Postmodernism and Consumer Society - Fredic Jameson | Theme | Characteristics of postmodernism

The essay postmodernism or the consumer society by Fredric Jameson occupies a prominent place in English literature. Fredric Jameson is considered to be one of the most important literary and cultural critics. His best-known work includes:

• Marxism and Form 
• On Magic 
• Realism in Films
• Postmodernism

In this essay, Jameson attempts to characterize the nature of cultural production in the second half of the 20th century, the era of late capitalism. Jameson brings the difference in culture between modernism and postmodernism period. He also devotes a lot of time, to the effect of these changes on the individual. He throws the light on the field of architecture, art, and other culturally expressive forms to illustrate his arguments. He characterizes the postmodernism mode of production as a “Culture dominant” in the wake of Concepts like depthlessness or the suppression of depth. These terms relate to the postmodernism form of production and experience.

As a Framework for his treatment of postmodernism, Jameson adopts Ernest Mandel divided capitalism into three different periods and related them to three stages of technological development. Capitalism is market capitalism, imperialism, and late capitalism market capitalism relates to the production of the steam engine, the Imperialism stage to the production of electricity, and the late stage to the production of electronic and nuclear devices.

 we can show a diagram to illustrate this concept:

Jameson matches the stages with three stages of cultural production. He matches first with realism, the second with modernism, and the third one with postmodernism.

Postmodernism, according to Jameson is a cultural form that has developed in the wake of the socio-economical order of present-day capitalism.

Characteristics of postmodernism

Depthlessness

The first characteristic of postmodernism is depthlessness. The modern painting invites interpretation and completion of the world which is beyond what is represented. But the postmodernism picture does not invite interpretation and it is formed as “what you see and what you get”.

Jameson illustrates his point of deathlessness by the two thematically related works Van Gogh’s “A Pair of Shoes” which represented high modernism and Andy’s “A Diamond Dust Shoes” which represents postmodernism. “A Pair of Shoes” invites the reconstruction of a whole patient peasant world. In contrast, “Diamond Dust shoes” do not speak to us. There is no sign of depth in the postmodernism work.

The Waning of affect

Another element is “the waning of affect” when we look at the modern painting with human figures, we will find in them a human expression and inner experience. In contrast, postmodernism work does not hold the human expression. This is called “the waning of affect”.

Pastiche

Pastiche is one of the main characteristics of cultural production in the age of postmodernism. The existence of an individual subject was an essential part of art in modern times but the artist's unique individuality has been reduced in the postmodern age.

The Bonaventure Hotel

Jameson analyzes the postmodern feature of the L. A Westin “Bonaventure” hotel. This building does not attempt to blend into the surroundings but to replace them. This hotel gives birth to human disorientation.

Nostalgia

Pastiche is a phenomenon that is quite common in mass culture and is typically referred to as a "nostalgia film." A good example of a movie about the past and particular generational moments is George Lucas' 1973 film American Graffiti, which recreates the 1950s in the USA (pp.196-97). For these films, new categories are required. I contend that Star Wars is a movie about nostalgia. In the guise of a parody, the movie recreates the Saturday afternoon serial experience. Body Heat isn't technically a movie about nostalgia. Everything works together to obscure references because of the uncertain context and other factors, causing us to interpret the movie as nostalgia (p.197).

Hyperspace

We have entered the postmodern era in this fashion, but we have not evolved at the same rate. We do not yet have the perceptual tools necessary to perceive this brand-new hyperspace. Like many cultural goods, the more modern building serves as a call to broaden our senses (p. 198).

In short, depthlessness, pastiche, hyperspace, nostalgia, and the waning of affect are the chief characteristics of postmodernism ( or the cultural logic of late capitalism ). These elements are totally different from modernism. These elements are an important part of Jameson's “postmodernism”.

In Conclusion, Jameson tries to tie all of his ideas of modernism and postmodernism to cultural production and consumer society. The emergence of postmodernism is closely related to the emergence of the new moment of consumer society.

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