Happy Birthday!, Jameson

Jameson's piece titled, "The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism", works to break down the key components of postmodernity and how it affects our culture today--in doing so Jameson brings together concepts of works that we have previously read and gone over in class. Jameson explains that this era of postmodernity is not one type of “style” but rather an eclectic group of styles. Jameson states, “It is in the realm of architecture, however, that modifications in aesthetic production are most dramatically visible”. (483) Here he is quick to point out that postmodernism is most evident in architecture. This idea directly correlates with one of our previous theorists, Mr. Jencks. Jencks talks about many different way in which architecture show postmodern attributes. For example, Urbane Urbanism is something that is very new on the outside and looks very new but it is actually reminiscent of something old.

Also, Jencks talks a lot about radial eclecticism, and how it is produced by combining two completely different elements of architecture and putting them together. For example, the glass pyramid in front of the Louvre in Paris. In the postmodern age Jameson talks about progressing into a "high modernism" style. Making something common in society is how the media and the elite create ideologies. This relates to Hebdige as well because Hebdige argues that things that are different in society eventually become normalized and mainstream. For example, subcultures like the one shown in class on Tuesday (Marilyn Manson) was considered extreme/ radical/ and abnormal. But, as time progressed we see more and more people who like to express themselves in a gothic manner, and dress in dark clothes with makeup…thus becoming more normalized in our culture.