Week 3: Globalization

Topics this week:

1960's Haight-Ashbury
The Doors
Theory of Simulacra and Simulation
The Parallax View

This should have been one of the most interesting classes in the world. As someone who is highly interested in cultural icons, there symbols and the interesting ways in which they enter our lives, I couldn't wait to jump in. But, frustration was the primary outcome.

I am frustrated with this class because we never make a point. We talk. Everyone talks. My notes are a mixture of "notes to self", thought bubbles, tally of how my times my professor mentions Bob Dylan (5 last week, 2 yesterday) doodles and word webs. Everyone says a lot of very interesting highly intelligent words, but never really says anything. I sit there convinced that it's all an elaborate hoax. Everyone is just speaking in circles, with extensive vocabulary, to accomplish nothing but impress upon everyone else that they are highly evolved intellectual beings. The urge to stand up and scream, "SERIOUSLY?!" is almost overwhelming. As a result I sit there silent. I will probably fail in participation points. But, this occurred to me....

We read an essay entitled, "The White Album" by Joan Didion -- great read, highly suggested! in which she describes an anti-climatic moment while witnessing The Doors record in a studio. She describes each member as a regular person, includes chit chat about this and that, nothing of any importance. She describes how they all have to wait on Jim Morrison to show up, but once he does no one acknowledges the fact that he has finally arrived. Eventually, she gives up and leaves with the sense that they would be there forever, doing nothing but being regular people.

Iconic image of Jim Morrison

Then, we watched a clip of The Doors performances during which the spirit of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll was at it's peak; Jim Morrison being arrested on stage, people protesting their lyrics, fans attacking him. You know, what you think of when you think of The Doors. What you see when you think Jim Morrison (bet it's the picture above, and some black leather pants)

I thought of how this plays into the theory of the symbol becoming the reality over the actual  reality. (the symbol of The Doors as a band vs. the members of the band as people) The clip of The Doors, wild and crazy, on drugs, being pure rock-n-roll, is what is reality to me (having not lived during this time period-- ) and I wish we still had it.

I enjoy the music of The Doors, and find Jim Morrison an interesting cultural iconic character. I enjoy the cultural and historical relevance of Morrison, just as I do The Beatles, Elvis and Michael Jackson. And I wonder what has happened to this type of cultural relevance. Are we left with Britney Spears and Katie Perry. (let's hope not)

This should have been a profoundly interesting class.

Week 3: Debord

Art. Our fundamental concept of art is the final product. When you think of art you are lead to an idea of a particular painting, a piece of music, a film. And, if you love culture and art as much as I do, you may reflect upon several experiences of enjoyment at various museums around the world.

See this (one of my favorites) at The Cleveland Museum of Art

(side note: Top Museums I've visited thus far: Louvre, MOMA, The Cleveland Museum of Art , The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago)

But that's not really art. That is our capitalist mindset separating art and showing us a product. Art is a process. I am sure you have learned this at some point in your lifetime, that art is not the final product but the process/adventure in which it was created.

The situationist believed we should all be experiencing this process of art, all the time, in every day life. I'm going to have to agree. I just need to figure out how to make it happen.


(And, I need to schedule a trip to the museum!)

Week 2: Globalization & Culture

This week we read:
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49
Fredric Jameson, Chapter 1: Postmodernism
Dwight Eisenhower, " Farewell Address"

Interesting ideas from the reading:
Eisenhower: I read this, 1961 Farewell Address in which Eisenhower warns us (the American people) of the dangers of what he refers to as the " military industrial complex". He expresses a warning of the great power and responsibility having this large military will warrant. As I read this address, I couldn't help but relate this to the Doomsday System/fall out shelter discussion from my other class. It is interesting that Eisenhower, a formal general, is warning us of the growth and power of the military. Also interesting, the time period of his address signifies a change in the use/size of the military. Previously, it had been reactionary, building as needed during conflict. At the time of his address, it had become a new, complex prepared in advance. In my lifetime-- our military forces have always been this way.

Jameson: I ran out of time, and couldn't finish this chapter of extremely dense reading. But I did get a few good points that I will be using for future readings for this class and others. Historical context is important for reading of literature, analysis of art, film etc. This is one of the "commandments" of literature analysis. Jameson explains that for a work of literature to be understood, you must look at it in the time period of it's creation to fully understand it. (this becomes relevant via example below.)

Pynchon: I truly enjoyed The Crying of Lot 49. It is one of those novels I have been aware of, and meaning to read for quite some time, but hadn't quite gotten to yet. It is the story of a woman who sets out on an adventure to discover many mysterious circumstances, and conspiracy of a post delivery system. While the novel is well known for its themes deeply enveloped in the concept of entropy, among other ideas, what stood out to me was the stamp/post delivery conspiracy. This, using the historical context of the late 60's (Jameson commandment) can be understood when the fact that the use of zip codes in the US had just been established, and people were concerned with the surveillance of their lives. Perhaps part of Pynchon's novel was meant to parody the current concern. (or maybe it was pastiche, but that is an entirely different, long topic.)

Week 2: Debord

 An interesting discussion class focused on the reading assignments. Below, an interesting portion of one such reading which demonstrates and exemplifies the fact that in a Capitalist society, we can be made to work and consume on the basis of a purely fictional "need". 

1950's advertisement for fall out shelters

From the Reading: Geopolitics of Hibernation:

It is easy to see that these (already widespread) individual shelters could not possibly work, if only because of such gross technical oversights as the absence of an independent oxygen supply; and that even the most sophisticated collective shelters would offer only the slightest possibility for survival if a thermonuclear war was actually accidentally unleashed. But here, as in every racket, “protection” is only a pretext. The real purpose of the shelters is to test — and thereby reinforce — people’s submissiveness, and to manipulate this submissiveness to the advantage of the ruling society. The shelters, as a creation of a new consumable commodity in the society of abundance, prove more than any previous commodity that people can be made to work to satisfy highly artificial needs, needs that most certainly “remain needs without ever having been desires” (Preliminaries Toward Defining a Unitary Revolutionary Program) and that do not have the slightest chance of becoming desires. The power of this society, its formidable automatic genius, can be measured by this extreme example. If this system were to go to the point of bluntly proclaiming that it imposes such an empty and hopeless existence that the best solution for everyone would be to go hang themselves, it would still succeed in managing a healthy and profitable business by producing standardized ropes. But regardless of all its capitalist wealth, the concept of survival means suicide on the installment plan, a renunciation of life every day. The network of shelters — which are not intended to be used for a war, but right now — presents a bizarre caricatural picture of existence under a perfected bureaucratic capitalism. A neo-Christianity has revived its ideal of renunciation with a new humility compatible with a new boost of industry. The world of shelters acknowledges itself as an air-conditioned vale of tears. The coalition of all the managers and their various types of priests will be able to agree on one unitary program: mass hypnosis plus superconsumption.


For the whole text go here: Geopolitics of Hibernation

This again, brought up the idea that we are all selling our time to work for the class of people Debord has designated as "the managers".

A question we were left with: If you try to think about it, if you hadn't as a child been guided by your parents in any variety of activities (piano lessons, dance lessons, french lessons, soccer, football, etc.) and then, reinforced into specific roles in the educational system, what, since the time you were a small child, would you have chosen to do with your time (your whole life), and who would you be now?

Week 1: Globalization & Culture

And so we begin digging into this broad idea of globalization and culture and what the relationship between the two is, and why, and what made the world change. We spent the first class discussing the broadness of the topic, getting to know our professor, and each other.

Now the work begins. We will be studying the effects of globalization and culture through various forms of cultural/art production including short novels, film and politically related essays/speeches with some forms of music, art etc mixed in. We are focusing our study in the time period of 1973 to the present.

This should be an interesting experience. And, a good pairing with my other (Debord) class.

Plus, I get to watch The Empire Strikes Back as a homework assignment.

Week 1: Debord

Tuesday Evenings 7-9:30 pm

Last night was my first night of class. I had those old "first day of school" jitters until we got started. Prior to the class I had purchased and read/skimmed most of the books. I was looking forward to learning more about the International Situationists. In my own reading ahead of time my conclusion was: What? I am not getting this, wait, I kind of understand that point, but, hmmm, hopefully everyone feels this way.

After my first class, thankfully, the 4 other women are in the same boat as me. We don't really get it, completely, yet. But, it is going to be a very interesting class.

We are going to dive into Debord/International Situationist cultural revolution ideals. Mainly these deal with a critique of Capitalism and what it has done to our lives as humans. They were writing this in the 1950s in France, but it is strange to see how we have developed since then.

The part that stood out the most to me in this first class what their ideal that people should be living for themselves, creating things to support/increase their own happiness rather than working hours a day at a job where the final outcome/product does not reflect you as an individual at all. Example: Barista at Starbucks works an 8 hour shift and at the end of the day what she has to show for her effort is a bunch of cups of coffee she couldn't care less about. I think this can be applied to most jobs in today's environment, and I often complain that it seems like no one is living their lives for themselves any more, rather we are all just following the crowd, creating more for everyone to consume... surviving rather than living. It makes me sad and frustrated on multiple levels.

Ironically, this thought process is exactly the reason I chose MA Lit instead of business school.

We also viewed a film by Debord expressing the IS views in Everyday Life (as above).

"The Passage of a Few Persons" Starring Debord himself (on the right)

While, yes, I couldn't help but inwardly roll my eyes at the fact that we were watching the quintessential  pretentious french independent art film, it was an interesting topic.

So tell me, Why do we waste so much of our lives working, creating nothing that holds any meaning to who we are as individuals?