The words “status quo” used to be a term that you’d mostly hear uttered by those interested in international/governmental affairs or highly-educated professionals in articles and media where pundits get to have a field day. And then somewhere along the way more recently…it seemed to vanish a lot from the everyday lexicon of those who either opposed the process or wanted to keep the status quo on talking about the status quo. Maybe it was out of frustration that the status quo pretty much makes up how the world’s governments operate, that others much more powerful than us were controlling the strings and that ordinary citizens couldn’t gather enough power to create powerful change in things that should be changed. Then (maybe thanks to improved social study or governmental studies classes in high school)–it started to be bantered around more in the teens out there who truly care about current events and what’s happening in the world. As unimportant as it seems, there is a lot of irony that the term ended up in a song for one of Disney’s most popular musical TV movies in history: “High School Musical.
While the group number “Stick to the Status Quo” in the first “HSM” movie reflects on the high school jocks (in this case, basketball players) doing something unusual appearing in a stage musical–the title of the song reflects that it’s still controversial to step outside the box and people still expect you to be what you present yourself to be. What that says about the advancement of the world as people is still being debated with positive overtones in my mind. But using the term and simpler lessons behind it in an influential family musical may provide us a new map to getting back to talking about what’s truly behind the meaning of “status quo” in a more profound sense. The song “Stick to the Status Quo” already ended up at #37 on the American Hot 100 in 2006 (the best showing for it on the charts worldwide)–which shows the meaning behind the song touched a nerve. Then again, maybe it was just the music and not the lyrics as it sometimes is in all pop music more recently…that ultimately takes us right back to the status quo.
Once the general philosophy behind “status quo” started to be a process that can be guaranteed to never be vetoed by a President–the attractiveness of it probably became too hard to resist for those who profit off lack of change. Long before the bureaucratic paths of government were created, the Ancient Greeks and Romans coined the term as a focus on the current state of things rather than focusing on the future. That might seem strange when both cultures were so forward-thinking and were far from wanting to be stuck in a rut…at least in the arts and sciences. Leaders of nations were already used to manipulating the people they ruled over (or executing them if they didn’t obey their own laws)–but the Romans were probably the beginnings of keeping a steadfast philosophy based on the progression of the Christian religion and never wavering from those standpoints. Philosophy ruled in keeping things as they are–up until true definitions of the working classes developed. By the time of the Industrial Revolution in America, making exorbitant amounts of money in industry would obviously become the top reason behind resisting change.
When the term finally made it into legalese, some variations started that we might just end up hearing again in the near future. One of those is “status quo ante”, which means “back to the way things were before.” In a time when the future is becoming so feared (and the status quo is valued even more)–a lot of people would prefer going back to a time even before the present status quo. Most of those people might be older people who remember what it was like to live in a supposedly simpler time. That, despite their own parents wishing their own version of status quo ante and thinking their children’s present wasn’t so great. In a familial family tree–this process is an ongoing cycle. But it isn’t this term that might be spoken more often by every single person across the globe. Another variation relates to war and what it was like in the “good old days” when any problems beforehand we were facing seem minimal in comparison to what’s happening in the present.
Status quo ante bellum and showing how “status quo” continues to permeate entertainment…
That first term above probably sounds like something uttered after the Civil War. Well, you’d be right–and it’s where the term originates from with the term Antebellum. In a modern sense, though, it’s a term seldom used, yet means desiring to get back to a reality of any time before war. Even after WWII, a lot of people were still hurting with some vets unable to gets jobs, the sober reality of millions dead and the loss of a magical time that America didn’t quite see at the same level again. Outside of the depression still around in dribs and drabs, the 1939-41 period in America was fairly free-wheeling and comfortable for most people of the WWII generation. Hollywood also had one of its true golden ages during those two years with some of the most classic movies ever made. Some of that comfortableness came back to some degree in America during the mid-1950’s–despite being arguable for some people. Perhaps the last time we’ve experienced anything remotely close was during the 1990’s when the U.S. had an economic high and naïve thoughts that we’d never see war again. My generation once again proved that you should never think things will stay stabilized forever.
Maybe the use of this term is dead forever. (Status quo postmortem?) Nevertheless, if teenagers are using “status quo” more often now, “status quo ante bellum” may be a term we’ll hear used more often once the war in Iraq is over or stalemated and we win the overall war on terror. Imagining where America will stand after we eventually resolve it (or just declare it unresolved) is hard to comprehend right now. The desire to get back to a prewar state where nothing changes one way or the other in this country may be impossible, too, in a time when the war itself is shaping a sense of the other more general term of status quo. For our time, a lot of that status quo has to do with money and power that few who aren’t a part of it really want to stick around or even go back to.
So how do we define that term if we start hearing it spoken from a future President or future political leaders? It really turns into a conundrum when it’s more of a quixotic type of thinking that’s only in the perception of a person’s mind. And every generation who used the term never managed to get back completely to the way things were before a major war. In a broader sense, some might mean merely to get back to prosperous economic times that we see in automatic cycles anyway. We’ll have another one of those. Anything else after our war will never truly be the same, outside of those who wish for a status quo being the ones who benefit the most if economic and corporate industries keep thriving during and after tumultuous events.
And that’s where “status quo” gets the most interesting outside of war. For our time, it really creates problems when you have populations who know of the things people should know in both spiritual, health and environmental areas that won’t become a part of mainstream when big business and forms of government are out to stifle them. In the minds of some of the ones who keep those things from flourishing: It’s for the good of the country. That’s almost impossible to define for some things (particularly in the revelation of more profound realities and chances to improve everyone’s health), but that’s the answer you’ll likely get if you were lucky to get an answer from someone in a state of power. They consider public panic to be the ultimate fear and evil.
In order to define this type of concept better, it’s probably best to speak in metaphor. What better way than examining how status quo works on fictional TV?
Unless you’ve worked in the industry–using a status quo device in a TV show is probably unknown to you. It’s self-explanatory, especially if you’ve seen a lot of your favorite sitcoms that always manage to get their characters and situations back to normal after nearly transforming themselves (or progressing to something greater) in every episode. This construct of TV writing is a bit controversial because of the dangers it brings on in the viewers who want to see their favorite character progress or grow. A lot of new comedy and drama shows avoid this old cliché more recently because it was used mostly in the older days of the casual sitcom. “Gilligan’s Island” was one of the most famous examples where the castaways looked like they’d escape the island in every episode…but ultimately didn’t. Yet, fans of the show keep watching the reruns 100 times over. Obviously, the journey is more interesting for many than the outcome.
In that sense, the world’s own journey may be more interesting than an outcome where everybody becomes enlightened and does the right thing too soon. The true status quo may be seeing how we cope and learn so we’ll be a lot more enlightened once the needed things we want become reality. If you’re still frustrated with Big Brother running and stifling the show, though, you can always go back to the simpler concept in “High School Musical.” That “Stick to the Status Quo” song has a lot to learn within all that bubble gum pop. We have our own cultural status quo that seems to be making inroads in accepting people into things we didn’t use to accept. In the case of basketball jocks wanting to sing in a high school stage musical: Why not? I’ve already seen NBA stars doing things in the entertainment world I’d never thought they’d be capable of doing…including baking as it is with “HSM” character Zeke Baylor.
It’s fortunate for us that a social status quo can be eliminated through public acceptance when that could be a good starting point for getting to the bigger issues later. At least it makes the giant status quo world a lot more interesting to live in during the interim–even with Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron cheerily singing and dancing about it with their equally cheery peers in a high school cafeteria.
