Love Actually - Anthropological Perspective (Week 4)

Question 1

Anthropology

Answer 1

A social science that studies human culture and its development

Question 2

Culture

Answer 2

-Broad term that encompasses social behavior norms, beliefs, and laws that are passed from generation to generation
-“The way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”- Cambridge Dictionary

Question 3

Immaterial Culture

Answer 3

-Abstract, intangible elements of culture
-Politics, myths, literature etc

Question 4

Material Culture

Answer 4

-Solid, tangible elements of culture
-Architecture, cuisine, art, etc

Question 5

Cultural Norms

Answer 5

Expected behavior for individuals within a society

Question 6

Cultural impacts

Answer 6

Human beings, cultural systems, social systems, physical systems, biological systems, psychological systems all impacts each other reciprocally

Question 7

Kama Sutra

Answer 7

-Its original goal is to guide in terms of love and relationships
-Steps on how to flirt and acquire a lover, describes roles in marriages, and who to avoid
-Often misunderstood as a book about sex positions

Question 8

Caritas Synthesis

Answer 8

-Emphasizes and reflects the relationship and love between humans and God
-A blend of passionate and universal love (eros and agape)
-Translates to “charity” or “lovingkindness”

Question 9

Courtly Love

Answer 9

-Caritas synthesis and attributed to humans
-Sexual love between men and women is ideal
-Love is elevating for men and women
-Love involves courting rituals but doesn’t result in marriage
-People did not marry for love
-Love has ethical and aesthetic rules
-Establish a holy unity between men and women

Question 10

Romantic Love

Answer 10

-Equality of the sexes
-starts to consider the lover’s qualities
-“God is love” transforms to “love is God”
-Considered a combination of lust and affection (sexual love)
-The idea of marrying for love

Question 11

The Victorian Era

Answer 11

-Industrial revolution results in a money focus society
-Women were devalued
-Their sexual autonomy were removed and they’re forced into the role of sexual objects and motherhood
-Discussing about sexuality,especially female sexuality became taboo

Question 12

Love Currently

Answer 12

-Birth control gave women more control of their sexual antonomy as they explore their sexuality
-Decline in sexual differences between men and women
-Acceptance of queer identiy and subcultures
-Proliferation of pornography, cohabitation, premarital and nonmarital sex

Question 13

Arranged Marriages

Answer 13

-Spouses chosen by parents or matchmakers
-More than 53% of marriages

Question 14

Forced Arranged Marriages

Answer 14

No control over marriage

Question 15

Consensual Arranged Marriage

Answer 15

Individual can refuse to marry

Question 16

Cons of Arranged Marriages

Answer 16

-High sexual and physical abuse rates
-Less financial independence for poor women
-Upper class women are married later

Question 17

Benefits of Arranged Marriages

Answer 17

-Low divorce rates
-Prior approval of family and friends
-Less room for overthinking
-Lower expectations

Question 18

Layla, Majnun, and the divine

Answer 18

-Original romeo and juliet
-Majnun and Layla, fall in love
-Majnun is rejected by Layla’s father
-Majnun wonders the desert and prays to Allah to make his love greater
-Layla is married off
-Layla preserve her chastity while Majnun rejects any physical contact with her all for the sake of a “perfect love”

Question 19

Interpretations of Layla, Majnun, and the divine

Answer 19

-Eric Clapton made a song “Layla”
-Interpreted as a Sufi where lovers seek ultimate union and annihilation in the Truth
-Majnun’s harsh life in the desert has been compared to Muslim mystic who reject earthly pleasures and affinities

Question 20

Love in Modern Japan

Answer 20

-Decrease in the desire for relationships and sex especially in young adults
-Dramatic decline of arranged marriages
-Idol industry and obsessive fans who fear real women projecting their fantasies on to young celebrities

Question 21

Herbivore Men

Answer 21

Men who are shy, passive, and show no interest in sex and romance out of a fear of rejection

Question 22

Hikikomori

Answer 22

Japanese psychopathological and sociological phenomenon where people seek extreme isolation and confinement

Question 23

Love in Modern China

Answer 23

-Unmarried women over the age of thirty were referred to as “leftover” women
-Women’s rights are declining in China
-There are market places where women would list their qualities so that a man can choose them

Question 24

Henry VIII

Answer 24

-Married to Catharine who couldn’t produce him a male successor
-Attracted to Anne Boleyn but couldn’t divorce Catherine because of the Roman Catholic Church
-Made himself the head of the church and married Anne Boleyn
-Established the Anglican Church

Question 25

Sigheh in Iran

Answer 25

-Temporary marriages are used so that people don’t get criminalized for having sex outside of their marriages
-Feminists criticize the practice as oppressive as wealthy men are the ones who are taking on divorced, poor women
-Men can take on four wives and unlimited temporary wives
-Some see it as prostitution
-Others use this to legally travel with their partners who were not married
-Laws are less strict in some areas

Question 26

Loving v Virginia

Answer 26

-Did antimiscegenation (interracial marriage) laws violate the equal protection clause
-The court found that there was no legitimate purpose for the Virginia law
-The court ruled that this law violated equal protection

Question 27

Obergefell v. Hodges

Answer 27

-The court used the due process clause
-Marriage rights are guaranteed to same-sex couples because of equal protection under the law