what does it say about me that you thought this – <em>this!</em> – was the gift for me? Do you know me at all? The Christmas presents we receive can yield all sorts of insights into how our nearest and dearest see us, many of them quite unexpected.</p>
<p>Novels are, generally speaking, a flattering gift to receive. The giver thinks, at the very least, that you’re literate. Perhaps they even have you down as a sensitive intellectual. But if you don’t know what the book you’ve just unwrapped is, how can you pass instant judgement upon it? Happily, I can help with a guide to likely literary stocking fillers of 2014.</p>
<h2>George Saunders: Tenth of December</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67653/original/image-20141218-31018-bwmz8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67653/original/image-20141218-31018-bwmz8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67653/original/image-20141218-31018-bwmz8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67653/original/image-20141218-31018-bwmz8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67653/original/image-20141218-31018-bwmz8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67653/original/image-20141218-31018-bwmz8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67653/original/image-20141218-31018-bwmz8v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bloomsbury</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>What is it?</strong> Winner of this year’s Folio Prize and critical plaudits aplenty, Saunders’ book of satirical short stories has attracted attention in all the right quarters. Razor sharp and pretty bloody surreal, Saunders’ paranoid take on the contemporary consumerist world offers some bleak laughs. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>How should I feel about it?</strong> You’re seen as a literary afficionado with a sense of humour as dark, classy and ethically spot-on as a bar of Green & Blacks Dark 70%. Feel smug.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>John Green: The Fault in Our Stars</h2>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>What is it?</strong> Wow, really? You haven’t seen this around? A Young Adult (YA) novel which has sold 10.7m copies since publication in 2012, the cult of The Fault in Our Stars has accelerated this year thanks to the film adaption. Written by novelist, historian and former children’s cancer ward chaplain John Green it’s a love story narrated by a wisecracking terminally ill teenage girl.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>How should I feel about it?</strong> Don’t fret: it’s okay for adults to read YA novels now and doesn’t suggest that you are widely assumed to have the reading age of a 13-year-old. A novel with death, disease and teenage love at its centre risks collapsing into a sweet and gooey mess, but the story is rescued by Green’s dry wit and unflinchingly truthful approach. Risk surprising yourself and read it (with tissues).</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67654/original/image-20141218-31025-19wg9k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67654/original/image-20141218-31025-19wg9k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67654/original/image-20141218-31025-19wg9k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67654/original/image-20141218-31025-19wg9k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67654/original/image-20141218-31025-19wg9k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67654/original/image-20141218-31025-19wg9k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67654/original/image-20141218-31025-19wg9k8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1203&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Random House</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Richard Flanagan: The Narrow Road to the Deep North</h2>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>What is it?</strong> The winner of the Man Booker Prize this year, significant because 2014 marked the first time the prize was open to novels published outside the UK. Be sure to drily remark that it’s somehow better it went to an Australian and not an American. Flanagan mined his father’s harrowing experiences as a POW in Burma to write this stirring historical saga. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>How should I feel about it?</strong> Do you get given the Man Booker Prize-winning novel every Christmas, squint at it squiffily on Boxing Day, then forget about it? If so, the universe is telling you to develop a stronger sense of what you actually like reading and come clean about it. No one needs a shelf full of guilt trips. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Karen Joy Fowler: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves</h2>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>What is it?</strong> Fowler’s story is essentially all about family – a subject that’s hard to escape at Christmas – and serves up the old nature/nurture debate with a refreshing new twist. Also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, not too shabby.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>How should I feel about it?</strong> You’re seen as a switched-on and literary but unpretentious. You’re the kind of person with the confidence to put forward what to read next at Book Club from time to time, and who usually makes a popular choice. Feel quietly pleased. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Stephen King: Revival</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67655/original/image-20141218-31043-p1iu8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67655/original/image-20141218-31043-p1iu8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67655/original/image-20141218-31043-p1iu8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67655/original/image-20141218-31043-p1iu8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67655/original/image-20141218-31043-p1iu8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67655/original/image-20141218-31043-p1iu8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67655/original/image-20141218-31043-p1iu8z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon & Schuster</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>What is it?</strong> King’s 49th novel, out last month, and he’s back in the horror genre with a story that King himself pronounced “too scary”. King tips his hat to Shelley’s Frankenstein in this tale of a washed-up musician and his friendship with a Methodist preacher whose experiments with electricity turn sinister…</p></li>
<li><p><strong>How should I feel about it?</strong> If you’re a Methodist preacher, there may be grounds to take offence. If you’re just a discerning reader, though, you may want to suspend judgement. Horror is no longer banished to the literary basement (see YA fiction). You certainly shouldn’t dismiss the pull which King’s taut and twisted thrillers can exert on a reader, but by most accounts this latest doesn’t show him at the peak of his powers. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>David Nicholls: Us</h2>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>What is it?</strong> Nicholls’s first since the blockbuster One Day sees him retain his focus on the dynamics of romantic relationships over time. This time an older couple, Douglas and Connie, are on a “Grand Tour” of Europe with their teenage son before he leaves for university. But when the holiday is over, will Connie be leaving home too? A thoughtful but relatively lightweight novel which generated some column inches after its surprise inclusion on the Man Booker Prize longlist. </p></li>
<li><p><strong>How should I feel about it?</strong> An absorbing enough read over the Christmas period, though the characters aren’t as much fun as those in One Day. The central question this time isn’t “will-they-won’t-they” get it together but the starker “will-they-won’t they” get a divorce. If this is a present from a spouse – particularly if she’s a hot-headed creative type and you’re a shy biochemist – you might want to ask some searching questions about your marriage. Maybe buy her a copy of George Saunders’s Tenth of December to show her you’ve still got it.</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35577/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bianca Leggett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Christmas is a time to give generously and receive graciously. And yet… And yet. Many of us have opened Christmas presents and thought: what does it say about me that you thought this – this! – was the…
Bianca Leggett, Teaching Fellow, Harlaxton College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35624
2014-12-18T06:20:06Z
2014-12-18T06:20:06Z
Seven ways that chemistry puts the magic into Christmas
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67472/original/image-20141217-31031-5qaues.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Getting excited!!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=158030684&src=id">Christmas by Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From the enticing aroma of the turkey in the oven to the “whoosh’” of the flames as the brandy-soaked pudding comes alight, Christmas is a wonderful time for the senses. But have you ever considered the science behind our best-loved festive traditions? Here are seven of my food and flammable favourites: </p>
<h2>Candle light, shining bright</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67473/original/image-20141217-31037-zdu5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67473/original/image-20141217-31037-zdu5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67473/original/image-20141217-31037-zdu5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67473/original/image-20141217-31037-zdu5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67473/original/image-20141217-31037-zdu5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67473/original/image-20141217-31037-zdu5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67473/original/image-20141217-31037-zdu5p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Waxing lyrical.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Candles by Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Candle-lit carol services are part of Christmas for many people, as are the ones entwined in holly on the table. Traditionally beeswax was used but while it gives great flames, it is rather expensive. Nowadays the vast majority of candles are made of paraffin wax obtained as one of the products of oil refining. These waxes are hydrocarbons, molecules made of two different elements: carbon and hydrogen.</p>
<p>When you light a candle, wax is melted, and the molten wax gets drawn up the wick, which gives a larger area for the wax to evaporate. It is <a href="http://www.explainthatstuff.com/candles.html">the gaseous wax that burns</a>, forming carbon dioxide and water, and giving out energy, which is where the heat and light come from.</p>
<p>But not all the carbon atoms get turned into carbon dioxide at one go – it is carbon-rich soot particles glowing hot that give out the yellow light that characterises a candle flame.</p>
<h2>Turkey time</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67475/original/image-20141217-31025-19m41lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67475/original/image-20141217-31025-19m41lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67475/original/image-20141217-31025-19m41lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67475/original/image-20141217-31025-19m41lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67475/original/image-20141217-31025-19m41lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67475/original/image-20141217-31025-19m41lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67475/original/image-20141217-31025-19m41lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mouth-watering.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-132413999/stock-photo-christmas-dinner-turkey.html?src=2Pgvla5TGrFESLG4tHhrgw-1-2">Turkey by Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most people know that cooking involves chemistry, and where better to start than <a href="http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/2010/12/14/christmas-dinner-chemistry/">the Christmas Day turkey</a>? The turkey meat you cook is muscle tissue, about 20% of which is protein (nearly all the rest is water), with a small but important amount of carbohydrate. If you “hang” the meat and allow it to age, enzyme catalysts naturally present in the muscle start to break down the proteins so that they lose their naturally rigid structure and the meat becomes more tender. </p>
<p>You can speed up the tenderising process by heating the meat, but above a certain temperature the enzymes stop working. This is why many chefs cook the turkey for a long time at a low temperature – if they just stuck it in a hot oven, the protein chains would tend to bunch together, which, coupled with the loss of water, results in tough and dry meat.</p>
<p>Simply cooking the meat at low temperatures wouldn’t give the meat its brown colour and the wonderful smell and taste that go with roast turkey. This is down to a chemical reaction known as the <a href="http://modernistcuisine.com/2013/03/the-maillard-reaction/">Maillard reaction</a>, which kicks in above 140°C. It’s named after the discoverer, Louis Camille Maillard (that’s Maillard, not mallard, which would be a duck, not a turkey). </p>
<p>Roast potatoes are cooked at a higher temperature than boiled potatoes – and traditionally in animal fat too – which allows Maillard reactions to occur, generating the smell and also the browning.</p>
<h2>Bitter sprouts: in the genes?</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67476/original/image-20141217-31052-1l34sqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67476/original/image-20141217-31052-1l34sqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67476/original/image-20141217-31052-1l34sqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67476/original/image-20141217-31052-1l34sqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67476/original/image-20141217-31052-1l34sqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67476/original/image-20141217-31052-1l34sqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67476/original/image-20141217-31052-1l34sqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Love em or hate em.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/baha1210/60022315/sizes/o/in/photolist-6iCxv-48Exb-3Ubo4-4koSL-48Ezv-3Ubhf-48Eq4-jMfoQ-jMf4b-48Ev4-7LuoLv-y8aH-7L9Enx-2P5ax-b8eSr-e3SLFQ-5ZzYL-9EDz4P-32fbs-32feL-694uzW-2P5aC-93npp4-niYf-mzaJ-bBAru-mYCDvX-7Luor6-6SQtRB-53Vcu6-cLHu-4mNZhE-BnkWL-32fpx-53Vcn4-53VbM6-53VbGD-31Lur4-53Vbjx-53VcEM-53Vcf2-53ZqwS-53Vbqr-53ZruQ-53Vc4z-53Zr73-5Tp2Fi-dCGBaN-5ZTQhs-dWW2Y8-6pLSoR/">Barbara L Hanson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Around <a href="http://www.soci.org/Chemistry-and-Industry/CnI-Data/2010/24/Brussels-a-bittersweet-story">40% of Brussels sprouts</a> produced for the UK market are eaten in the weeks leading up to Christmas. And if you’re one of those people who find Brussels sprouts bitter, there may well <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/nov/01/brussel-sprout-gene">be a genetic reason for it</a>. In 2006, <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060918/full/news060918-1.html">scientists found</a> that the presence of the TAS2R38 gene leads to a receptor that comes up with the “bitter” response when tasting Brussels sprouts and others in the brassica family. This bitter taste is down to compounds called glucosinolates, such as sinigrin, which are there for a reason: they help plants including Brussels sprouts, horseradish and mustard fend off insect predators.</p>
<p>It’s not all bad, though, as scientists have also found that the glucosinolates in sprouts break down to give a molecule called sulforaphane, which has promise <a href="http://pages.jh.edu/%7Ejhumag/0408web/talalay.html">in fighting some cancers</a>. So eat up those greens.</p>
<h2>Oranges aren’t the only fruit</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67478/original/image-20141217-31034-1s0qi6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67478/original/image-20141217-31034-1s0qi6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67478/original/image-20141217-31034-1s0qi6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67478/original/image-20141217-31034-1s0qi6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67478/original/image-20141217-31034-1s0qi6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67478/original/image-20141217-31034-1s0qi6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67478/original/image-20141217-31034-1s0qi6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Makes good art too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmolyneux/3601194253/sizes/o/in/photolist-6ue4A6-xM8Ut-255zTW-4uPJ66-4uPJyz-6z8zf6-8mwBZ-55GXUc-q2TFgB-aAzH38-aEEWVQ-aqbpCW-6ottML-7LbM6g-8WNXhr-9o81f4-8kGCTk-7LtZCd-3jirR1-6q5BWV-5HUatB-ok1Rr-614cKU-aACpWY-fMYMcq-h5qXZm-33AgR2-4mKvEq-33AgQK-3K6Z22-LCtqB-9cDL3s-9cDL6d-2cMeP2-6q9Lyd-3eKjqC-pZR5Mb-5H8o7u-4kodDB-9VnGVd-ybGUv-pn4Wxx-ahEEdW-ipPSXZ-3PzzNE-4mZL8K-4x2kuJ-4wX9LH-2ZcUyn-aHsVm6-68agdu/">Greg Molyneux</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Oranges are traditionally eaten at Christmas. The smell of orange peel comes from <a href="http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/octanal/octanalh.htm">very small amounts of aldehydes</a>, including the eight-carbon molecule octanal, which is slightly smaller than its brother aldehydes used to impart that amazing aroma to perfumes <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-changing-world-of-perfume-and-why-some-chemicals-are-being-taken-out-34502">such as Chanel No 5</a>.</p>
<p>More than 90% of the oil you get from the peel is made up of <a href="http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/limonene/limoneneh.htm">the hydrocarbon limonene</a>, found in lots of other fruits such as lemons and grapefruit. Because it’s a hydrocarbon – slightly larger than the hydrocarbon molecules that make up petrol – it is rather flammable, so don’t try squirting your orange oil at the candles on the table. </p>
<h2>Pudding a la flambé</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67479/original/image-20141217-31021-i04sjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67479/original/image-20141217-31021-i04sjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67479/original/image-20141217-31021-i04sjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67479/original/image-20141217-31021-i04sjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67479/original/image-20141217-31021-i04sjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67479/original/image-20141217-31021-i04sjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67479/original/image-20141217-31021-i04sjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fire extinguisher at the ready.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/minor9th/4216712388/sizes/l/in/photolist-7qBKFJ-7qUxcN-xCPwP-ivFcRG-94xBpG-5WuMoS-4gQZxF-5QpQoe-7ndvBp-7rHm17-5WqviH-9aAj9M-dELkma-94tqVJ-9gRtfQ-9gPJx3-7JRrv-aJ3tzM-5T8z52-qn4DJQ-7hyFAF-dLrX2z-dLxtZq-dLrVWR-dLrWVH-dLrWqF-dLrXk6-dLxusJ-dLrX9x-dLrXqZ-dLxu6w-dLrW8X-dLxtUd-dLxtif-dLxtB1-dLxtNE-dLxtvf-q7VNT2-7pnNaL-iGoMQ2-5Fxkcb-93L4TA-93GZy8-93GZw8-93GZwV-93GZtZ-aQNBAr-vxGuL-81Vxd-aGiS2g-94FjAD/">Minor9th</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The more obviously flammable part of the Christmas meal is the Christmas pudding. Brandy is normally used to provide the fuel: ethanol. The ethanol molecule contains some oxygen, so it burns with a clear, hot, blue flame, unlike the hydrocarbons in candle wax, which give a yellow flame. </p>
<p>Over half the brandy is actually water, so some of the heat from the fire is used to evaporate the water, which stops the pudding from getting too hot and burning to a crisp, so it keeps that moist, chewable consistency.</p>
<h2>Crackers, but not for the faint-hearted</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67481/original/image-20141217-31025-bz0tkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67481/original/image-20141217-31025-bz0tkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67481/original/image-20141217-31025-bz0tkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67481/original/image-20141217-31025-bz0tkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67481/original/image-20141217-31025-bz0tkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67481/original/image-20141217-31025-bz0tkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67481/original/image-20141217-31025-bz0tkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ready to snap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/colehouse15/11555344546/sizes/l/in/photolist-iB7amo-dZ5rXN-iB6rpB-ec4MpR-dCoo7R-b5nJfR-62GZsv-injdd-d9aiYw-7QUSb-ekf49-7r8jZZ-c6ZrxE-bWgAHd-vxyBr-64R8i9-5ndHYY-FfkUs-7qz9Xd-b5xtzK-b24s9a-iAwLEC-9bhV9Z-74XYwo-v4XVY-7qgKKM-7qg4EV-7JBNUC-eFXPdj-7Hmmdm-b5oFK2-MTSRg-jyMt5-9UbcZv-5WKXwb-c71iUQ-c6Zp7C-c6Zq2C-7QnDL1-7QnDNd-3Wf2dq-5GdT1Y/">Stephen J Cole</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And what <a href="http://www.explorecuriocity.org/content.aspx?contentid=2682">about the crackers</a> you pull at the meal? How do they work? Some crackers use a chemical called silver fulminate. It is a very shock-sensitive substance, a cousin of chemicals such as lead azide, used in detonators. </p>
<p>As you know, a cracker contains two long, narrow strips of card. One is painted with a tiny amount of silver fulminate, while the other is coated with an abrasive – a sandpaper-like material. They are in contact with each other so that when the cracker is pulled, the two strips of card slide past each other and the friction from the abrasive detonates the silver fulminate. There is only a tiny amount – micrograms – of the silver fulminate: any more and the “crack” would be a “kaboom!”</p>
<h2>Do try this at home</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67482/original/image-20141217-31021-1xqsxxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67482/original/image-20141217-31021-1xqsxxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67482/original/image-20141217-31021-1xqsxxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67482/original/image-20141217-31021-1xqsxxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67482/original/image-20141217-31021-1xqsxxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67482/original/image-20141217-31021-1xqsxxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67482/original/image-20141217-31021-1xqsxxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Added salt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vissago/3627626151/sizes/l/in/photolist-6wywSt-6wywZR/">Vissago</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Christmas trees are very flammable, for the same reasons that forest fires can spread quickly. One of the culprits is a molecule called pinene. As you’d guess from its name, it’s found in pine trees and contributes to their special smell. </p>
<p>While it goes without saying that playing with fire should come with extra precautions, here’s something involving pine cones you can try at home and which <a href="http://chemistry.about.com/od/funfireprojects/a/colored-fire-pinecones.htm">will put a bit of colour</a> into your Christmas. Make up solutions of different salts dissolved in water, such as copper sulphate solution (used to kill algae and available to buy online) or sodium chloride (common salt) solution. Soak the pine cones in one of these solutions overnight, then take them out and let them dry out. When you put them on top of a coal fire, they’ll burn with a coloured flame: yellow for common salt, turquoise for copper sulphate – a taste of the chemistry-related magic of Christmas.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Cotton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From the enticing aroma of the turkey in the oven to the “whoosh’” of the flames as the brandy-soaked pudding comes alight, Christmas is a wonderful time for the senses. But have you ever considered the…
Simon Cotton, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Birmingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35408
2014-12-17T11:30:41Z
2014-12-17T11:30:41Z
Is panto what it was when you were a child? Oh, no it isn’t!
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67469/original/image-20141217-31043-3i1x1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The ugly sisters have long been a staple.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">mangakamaidenphotography</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now the pantomime season is well and truly underway, many will have heard a familiar complaint. It’s newfangled, it’s not what it was. What happened to the good old days, when panto didn’t involve <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/dec/09/cinderella-wimbledon-panto-dallas-linda-gray-review">3D glasses</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/dec/01/mother-goose-review-panto">reference Ukip</a>?</p>
<p>But this cry is far more tired than panto is. It’s been said time and time again, and has always been true. Leigh Hunt said it in 1831, Andrew Halliday in 1863, W Davenport Adams in 1882 and Max Beerbohm in 1898. Sure, pantomime isn’t what it was in 1800 – but its 1900 counterpart is a recognisable grandparent. This continual evolution is the secret of its survival. </p>
<p>The critics almost all want to turn the clock back to the fondly remembered days of their childhood when a trip to the pantomime was usually their first theatrical experience – as it is today for many children. But don’t kid yourself that the pantomime of your childhood was its “golden age”.</p>
<p>I have recently published a book, <a href="http://www.ibtauris.com/Books/The%20arts/Dance%20%20other%20performing%20arts/Other%20performing%20arts/The%20Golden%20Age%20of%20Pantomime%20Slapstick%20Spectacle%20and%20Subversion%20in%20Victorian%20England.aspx?menuitem=%7B17B4B2FB-4BE9-4860-8B17-73C2D7F6AC68%7D">The Golden Age of Pantomime</a>, which traces the changing nature and enduring appeal of panto. Through its mutations, three things always remain constant: slapstick, spectacle and subversion, the key elements of the panto’s appeal.</p>
<h2>Slapstick</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67466/original/image-20141217-31021-kujt2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67466/original/image-20141217-31021-kujt2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67466/original/image-20141217-31021-kujt2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67466/original/image-20141217-31021-kujt2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67466/original/image-20141217-31021-kujt2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67466/original/image-20141217-31021-kujt2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67466/original/image-20141217-31021-kujt2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67466/original/image-20141217-31021-kujt2f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph Grimaldi, c.1820.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pantomime all begins with the harlequinade in the 18th century. An Anglicised version of the Italian <em>commedia del’arte</em>, it centred on physical action, knockabout and comic songs. This lack of speech was dictated by the <a href="http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/exploring-theatres/history-of-theatres/eighteenth-century-theatre">Theatre Licensing Act of 1737</a> which confined the use of dialogue in drama to just two theatres, Covent Garden and Drury Lane.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/exploring-theatres/history-of-theatres/nineteenth-century-theatre">1843 Theatre Regulation Act</a> abolished the patent theatres’ monopoly of dialogue and allowed pantomime to revel in linguistic freedom which allowed it to deploy rhyming couplets, puns, slang and topical allusions. Enterprising producers now grafted onto the harlequinade another dramatic genre, an extravaganza which its creator, JR Planché described as the “whimsical treatment of a poetic subject”. This tended to be an elegant and witty satire on modern life conducted through comedic versions of classical myths and fairy stories. </p>
<p>The original harlequinade soon became just the second half of the classic Victorian pantomime. As the century progressed, it shrank to a couple of token scenes before vanishing altogether. Its original function was usurped by the so-called “music-hall invasion” which from the 1870s onwards saw music-hall stars cast in the pantomime with their distinctive slapstick routines, comic songs and catchphrases. </p>
<h2>Spectacle</h2>
<p>Spectacle in the mid-Victorian pantomime took the form of lengthy ballet sequences and dance routines often involving children. Some 10,000 children were employed annually in pantomime over the UK. The audiences loved them and frequently called for their dances to be encored. Their participation only diminished in the 1890s when health and safety regulations restricted their appearances. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67467/original/image-20141217-31034-1gk42is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67467/original/image-20141217-31034-1gk42is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67467/original/image-20141217-31034-1gk42is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67467/original/image-20141217-31034-1gk42is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67467/original/image-20141217-31034-1gk42is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67467/original/image-20141217-31034-1gk42is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67467/original/image-20141217-31034-1gk42is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67467/original/image-20141217-31034-1gk42is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Getting ready for Christmas in 1890.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There was also spectacle in the scene painting and the special effects. The leading pantomime scene painter of the 19th century, W R Beverley, was seriously compared to Turner, Poussin and Watteau and the century’s greatest art critic, John Ruskin, was a devotee of the pantomime. He visited half a dozen every Christmas and praised them for teaching art appreciation to the mass audience. </p>
<p>The sets and paintings of contemporary pantomime may not be the object of regular commentary by the art critics of today, but spectacle is present in other areas, more in tune with modern artistic technology – digital special effects. This isn’t pantomime changing, rather upgrading.</p>
<h2>Subversion</h2>
<p>Pantomime has also always been subversive. Some pantomime historians have claimed that the roles of the dame and the principal boy, a man dressed as a woman and a woman dressed as a man, were grand gestures of gender subversion. But they are in fact the sexist products of a patriarchal society reinforcing existing stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. </p>
<p>The dame is a parodied harridan, a grotesque send-up of womankind, while at the same time as impersonating a dashing male adventurer, the principal boy was every inch a woman, curvaceous, big-bosomed and encased in tights, the better to allow the male audience to gawp at her legs. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67486/original/image-20141217-31037-16ls61l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67486/original/image-20141217-31037-16ls61l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67486/original/image-20141217-31037-16ls61l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67486/original/image-20141217-31037-16ls61l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67486/original/image-20141217-31037-16ls61l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67486/original/image-20141217-31037-16ls61l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67486/original/image-20141217-31037-16ls61l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67486/original/image-20141217-31037-16ls61l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A transformation scene in a 19th century pantomime.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© University of Exeter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Significantly the principal girl, the heroine, was always played by a young woman as the epitome of demure and dainty femininity. So Victorian panto was in no way ahead of its time in terms of gender. The subversion lay in the temporary seasonal role reversal and with the arrival of music-hall stars, which purists saw as the vulgarisation of dialogue and genre. </p>
<p>By the time of World War II, many of the characteristic features of the Victorian pantomime had disappeared: the harlequinade, the rhyming couplets, the transformation scene. And now even the principal boy seems to be on the way out with the role now taken by male pop stars or soap stars, introducing a new kind of subversion. This is necessary, because in a world where sexting is commonplace, the sight of a woman’s legs encased in tights isn’t such a big deal. </p>
<p>But there is still spectacle (in the form of digital special effects) and time-honoured and much-loved comedy and the stories – Cinderella, Dick Whittington, Aladdin and Jack and the Beanstalk – are as popular now as they were 200 years ago. Pantomime is certainly not what it was – it never has been.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In 2012 Professor Richards and Professor Kate Newey, of the University of Exeter, conducted a major research project on the history and practice of pantomime, entitled ‘A Cultural History of English Pantomime, 1837-1901’. The project was funded by the AHRC.</span></em></p>
Now the pantomime season is well and truly underway, many will have heard a familiar complaint. It’s newfangled, it’s not what it was. What happened to the good old days, when panto didn’t involve 3D glasses…
Jeffrey Richards, Emeritus Professor of Cultural History, Lancaster University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35234
2014-12-16T12:26:18Z
2014-12-16T12:26:18Z
What would you have eaten for Christmas in medieval times?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67020/original/image-20141211-6036-uurxse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fancy something a bit different this year? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caroline Yeldham, courtesy of the Leeds International Medieval Congress</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With Christmas almost upon us, there will be plenty of frenzied present shopping and meal planning. Haven’t made that Christmas cake yet? Fear not. If you were preparing the festive meal 600 years ago you’d have far more on your plate.</p>
<p>The picture below is a calendar page from a Book of Hours, a type of prayer book popular among pious rich people in the Middle Ages. Apart from the costumes they are wearing, the people at the bottom of the page seem much like us – keeping warm and enjoying their food and drink. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66992/original/image-20141211-6033-gqt15k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66992/original/image-20141211-6033-gqt15k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66992/original/image-20141211-6033-gqt15k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66992/original/image-20141211-6033-gqt15k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66992/original/image-20141211-6033-gqt15k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=928&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66992/original/image-20141211-6033-gqt15k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66992/original/image-20141211-6033-gqt15k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66992/original/image-20141211-6033-gqt15k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1166&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The 12th day of Christmas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It may surprise you to learn that this particular calendar month is January. The feast day celebrated by the couple is Epiphany on January 6, picked out in red (<em>Epyphania</em>). Our Christmases, hectic though they may be, are actually a doddle compared to the traditions of old. Medieval people celebrated all 12 days of Christmas, from December 25 through to Epiphany – the day the three kings turned up with gifts for the newborn Jesus – although they did not usually feast every day. Some households had their big feast on Christmas Day. For others it was the first of January or the 6th, depending on local custom.</p>
<h2>Wealthy or poor</h2>
<p>There’s not much detail as to what the couple ate at their winter feast. The artist was more interested in depicting the strawberries and flowers in the margins than in putting food on the table. This is typical of medieval manuscript art. Even elaborate descriptions of royal feasts say little about food. We know even less about what the poor ate, although lords probably feasted their tenants at least once over Christmas.</p>
<p>We do know that preparations for winter would have begun in the late autumn. Humans and animals both ate the same basic foodstuff: grain. Poorer people did not have enough grain for animals over winter so most pigs and cattle were fattened up on acorns and slaughtered. Calendars commemorate this strategic act for the months of November and December as in the images below, paired with the relevant signs of the zodiac (Sagittarius and Capricorn). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67018/original/image-20141211-6057-33wqyw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67018/original/image-20141211-6057-33wqyw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67018/original/image-20141211-6057-33wqyw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67018/original/image-20141211-6057-33wqyw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67018/original/image-20141211-6057-33wqyw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=196&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67018/original/image-20141211-6057-33wqyw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67018/original/image-20141211-6057-33wqyw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67018/original/image-20141211-6057-33wqyw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fattening in November and slaughtering in December.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, the wealthy could continue to keep their animals alive, so they had fresh meat all winter. It’s not true that they used spices to liven up rotten meat: cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper were imported from India or Indonesia, so if you could afford them you could afford good meat. The rich could also afford sugar – candied fruit, sugared almonds and sweets have always been popular Christmas treats. </p>
<p>The poor would have eaten sausage and bacon instead, salted fish if they could get it, stored or dried apples, peas and beans, perhaps a bit of honey, and would only have had the added flavours of onion, leeks and garlic. Even salt was expensive. The hungriest time was actually not the months that we associate with winter cold, but the months of April and May. It was then that stores had run out and there would be little growing yet in the garden. Nor was there much dairy as hens naturally lay less in winter and cows don’t produce milk until after they have their spring calves. </p>
<h2>Yuletide feasting</h2>
<p>The best way to find out what the wealthy ate is to turn to their financial accounts and cookery books. Cookery books such as the <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8102/pg8102.html">Forme of Cury</a>, written for the household of King Richard II (1377-1399), provide some tasty recipes. For a <a href="http://www.leeds.ac.uk/youarewhatyouate/">recent project</a> we made recipes from this text and others for the public to try at festivals and markets around Yorkshire. In Castleford Market in December 2012 we prepared seasonal tastes such as gingerbread, mutton stew (mounchelet) and apple pudding (pommesmoile).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67019/original/image-20141211-6030-1c9mwga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67019/original/image-20141211-6030-1c9mwga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67019/original/image-20141211-6030-1c9mwga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67019/original/image-20141211-6030-1c9mwga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67019/original/image-20141211-6030-1c9mwga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67019/original/image-20141211-6030-1c9mwga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67019/original/image-20141211-6030-1c9mwga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67019/original/image-20141211-6030-1c9mwga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An opulent Christmas feast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But it was nigh on impossible to prepare the main dishes that the rich had at their feasts. Turkey originally came from the Americas so was not found on English tables until the late 16th century. It probably replaced a showier but much less tasty bird: the peacock. The price of these birds meant that most people had to be content with another large expensive bird, the goose, which was a traditional Christmas main course until relatively recently. Also closely associated with Christmas was the wild boar – a boar’s head was often brought into the hall to accompanying carols. But it wasn’t always intended for eating. </p>
<p>And then elaborate displays of prepared meat, sugar or wax in the form of fantasy animals, angels and castles were often part of the entertainment, sometimes even moving mechanically or exploding.</p>
<p>So count yourself lucky as somebody who won’t go hungry this winter. You may have left the pudding quite late but you can leave the peacock and pommesmoile for next year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35234/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iona McCleery receives funding from the Wellcome Trust (Society Award no. 092293).</span></em></p>
With Christmas almost upon us, there will be plenty of frenzied present shopping and meal planning. Haven’t made that Christmas cake yet? Fear not. If you were preparing the festive meal 600 years ago…
Iona McCleery, Lecturer in Medieval History, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35338
2014-12-16T06:13:21Z
2014-12-16T06:13:21Z
More than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus? That’s old news
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67256/original/image-20141215-5275-u4hvw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Neapolitans have given fishmongers and celebrities alike a place at the nativity for hundreds of years.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/acetosa888/2071450345">acetosa888</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s a scene in the film Love Actually where a little girl announces that she’ll be playing “first lobster” in the school nativity play. “There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?” asks her surprised mum – causing the girl to sigh in exasperation at such profound levels of parental ignorance.</p>
<p>Similar exchanges may have taken place in hundreds of homes throughout the UK this year, if a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2856795/The-schools-Elvis-nativity-star-Nearly-half-schools-scrap-traditional-play-updated-version-starring-modern-characters.html">recent poll</a> by the parenting website Netmums is anything to go by. Nearly half the respondents said that their local primary school had abandoned the conventional nativity in favour of a “modernised” version, in which characters like Elvis, spacemen and even recycling bins starred alongside Mary, Joseph and the baby, Jesus.</p>
<p>Public opinion about these new plays is divided. Some people view them as evidence for the increasing marginalisation of Christianity in Britain, while others think they are a perfectly appropriate reflection of a progressive, culturally-diverse society. But all commentators have made the same basic assumption that the modern nativities represent a break in tradition – that they are a product of uniquely 21st-century attitudes to Christmas and religion.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67261/original/image-20141215-5281-1kkrpox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67261/original/image-20141215-5281-1kkrpox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67261/original/image-20141215-5281-1kkrpox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67261/original/image-20141215-5281-1kkrpox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67261/original/image-20141215-5281-1kkrpox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67261/original/image-20141215-5281-1kkrpox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67261/original/image-20141215-5281-1kkrpox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Painting <em>presepe</em> figurines on San Gregorio Armeno.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mafaldablue/66204994">mafaldablue</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A very different picture emerges, however, if we look across Europe towards southern Italy, and the centuries-old Neapolitan tradition of the model <em>presepe</em> (“nativity scene”). Naples is the undisputed world capital of the <em>presepe</em>, and the historic street of San Gregorio Armeno is the industry’s beating heart.</p>
<p>At any time of the year you can walk around the many stalls, admiring the array of hand-made backdrops and ceramic figurines. Every shop on the street sells the traditional religious characters: Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the angels and the kings. But they also sell figurines of ordinary folk and street merchants, often dressed in 18th-century costumes. Popular types include the butcher with his bloody axe, the baker putting pizza dough in a stone oven and the fishmonger touting his tiny wares, which include glistening sardines, miniature calamari, and – yes, you guessed it – shiny pink lobsters.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67259/original/image-20141215-5260-1qpm0el.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67259/original/image-20141215-5260-1qpm0el.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67259/original/image-20141215-5260-1qpm0el.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67259/original/image-20141215-5260-1qpm0el.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67259/original/image-20141215-5260-1qpm0el.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67259/original/image-20141215-5260-1qpm0el.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67259/original/image-20141215-5260-1qpm0el.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Soon to visit Bethlehem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginozar/3055079871">ginozar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then there are the figurines of modern celebrities: the footballers, politicians, pop-stars, even British royals. All are allowed to travel back in time to join the holy family in Bethlehem. Some figures are perennial favourites, such as the brilliant Neapolitan comedian Massimo Troisi, who achieved worldwide fame as the star of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110877/">Il Postino</a>. </p>
<p>Each year the artists of San Gregorio also produce new figurines in response to current events, including Barack Obama, Silvio Berlusconi’s latest girlfriend or the entire cast of the Italian Big Brother. This year, the new Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, has pride of place on the stalls, while poor old Berlusconi has been relegated to the back rows, his price discounted by 50% to reflect his diminished role in the media and government.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67258/original/image-20141215-5278-un35jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67258/original/image-20141215-5278-un35jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67258/original/image-20141215-5278-un35jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67258/original/image-20141215-5278-un35jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67258/original/image-20141215-5278-un35jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67258/original/image-20141215-5278-un35jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67258/original/image-20141215-5278-un35jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Berlusconi’s commercial value is falling fast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ludik/8287564961">ludik</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This kind of creative mixing-up of figures from different historical periods has been a feature of the Neapolitan <em>presepe</em> since at least the 18th century. One traveller’s diary records his surprise at seeing the birth of Christ attended by Jacobins and Cappuchin monks. Elsewhere in that scene, the Archbishop of Naples was depicted holding out <a href="http://www.portanapoli.com/Eng/Culture/blood_miracle.html">the vial containing the blood of San Gennaro</a> in an attempt to stave off the eruption of Vesuvius. </p>
<p>But although the tradition is deeply entrenched in Naples, the figurines sold at San Gregorio Armeno continue to be a source of puzzlement to many visitors to the city. Many are confused by this medley of pop culture and religion. It’s certainly tricky to reconcile the holiness of the Nativity with the strange humour and gritty realism of the <em>presepe</em> – whose stock types include a breastfeeding woman and a man shown defecating on the floor.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67264/original/image-20141215-5266-1ch4c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/67264/original/image-20141215-5266-1ch4c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67264/original/image-20141215-5266-1ch4c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67264/original/image-20141215-5266-1ch4c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67264/original/image-20141215-5266-1ch4c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67264/original/image-20141215-5266-1ch4c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/67264/original/image-20141215-5266-1ch4c2b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The more traditional figures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_myers/6907451908">john_myers</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But most modern commentators on the <em>presepe</em> see the mixture of sacred and profane as containing a very simple and positive message. Neapolitan theologian Bruno Forte explains that the <em>presepe</em> shows that the birth of Jesus is happening here, and it’s happening now – not in some far-off land entirely disconnected from the present. And while the secular figurines in the Neapolitan <em>presepe</em> cover a spectrum of “ills” (ranging from terrible table manners to the worst kinds of political corruption), all these less-than-perfect figures achieve a kind of redemption by being shown in the presence of the Nativity.</p>
<p>As such, the Neapolitan <em>presepe</em> provides an alternative perspective on the modernised nativity plays currently in production in the UK. Contrary to what most people think, the lobsters and Elvises we’re seeing on stage this Christmas aren’t complete strangers at the Nativity. They find much older counterparts across the seas in Naples. And in Naples, they’re not reactionary gestures or superficial afterthoughts, but part of an age-old tradition, which is underpinned by faith, hope and a genuine desire for inclusivity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
There’s a scene in the film Love Actually where a little girl announces that she’ll be playing “first lobster” in the school nativity play. “There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus…
Jessica Hughes, Lecturer in Classical Studies, The Open University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35362
2014-12-15T16:47:29Z
2014-12-15T16:47:29Z
How mindfulness could give you the gift of a calmer Christmas
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66923/original/image-20141211-6045-11m3eie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Put down the laptop and feel the cheer.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mccun934/11184349836/in/photolist-xCPwD-88qxyX-aTQNdZ-7K9t8-aK2Xrk-7kq7C6-7F7Bw-8Yktsz-7F7BC-5eJG1v-7F7B9-i3jHxS-8ZGgdT-7paswy-957gQP-8XBLky-dDePmV-b2vKYB-p3RE8-aTjZQx-7nU14e-6SraH-6CR1L-8YCtLs-7F7BF-7F7B6-5F9bHV-dxJfHD-aZWoyK-aZWrjz-aZWwte-b13mM6-aZWA86-aZWrxP-aZWrMZ-dDmS9p-957h9F-aZWAf6-aZWs3R-aZWwKk-aZWsnV-aZWwaV-wATid-aZWEvv-aZWEhe-aZWEHF-aZWF1B-b13hH2-aZWx3Z-aZWv8Z">Mike McCune</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the run-up to Christmas we find our to-do lists bloated with added chores: present shopping, card writing, preparing to travel or receive guests. We are bombarded with adverts telling us what to buy and where. We tackle the shopping crowds searching for the perfect gift and the juiciest turkey. Our energy and purses are pulled in all directions while we limp on at work waiting for the holiday to arrive. </p>
<p>As the day approaches we may dream of happy families singing around the fire or worry whether everyone will like their gifts or if there will be arguments. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccscUFY860">Media images</a> distort our expectations of the perfect Christmas with celebrities advising us on the recipes and crafts to add extra joy to the holidays.</p>
<p>And then there’s the ghost of Christmas past. Maybe we are feeling that Christmases are not as good as they used to be or maybe we are dreading a repeat of an earlier disastrous year. It can be a lot to contend with and perhaps not everyone feels as festive as the songs and adverts would have us believe.</p>
<p>Some of us may be seeking a way to avoid being bogged down by the stress. We could try a single ticket to that Caribbean Island or perhaps embrace the spirit of Scrooge and say “bah humbug” as we lock ourselves out from the world. If these options seem a little extreme, an alternative is to take inspiration from the teachings of mindfulness. </p>
<h2>Enter mindfulness</h2>
<p>A modern interpretation of ancient Eastern philosophies, mindfulness incorporates guided meditation that helps us learn about the inner workings of our mind. This helps break habitual patterns of thinking and behaving that can increase distress and unhappiness. </p>
<p>Meditation practises that focus on monitoring the activity of the mind or cultivating compassion are familiar in both historical Eastern traditions and modern mindfulness interventions. The way in which mindfulness meditation is different is the way in which it has been packaged. Often it is taught to beginners as an eight-week course that includes a selection of meditation practises and teachings that have been brought together and adapted to address specific issues such as emotional stress or chronic pain.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.verksampsykologi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Khoury_2013_mindfulness-metaanalys.pdf">growing body of research</a> shows mindfulness can reduce stress, depression and anxiety – and can improve <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22582738">attention and self-regulation</a> (our ability to control our thoughts, actions and emotions). </p>
<p>It is thought that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2012.00241.x/abstract">some of the effects</a> of practising mindfulness are a result of making our reflections on our experiences more positive, reducing rumination, and lessening the extent to which we react emotionally to our environment.</p>
<h2>How does it work?</h2>
<p>So what is mindfulness? A common practice is to sit quietly for several minutes placing the attention of the mind on the flow of your breath, perhaps focusing on the movement of breath in your nose, throat, chest or belly, or counting the breaths, starting from one each time you lose count. The practice may sound simple but the stillness of the exercise reveals the restless nature of the mind. As we aim to focus on our breath we see the activity of mind, as it distracts us from our purpose. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66924/original/image-20141211-6054-fiy4zl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66924/original/image-20141211-6054-fiy4zl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66924/original/image-20141211-6054-fiy4zl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66924/original/image-20141211-6054-fiy4zl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66924/original/image-20141211-6054-fiy4zl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66924/original/image-20141211-6054-fiy4zl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66924/original/image-20141211-6054-fiy4zl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How it’s done.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/6567308073/in/photolist-b1kaTx-j8yRB8-j9gP39-j9g3xB-j9eGVp-j9etxH-j9j9Wf-j9ewoH-j9gPLd-j9fPWe-j9epct-j9gQQY-j9fPC8-j9et2T-j9gMUC-j9euCi-j9ezB6-j8BMCd-j9gL6C-j9fWdn-j9fPae-j9iPz9-j9ezbM-j9fZjn-dGum4r-5JfTPe-76Ym5i-j8Bv9S-oABVA-6QeGEz-5LUBqV-b1NHcP-93J7Yr-93zueZ-j8LNUU-j9fvcv-j9iHaA-j9fhUK-j9fqZT-j9fom6-j9g9Qs-j8LLxj-j9fkr8-j8Gm6a-j9gaEJ-j9iigU-j9gdEG-j8HLde-j9dSnH-j8HLGk">Stephen Depolo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Xvnz7Lo5o">sitting on the side of a busy road</a> we see our thoughts, feelings and memories pass us by. It doesn’t take long before one or more of the passing cars pulls us out of our seat and away from the breath entirely and we find ourselves trying to control the traffic, stopping the thoughts we don’t like or clinging on to the ones we do. This is the natural way for our minds to behave and they do this most of the time. The result is that we are often not fully present in what we are doing right now in this moment. </p>
<p>Our minds can wander as we carry out our daily activities. As we approach Christmas we may be thinking about all the shopping we need to do while we are drinking a cup of tea. We may also be thinking about sitting drinking a cup of tea, while we are doing the Christmas shopping.</p>
<p>And regardless of whether these fantasies are pleasant or unpleasant, <a href="https://www.lifeboat.com/papers/jonathan.w.schooler.the.restless.mind.pdf">research has found</a> that all mind wandering has a negative effect on our mood. This may be because our wonderful daydreams make our real lives seem like a disappointment and our unpleasant thoughts prevent us from taking pleasure in the small delights of life. </p>
<h2>Christmas presence</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66931/original/image-20141211-6045-1aqqbwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66931/original/image-20141211-6045-1aqqbwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66931/original/image-20141211-6045-1aqqbwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66931/original/image-20141211-6045-1aqqbwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=880&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66931/original/image-20141211-6045-1aqqbwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66931/original/image-20141211-6045-1aqqbwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66931/original/image-20141211-6045-1aqqbwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Let the traffic pass you by.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/teddy-rised/3078764594/in/photolist-aXNaWM-5G4tsb-5PGrcK-94HxGa-b4t3Q8-5PLHiu-5PGrt2-5PLFy3-5PGqLZ-5PGs9K-dEAmQj-5PLGT7-zVUFw-cEdMQY-iCT9XS-4e5ESz-4dZsN2-b43Hm2-5Cw93B-4aFvMp-iCQQoE-viRki-95gxfg-94LD1A-5VRyKr-93DsmJ-8YWRK9-xhxMh-93DrX9-8qCT5-5McJDC-4jgN6a-7nyFSw-5MoNsQ-tBomA-tBp21-tBnN3-tBpth-tBpmH-tBo8X-tBpAd-tMn3z-tBoF2-tMmV8-tBndh-tBp9d-tBnrM-tBq3q-tBpWm-tBoTU">teddy-rised</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the festive season you may notice thoughts, feelings or memories interrupting you. These thoughts may be subtle and fleeting but sufficient to take the edge off your Christmas cheer. When you notice what is happening in your mind, acknowledge it, don’t criticise – be kind and return your attention to writing your Christmas cards, wrapping your gifts or standing in a queue of shoppers. Pay more attention to where you are and what you are doing, even if your mind tries to offer distractions and alternative realities that appear to be more pleasant than your real experience. </p>
<p>So from the time you wake up on this Christmas morning, take time to fully notice the little things, the smells, textures and tastes of Christmas. Each chocolate, cuddle and gift. Take time to savour it. How do the sweets look in your hand? How do they smell? How does it feel in your mouth? Notice the effort others have made to give you gifts. Look at the way they are wrapped. How it feels to pull off the paper. Consider that many other people you do not know have made effort to grow, make or transport parts of your present too. </p>
<p>Be kind and compassionate to everyone you have contact with – including yourself. And if things don’t quite go as planned or you are feeling overwhelmed by the celebrations, just take your seat by the side of the road and spend a few moments focusing your attention on your breath.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Leyland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In the run-up to Christmas we find our to-do lists bloated with added chores: present shopping, card writing, preparing to travel or receive guests. We are bombarded with adverts telling us what to buy…
Anna Leyland, PhD student, University of Sheffield
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/34630
2014-12-15T06:22:36Z
2014-12-15T06:22:36Z
Priceless: the inefficient, but merry economics of Christmas
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66737/original/image-20141209-32146-5yo4s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Welcome to the party: a time for giving.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/f_tasche/11621119103/in/photolist-iGVgQt-7eT8fv-7dZ7iP-7ii4WK-aQ4J8z-4g2e2E-7m4JNS-8u1aR-5LWAdo-8WYYhT-4cwbJS-5Go1xz-ixkooH-4fsVEA-7dZ7nX-izoqcz-hYnPE7-9jsyyp-itMonk-L1cXw-4cscur-b6B4Va-5LW2wB-4y2ADp-ii3ZVn-wiQXJ-iygP2b-6ficVz-5H6vGo-9oiRND-uQqFw-v5jz6-uh8vG-q2CKo1-5y4Y3Q-94ziwQ-4b9QEu-dF6zd8-4dY8Tm-8XtAi4-oPva6o-fM1TCn-qb6HyK-7vyPFN-92C5vR-4cjkzY-itDEpX-its39H-5oxe6v-q4NrY6">Frank Tasche</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fingers crossed, we are soon to be inundated with Christmas joy disguised as presents from our family and friends. I received my first card more than a week ago and a present – now sitting under the tree – from our eldest, wee Jimmy (now not so wee and living away from home in his own flat). I found this particularly gratifying as I had told Jim, that he didn’t <em>have</em> to buy a present. I had hoped he would <em>want</em> to send a present. The fact that the gift was not required, but offered freely, makes it the more valuable.</p>
<h2>The value of affection</h2>
<p>Casual observation indicates many of us appreciate gifts more than those items we require or buy for ourselves: consider the giving of birthday presents, flowers, and such like. This is despite the fact that, according to strict neo-classical economic theory, such giving is inefficient. Waldfogel makes this clear in <a href="https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/104699/original/christmas.pdf">Deadweight loss of Christmas</a>. </p>
<p>According to Waldfogel, the inefficiency arises because when we give, we might not perfectly match the recipient’s preferences. He estimates that giving “destroys” between 10% and 30% of the value of a gift. However, it strikes me Waldfogel has not figured in how much value is added, even to a simple pair of socks, because of the affection with which it is given.</p>
<p>The extra value imbued in a gift is something with which many economists have difficulty. Adam Smith doesn’t mention it in the <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWNCover.html"><em>Wealth of Nations</em></a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The appeal to self-interest as a sufficient incentivising factor is often taken to mean that no other motivating factor is required. Commonly self-interest is incentivised with monetary payment. It has been suggested, for example, if we want nurses to show more compassion, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/06/david-cameron-nhs-nurses">pay them more if they hit that target</a>; if we want to boost student grades, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/9237293/Teachers-face-payment-by-results.html">pay teachers more if that target is hit</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66738/original/image-20141209-32149-1ys9uk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66738/original/image-20141209-32149-1ys9uk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66738/original/image-20141209-32149-1ys9uk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66738/original/image-20141209-32149-1ys9uk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66738/original/image-20141209-32149-1ys9uk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66738/original/image-20141209-32149-1ys9uk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66738/original/image-20141209-32149-1ys9uk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66738/original/image-20141209-32149-1ys9uk2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maslow’s Hierachy. Updated version.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/trendscout/14959370119/in/photolist-8bRY1J-7zgcGJ-oMUFyt-aCRN5d-6v3Lbf-c42DEo-5hhjLn">Matthias Mueller</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, according to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23902918">Maslow’s eponymous Hierarchy</a>, human beings are not motivated solely by mercenary self-interest, but have higher goals – for example, self-actualisation. Our Christmas giving might have an ulterior motive attached to it, but the motive is to reflect ideas about anothers’ worth and value, not to make sure we profit on the deal. </p>
<h2>The social and the asocial</h2>
<p>There are several difficulties which arise when we consider self-interest to be people’s sole motivation: </p>
<p>Firstly, we limit the potential of human interaction. If we consider all interactions are market transactions, it follows all friends are fair-weather friends and every gift under the tree an investment of sorts. Such an outlook has been shown to have a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08913819408443359">detrimental impact on our mental health</a>.</p>
<p>Secondly, there is the potential error of equating price with value. A baby’s smile is priceless, but far from valueless: similarly, Christmas morning in a warm and gaily decorated front room with one’s family is priceless. To argue I could have bought everything much more cheaply in the boxing-day sale is to miss the point.</p>
<p>Thirdly, and rather more broadly, we limit the scope of the policy debate. Many human interactions take place in a social, not a market, context. If we consider only monetary self-interest as a motivating force it suggests government should limit itself to market-based solutions, rather than considering social solutions to social concerns. </p>
<p>Therefore, we risk undermining our economy. Economists have shown policies which favour the individual pursuit of self-interest <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/320/5883/1605.short">undermine morality</a> and the <a href="http://webwijs.uvt.nl/publications/505572.pdf">development of trust and co-operation</a>. As well as limiting human capacities and engagement, this limits the potential for <a href="http://oep.oxfordjournals.org/content/56/1/118.full">economic growth, which depends, in part, on trust</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66740/original/image-20141209-32159-1p7ghzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66740/original/image-20141209-32159-1p7ghzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66740/original/image-20141209-32159-1p7ghzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66740/original/image-20141209-32159-1p7ghzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66740/original/image-20141209-32159-1p7ghzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66740/original/image-20141209-32159-1p7ghzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66740/original/image-20141209-32159-1p7ghzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/66740/original/image-20141209-32159-1p7ghzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Greed is bad, if lucrative.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyjcase/3268826914/in/photolist-5YRAmJ-7baHmM-6hAVQL-2iRqpP-9RGjAz-6wT5Ft-bd3GHR-hJCQc-jWrbms-9zqnWk-hbwEJu-brVd5X-62bLBS-uQrYv-hZQZJW-94nMc2-aye7dY-5kGUvP-g3hWza-asF3X1-Nu3Rd-cqyAAo-8dDJ7P-GxcgH-4mA9yr-Nhumt-V8HyQ-dW7xJe-kRfUK-2mndMe-LqehY-8p41HU-aJfL5k-2ibRH-ax1GYK-4873s1-2imfqL-n9vADj-9y842h-4zqNhL-4zmxRx-7iVfAV-9J6PWW-9EnApA-kZx3DL-873BnY-7KPPQb-a5Sx1-5Ee6F5-pPCyJh">Great Beyond</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately, we limit human expectations. Behavioural economists have shown that tolerating, even encouraging, greed is <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9272.html">likely to lead to an increase in amoral behaviour</a> while reminders of moral codes are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/books/the-honest-truth-about-dishonesty-by-dan-ariely.html">likely to discourage cheating</a>. There is also evidence that <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificamericanmind/journal/v25/n2/full/scientificamericanmind0314-24.html">greed and bad behaviour are contagious</a>, while it is <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/generosity-is-its-own-reward/">generous people who are more likely to be happy</a>.</p>
<p>No one, of course, would deny the existence of financial self-interest, particularly in the field of business – though it is by no means clear we should encourage it even there. However, if we promote a solely mercenary focus in human interactions we risk crowding out higher and more satisfying motivations. </p>
<h2>There is an alternative</h2>
<p>If we limit our consideration of human interactions to those described by self-interest in a market context, then we run the risk of <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/life-of-solitude-a-loneliness-crisis-is-looming/article15573187/?page=all">alienating ourselves from each other</a> and from our own individual, social and economic potential. Yet Adam Smith never supposed that, just because he had to pay for his dinner, that was the sum total of his feasible human interactions. As he wrote in <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS.html"><em>The Theory of Moral Sentiments</em></a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>To feel much for others and little for ourselves, that to restrain our selfish, and to indulge our benevolent affections, constitutes the perfection of human nature; and can alone produce among mankind that harmony of sentiments and passions in which consists their whole grace and propriety.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many of the best things in life are not necessarily “free”, but neither can they be bought and sold: they arise from our relationships. In short, a very Merry Christmas one and all – and thanks for the present wee Jimmy. See you soon!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Albertson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Fingers crossed, we are soon to be inundated with Christmas joy disguised as presents from our family and friends. I received my first card more than a week ago and a present – now sitting under the tree…
Kevin Albertson, Reader in Economics, Manchester Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/35431
2014-12-12T05:11:18Z
2014-12-12T05:11:18Z
Please don’t rock around the Christmas tree
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SOszvL9lgSs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In case you’re not sick of it yet …</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at … zzzzzz snooooore. It’s that time of year again, and at the risk of promoting bah humbug over chestnuts roasting, I’m very Ebenezer Scrooge when it comes to traditional Christmas music. </p>
<p>This Christmas, please don’t put another lump of Bing Crosby on the radio. Once we reach December we seem to forget the golden rule that excess does not lead to happiness, so that repetition of any song leads to us hating it.</p>
<p>But before you get me up in the middle of the night to show me the Ghost of a Music-Free Christmas Future, let me give you a timely reminder - there is an alternative to Bing, Nat, Spector and the gang. </p>
<p>Last week Apple switched on no fewer than <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/12/05/apple-flips-switch-on-holiday-themed-itunes-radio-stations-">10 different Christmas music stations</a> that you can access via iTunes Radio, including the magnificent “Country Holiday”. </p>
<p>Of course the broader internet is a music-lovers’ dream at Christmas. You can wallow in the celtic mid-winter festival via <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5f9eZR51Sw">The Snows They Melt the Soonest</a> or the usually-dark Christmas edition of the always excellent <a href="http://www.jointhecircle.net/Arctic-Circle-Radio">Arctic Circle Radio podcast</a>; you can bathe in the warm tranquil glow of <a href="http://www.pandora.com/station/play/642288054007766939">Hawaiian Christmas</a>; you can check out <a href="http://www.kerrangradio.co.uk/music/features/13-totally-rocking-christmas-songs/">Kerrang Radio’s 13 (of course) totally rocking heavy metal Christmas songs</a>; or you can listen to all those well-worn Christmas songs mashed up with classic Beatles tracks by searching Spotify for “The Fab Four Hark!”. </p>
<p>And of course there may be non-Australian readers who don’t know <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlSsffF2xhA">Six White Boomers</a>, which to me overcomes the baggage to evoke the perfect Christmas down under.</p>
<p>Given that so many of us already do this, it is all the more surprising that shops, bars, hotels and the like don’t, and instead just rely on the same tired old songs that go on a loop from late October. </p>
<p>Just before going to university I worked in a supermarket over December and January, and must have heard White Christmas 20 times a day. To a point they need to do this. Customers are in-store for only a few minutes and so need their own personal dose of Bing. And there is plenty of evidence now that customers will buy products that are suggested by the music they hear in-store - <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v390/n6656/abs/390132a0.html">French music increases sales of French wine</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01370.x/abstract">classical music increases sales of everything</a> (by making customers feel wealthier) - so businesses can’t be blamed for playing Christmas music to Christmas shoppers. </p>
<p>But they could learn something from the way in which the rest of us listen to Christmas music. Start playing it later in the year when people are really engaging with Christmas (rather than simply doing their shopping before the stores get crowded), and use the fruits of the digital age to play us something new and wonderful.</p>
<p>Have a happy and musically-varied Christmas!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35431/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at … zzzzzz snooooore. It’s that time of year again, and at the risk of promoting bah humbug over chestnuts roasting, I’m very Ebenezer Scrooge when…
Adrian North, Head of School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.