STEVE-O Jencks

WOW...So after attempting to tackle the "Emergent Rules" as seen by Charlie, I have to admit that me and the Jenckster don't see quite eye to eye. There is definitely some good stuff in these personal observations by a well educated scholar, yet as he says "One has to look elsewhere to find a clearer expression of a unified view" (p. 285). Jencks is obviously a smart man, a Harvard educated English major turned European architect extraordinaire. In this Ivey league education there seems to be a need to break from the rules instilled in his learning, "The only escape from a rule-governed art is to suppress from the consciousness tha canons behind one's creativity - hardly a comforting liberation" (p. 281). Well that depends on how and where these canons were embedded in ones "insulae". As I read his rules, I tried to understand the perspective and spirit behind the 11 Canonical idea--ls.

1) "Disharmonious Harmony" matches quite well with the concept of binary oppositions discussed last week in class. The need or comfort in the Ying and Yang, I'm surprised he didn't mention Feng Shui. He goes on to say that "art and architecture must represent this paradoxical view" (p. 282). But, does it "Have To " Anything? Do we need a "Hierarchy" of meaning in order to define PostModernism in society?

The prevelant Post Modern theme throughout the Essay is the widespread contradiction within the rules themselves.

2) I do agree with Jencks idea of heterogeneity. We must have a diverse spectrum of inputs to have a Post Modern output. But what does he mean by "weak eclecticism" (p.283)? wouldn't it be more of an unintended "Anamnesis", and a so called "Radical" eclecticism being just an intended one. In fact I see the unconscious use of eclectic material as much truer or real then the calculated use thereof. Jenck goes on to define plural metaphysics as a state which entails frustration and its binary oppositon, withheld gratification. The reality today is that men can't withold gratification (P.E.) and get so frustrated because pills are the only way to reverse their E.D. What could be more Post Modern than that?

3) Urbane Urbanism..Can we say"Baldwin Park" or "Celebration". These two Planned communities reflect my interpratation of Post Modernism to the "T". Big houses packed tight enough so you can spit on your neighbors window from the bathroom, with colonial architecture, public parks and everything needed so a resident doesn't even need to leave...ever. This Colonial architecture is in opposition to the Spanish Villa look that 98% of all new home construction in adjecent Winter Park. Got to keep up with the Jones' and there....Commentary. The contradiction here is in Jencks view that a neighborhood fiiled by RULES is better than that of its binary opposite and unruley City concept.

4) Subliminal Anthropomorphism ,I though he just called it Enigmatic Allegory,.. promotes explicit detail and ornamant? Can anything be more opposite than that? This really bothered me, " In an age when architects and artists are often at a loss for LEGITIMATE subject matter" (p.286). Did he really just say that? WHo is he to make such a claim. An English major turned architect....Homey Don't Play That!

5) Ah Yes...The Retroism of the 21st Century. No better example of this than that of the Nike Fanatic Sneaker Addict. Did anyone go to the mall two Saturday ago just as they opened? Well if you did you would have seen 100 Sneaker "Pimps" camped out waiting to be the first to run in and claim a pair of Air Jordan Retro V's (fives) in a new colorway. The hottest shoes out are the remakes of the original joints. Yes, the ones that came out SIXTEEN years ago! And you know what? They really are HOT!....anyone got a size 12??????? Charlie uses the idea of revitalization to explain our conscious or unconscious way of related the new with the past..or perceived past...or whatever...lol (can I do that in a blog?)
He postulates,"It is in this harmonious aura which becomes the subject matter of this paradoxical genre--a narrative without a plot" (p. 287-288). This statement makes me think about the TV shows Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Two brilliant and highly successful shows which are basically narratives without plot.

7) The renovation rule, "Present style and technology are accepted as valid realities, but not required to overassert themselves" (p. 288). Disney personified this rule in the construction of The Contemporary Resort. Its interior was as modern of its kind at that time and the exterior was modern but yet at the same time almost egyptian pyramid-like. a subtle yet definite mix of old and new (see 11). Once again this rule demands no clear unified view, "It acknowledges the simultaneous validity of opposite approaches" (p. 289).

8) MULTIVALENCE, "reaches out to the rest of the environment, to many adjacent references, and to many different associations" (p. 289). Let's go Disney one more time. The Globe at Epcot is the image that pops into my mind while reading this definition. It is definitely inclusive and symbolic simultaneously. Jencks argues that modification during the creation of such works is key to it maintaining this "organic unity". There needs to be some improvisation...similar to rhetoric without a plot? Rule 8 continues, "The great advantage and delight in multivalence is the continual reinterpretation it prompts" (p. 290). This reiterates the No unified view concept.

9) "A complex relation to the past" (p. 291), I have to do it...can you think of the most Post Modern place on earth....How about Tommorrow Land...yes I'm making my third and hopefully final Disney reference. Ironically The Contemporary Resort looks right into this area of the park..coincidence? I think Not. It is in Tommorrow land that you will find an attraction that epitomizes this rule. The Carousel of Progress. If you have been through this ride/experience you might have come across the same feelings as me. There is something warm and fuzzy reliving the last 100 years of advancement in modern society. It is in this "Historical continuum that I feel...safe, secure, and at home. It also is amusing both to rehash the past and to reinterprate what it means to us in that moment. I have been on that ride a dozen times, and every time there seems to be a slight change in emotional impact. Whether throught the advancements that have come into fruition since the last visit or the growth of my inner being, there always is some change in my "anamnesis".

10) all I'm going to say about rule ten is "AIRY INSUBSTANTIALITY"!!! WHAT!...Is very much of us?? This is getting too Theoretical now!

11) The Missing Center, and yes I have to go Disney for the fourth and FINAL time. Back to the Contemporary Resort, guess what is in its center...Nothing! that's right. In its pyramidal frame rooms the rooms are place on either side of the triangular building leaving the center empty, and the ingenius Imagineers decided to run the monorail straight through this absent place..thus giving it a presence or "presence of the absence"!

Wow...I'm going to end this edition in exclamation as well. I think I have a headache!

I hope I went Deep enough this time..
I thought I might leave ya'll with some OUTKAST lyrics

D.E.E.P. you want to go D.E.E.P., I'll take ya D.E.E.P.
You know you f#@$ed up when you let my mind creep
Deeper than the page of a book let me look
You let me hit the stage, that's when I got my folks hooked like..
DEEP

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