At the beginning of the year, when I was introduced to the five topics we would be studying (food, illness & dying, birth, care of the dead, and prom), Prom stuck out for obvious reasons: It isn't something you encounter on a regular basis (like food or illness) or a stage of life (like birth or death). It's also a more specific topic, and unlike many of the other topics, there's sort of a scripted way that it's done. There is no specific way to eat or die, but prom generally goes a certain way: Girls wear dresses, guys wear tuxedos, they get there in a limo, and everyone takes awkward pictures that they laugh at later. It seems odd that in a country like the United States, where we take pride in the fact that "we are all different", we would have this tradition that's basically the same no matter who you are and where you live - it's almost standardized.
Personally, I think that all the ideas that other people seem to have about it (which I got from the articles we read on Monday, and from movies) - that it's the pinnacle of your high school experience, that it's a girl's chance to be Cinderella, that it's a step into adulthood - are sort of laughable. I feel like there are much better parts of high school, and of life, than that one night. Prom seems to encapsulate all the best parts of adulthood (independence, glamour, etc) in order to make us look forward to it, even though few moments in adult life are like that. It also seems to be a way for people to pretend that they are more well off than they really are, that they are glamorous and new and sparkly, if only for one night.
However, it's also the only time someone might get to dress up to that extent, and spend time with people they know in that sort of setting, where they are expected to act polite and grown up and classy. It also seems to be looked back on pretty fondly - everyone remembers their prom, the beautiful awkwardness of it. Prom does seem sort of a nice idea, as long as it isn't taken too seriously.
Questions:
Does the place someone lives, the high school they go to, or the family they grew up in affect how they view prom, or how important/relevant they think it is?
How have proms changed over time, especially in light of modern cultural influences (the internet, Facebook, etc.)?
How/where did the idea of prom originate?
How do changes in prom traditions (ex. a school not electing a prom king and queen) reflect changes in cultural norms?
Conversely: Why, when so much else has changed, are many aspects of prom still the same?
No comments:
Post a Comment