JOH Jameson

Greetings

Digging through these texts are bringing me closer and terribly closer to the mirror - forcing me to realize that "I'm flabby and I really need to do more intellistenics." Good hurt though, good hurt. So, Jameson has been cool - definitely a sweaty grind at times. I could feel my brain reach a new level of warmth around the time that I approached Loss of the Radical Past (498). New warmth, no muscle memory yet; however, this new sense of agility allowed for a little more enjoyment during the following pages.

A particular point of interest from this week's reading were the concepts of "cultural production" and "schizophrenia." Jameson refers to Doctorow's piece while relating "Cultural production is thereby driven back inside the mental space which is no longer that of the old monadic subject, but rather that of some degraded collective 'objective spirit'" (499). The replacement of history with individual or collective ideal standards, concepts, or circumstances of the past plays well into the PoMo advertising, marketing, and politicizing adventurers of today. What Jameson calls "pop history" is the backbone of today's media. Staying true to the spirit of COMMENTARY SUPPLANTS AUTHORITY, Apple, Sony, Nike, Virgin Airlines, Bank of America, the Pentagon, Miller Brewing Co., Nissan, Viagra, ... retool and reapply the "objective spirit," convincing the world that it should trust itself and listen to its silent voice that concurred with the reality that it just consumed. What is real? Upon reflection of my early twenties, I somehow have the impulse to strap on my iPod, unplug it from my kitchen counter audio soundboard, slip on my iPod-synchronized AirMax running shoes, fly to Seattle while paying my bills online, sign onto gov.gov to assess my patriotism, ride a mountain bike to an outlook and sip a cool one, strap the bike to my SUV, fill a script for my date tonight ...

Jameson goes on to discuss the idea of schizophrenia in expression. He refers to the "Signified - the meaning or conceptual content of an utterance - is now rather to be seen as a meaning-effect, as that objective mirage of signification generated and projected by the relationship of Signifiers among each other" (500). I see this activity in marketing. Flashes of images, signifying different things for myriad consumers, interrelating differently to create appetite and stimulating consumption. As discussed in class, images of a woman in white linen, an athletic sock on a varnished wood floor, and a blowing wind chime might signify PUREX laundry detergent. Radio stations are now selling 2 second spots! What seems convenient about this utilization of spontaneaty and ambiguity is the notion Jameson points out when commenting on John Cage's famous piece: "cluster of material sounds [...] is followed by a silence so intolerable that you cannot imagine another sonorous chord coming into existence, and cannot imagine remembering the previous one well enough to make any connection with it" (501). This statement, notably the idea regarding remembering the significance of previous images or sounds, ties well into the marketing efforts of many agencies. The design seems to be, at least in much of America's media consumption, to create the ideal connection to one's pop history with no strings attached. No time for consideration - no time for guilt!

Before I go, I offer Jameson’s remark that “the unity of the poem is no longer to be found within its language, but outside itself, in the bound unity of another, absent book” (503). In story of American consumption, this absent book is a continually recreated marketing campaign, often with the aim of capitalizing on the ideal. Or on old faithful - FEAR! We'll leave that for another rant.