Archivists with imagination

There is a piece in the London Metro today “Careers decided when you are six”. Here it is in full:

"A child’s career can be predicted at the age of six , based on their sex and personality. Primary school girls with less imagination tended toward record-keeping jobs while boys chose construction and agriculture said the Aston University study."

If you wanted to insult female record-keeping professionals, that’s not a bad way to do it. I don’t remember dreaming about files while my contemporaries played at being actresses or Prime Minister. In fact, as I recall, I spent many hours being wonder-woman; sometimes I was the greatest sports-woman that ever lived.

Wales

I had New Year in Wales with some friends. It was an interesting and relaxing holiday filled with walks, castles, rain and lovely scenery. Here’s a photo of a sheep.

Xmas party

Last night I went to the joint Society of Archivists London Region and Archives for London Christmas Party. It was held on the HMS Belfast. Sue Hill sponsored the event and as I’ve found them helpful in the past for finding work I was pleased that they’re taking such an interest in the archive profession in London. The customary quiz took the form of a hunt for information around the ship, which was excellent fun. Although there was at least one other party on board (an IT department from some firm) we seemed to have the ship to ourselves and got to poke around into the cabins, nooks and other places, run up and down ladders and admire London by moonlight. All up it was a good night.

Christmas traditions

On the weekend I attended a seminar on the subject of mid-winter pagan traditions. It asked the question: “How much paganism is rooted in European customs and Christian celebrations?” Quite a bit it seems. My interest in early English history ensured that I was in for an enjoyable learning opportunity. What I didn’t expect was to start questioning the value of continuing to perform and sustain rituals and practices that are no longer relevant or meaningful to contemporary life. I found myself suffering a crisis, torn between a recognition of the historical (and evidential and informational) value of these traditions and a realisation that their original function has altered so much as to now be nonsensical. Mummers plays, blessing the plough ceremonies, the tradition of the “first-footers”, all these were ways of celebrating the turning of the season and of ensuring good luck for the coming year. Now we perform them because they’re historical. The reality of contemporary knowledge and contemporary life-styles means that beliefs and superstitions which found expression in these ritualistic forms are no longer relevant or even properly understood. Perhaps these traditional activities should be altered so that they resonate with contemporary life experiences, thereby giving back to the original form it’s original purpose.

whæt þa?

I saw Beowulf the movie on the weekend, in 3D. It was predictably awful. Hrothgar is a toga-wearing drunkard, Grendel’s mother is a naked Angelina Jolie and I’m not quite sure how to interpret the symbolic self-mutilation of Beowulf, the dragon-turned-golden-boy or the “sins of the father” motif that runs throughout. There seemed to be a lot of unnecessary nudity for a story that’s set in a very cold place. And why did Anthony Hopkins dissolve in sea water? That’s not normal (or explained). I also don’t understand why Neil Gaimon and Roger Avary re-wrote the story to provide an alternative origin/paternity for the monsters, making them half-brothers, for what in the poem are two distinctive types of evil beasts. I suspect this ties in with a modern idea of “evil” that’s different from the concept of “evil” in Anglo-Saxon / Old Norse cultures. I’ve noticed that movies show evil as something that doesn’t get killed at the end of the story. Is this so they can have sequels? Surely they're not thinking of Beowulf 2. It's alreay "personal". I suspect contempory considerations of “what makes a hero” has something to do with the changes. Not sure how I feel about Ray Winstone as Beowulf either. In a way it’s great that they had an English actor play the hero, but at times his cockney accent lacked the gravity needed.

But, I was pleased that the movie kept some of the Old English words and used the oral culture of the time to further the plot (when Hrothgar ordered the scopes to sing of Herot’s misfortune); as a part of the story (when the players in Herot celebrated the anniversary of Beowulf’s victory over Grendel); and even to comment on storytelling itself and how truth and history are formed through oral accounts and boasting (Unferth’s questioning of Beowulf via the swimming competition with Brecca).