ChittyChittyBangBang 3/25

I liked the quote Dr. Rog ended class with, "Jameson would agree that in a postmodern culture everyone wants to be different in the same way."

It is sad how superficial our society has become. We are much more concerned with aesthetics rather than meaning. "Depth is replaced by surface" (490). The ad from the Delia*s magazine was an example of different styles although they looked the same. This "Goth" look is supposed to be original and different although it looses its shock value and uniqueness when so many people try to be different in the same way. "The end...of style, in the sense of the unique and the personal..." (492). This example reminds me of my high school experience. There was a large population at my school that conformed to this "rebel, Goth" look that others were practically the minority. There were so many dressed like this, trying to be different and stand out, although they ALL looked the SAME.

The avant garde has lost its affect; so many boundaries have been pushed in television shows such as South Park, or ads sexualizing women such as Brittany Spears, that they are no longer a scandal. We as a culture are no longer shocked. "The underside of culture is blood, torture, death, and horror" (485). Our society is so desensitized to violence and sexuality that it has become part of our culture. I don't watch a lot of television but I noticed that when I turned on the TV today I was exposed to all of those things within the first 5 minutes.

The idea of millenarianism that Jameson discusses is also a dark subject that our culture is desensitized too. We are obsessed with "the end". We think everything is going to wipe us out such as the Avian Flu. We seem to always need something to be afraid of. This is reinforced in our media, in movies about the end of the world and other narratives. We are scared of everything and not really shocked anymore about the idea of "the end"; people are constantly trying to unlock these mysteries. It's like we enjoy the horror of it all...

I think the class discussion today definitely made a lot of Jameson's points even clearer when associated with all of these examples!