Human culture is very diverse. Culture is about social behavior, institutions, and norms found in all human societies. Culture deals with knowledge, beliefs, the arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of individual people. Culture is diverse based on region or location. For example, the act of African American couples jumping a broom after being married is part of a specific culture just like when people celebrate the Chinese New Year with fireworks, songs, and dance. These diverse cultures are very normal and widespread globally. Across different cultures, there are unifying human characteristics like love of family, friendship, cuisine, and other aspects of human existence. There are cultural changes over millennia. For example, back in ancient Rome, people wore tunics. Today, most of the Western world has people wearing different styles of clothing from shirts, dress, pants, and a myriad of hats. There is cultural diffusion. The hip hop culture came from New York City, and it has spread intentionally, maize is found in the America spreading globally, and the kente cloth from Africa is common among tons of people in the black African Diaspora. UNESCO tries to preserve culture and cultural heritage globally. Culture is studied by anthropologists and sociologists constantly in studies, books, and other forms of research. Culture is always unique. It can be found in art, music, dance, spirituality, technology, fashion, shelter, the military, etc. Some culture can be passed down from generation to generation in written and oral traditions. For example, certain family stories, investments, and a toolbox can be passed down from parents to children. Also, it is important to note to mention that Western culture is not the superior culture above every other culture. Many cultures in the Americas, Asia, Africa, Oceania, etc. have great value in the Universe not just Western culture. One part of culture is food culture. Many relatives make gumbo, turkey, and other cuisine to be part of family traditions, loving family, debate issues, and show a sense of human togetherness. The environment, wars, colonialism, trade, and other events can influence culture in mighty ways. We have tons of languages spoken among the human family like English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, French, Russian, Portuguese, Urdu, etc. Most people worship in the religions of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Folk religions, Sikhism, and Judaism. Other human beings are unaffiliated, agnostic, and atheist. Language can be presented by humans in speech, written words, braille (for blind people), sign language, and symbols. There are about 6,000 languages in usage today. The human arts are visual, literary, and performing. The Visual arts can be painting, sculpturing, film, fashion design, and architecture. Literary arts are about prose, poetry, and drams. The performing arts relate to theater, music (with artists like Coco Jones, H.E.R., Tinashe, Brandy Norwood, Monica, etc.), and dance. The arts can deal with games, food preparation, video games and medicine. The arts can be political, entertainment, and showing wisdom to people. Art is great, and listening to music and observing dance stimulates the orbitofrontal cortex and other pleasure sensing areas of the brain. The technologies of paper, the printing press, gunpowder, compass, and other inventions were made in China. Today, we have electricity, penicillin, semiconductors, the internal combustion engines, the Internet, air conditioning, and television spreading cultural excellence across the globe.
Human society is very complex. It is structured by a system of organizations and institutions arising from interaction between human beings. Being highly social as human beings, we can develop large complex social groups. Society, in the modern age, can be divided into different groups based upon income, wealth, power, reputation, and other factors. Societies are social stratification and a degree of social realities. We have modern and traditional societies. Human groups can exist in many sizes like families, nations, and international organizations. Hunter-gatherer band societies were the first form of human social organization. Human societies deal with gender. Most societies are divided into men and women. From thousands of years ago to today, some societies do have nonbinary structures and diverse gender identities that many people didn't know about until the 21st century. Some societies embrace a third gender, fourth, fifth, and gender non-conforming existence. Gender roles deal with norms, practices, dress, behavior, rights, duties, privileges, status, and power. On average, men have more rights and privileges than women in most societies both back in the day and today in near 2024. Biological sex is a reality of human existence. Gender is a social construct. That means that gender roles are not fixed and vary historically within a society. Early gender roles were diverse in early human history by the Upper Paleolithic age. In human society, human societies organize, recognize, and classify types of social relationships based on relations between parents, children, and other descendants (consanguinity), and relations via marriage (affinity). There is the fictive relationship of types applied to godparents or adoptive children. All societies have incest taboo as incest is disgusting obviously. Human ethnic groups are a social category that identify people based on shared attributes like traditions, ancestry, language, history, society, culture, nation, religions, or social treatment. Ethnic group is different than race. For example, my ethnicity is African American because I have a shared culture and ancestry with black Americans. A black person from Brazil has an Afro-Brazilian ethnic group different from me, but we are of the same black race (of the black African Diaspora). As for governments, it is found that 47 percent of human live in some form of a democracy (I know some conservatives talk about Republics, but this is about all democracies that embrace a republican form of government or not), 17 percent live in a hybrid regime, and 37 percent of people live in an authoritarian regime. Many nations have international organizations and alliances. The United Nations is the largest international organization with 193 member states. War and terrorism are common today, but war casualty is less now than back 80 years ago or 600 years ago. Almost 200 million people died in the 20th century alone in wars and conflicts. Human trade and economics among humans have expanded for millennia. There were bartering systems long ago. Today, we have many economies like capitalism, socialism, communism, hybrid economies, etc. There are massive inequalities in the division of wealth among humans which is why people fight against income inequality to this very day. The eight richest humans are worth the same monetary value as the poorest half of all the human population. That is not something to praise and change ought to happen economically to make economic systems fair for all people.
When it all said and done, human beings have a very unique experience in the Universe. We are only here for less than 130 years, but our impact in the world has been major. For example, we are the only species on Earth that traveled into Space plus into the Moon and go back to the Earth. We have DNA that acts as transmitters of information that can develop life more thoroughly from being an embryo to an adult human being. We can adapt in some of the most dangerous climate on Earth. We have inspirational inventions that has lessen the time of travel among young distances, cured plus treated illnesses, and grown knowledge. Yet, learning knowledge is not enough. There is purpose in life. There is the transcendent in the Universe. In other words, life is bigger than us humans. From all of the evidence that I have seen, I do believe in the Creator God who created the Universe. We are not mere accidents as a product of random chance. We have specialized organs, we have a prefrontal cortex that deals with intellectual power, and our cells are filled with electric energy that can heal plus perform magnificent feats in a short span of time (like meiosis, etc.). Therefore, the codes found in genetic material (from DNA to our chromosomes), the electromagnetic field, the existence of fractals, the Universal laws of our reality, and the influence of light in all matter represents to me concrete evidence for God in organizing the Universe. God is Love and from God comes Light as even the Scriptures mention. Also, Love doesn't mean that we do what we want. We still have to promote righteousness and justice in our lives. We still have to do the right thing in our lives. All things are influenced by Light and from the Universal, Infinite mind. The Infinite, Immortal Mind and Infinite Origin of all Power is God to me.
Taylor Swift is one of the most popular pop singers of our generation. Regardless of how people feel about her, she has a prominent role in the evolution of pop culture. She is a singer, songwriter, and entrepreneurship. She has been a subject of widespread media coverage writing since the age of 14. She has a large fan base too. She dreamed of being a country singer when she was young. She was born up North in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She worked in county music for years starting with Taylor Swift (2006). Her next, Fearless (2008), explored country pop, and its singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" catapulted her to mainstream fame. Speak Now (2010) infused rock influences, while Red (2012) experimented with electronic elements and featured Swift's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one song, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." She departed from her country image with 1989 (2014), a synth-pop album supported by the chart-topping songs "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood." Media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-flavored Reputation (2017) and its number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do." Swift signed with Republic Records in 2018. She released the eclectic pop album Lover (2019) and autobiographical documentary Miss Americana (2020), embraced indie folk and alternative rock on 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, explored understated pop styles on Midnights (2022), and released four re-recorded albums subtitled Taylor's Version after a dispute with Big Machine. These albums spawned the number-one songs "Cruel Summer", "Cardigan", "Willow", "Anti-Hero", "All Too Well", and "Is It Over Now?". The Eras Tour, her 2023–2024 concert tour, is the highest-grossing of all time. Swift directed music videos and films such as All Too Well: The Short Film (2021).
One of the world's best-selling musicians with 200 million records sold, Swift has earned 117 Guinness World Records and received the Global Recording Artist of the Year award three times from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. She is the highest-grossing female touring act, the most streamed woman on Spotify and Apple Music, and the first billionaire with music as the main source of income. A Time Person of the Year (2023), Swift has appeared on lists such as Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists, and the World's 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes. Her accolades include 12 Grammy Awards (including three Album of the Year wins), 1 Primetime Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards (including Artist of the Decade – 2010s), 40 Billboard Music Awards, and 23 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift is a philanthropist and an advocate for artists' rights and women's empowerment.
The Shawshank Redemption was a 1994 American prison drama film that has been one of the most inspirational films of all time. It showed the power of the human sprit inspite of corruption, abuse, and unfairness in the prison system. This story is a fictional story that outlined what goes on in prison even in our time in the 2020's. The film was written and directed by Frank Darabont. It was based on the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The film mentioned the story of the banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence. Over the following two decades, he befriends a fellow prisoner, contraband smuggler Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) and becomes instrumental in a money laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, and James Whitmore appear in supporting roles.
Darabont purchased the film rights to King's story in 1987, but development did not begin until five years later, when he wrote the script over an eight-week period. Two weeks after submitting his script to Castle Rock Entertainment, Darabont secured a $25 million budget to produce The Shawshank Redemption, which started pre-production in January 1993. While the film is set in Maine, principal photography took place from June to August 1993 almost entirely in Mansfield, Ohio, with the Ohio State Reformatory serving as the eponymous penitentiary. The film score was provided by Thomas Newsom. While The Shawshank Redemption received critical acclaim upon its release—particularly for its story, the performances of Robbins and Freeman, Newman's score, Darabont's direction and screenplay and Roger Deakins' cinematography. When the film first came out in Sepetember of 1994, it was not very popular in the box office became of compettion of films like Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump (along with lack of women characters, unpopularity of prison films at that time, etc.). It went on to receive multiple award nominations, including seven Academy Award nominations, and a theatrical re-release that, combined with international takings, increased the film's box-office gross to $73.3 million. Decades after its release, the film is still broadcast regularly, and is popular in several countries, with audience members and celebrities citing it as a source of inspiration or naming it a favorite in various surveys, leading to its recognition as one of the most "beloved" films ever made. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film started in early 1949 at Portland, Maine, the banker Andy Dufresne arrives at Shawshank State Prison to serve two consecutive life sentences for murdering his wife and her lover. He is befriended by Ellis "Red" Redding, a contraband smuggler serving a life sentence, who procures a rock hammer and a large poster of Rita Hayworth for Andy. Assigned to work in the prison laundry, Andy is frequently sexually assaulted by prison gang "the Sisters" and their leader, Bogs Diamond.
In 1949, Andy overhears the captain of the guards, Byron Hadley, complaining about being taxed on an inheritance and offers to help him shelter the money legally. After an assault by the Sisters nearly kills Andy, Hadley beats and cripples Bogs, who is subsequently transferred to another prison; Andy is not attacked again. Warden Samuel Norton meets Andy and reassigns him to the prison library to assist elderly inmate Brooks Hatlen, a front to use Andy's financial expertise to manage financial matters for other prison staff, guards from other prisons, and the warden himself. Andy begins writing weekly letters to the state legislature requesting funds to improve the prison's decrepit library. Brooks is paroled in 1954 after serving 50 years, but he cannot adjust to the outside world and eventually hangs himself. The legislature sends a library donation that includes a recording of The Marriage of Figaro; Andy plays an excerpt over the public address system and is punished with solitary confinement. After his release from solitary, Andy explains to a dismissive Red that hope is what gets him through his sentence. In 1963, Norton begins exploiting prison labor for public works, profiting by undercutting skilled labor costs and receiving bribes. Andy launders the money using the alias "Randall Stephens."
In 1965, Andy and Red befriend Tommy Williams, a young prisoner incarcerated for burglary. A year later, Andy helps him pass his General Educational Development (GED) exam. Tommy reveals to Red and Andy that his cellmate at another prison had claimed responsibility for the murders of which Andy was convicted. Andy brings the information to Norton who refuses to listen and, when Andy mentions the money laundering, sends Andy to solitary confinement and has Hadley fatally shoot Tommy under the guise of an escape attempt. Andy refuses to continue the money laundering, but Norton threatens to destroy the library, remove Andy's protection by the guards, and move him to worse conditions. Andy is released from solitary confinement after two months, and he tells a skeptical Red that he dreams of living in Zihuatanejo, a Mexican town on the Pacific coast. Andy also tells him of a specific hayfield near Buxton, asking Red to promise, once he is released, to retrieve a package that Andy buried there. Red worries about Andy's mental well-being, especially when he learns Andy asked a fellow inmate for some rope. Red is skeptical of Andy's dreams and aspirations to leave the prison.
At the next day's roll call, the guards find Andy's cell empty. An irate Norton throws a rock at a poster of Raquel Welch hanging on the cell wall, revealing a tunnel that Andy had dug with his rock hammer over nearly two decades. The previous night, Andy used the rope to escape through the tunnel and prison sewage pipe, taking Norton's suit, shoes, and ledger, containing evidence of the money laundering. While guards search for him, Andy poses as Randall Stephens, withdraws over $370,000 of the laundered money from several banks, and mails the ledger and other evidence of the corruption and murders at Shawshank to a local newspaper. State police arrive at Shawshank and take Hadley into custody, while Norton commits suicide to avoid arrest.
The following year, Red is paroled after serving 40 years but struggles to adapt to life outside prison and fears that he never will. Remembering his promise to Andy, he visits Buxton and finds a cache containing money and a letter asking him to come to Zihuatanejo. Red violates his parole by traveling to Fort Hancock, Texas, and crossing the border into Mexico, admitting that he finally feels hope. He finds Andy sanding an old boat on a Zihuatanejo beach, and the two reunited friends happily embrace. The film showed Andy's character as having a wise mystic about him. He has an aura that doesn't allow him to be destroyed in the prison system emotionally. The warden Norton is shown as a hypocrite by using religious themes in the film (about talking about the Bible, speaking about God, etc.), but he acts the opposite of Jesus by promoting cruelty, allowing murder, harshly allows unjust assaults against prisoners, and being involved in financial corruption. Zihuatanejo has been interpreted as an analog for heaven or paradise. In the film, Andy describes it as a place with no memory, offering absolution from his sins by forgetting about them or allowing them to be washed away by the Pacific Ocean, whose name means "peaceful." The possibility of escaping to Zihuatanejo is only raised after Andy admits that he feels responsible for his wife's death. Similarly, Red's freedom is only earned once he accepts, he cannot save himself or atone for his sins. Freeman has described Red's story as one of salvation as he is not innocent of his crimes, unlike Andy who finds redemption. Film critic Roger Ebert argued that The Shawshank Redemption is an allegory for maintaining one's feeling of self-worth when placed in a hopeless position. Andy's integrity is an important theme in the story line, especially in prison, where integrity is lacking. Such prison themes were later found in The Green Mile in 1999 being directed by Darabont. He also directed the film The Mist in 2007.
The film has been nominated for, or appeared on, the American Film Institute's lists celebrating the top 100 film or film-related topics. In 1998, it was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list, and was number 72 on the 2007 revised list, outranking Forrest Gump (76) and Pulp Fiction (94). It was also number 23 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers (2006) list charting inspiring films. The characters of Andy and Warden Norton received nominations for AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains list; AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list for "Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'"; AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list for "Sull'aria ... che soave zeffiretto" (from The Marriage of Figaro); and AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores for Newman's work. It was one of the greatest films of the 1990's. The significant and enduring public appreciation for the film has often been difficult for critics to define. In an interview, Freeman said, "About everywhere you go, people say, 'The Shawshank Redemption—greatest movie I ever saw'" and that such praise "Just comes out of them." Robbins said, "I swear to God, all over the world—all over the world—wherever I go, there are people who say, 'That movie changed my life'." In a separate interview, Stephen King said, "If that isn't the best [adaptation of my works], it's one of the two or three best, and certainly, in moviegoers' minds, it's probably the best because it generally rates at the top of these surveys they have of movies. ... I never expected anything to happen with it." The Shawshank Redemption remains a film that promote togetherness, resiliency, friendship, and exposing corruption in the prison industrial complex too.
By Timothy
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