Blog Subject

This blog will be used to discuss the suspected view that Catullus would have over modern social culture. Each month a new aspect of modern social culture will be examined using one of the poems of Catullus.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

September - October Post

In the series of poems known as De Carminibus Catullus uses the guise of talking to inanimate objects to describe how he feels about individuals and the way life is generally going for him. One poem that is particularly interesting is carmen 44. In this poem he talks about the way that he was forced to read a bad speech against Antius before he was able to eat the dinner that he wanted. This poem is focusing on the aspect of roman culture that that bad writing is able to make people sick. In modern culture, this is still practiced in the form of soap operas and comedies. One such show that has been around for a long time, is Signified. In the show some aspect of life is made fun of just as Catullus used the poems De Carminimbus to make fun of roman life. One such episode that in which jerry gets sick because of something not being up to his standards, is when he takes his date out to eat a fancy restaurant that his date's father owns. He meets the father in the bathroom and notices that the father does no wash his hands in the bathroom before returning to preparing Jerry's food. This is appalling to Jerry, and he become sick so as not to have to eat the food. This example, while not perfect, is something that Catullus would find funny and include in his poetry. If you are responding to my post, try to think of another example in which Catullus would find a modern show like his poetry.