Captain Outrageous 9/20

The readings from this past week were no doubt difficult to understand. After our lectures and discussions I admit I am still confused but have a clearer understanding. Jenck's arguments about architecture and Habermas's arguments about art and literature are so crucial to our understanding of postmodernism and CMC. I connect these things to the ideas of semiotics and signification. For as long as I can remember I have always tried to understand what the "styles" of art and architecture mean, what different aspects of different styles create that "look" or make one think of a certain area, a certain time period. I admit, I always felt a little weird about that! But it is what I have always wanted to understand, and through CMC and these readings especially, I have a much better understanding. It may seem odd that architecture and art pertain to CMC and the outside world, but it isn't that odd. Like I said, signification, semiotics. There are so many layers to the everyday things we see and consider that we don't actually see or consider. We could even take the Rollins as a campus. As a whole the architecture is beautiful and as the tour guides tell you its based on Spanish Mediterranean architecture; however, when you break it down, its influenced by a lot more things. For example, there's tons of columns around campus. Do you know how many different styles of columns there are from so many different time periods? Even the embellishments on the tops or bottoms of the columns are different times, different styles. Whether the column is round or squared makes a difference. The type of relief makes a difference. But, generally speaking, we see columns with floral embellishment, we hear Spanish Mediterranean, and that's all we know and consider. This falls into signification does it not? There's architecture as a sign, there's details that are the signifiers of some sort of style, and there's a general idea of a "look" (to reference Benjamin a bit) that is signified. Maybe this is too minute and specific but I for one think it makes a bit of sense. It can help us to move our ideas of architecture from general "styles" to dimensions and color palettes and history and, well I suppose, postmodernist concepts. As we should have figured out by now in the CMC major, everything means...I mean signifies...something. Its up to us as critical thinkers to find out what it is. Wage war on totality, right?