Summary of Postmodernism and Consumer society

Reshma Mariam Georgi

Roll No. 16
M2 UD

In "Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" Fredric Jameson

attempts to characterize the nature of cultural production in the era of late capitalism,
and to distinguish it from other forms of cultural production of preceding capitalist
eras.

The author first addresses the ambiguity that surrounds postmodernism. He intends to
show how postmodernism is opposed to modernism not just in themes of art and
literature, but also in the general culture. He mentions two of its characteristics, one as
a reaction against high modernism, another as the effacement of boundaries, example
of theory as being not philosophy, not sociology, not political science– but some
melange of different theoretical discourses.

The author offers two concepts that link postmodernism to late capitalism: pastiche
and schizophrenia. Pastiche is essentially parody without the comic element. The idea
of pastiche leads to a discussion of the death of the subject, which has two distinct
perspectives: first, that in the ascension of the bourgeoisie as the hegemonic social
class, individualism may have existed, but is no more in contemporary, homogenous
society; second, that individualism is not only dead, but instead never existed—it is a
myth. The conclusion Jameson leads to from this discussion is that modern art is
dead; there is no originality, only copies of pre-existing elements and forms, or,
pastiche, “to speak through the masks and with the voices of the styles in the
imaginary museum”

He is not just talking about high culture being dead, but also mass culture. To do this,
he talks about nostalgia film, which he sees as remaking the past, namely pastiche.
This is not only represented in what we would consider historical-type films. He gives
the example of Star Wars, explaining that this is pastiche because the general
construct of the film is directly mimicking the plots and provoking the same emotions
of older films and TV shows of the 1930’s-1950’s. He mentions the device of ‘small
town setting’ in films as evoking nostalgia without any of the elements. He explains
that this nostalgia/pastiche, as a representation of postmodernism, reflects a problem
with the current cultures inability to represent their own time. We cannot see and feel
our current existence for what it is but are only able to relate to it through the past.

From the discussion of pastiche and his film examples, Jameson moves to a critique
of postmodern buildings. He is here trying to show that the same inability to feel the
present as represented in nostalgia films, can be shown in our inability to relate to
postmodern architecture. He also proposes that there is mutation in the built space but
for which the human race has not yet evolved to perceive. The author analyses the
postmodern features of the L.A. Westin Bonaventure hotel as an example of this. His
main argument concerning the Bonaventure hotel is that this building, as other
postmodern architecture, does not attempt to blend into its surroundings but to replace
them. The Bonaventure hotel attempts to be a total space, complete world, a kind of
miniature city which introduces a new form of collective behaviour. Inside, the
escalators and elevators--they are "gigantic kinetic sculpture" as it were--convey a
sense of spectacle and excitement. He says, we cannot talk about this space in
traditional terms. He sees the total space of the Bonaventure hotel as a symbol of the
new hyper-space of global market which is dominated by the late capitalism.

Jameson next talks about what he calls the new machine. In this example he uses the
novel Dispatches by Michael Herr. He uses this novel to explain a different space,
postmodern warfare, that is highly innovative and hence postmodern.

In his conclusion he argues that the main components that made modernism what it
was, was that it was outwardly hated by the masses. What was offensive then, is what
is commercially successful presently. Modernism then was not part of the mass
culture and was therefore able to be honest and real and showcase the individual. He
says the shift to the postmodern era can be dated to the 1960s when high modernism
became an essential part of academic curriculum of the creative fields and that the
second is societal and describes the restructured society which emerged after WWII.