Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
Jameson. Questions? Comments? Observations in anticipation of tutorials?
Don't be shy!
12 comments:
Anonymous
said...
ok, i've just spent the whole day tearing my hair out over the hideously wanky language ('buried alive and condemned to a prison cell without egress', 'like a statue without eyes', 'a stricken world is by some Nietzschean fiat and act of the will transformed into the stridency of Utopian colour' uhuh.) and my only suggestion is to read it REAL SLOW and break down your analysis following the sections he has set out. it makes it much more manageable. after that is done, its a bit clearer what his argument is and a whole lot easier to see the flaws.
Excellent advice. Jameson is notorious for his complex prose, and is often considered "too difficult for undergraduates." Difficult, maybe; worth the struggle, definitely. Hopefully the lecture will help illuminate some of his more complex ideas, but don't worry if you don't get everything first go. We'll definitely keep coming back to him!
There's also a table on LMS which gives a neat schematic overview of Jameson's periodizing hypothesis, showing how different forms of capitalism correlate to different forms of culture, subjectivity etc. Worth checking out.
If it helps to see the man in action, he's on youtube giving a lecture called "What's Left of Theory," beginning with a recap on his major arguments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqmMpyZIhP0 Whether or not it makes anything any clearer is more debatable!
Well, it took all weekend to plough through the damn thing, so I can say I've read it but I don't think I understand it. However!! I will try the above tips, and with the lecture today hopefully all will become clear... :)
i began thinking how can jameson critique postmodernism without resorting to postmodern paradigms.......he is critiquing from outside the framework so how can this be a valid analysis of the whole concept of postmodernism......however i think i got his idea that maybe this is the problem with postmodernism in that it is stuck within its framework and cant relate to any other time or space.... the modernist aesthetic has the ability to reflect outside of its own whereas postmodernism cant?????? am i making this up??
with the first essay do we need to reference outside the set text the question is referring to or are you happy to simply refer to the text (ie stick to the reader)?
I've just been reflecting on the lecture and the tutorial. Thank you, Angela, the article was mystifying and you really cleared it up for me and isolated the important terms.
The second part on postmodern music really interested me. I've been listening to this guy Damien Rice for a while and this particular video of his strikes me as very modernist. When I did Introduction to Hollywood and Art Cinema in first year, modernism was described as a yearning for the "sublime or impossible" and postmodernism as "celebration of the possible." This video of Damien Rice's seems to be yearning for something sublime or impossible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTbLaSfJRY
It's called 9 Crimes in case the link doesn't work. It seems that the lyrics and the video definitely lend itself to a hermeneutical meaning. I read with quite a lot of interest the different readings people had of this song. There is definitely a sense that we are supposed to feel and reflect on love and loss, so no waning of affect there. The children at the end might be interpreted as the masses who must be excluded.
Yeah that's true...i always thought it would have been more effective if Damien Rice was the balloon and the young lady was the one who loses "him". Since young ladies with porcelain features are always victims in movies. :S
This is the unofficial website for Postmodernism 106-036. It will be regularly updated with useful, interesting or just plain distracting stuff to enhance your enjoyment of this subject.
12 comments:
ok, i've just spent the whole day tearing my hair out over the hideously wanky language ('buried alive and condemned to a prison cell without egress', 'like a statue without eyes', 'a stricken world is by some Nietzschean fiat and act of the will transformed into the stridency of Utopian colour' uhuh.) and my only suggestion is to read it REAL SLOW and break down your analysis following the sections he has set out. it makes it much more manageable. after that is done, its a bit clearer what his argument is and a whole lot easier to see the flaws.
Excellent advice. Jameson is notorious for his complex prose, and is often considered "too difficult for undergraduates." Difficult, maybe; worth the struggle, definitely. Hopefully the lecture will help illuminate some of his more complex ideas, but don't worry if you don't get everything first go. We'll definitely keep coming back to him!
There's also a table on LMS which gives a neat schematic overview of Jameson's periodizing hypothesis, showing how different forms of capitalism correlate to different forms of culture, subjectivity etc. Worth checking out.
it's reassuring that it's worth all the pain. i have yet to have that moment of true enlightenment....he's done my head in....
If it helps to see the man in action, he's on youtube giving a lecture called "What's Left of Theory," beginning with a recap on his major arguments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqmMpyZIhP0
Whether or not it makes anything any clearer is more debatable!
Well, it took all weekend to plough through the damn thing, so I can say I've read it but I don't think I understand it. However!! I will try the above tips, and with the lecture today hopefully all will become clear... :)
i began thinking how can jameson critique postmodernism without resorting to postmodern paradigms.......he is critiquing from outside the framework so how can this be a valid analysis of the whole concept of postmodernism......however i think i got his idea that maybe this is the problem with postmodernism in that it is stuck within its framework and cant relate to any other time or space.... the modernist aesthetic has the ability to reflect outside of its own whereas postmodernism cant?????? am i making this up??
You're definitely on the right track! But what are some of the specific reasons Jameson gives to explain why we can't get 'outside' postmodernism?
with the first essay do we need to reference outside the set text the question is referring to or are you happy to simply refer to the text (ie stick to the reader)?
Answers in the post on essay-writing...
I've just been reflecting on the lecture and the tutorial. Thank you, Angela, the article was mystifying and you really cleared it up for me and isolated the important terms.
The second part on postmodern music really interested me. I've been listening to this guy Damien Rice for a while and this particular video of his strikes me as very modernist. When I did Introduction to Hollywood and Art Cinema in first year, modernism was described as a yearning for the "sublime or impossible" and postmodernism as "celebration of the possible." This video of Damien Rice's seems to be yearning for something sublime or impossible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLTbLaSfJRY
It's called 9 Crimes in case the link doesn't work. It seems that the lyrics and the video definitely lend itself to a hermeneutical meaning. I read with quite a lot of interest the different readings people had of this song. There is definitely a sense that we are supposed to feel and reflect on love and loss, so no waning of affect there. The children at the end might be interpreted as the masses who must be excluded.
Cheers.
but isn't that video also postmodern in its setting (the 'everycity' alley)? & it seems to take the idea of fragmentation a little too literally :)
Yeah that's true...i always thought it would have been more effective if Damien Rice was the balloon and the young lady was the one who loses "him". Since young ladies with porcelain features are always victims in movies. :S
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