EAS1032: Approaches to Criticism

Myth “transforms history into nature.” (Barthes, “Myth Today”)

What might be problematic about ‘nature’ or the ‘natural’?

Hockey The word ‘natural’ conjures images of the physical world - plants, animals,
mountains, and oceans, as opposed to man-made creations. Yet, while our everyday actions
and thoughts are rooted in what we consider to be ‘natural’, this is ironically an entirely man-
made construction; in Nietzsche’s words, “truths are illusions of which one has forgotten they
are illusions” (80). The idea that certain ideologies or actions are ‘natural’ is inherently Commented [AS1]: Maybe explain what you mean by an
idea or action – or give an example, bit vague atm!
problematic; it causes us to discriminate against things that we have been conditioned to think
are ‘unnatural’, but as the discourse of ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ is so deeply embedded in our
psyche, we do not even notice that we do it, nor do we realise that it is problematic, making it Commented [AS2]: And why is not knowing it’s a
problem a problem?
difficult to correct these assumptions.

Hockey There is a tendency to appeal to tradition if the opportunity for change arises - we
might question why change is necessary when things have ‘always’ been done a certain way.
However, this overlooks the fact that we have “[converted] culture into nature” (Eagleton Commented [AS3]: nice

117); after living according to a certain ideology, i.e. capitalism, we now see it as ‘natural’
and “the lack of alternatives…is no longer even an issue… [c]apitalism seamlessly occupies
the horizon of the unthinkable” (Fisher 8). While we might be able to see limitations of
capitalism, we can no longer imagine a feasible substitute, and we continue to enact
capitalistic values, propagating this ideology and becoming further convinced that it is
‘natural’, the right way to live - in Eagleton’s words, the idea of capitalism has been
“elevated by social ideologies to a privileged position [and] made the [centre] around which
other meanings are forced to turn.” (114). The capitalist discourse promises us that that if we
work hard, we will reap the benefits of our work. This seems logical, fair, even ‘natural’, yet
it does not “correspond to reality” (Althusser 1350); for capitalism to function as it does,
cheap labour (to the extent that some wages are inhumanely low) is needed. Despite claims
Commented [AS4]: For what? Hang on, lost the plot a bit
here :P
Commented [AS5]: Really good point, just rephrase to
make more clear from Fisher 8 to here
Commented [AS6]: Perhaps give examples of alternatives
which may be more ‘natural’ or have been seen by other
cultures as more ‘natural’ (e.g. no money at all as money is
a social construct or something..) just a suggestion
Commented [AS7]: Seems perfect opportunity to
mention Marx?

by CEOs that they cannot afford to raise worker wages, the fact that they earn “331 times the
average worker” (Dill) seems to negate this, and, even worse, implies that the only reason
minimum-wage workers are not as financially successful as said CEOs is because they are
not working ‘hard enough’. Moreover, increasing worker wages at the expense of CEO
wages has been proven to be a success - the CEO of ‘Gravity Payments’ recently decided to
double the minimum wage in his company, saying that “[p]eople were being exploited…
Commented [AS8]: I would counter-argue that a CEO
can’t fairly split his money between ALL of his employees,
maybe find a way to counter this e.g. a figure about ALL the
CEOs of one company if they split ALL their money they
could raise every worker’s pay by £1 or something?

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[a]m I, as the CEO, so much more important that I can get 10, 20 times their salary?” (Rock).
A system that so unabashedly benefits a select few at the detriment of the majority hardly
seems ‘natural’, yet we attempt to justify it by asserting that humans are “naturally
competitive” or that it is a “dog-eat-dog world”, and that any lack of advancement is due to
laziness, when in actuality employment is affected by systems of oppression based on gender,
race, and socio-economic background. All things considered, it appears very much to be a
plutocracy we live in, rather than a democracy as we like to think. Althusser’s assertion that
“a small number of cynical men…base their domination and exploitation of the ‘people’ on a
falsified representation of the world which they have imagined in order to enslave other
minds by dominating their imaginations” (1351) seems to ring true; while we attempt to Commented [AS9]: I ALWAYS use this expression too
haha
justify capitalism as ‘natural’ according to the supposed competitiveness of human nature, it
is anything but, however the fact that it has now become an integral part of our culture further
‘naturalises’ it and makes it all the less likely that a different system will take its place. Commented [AS10]:
Commented [AS11]: I probably wouldn’t use the word
Hockey While we tend to make many claims about what true ‘human nature’ is, the existence ‘better’

and study of feral children, “children reared by animals and…in isolation” (McNeil 70),
negates all claims to any innate or ‘natural’ qualities of competitiveness or morality. McNeil
questions the very nature of humanity: “are people civilised because of the society in which
they live or are they civilised in spite of it?” (70), and explores “what things are learned
through social contact” (70). In the case studies McNeil references, it is apparent that it is
exceedingly difficult to teach our social mannerisms to feral children, and even in cases with
years of intense therapy, ‘natural’ human behaviour is never fully achieved, but is rather
something that the children can learn to weakly imitate. Take the case study of Kamala, for
example, after 8 years of therapy she had developed a very limited vocabulary and formed a
contact-based bond with her carer. Beyond this, however, it was noted that complex emotion
(such as a sense of justice or ambition) was not achieved, and before her death at 16, her
developmental age in this respect was 3 years old. Therefore we can infer that most ‘natural’
human behaviour, such as competitiveness, is learned. If humans left isolated to their own
devices develop different characteristics to those we consider ‘natural’, our perception of
what is ‘natural’ is at its best incredibly skewed and at its worst a delusion. Commented [AS12]: What about killing/violence – could
bring in Frankenstein if wanted a literary example? (Btw
really good point)
Hockey Our patriarchal society is something else we consider ‘natural’. After all, if ‘natural’
equates to the physical, surely the fact that most men have more muscle mass than most
women and brains “between eight and 13 percent larger than... females” (Vincent), means

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they must be superior to women? These methods of ranking the sexes are entirely arbitrary
and relative however, not ‘natural’ and objective as we are lead to believe. For example, why
are strength and cranial volume classed as more important than life expectancy and a faster
rate of antibody production (Burton), the latter two being categories which women surpass
men in? This only emphasises the subjective nature of these ‘justifications’ for male
dominance, which pervades society. For example, young boys are routinely told not to “throw
like a girl” or “cry like a girl”; these throwaway statements inform boys that they are better
than girls, and will therefore be superior to every girl they meet, and tell any girl who
overhears that being female is something she should be ashamed of. This is hardly a ‘natural’
hierarchy, but a deliberate construction that allows men to benefit from a society that
problematically authenticates them at the expense of women.

Hockey In the film The Island, the protagonists, Jordan and Lincoln, are clones created
specifically for organ donation, who are indoctrinated into believing that an apocalyptic event
left them and other clones the only remaining survivors on Earth, and that they must stay
contained within a facility for their own safety. They escape, however, and the subsequent
manhunt forces them to attempt to ‘blend in’ to avoid detection. We can therefore use this
film to learn what characteristics or views are seen as ‘natural’, based on what the clones
must imitate to integrate themselves convincingly into civilisation. Something that is
seemingly necessary to their assimilation is sexism. McCord, their guide to humanity,
admonishes Lincoln when he gives Jordan their money, saying “I know you're new to the
whole human experiences and all... but there's one universal truth and that is you never give a
woman your credit card”. McCord also berates Lincoln for deviating from gender norms
when he selects a purse: “backpacks for boys, purses for girls”. Heterosexuality is also
deemed ‘natural’. While Jordan and Lincoln are have a fulfilling platonic relationship for the
majority of the movie, this is seen as implausible by Tom (the future recipient of Lincoln’s
organs), who cannot believe that “you’ve been kicking around with her and you’re a virgin?”.
This implies that any interaction between men and women must be romantic (particularly if
the woman is attractive), and that to abstain from sex is ‘unnatural’, both false suppositions. Commented [AS13]: Oooo be careful using the word true
when you’ve been discussing it with Nietzsche (I did this too
The idea of heterosexuality as ‘natural’ also provides a prime example of the discrimination and then realised I could potentially negate my own
argument…)
that occurs when our perception of normality is disturbed. Foucault describes the period in
Victorian England when “acts contrary to nature” (1514), such as homosexuality, were
condemned, although ironically homosexuality is ‘natural’ by its true definition as it exists in
nature; “homosexual behaviour has been observed among more than 1000 animal species”

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(Cheng 580). It is saddening that concepts so ingrained in our society provide such a narrow
definition for acceptable or ‘natural’ behaviour, especially since many of these ideas, such as
male superiority and heteronormativity, can cause marginalisation and discrimination.

Hockey Overall, the idea of ‘nature’ and the ‘natural’ is extremely problematic. Not only
does it reinforce and propagate certain systems of oppression, but it also limits our behaviour
and what we are capable of (i.e. the judgement that men should not cry or display emotion as
it is not ‘natural’ for them to do so). However, acknowledging that things we believe to be Commented [AS14]: Why are these bad/problematic?
One could argue that it is GOOD to have these limiting and
‘natural’ are actually contrived is difficult; as in Plato’s allegory of the cave, when axiomatic oppressive stereotypes as they are conducive to Marxist
production and the economy or something..
‘truths’ are revealed to be false, we prefer to “turn away and run away to the things [we can]
make out” (61). Furthermore, the very act of recognising these assumed truths as problematic
and oppressive is fraught with difficulty, “for as long as any difference between us means one
of us must be inferior, then the recognition of any difference must be fraught with guilt…it
threatens [our] complacency” (Lorde 283). Nevertheless, this does not mean that we should
not try to overturn the ‘natural’; on the contrary¸we must do everything in our power to
correct these assumptions.

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Works Cited

Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”. Trans. Ben Brewster. The
hockey Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W.W.
hockey Norton & Co, 2010. 1332-61. Print.

Burton, Neil. “The Battle of the Sexes”. Psychology Today n.p., 2 July 2012. Psychology
Hockey Today. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

Cheng, Shin-Hong et al. “Homosexual Mating in the Planktonic Copepod Pseudodiaptomus

hockey Annandalei (copepoda: Calanoida)”. Journal of Crustacean Biology 28.3 (2008):
hockey 580–582. JSTOR. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

Dill, Kathryn. “Report: CEOs Earn 331 Times As Much As Average Workers, 774 Times As
Hockey Much As Minimum Wage Earners”. Forbes Magazine n.p., 15 Apr. 2014. Forbes.
Hockey Web. 3 Dec. 2015

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 1983. Print.

Fisher, Mark. Capital Realism: Is There No Alternative? London: Zero Books, 2009. Print.

Foucault, Michel. “The History of Sexuality”. Trans. Robert Hurley. The Norton Anthology
hockey of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W.W. Norton & Co,
hockey 2010. 1502-21. Print.

Lorde, Audre. “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”. Out There:
hockey Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures. Ed. Russell Ferguson et al. New York:
hockey New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1990. 281-89. Print.

McNeil, Mary Charles, Edward A. Polloway, and J. David Smith. “Feral and Isolated
hockey Children: Historical Review and Analysis”. Education and Training of the Mentally
hockey Retarded 19.1 (1984): 70–79. JSTOR. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

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Nietzsche, Friedrich. “On Truth and Falsity in their Ultramoral Sense”. The Complete Works
hockey of Friedrich Nietzsche. Ed. Oscar Levy. Trans. Maximilian A. Magge. New York:
Hockey Gordon Press, 1974. 171-192. Print.

Plato. “Republic”. Trans. Robin Waterfield. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.
Hockey Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2010. 45-64. Print.

Rock, Lucy. “Dan Price: the CEO who took a pay cut to give his staff a $70k minimum
wage”. The Guardian n.p., 29 Nov. 2015. The Guardian.

The Island. Dir. Michael Bay. Perf. Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou,
hockey and Sean Bean. DreamWorks SKG, 2005. Film.

Vincent, James. “Men have bigger brains than women, research reveals”. The Independent
Hockey n.p., 12 Feb. 2014. The Independent. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.