Reoccurring Progression

In the reading, The Painter of Modern Life: And Other Essays by Charles Baudelaire, it is noticed that he is a keen observer of the changes occurring in Paris during the 1800s. His writings often documented the current events in France at the time. In all Baudelaire is responding to this movement that would be later termed Modernity, and he takes the appearance of art and societal changes and explains the progress these structural events have on what was known as “reality.” Charles Baudelaire lays the groundwork for progression by critically examining his surroundings.

The knowledge we can extract from historical writings published by these deep, thinking theorist’s gives us an insight of what may reoccur in the future. From the perspective given by Marshall Berman’s, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity, he agrees that what we learn in the past can easily transcend into what we can prepare for in the future, again and again. Berman says, “This act of remembering can help us bring modernism back to its roots, so that it can nourish, and renew itself, to confront the adventures and dangers that lie ahead.” Many of these adventures and dangers were looked at in class during the power point Dr. Cummings presentation in my Critical Frameworks class. Events such as the dropping of the atom bomb, 9/11, the Berlin wall demolition, et cetera give the way for new perspectives to be seen critically by societies around the world. (Berman p.36)

“To appropriate the modernities of yesterday can be at once a critique of the modernities of today and an act of faith in the modernities—and in the modern men and women—of tomorrow and the day after.” -Marshall Berman

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tlloyd 09/02

In class we discussed the issue of reality and what reality really means in our world today. Defining reality is something that postmodern thinkers have struggled with.

We see television programs that attempt to depict ‘real life’ but what we sometimes fail to recognize is that these shows are overly scripted, tweaked and preformed. Shows like That 70’s Show, or Gossip Girl attempt to demonstrate a certain lifestyle. What they represent is an idealistic, choreographed interpretation of a particular life. Gossip Girl present is the hegemonic narrative. The hegemonic narrative strives to maintain dominant ideologies within our culture (i.e., Caucasian, affluent, etc…). In That 70’s Show we see the producers attempting to show viewers what life was really like in the 70’s. This deals with the topic of originality. Although this show appears to be set in the 70’s, it is filmed in modern day. So the show really isn’t ‘original’. If it is something that is crafted to represent the past, can we really call it original or accurate?

Another concept that stuck out me was the idea that truth does not mean reality. The idea had never really crossed my mind but in thinking about it the past few days it is really very accurate. The example that Dr. Cummings used, staying that a fiction novel may communicate a truth but the story used to communicate that truth may not necessarily be real. We see this thinking all the time in television and movies. They almost create a metaphor to explain the truth.

We also see issues of reality on a smaller scale in our day-to-day lives. For example, the Rollins website depicts Rollins in a particular way, promoting academics, athletics, and character and presenting the beautiful campus and a somewhat hegemonic narrative – white, affluent, etc… Although many of the ideas presented on the Rollins website are accurate, there are many people at the school who do not fit the profile that the school sells. Rollins is not the only institution that could be used as an example. Companies, schools, restaurants, etc… all use marketing to create an image of what something is ‘really’ like when in reality you cannot depict what something is ‘really’ like for each individual.

Modernity - Postmodernity

While reading Baudelaire “The Painter of Modern Life” I was perplexed as to why the author was continuously ‘explaining’ beauty to the readers. Why does beauty play such a significant role? Upon reading the complete text, “Modernity – Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” followed by the discussion in class, I understood. Baudelaire used ‘beauty’ as a metaphor to describe modernity and, indirectly, postmodernity. Modernity, as Baudelaire states, is a constant transformation; like beauty, it adapts to what our philosophic thought is at the time. There are two elements of ‘beauty’/ modernity, the invariable element and the circumstantial element. The age of modernity is possessing ‘curiosity’; it is “…to extract from fashion whatever element it may obtain of poetry with in history, to distil the eternal from the transitory.” (Baudelaire 12) In other words Baudelaire is professing modernity is to take away what is everlasting from what is always changing and to create something new, different, and inspiring.

Modernity is ‘transformation’ and with transformation we create new human environments and destroy others. During modernity we seem to have lost the romanticism in life by acutely focusing on material things. With modernity came the ‘American Dream’, Marylin Monroe, and the importance of technology. A thoughtful statement to explain this all is how Baudelarie said, “And as a result of all this, we find ourselves today in the midst of a modern age that has lost touch with the roots of its own modernity.”

From modernity to postmodernity it is almost impossible to decipher where the switch happened exactly since there was never a particular date. Modernity, though, started this whole ‘culture’ of absurdity, meaninglessness, and surrealism. Before and after World War II there was a certain transition that finally led to the profoundly introspective question ‘what is the meaning in life?’ I believe the media took this question and started throwing all kinds of answers out at people to give them hope, a goal, or an answer for fulfillment. Postmodernity now shows the explosion of media, explosion of technology and speed, as well as the explosion of the word ‘re…’ Now the question seems to be “what is reality?” That, I believe, is how we slowly ended our last class.

Postmodernism

This week in class (through readings and discussion) was mostly dedicated to the analysis of Postmodernism. While most are still uncertain about it's true starting point, from 1945 and onward as a society we have witnessed this 'postmodern condition'. There have been many traumatic events for the United States since the 40's (the Holocaust, the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb, Vietnam, Sept. 11, the War in Iraq, etc.), because postmodernism suffers from a sense of instability, each scare shifts the nation into another thought process and simultaneously fuels our Culture of Fear. The progression of Postmodernism has been highlighted by the advancement of abstract art (Baudelaire reading) whose stages included 'Cubism', 'Surrealism' and finally the result was the type of abstract art that we see today - full of different emotions, darker moods, and originality.


What I found most interesting in Dr. Cummings lecture on Postmodernism were the outlets which contribute to the spread of Postmodernism. Technological advances have made it easier to communicate/express certain thoughts or ideas, and influence the public (all in a very fast manner) - this ties into mechanical reproduction because things really have changed since the introduction of media, television, computers, etc. Although Postmodernism's beginning is unclear, I believe that it's ending can be left even more open because it only will grow stronger when the next incident happens. We also learned that media has been said to instill fear in its audience on a daily basis, often hiding certain things and exaggerating other stories - which can be looked at as aspects of Modernity. While there are still some things about Postmodernism that confuse me, I'm confident that our society can use these 'postmodernist' thoughts, ideas, and theories to help make a positive change in our lives.




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cam3g 9/2

The reading that helped me the most in trying to understand modernity and modernism was "Oxford Art Online". Dr. Cummings emphasized the point of postmodernism as a change of thought throughout society. The question I have is what made society feel like it needed to change the way people think? My question was partially answered in class when we talked about the rapid change in new technologies. I knew that was part of the reason why I felt like there was more to this answer. When I read this article the one quote that caught my eye was "It is an unfolding of active processes, of changes in all spheres, away from accepted traditions, customary conventions and current practices towards imaginary, often utopian futures" (1). To me, this means society (during any time period) is always trying to make the world some kind of fantasy place. By trying to do this, society is constantly changing because no matter how good life is or how technologically advanced we are, we're always trying to make it better. We're constantly trying to make the world "the perfect place". This made me understand how we went from the modern, to the post-modern.

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Modernism

In the reading "Oxford Art Online, Modernism", the talk of abstract art and modernist artists is a topic of discussion, which I found to be very interesting. A few years ago in New York, I went to an art exhibit focused on American artist from the 1920s, Georgia O'Keeffe. "She received widespread recognition for her technical contributions, as well as for challenging the boundaries of modern American artistic style. She is chiefly known for paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones, and landscapes in which she synthesized abstraction and representation. Her paintings present crisply contoured forms that are replete with subtle tonal transitions of varying colors. She often transformed her subject matter into powerful abstract images" (Wikipedia, Georgia O'Keeffe).

As many Modernist artists, Georgia O’Keefe created art that consisted of normal found objects and portrayed them in ways not previously imaged.

I appreciate the abstract and at times the unsettling use of creatively configuring images especially with the representation of such ordinary subject matter becoming profound on its impact and outlook. In the Britannica Online Encyclopedia’s section on Georgia O’Keefe, “Her mysteriously suggestive images of bones and flowers set against a perspective less space have inspired a variety of erotic, psychological, and symbolic interpretations”. I find abstract art and Modernist artists to be highly influential and necessary in our societies history. The art is to be interpreted and read in limitless ways and at times push the boundaries of the present culture.

“What were the practices of modernist artists? A typical strategy was to provoke the shock of the new, to reveal the present as replete with blindingly self-evident value and, at the same instant, to consign the recent past to anachronism (2).”

Throughout time as the term “modernism” became more prevalent in society, there was much objection and criticism due to its impact in culture and its thought provoking images, which now have become the norm and is widely accepted since the mid-20^th century. With modernism’s evolution, it now uses much of the popular and commercial visual culture, which has lead to it being considered “No longer [be] a source of strength, this contradictory pattern of incorporation and exclusion has contributed to modernism’s decline (3).” The beauty of Modernism and Modernity is its strength and pursuit to push the envelope of our culture. Whether or not it is appreciated or opposed, it has been such a profoundly impacting addition to our lives that I see it as a step closer to benefiting all individuals, societies, and environments.

Post Class-Hassan

Hassan's series of stylistic opposition presents great examples of how postmodernism is a direct reaction to modernism. His quote that sets this example up was on page 42 of The Condition of Postmodernity that explains, "... the real structure of feeling in both modern and postmodern periods, lies in the manner in which these stylistic oppositions are synthesized." This is a great example of the shift between the two periods, which helps portray the differences in the time periods our society. The shift that society has taken to this postmodern period leaves much interest, or anticipation if you will, to what is next. Is postmodern the ending or will their be drastic shifts in our lifetime that will change postmodernism to a new period? With the vast growth in technology and growth of other countries how will our society change? These are questions I am very anxious about finding out, especially after learning more about the modernity and postmodernity.
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