Points of Light: Cultures and History

Cultures and history can be forgotten, or they can be part of our mental Points of Light.

Here are two examples:

1.  We bring back our own culture and the cultures of others:

Edward Curtis: Was this the most ambitious photo project ever?
Edward S Curtis spent years living with Native American tribes to chronicle their lives, in what became a definitive work of vast proportions.

After taking more than 40,000 pictures over 30 years, he published the last of 20 volumes in 1930.

https://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/45843072/edward-curtis-was-this-the-most-ambitious-photo-project-ever

2. African Women: remembering them in history, 10 short BBC video vignettes:

Warrior Queens:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-45877404/nehanda-the-shona-spirit-medium-that-inspired-mugabe

Points of Light: Preserving Cultures Counts

In some movies from the 30's and 40's a lovely vacation is portrayed. While the scene may be from a former time, movies from this era emulated certain vacation types and spots, just like other things of the wealthy were emulated in movies, albeit a Sherlock Holmes movie, vampire, love, or mystery:
the dinner jacket
the martini
nice leather travel luggage
Harrods
big gems on necklaces and rings
flowing designer dresses for designer parties

This was the era forgetting the glamour of the 1912 cruise ship disaster of the Titanic, devastating World War 1, and growing financial and political tensions.  I think this was also a time when somewhat realistic movies, like Gaslight were brought to us by the British. I think there is a reason for many mysteries and dark dramas being influenced by England: it was the land of Jack the Ripper, Scotland Yard, tales of Sherlock Holmes, and the dark sides of London.

In the movie Gaslight, our heroine has met a man while on her glamour vacation. Was it like so many movies at that time, portraying a long rest at Lake Como, in Italy?

Remember, as the note above, there are two versions of the movie, with different details. But, there is the
vacation
the return home
the gaslighting

Then, this is not fully a happy ending. There is no return to Lake Como. The gaslighter's damage has redirected the story. It doesn't return to a naive Lake story or rest. But, also, it doesn't return to that theme at all.....there is no Prince taking our heroine off to the Lake.

The story has then changed. It's not innocent, and not naive anymore. There is damage. Just like the knights going off naively to find the Holy Grail, they all end up battered, scared, and war torn from the experience. Nothing is the same.

Something is lost then.

These stories serve as warnings and tragedies. There is loss. They tell us

don't go there
don't do that
don't have dinner in the vampires castle

When the thief, the gaslighter, takes one's innocence, it's replaced with a more mature view of the world. Being jaded can show up. But, the risk is to let the pendulum swing so far that one is only jaded. One must find now a balance:

how can you be careful, jaded, and "return to or regain your innocence"?

Lost is the culture of Lake Como and the restive vacation, but also potentially lost for good is the culture of the lake vacation AND a part of our souls, often called our inner innocent child self.

About Lake Como

https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/europe/5-reasons-italys-lake-como-12436663