Appadurai - Courtney Sparling

"It takes only the merest acquaintance with the facts of the modern world to note that it is now an interactive system in a sense that is strikingly new."

I believe that the first quotation in this work not only sums up the theory that Appadurai continues on to explain in the reading, but also relates to all the other readings we have done throughout the year in this class. So many theorists and theories pertain to this new modern world that we now live in, relating it to the past, present, and future. One thing that is clear in all of the theories we have approached all year, is that the world we live in is based on interactions as the system we need and rely on. Today, this system is new and different from what has been used in the past. Technologies and the removal of global restrictions have transformed the world into "communities with 'no sense of place."

One quotation that really caught my attention:
"If your present is their future, and their future is your past, then your own past can be made to appear as simply normalized modality of your present."

We are not really in the present, ever. Appadurai gave examples of 50s diners, 20s dances, ect. We incorporate so much of the past in our present day. I also see that we incorporate the future in shows and gadgets that are constantly being released to the public in an attempt to outdo the previous. We also see the original Batman comic books, made into a film, and then more films that revamp the first, so to speak.

These examples are seen here as "American," but often times travel globally into numerous countries. We see Batman toys/puzzles in China, comics in India etc. Everyone around the world can become familiar with Batman.