Ethnography

During a sunny afternoon at CSUN, I parked myself in the middle of the University Student Union outside seating area.  It was 11am in the middle of the school week and, with the sun bearing down on the campus, a number of other students had claimed tables for themselves to study, eat lunch, or simply relax with friends.  I immediately began looking around for couples and found two friends chatting at a table to the right of me, along with another pair of friends standing in the shade by the first floor of the computer lab.  For the duration of both exchanges, which were each about 15-20 minutes from the time I sat down, no other individuals joined their conversations and they were not showing any normal signs of affection, so it was not clear whether either pair was actually together or not.  To my left, I heard a male voice say, “Sure, join me” as another male student put his lunch down onto the table.  The male that was already occupying the table was wearing what appeared to be a wedding ring, though they did not seem to know each other until that very moment, as it was only the lack of shade that motivated the second male student to find another, nearby table to relocate to.  Although I was not close enough to them to make out their complete dialogue, they ate their lunch while keeping up a long conversation.

As I looked more generally at the people around me, I noticed that many of the students sitting by themselves at tables were female; meanwhile, more males were walking with friends to their next destination.  A table was filled with girls wearing clothing of their sorority, while many of the isolated individuals sitting at tables had books cracked open.  Countless students were passing through the area, probably headed home, to class, or to get food.  Many couples strolled by, holding hands and laughing, and there were also numerous male-only and female-only pairs of friends.  A common characteristic between all of these couples and friends was an apparent hurriedness and purposefulness to their walking, in addition to multi-tasking, with cell phones, books, and food in hand.  I also noticed a commonality in the clothing people wore and the accessories students had – Abercrombie-, PacSun- and CSUN-covered individuals with brand-name purses, sunglasses, hats, and backpacks, together with skateboarders and people on scooters riding along.  Despite the time of day and number of people that I witnessed, there were only a few probable couples to be found.

The media is no doubt responsible for how exactly we distinguish relationships in society – we look for normative representations of love according to the way film and television depict relationships.  As Tamar Jeffers McDonald points out in her book, Romantic Comedy: Boys Meets Girl Meets Genre, movies can make love and romance a valuable product just as much as they can make Coca-Cola or Nike products more desirable to people (15).  My ideal notion of couples, as a result of years of television and movies, is that those holding hands must be dating.  When I first sat down, I was immediately looking for couples by means of public displays of affection and pairs of one male and one female.  Pairs passing by me while holding hands were quickly identified as an item.  On the other hand, the two couples I initially found casually talking to each other could not be absolutely classified by me as dating, since I never saw them hold hands or hug, nor did I hear any part of their dialogues.  My assumptions, in both cases, could indeed be wrong.  Indeed, it is difficult to determine actual couples when looking for what the media deems as couple-appropriate behavior.

Other than these possible couples, there were no out-of-the-ordinary actions.  The two males I saw eating lunch together could have been seen as radical, had they shown any signs of affection to each other; although, they were most likely not together because of the presence of a ring.  In the face of such gender issues, it was very acceptable for the second male to ask to join the table.  If a girl had been the one to ask, it might have been seen as flirting or an attempt to get to know the male, even though the intense heat was actually the main cause of table switches.

Overall, I believe that the media is the most prominent influence upon today’s idea of American culture.  Further, each person whom I witnessed portrayed themselves through a specific identity – skater, athlete, fraternity brother, sorority sister, Christian, Muslim, teacher, student – identities most likely marketed in mass media.  In his book, Cultural Studies: Theory & Practice, Chris Barker suggests that “identities are discursive constructions that change their meanings according to time, place and usage” (217), and in the film, “American Psycho”, Patrick Bateman conceals what is an unacceptable identity of a murderer, instead representing himself as a wealthy and educated businessman.  What I witnessed during this somewhat-relaxing hour on the CSUN campus consisted predominately of school-based identities.  I would not expect the same actions and behavior from each person if they were sitting in class, and the way which people act with friends would not always equate to how they act with family.

Through life experiences, and more so through mediums such as religion and television, we learn what acceptable behavior is and how we can and should portray ourselves within society.  We are taught certain ideologies regarding love and self-identity, then go out and expect to see certain behaviors and practices among others, embracing clear actions that meet our criteria – the norm – and quickly dismissing those that do not – the radical.

Bale, Christian, perf. American Psycho. Lions Gate Entertainment, 2000. Film.

Barker, Chris.  Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice.  Los Angeles: Sage, 2008.  Print.

McDonald, Tamar Jeffers.  Romantic Comedy: Boy Meets Girl Meets Genre.  New York: Wallflower Press, 2007.  Print.