Horse without a carriage?

Every so often a social or cultural issue is pushed into public view for topical reasons, and right now the topic du jour is marriage. What has brought this on is, of course, the announcement that Britain’s Prince William is to marry his long term girlfriend, Kate Middleton. The wedding will take place some time next spring (April 29, if you really must know), watched by goodness knows how many billions around the world, and as the hype gathers momentum the topic of marriage gathers some interest.

Interestingly, the Pew Research Center in Washington DC has just undertaken an analysis of the data and trends around marriage in the US, and it makes for interesting reading. The key findings are, first, that marriage as an institutions is declining, but secondly, that the family remains strong and resilient. Whereas in 1960 68 per cent of all Americans in their 20s were married, by 2008 this had gone down to 28 per cent. On the other hand, while Americans on the whole now had a much broader view of what constitutes a ‘family’ (including cohabitees, same sex relationships and so forth), 76 per cent say that their families are the most important thing in their lives, and over 80 per cent believe that their current family (however constituted) is as close as or closer than the family of their youth.

Assuming that Americans don’t think too differently from the rest of us, what should we make of this? It seems to me that the conclusion to be drawn is obvious enough: the institution of marriage has suffered from the moral, or maybe moralistic, baggage that has often come with it, while the provision of mutual support offered by the family continues to find a resonance. The question for us now is whether the much looser formal ties that underpin a family are good enough, or whether it needs some degree of legal security; and of course this is important particularly in the context of providing an appropriate setting for the raising of children.

Either way, I gather that weddings do have sudden bursts of popularity. A few years ago the catalyst was the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral; and next year it will probably be Ms Middleton’s big day.

PS. I am aware that many readers may not understand the connection between the topic and the title of this post.  That’s what happens to you as you grow old.

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Ceremonial robotics

I honestly don’t know what to say about this, so I’ll leave you to make up your own minds. What you’ll see in the youtube clip linked below is a Japanese wedding ceremony. For reasons apparently related to the popularity of the movie ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, the Japanese love to put on pseudo-catholic weddings, involving the full works including priest in traditional vestments, 19th century European choral music and all the trimmings. All this is staged, of course, and no catholic ceremonial is actually involved.

But now this bizarre couple (or perhaps their even madder parents) have put on a wedding conducted by a robot, with Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ in the background. See for yourselves, here it is.