Okay, so maybe I don’t truly love Jameson, but as far as the authors we’ve studied go, he ranks at the top of my list.
When I first began reading Fredric Jameson’s Postmodernism and Consumer Society, I wanted to make sure I at least knew what the topic was supposed to be about. So I went online and looked up postmodernism. After doing this, I felt I was at least on the right track.
Jameson states that “This list would seem to make two things clear at once: first, most of the postmodernisms mentioned above emerge as specific reactions against the established forms of high modernism, against this or that dominant high modernism which conquered the university, the museum, the art gallery network, and the foundations.” (1961) To me, he was saying how there will always be a modernism that accompanies a time period, and there will always be a postmodernism that follows it. To one generation, the art and literature may seem racy and shocking. To the next, it is old and everything the newer generation is fighting against.
“The second feature of this list of postmodernisms is the effacement in it of some key boundaries or separations, most notably the erosion of the older distinction between high culture and so-called mass or popular culture.” (1961) He discusses how the newer generations don’t treat the boundaries between high culture and popular culture like their predecessors did. Instead, the newer postmodernists try to blend the higher culture with the pop culture in order for more people to be able to access it. His main example is the practice of theory, and how today it is becoming more common place which is a “manifestation of postmodernism.”
Jameson then moves on Pastiche and Parody. He says, “Both pastiche and parody involve the imitation or, better still, the mimicry of other styles and particularly of the mannerisms and stylistic twitches of other styles.” (1962) He feels that today’s literature has become an easy target for parody, while past authors were not so easily copied. Parody isn’t just found in literature, it’s found in all art forms. My personal favorite would be the show Saturday Night Live. This show is widely known for taking political situations and making parodies of them. One of my favorite parodies would be when Will Farrell played President George W. Bush.
Pastiche is defined by dictionary.com as “A dramatic, literary, or musical piece openly imitating the previous works of other artists, often with satirical intent.” Parody is “A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.” To me, the pastiche is not considered to be as humorous as a parody is. Will Farrell’s parody of President Bush takes the cake if you ask me.
To me, this piece of reading was the easiest for me to understand out of everything we’ve read so far this semester. I honestly felt intelligent after I was done because I wasn’t sitting here going, what the hell are centers or rhizomes? I think the discussion about Jameson will be easier to have during class tomorrow than the conversations we’ve had so far. Hooray for not being dumb!!!
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