I found the idea of the gam interesting in Moby Dick. For those who don’t remember,
here is a refresher from the novel. “Gam—noun—A social meeting of two (or more)
whale-ships, generally on a cruising-ground; when after exchanging hails, they
exchange visits by boats’ crews: the two captains remaining, for the time, on
board of one ship, and the two chief mates on the other” (216). During this
exchange, the captains and the rest of the crew tell each other the whaling
news, but they would “have an agreeable chat” (214). They were able to do this
as long as they shared a common language. “For not only would they meet with
all the sympathies of sailors, but likewise with all the peculiar
congenialities arising from a common pursuit and mutually shared privations and
perils.”
I got thinking that this is like chatting or Skyping today
in digital culture. There are two (or more) people that come from different
paths of life. One person may be starting a new journey; one may just be finishing
a journey. Yet there is common ground that is found between these people at one
point and this is where they catch up on the goings on of each others’ lives.
This is what we use Skype or chat for—the only difference is the common ground
is virtual, not physical.
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| Pardon the inaccuracies, but this was too good not to share. |
We like to share what’s happening in our lives; it’s been
around for a while. It’s just been changing mediums of communication. It’s
quite amazing that we can connect to anyone we want in the world as long as
they have an internet or data connection—or in other words, a common
“technical” language—and speak to them, face-to-face, at least artificially.
I really enjoy that Lego depiction of Moby Dick... so fun! Relating Skype to gam is really interesting because it definitely expounds on the fact that whaling almost has its own dialect with rituals that make it really similar to digital culture. Although you expressed they differ in mediums, they are both the products of the innate desire to exchange and connect face to face. I'm sure we'll be able to find many more common grounds between the two cultures as we read on.
ReplyDeleteYa know, the LEGOs may, perhaps, seem a little bit infantile, but the fact that these kinds of 'toys' (I'm still a big fan of LEGOs) exist is an indication of the extent to which Moby Dick and other similar adventure tales have permeated throughout American culture.
ReplyDeleteI love the Legos too! Your Skype comparison is interesting. I think the part about exchanging news is a really fitting comparison. Gams also seemed like a time to tell whaling stories. This is just like life where maybe we don't see the person we're skyping with all that often, and we are eager to hear the news of their life and tell a whale of a tale or two. Like the whaling ships, everyone has adventures in their life, big or small, life has ups and downs like the tide, and we as humans feel this need to connect with one another through story telling and exchanging the details of our lives.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this brings up an interesting tension in the digital world--do we use this technology to better facilitate older forms of communication, or do we ditch all the old and dive head-first into new forms of communication? Now, with Skype it makes sense, because nothing substitutes for face-to-face interaction, but what about PDFs? Is it really better to keep digital files looking like printed ones? Digital interfaces work differently than printed information, why are we making our files look like printed paper when we can jut get the information digitally?
ReplyDeleteFace-to-face via video transmission -- is this more authentic and natural, or less so? Is it recreating an older form of communication or forging a new one?
ReplyDelete