Ancient Futures commentary PDF

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Weekly commentaries were made based on documentaries that were shown. This commentary was based on a film called "Ancient Futures" and mainly focused on changing culture in developing societies such as Ladakh....

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Soyoung Jung (sj342) Movie: “Ancient Futures” Due: 2/19/1 4 The documentary portrays the difference between the largest town of Ladakh called Leh, and the non-industrialized village in Ladakh. The idea of interdependence within families and community members was heavily announced throughout the film. This village is a place where everything is ecological and the way of life is revolved around relationships, natural resources, labor, and most importantly, no monetary use involved. Throughout the last two decades, the largest town in Ladakh has become so industrialized that people, especially young adults, are losing their sense of identity and culture. Reliance on money and staple foods has potentially strengthened the economy for the world, but weakened the cultural aspect and overall important meaning of relationships in the Ladakh community. Throughout history, we have witnessed industrialization promoting a shift from “tight-knit” communities to dispersed communities, all working for individual reasons. Industrialization and the idea of modernization has made a rather negative impact on the culture of Ladakhis and has brought down those remaining to uphold the culture in the farming villages of Ladakh. The people living in the small farming villages of Ladakh were mentioned as the “real economists” in the film. The reason being that interdependence was key and the use of natural resources to the fullest extent is the way to succeed and promote natural happiness, knowing that your culture is being taught throughout generations and that nothing will be unequally distributed amongst each other. Nothing ever went to waste in these villages, including water, crops, soil, etc. Even water was evenly distributed among families, as it is scarce in the Himalayas, by building water channels to send water to designated families on certain days. The idea of interdependence was built up by the Buddhist philosophy: Relationship is everything. Families consisted of three generations (grandparents, parents and grandchildren). The key ingredient in this town was the fact that there was absolutely no money spent. Cash was foreign to the people of the village as the only way of trade was through labor and helping each other with anything. Their government was a form of council members or representatives from each family to discuss disputes, which were settled almost immediately through understanding and noncomplexity. Although men were sent as representatives, the role and position of women was extremely high, as they usually made the important decisions in the household. In the film, once the effect of industrialization came into the picture, they showed that the idea of technology was really taking over the peoples’ minds. In the farming village of Ladakh, the most advanced technology used to be the grain grinder, which helped the people survive the winter on top of collecting enough crops to last them for an entire year. All of this natural, happy lifestyle slowly started deteriorating as soon as modernization hit the town of Ladakh. People of Leh, the largest town of Ladakh, started becoming more reliant on staple foods, which affected the village of Ladakh as well. Water became contaminated and people in the small village started experience hepatitis which was a serious health issue. Even the ideal family arrangement was being affected as the focus of the economy shifted to Leh. Families began splitting into nuclear families as there was no more space for grandparents anymore. Since the majority of the family were gone to find jobs, decisions in the village were no longer made by council members

but by the government that was far away from the village. The idea of shared work also deteriorated as people started leaving in desire to earn money and find a job. A woman in the film claimed that in order to have someone help her in the village, she’d have to pay them now. Modern education has also taken a toll on the Ladahki culture, as children are (1) being split into religious groups (Muslim, Buddhist), (2) being taught that “west is best”, and (3) obtaining the idea that fighting is necessary between different religious groups. Education isn’t the only leeway into making the people or children think that the west is best. When tourists come to the town of Leh, they portray themselves as very rich, clean and their lifestyles as easy because what they spend in Leh for the day is more than what an average family would spend in a year. People, especially young adults, are alienating themselves from family and becoming completely insecure. Maintaining culture is usually a struggle for all people who are experiencing industrialization and modernization, even today. Once modernization hits, people find it extremely difficult to go back to the traditional life because their lifestyle and reliance on a lot of new materials has completely changed at that point. Like the children of Ladakh, they become confused, rejected from modern life and cut off from their own culture because they never tried to be a part of it. Modernization and money may seem like such advancement at the moment, but in reality it’s only bringing short-term benefits for the community. People need to realize the divergence they’ve created from the most precious thing in the world, which is culture and the idea of interdependence. For the Ladakhis, they must re-connect with the Earth and natural resources to feel that sense of belonging again....