Today, at work, one of the guys had a shirt with the phrase "Cardboard Tube Samurai" on it. Apparently it is a web comic. I tried an experiment - I ask all the people nearby what the phrase "Cardboard Tube Samurai" brings to their mind. All the women looked at me like "what?"... some guessed... "So, a samurai made out of cardboard?" All the guys said the same thing "That is when you take a cardboard tube and use it like a samurai sword" - some would say it, some would pantomime it, but every one of them had an immediate visceral reaction to the phrase. Not only that, but everyone when asked affirmed something I suspected - they had all DONE it. Not only could they immediately imagine the same thing, they all had personal experiences they could relate to it.
Is this cultural? Are we socialized into this, or is it biological? Is the physical wiring of the male mind different from female in a way that immediately causes the male to recognize that the primary purpose of a cardboard tube unadorned with wrapping paper is to be a sword?
I wish Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung were alive today. I believe they would have an answer. I am afriad to ask what Freud would have said.
Sophie took a walk
14 years ago
1 comment:
I thought I'd have a contradictory response for you but I'm not so sure upon reflection. I had the same thoughts as your male respondants. But I'm not completely sure which way I'd have answered it before having a son, which has given me new appreciation into the possibilities of cardboard tubes.
Post a Comment