STEVE-O 9/5

I enjoyed our tour of the Bank Of America building and the courthouse façade. I think that word [façade] is important in our understanding of POMO theory. Things are not what they seem, and if they are, then we are back to the high modernism concept of Twisti-Treat or the Doughnut Hole.

I now have a better understanding of the meaning radical eclecticism, which was found in the quasi-Grand Central station vibe in the banks interior. The Multivalent window tinting and color scheme of the Lynx building was another good example of Jencks lingo. I thought the trip was very helpful in putting these catch phrases to use in our everyday lives. I wish there is some way to do that with Jameson. I’m having a hard time understanding his perspective on Postmodernism.

As I reread his Essay, I like Mandel’s notion of a “purer stage of capitalism” (484). Jameson doesn’t necessarily agree with this view but does concede that all-in-all whatever we want to call this “cult of the new” it is essentially the same thing, “an implicitly or explicitly political stance on the nature of multinational capitalism today” (484). No one can deny that this evolution of capital or social/cultural reformation has been spurred by somekind of American dominance. Is this due to our ability to question authority without persecution? Why has American society led this push for change? Jameson notes,

This whole global, yet American, postmodern culture is the internal and superstructural expression of a whole new wave of American military and economic domination throughout the world: in this sense, as throughout class history, the underside of culture is blood, torture, death and horror. (485)

Wow! That is a serious statement that I am still trying to detangle. Is Jameson referring to our exploits in Vietnam? It certainly rings true today with our “alleged” War on Iraq…I mean Terror. I guess we are willing to endure blood, torture, death and horror in order to secure economic (OIL) domination, or at least some sort of Capital for the weathy 2% of American’s. That seems somewhat Marxist to me. Ask yourself, who is benefiting from the War in Iraq…Haliburton for sure!