Ponderings

I've been reading 'camera lucida' by Roland Barthes, and today, it got me thinking. Near the beginning of the book Barthes describes 'the photograph' as belonging to

“that class of laminated objects whose two leaves cannot be separated without destroying them both.”

Taiwan, in my experience is a lot like Barthes' 'photograph.' On first impressions it seemed overwhelming whirling dervish of chaos, (not quite fulfilling the eastern principles of harmony and connectivity I had expected.) But on closer inspection, it was fascinating, and I was wrong. It seems to be a mass of juxtaposed lifestyles, buildings, modernism, tradition, religion, relationships and life coexisting perfectly in a way that could never be successfully reconstructed. There's such a menagerie of finely balanced relationships going on, between the old and the new; tradition and modernity; serenity and chaos; culture and pop culture; (and the list goes on.) Similarly, my relationship with these relationships is equally balanced on the extremes of love and hate. Ultimately (cheesily) love conquers all, and I would definitely recommend this country to anyone. As with all relationships there is a certain level of tension, and compromises must be made, but it seems to me that these tensions are a big part of what holds it all together, resulting in a unique situation where very little compromise actually needs to take place. At first it appears to be a gentle place, with lovely people, who are generally shy, and seem afraid to insult, almost to the point where I was anxious that people may try and take advantage of this. My fears were, however, unwarranted. Taiwan is no pushover, and has one strong sense of identity (even though that identity is made up of such diversity; in itself an important factor.) In all of this I see a definite comparison with Barthes' photograph. Taiwan thrives on its ability to be ultra modern and ultra traditional, all at the same time. So if you try and separate these out, or compromise one for the other, could you end up “destroying them both.”