Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Miscellaneous Postmodernism and Marxism Postmodernism and Marxism Postmodernism is perhaps the most difficult thing to define at this point in time. That is in large part due to the fact that we are currently still in the movement, political view, or economy (to classify postmodernism as only one of the above is to have already defeated your definition). One of the few things that have been empirically proven is that it indeed focuses on culture. Jameson once argued that postmodernism was a more of a cultural dominant than anything else (Storey, p. 184). This would tend to classify postmodernism as an assimilation of all cultures, with a survival of the fittest effect. Take for example the effects of one culture, regardless of that culture's size, on mass culture ISA's. A battle occurs between the established ISA's and the new subculture ISA's until finally a victor has been declared. Which ever has gained more favor drowns the weaker, and all ISA's of the weaker genre will be discredited. Postmodernism is seen as the cultural dominant of our era, however this has not always been the case. One particular group attempted to attach cultural dominance, or rather cultural understanding, to their already established political body: the Marxists. While the cultural studies that were performed by the Frankfurt School were probably the first studies that ever addressed culture, their findings have not stood the test of time. One of the most important things to understand is that Marxism is generally a political body, while postmodernism is similar to a movement. Marxism has it's own views of culture that were developed through the Frankfurt School, but the movement of postmodernism disregards the Frankfurt school's theories. Postmodernism has in fact taken the role od dominating culture away from Marxism. The means by which postmodernism has evolved as a separate and unique paradigm are critical to understanding this argument. Postmodernism succeeded modernism as the dominant form of culturalism. Modernism began around the turn of the nineteenth century, when science began to rear its ugly side. The renaissance saw the birth of science; a study that would further mankind's search for truth. The 1900s saw the first use use of science to eliminate life. This shockwave that hit most Western cultures (including a few Asian cultures) started a general distrust of science. The French filmmaker Godard was one of the first filmmakers that was truly a modernist. Godard used many tactics to reproach the science reliant society that had been growing for the past several centuries. The self-consciousness of Godard's films forbids the viewer from ever becoming completely sutured into the narrative (Aumont, p. 220). It is as if Godard is constantly reminding the viewer that film is nothing more than a construct of mankind, twenty-four frames of static motion per second. Soon after the modernist movement began cultures around the world started to question why it was that they had adapted a new form of living; curious if it had been a choice or an imposition. While not all countries, such as the Philippines, China, Columbia, etc… had experienced an industrial revolution, most countries of the "First" world had. At the same time that the modernist movement was ceasing to exist, roughly the mid-twentieth century, the Frankfurt school was beginning to publish their theories on the culture industry (Storey, p. 105). The ideas that the Frankfurt school were publishing at the time relied heavily on the Marxist metanarratives that had been developed by earlier Marxists. Concepts such as the base and the super structure, the forces of production and the relations of production, and use value were used to open the door for the culture industry. Theodor Adorno was the Marxist who coined the term Culture Industry. Adorno believed that this 'industry' discouraged the masses from thinking about the future, and consequently chained them to the present. The cultural homogeneity could be ensured this way, as no subversive material was ever able to enter such a closed system. Adorno's theory of homogeneity is that it is "film, radio, and magazines [that] make up a system which is uniform as a whole and in every part…" (Storey, 105). As Adorno continues, he uses this definition of homogeneity in conjunction with predictability to define the culture industry. This industry, Adorno's peers argue, is what capitalists use to provide the masses with certain needs (needs best suited to the politicians) and hence denies the masses the forming of their own desires (Storey, 106). The control of media by capitalism therefore allows ideologies best suited for continued compliance to be disseminated through different mediums while simultaneously maintaining an appearance of heterogeneity. Work will always lead to culture and culture is designed to lead to work, or as Lambert Zuidervaart states: Adorno sees a twofold significance in [popular] musical fetishism and regression. First, they help advanced capitalism consolidate as a total system whose effects burrow ever more deeply into our psychic structure. Second, the solidified system and its psychic effects severely restrict the emancipatory potential of new cultural technologies as well as of oppositional groups within the system. (78) The Frankfurt school focused on the crippling effects that the culture industry had on real (or authentic) culture. They introduced more terms such as 'pseudo-individualism', 'hegemony', and 'affirmative culture'. Thus the Marxists designed their own terminology to debate the movements that were occurring in popular (or mass) culture. The primary binary opposition that postmodernism has with Marxism. Postmodernism is diametrically opposed to metanarratives. The use of metanarratives is always considered suspicious by postmodernists (Everett, 2/19). As postmodernism generally fails to follow a narrative, a metanarrative discussion of postmodernism seems a bit ridiculous. Postmodernists also address the issue of homogeneity, however their definition is often different than the Marxist definition. Jameson, the American Marxist, often published theories on postmodernism and addressed the issue of cultural homogeneity. Frederic Jameson's view of cultural homogeneity, with respect to postmodernism, is that it is always in contrast with cultural heterogeneity (Storey, 184). To regard "postmodernism not as a style, but rather as a cultural dominant." (Storey, 184). Culture is therefore ruled by whatever is most present (which can be argued is mass culture, which in turn implies homogeneity). The reason that Jameson was able to come to a different conclusion about cultural homogeneity is that he was from a different school of Marxism. The postmodern definition has been demonstrated as being different than that of the Marxist. How was it then that postmodern has itself, no pun intended, become the cultural dominant view of culture? David Hawkes gives an empirical answer: "The "fetishism" produced by commidification involves such things as the displacement of reality by representation, the imposition of false equivalence on objects, peoples and cultures which are actually different, the death of the autonomous subject and other notable features of the postmodern age. This theory rests upon Aristotle's distinction in the _Politics_ between exchange-value and use-value, as it is extrapolated by Marx in the opening chapter of _Capital_. Since the postmodern economy is dominated by commodity exchange rather than material production, one can argue that a critique of the psychological effects of exchange-value and the commodity form is more powerful than an approach which emphasizes the material mode of production. I would certainly read the Frankfurt School, like Jameson, as hostile to postmodernism, but they are forced to concede its empirical triumph. Postmodernist philosophy accurately reflects and describes the state of the postmodern world, but it does not condemn that world, and even when it does it cannot explain what is wrong with the world. The Frankfurt School do and can." (Bad Subjects, Web page). The reason that postmodernism theory and debate seems to have come to the forefront is the very same reason that Jameson illustrated before: Cultural dominance. One film that helps illustrate postmodernism's dominance over Marxism is American Graffiti. The film is an example of postmodern pastiche, offering the audience a nostalgic film, while reinventing views of the past (Storey, 186). According to Jameson the nostalgic film is a desire for the "lost object of desire" that is America in the 1950s. American Graffiti is also a prime example of the emergence of the culture industry, as most of the characters are commodity or possession oriented (cars, women/men) and concerned with the American ideal of being the best. This of course represents Adorno's argument of the culture industry (commidification of culture). The postmodernism of the film however seems to over power these faint traces of the Frankfurt school. First of all, the film celebrates the rebel spirit of the American Youth; attributed to postmodernism. This was a shared spirit during the early seventies when the film was released,(Coppola, 1973) and can be attributed to postmodernism. We can be assured of this by the occurrences of demonstrations and riots that occurred in 1973, the last year of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Second, is the same protagonist's concern with his social image. While driving around in his hot rod with the young girl, the protagonist also starts to become nervous that someone might see him and tease him later on. The protagonist cares, not only about his own perception of self, but society's perception of him as well. This correlates to postmodern people that "have no problem in being simultaneously and indistinguishably live people and Media People" (Storey, p.180); the protagonist seems equally concerned. Postmodernism is one of the Frankfurt School's most bitter opponents. Where Marxism seeks to explain the good and bad elements of the world, postmodernism seeks only to exist. Postmodernism's acceptance of all that is in mass culture makes it hard to escape. This omnipresence that postmodernism has had for the last thirty years has virtually eclipsed the Frankfurt school. Select theories of Marxism that mass culture accept and enjoy have become part of postmodernism. The theories of the Frankfurt school that do not agree with postmodernism have been weeded out and have had a difficult time finding an audience. The Marxist theories did not disappear from existence; postmodernism has just become so encompassing that it becomes difficult to hunt out the Marxist theories. Will postmodernism ever end? If things remain as they are, then the answer is no. Postmodernism's dynamic refusal to be defined has to be one of its greatest qualities. It's refusal to be defined may also be the very reason of it's continued presence in our culture. Bibliography: Works Cited Berube, Michael. Bad Subjects Political Education for Everyday life. New York: New York University Press, 1998. n http://eng.hss.cmu.edu/bs/30/voices.html (Web site of regular publication, recommended for research and updated material) Storey, John. An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 1998. Zuidervaart, Lambert. Adorno's Aesthetic Theory: The Redemption of Illusion. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991. Word Count: 1729
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