Robby Riehle-Eco-Make up

Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyperreality he explores the hyperreal and simulations of reality in actual life. Eco states, “The United States is filled with cities that look like cities”. In particular case, Las Vegas is a perfect example, because it’s got the pyramids or Egypt, the Eiffel tower, and even the canals of Venice. He also uses the example of Disneyland to help illustrate his stance saying it “is also as place of total passivity. Its visitors must agree to behave like robots." He describes us as robots because we are unfamiliar visitors of this simulated world. Basically, you are invited to escape to a world that is better than the one we actually live in. As he says “Disneyland tells us that technology can give us more reality than nature can”. An example we discussed in class is the comparison of Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park and the fountains of the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas. At Yellowstone we have to wait for scientific realities to conjure up the blast needed for the famous geyser, where the fountains of the Bellagio are automated and allow for instant gratification. Even though they only simulate reality, the fact that its on demand makes it more desirable. A similar critical theorist, Jean Baudrillard’s main argument is that humans have reconstructed simulations so realistically that lines between reality and simulacra have become blurred and indistinguishable. This is important because the idea of both these theorist is essentially that, simulacra and hyperreality create an unobtainable better world than could ever exist. Therefore, in comparison our reality will never be good enough, leaving us detached from the world we could otherwise revel in. 

Robby Riehle Marx-Make up

Karl Marx, one of the greatest economist, philosophers, and sociologists ever to live, focused nearly his entire life studying socialism, capitalism, positions of power and the public’s quality of life. A famous quote of his is, “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being which determines their consciousness”. The point Marx is making here is who you are is determined by your social status, not your personality. All decisions in your life revolve around your role community its relation to the rest of the people in society. This is an example of how Althusser’s would say, “Ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence”. This is because, “he who has the gold, makes the rules” and “the class which is the ruling material force of society is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.  The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, consequently also controls the means of mental production.” An example of this is what is called Agenda Setting or Gatekeeping. Basically huge media conglomerates like Time Warner, or Disney own news companies so they get to decide what is broadcasted, (what we are thinking/talking about) and how. This is referred to as Framing, the particular spin applied to a message, which can manipulate how we interpret information and therefore shape opinion. Thus, the ruling class makes ideology. But since the public is never privy to this information or its framing it is subliminal, hence “ideology saturates everyday discourse in the form of common sense” (Hebdige) Relating back to how public is an absent-minded observer” (Benjamin).

Robby Riehle Jameson-Make up

Fredric Jameson’s article discusses Late Capitalism and the reason for its foothold in today’s culture. Jameson’s speaks about a, “waning of affect” he sees on account of Late Capitalism and Postmodernism, which nowadays have a very fine line. Theodor Adorno said “the culture industry [, which is a product of late capitalism,] infuses everything with sameness”. This is because the more things are codified, the more monotony there is. The principal way this transpires today is through commodification. An example of this can be seen in Edward Munk’s The Scream and on the poster of the film, Home Alone. When observing both the there is an obvious correlation between the two, and with our critical lens deem the, “Depth is replaced by surface”. The argument by some here is that not everything ought to be for sale or treated as if it were a tradable commodity. As Dick Hebdige said, “as soon as the original innovations which signify ‘subculture’ are translated into commodities and made generally available, they become ‘frozen’”. Capitalism derealizes everything, diminishes aura, and leaves nothing truly avant-garde. Ultimately Late Capitalism as Jameson would say is, “the end . . . of style, in the sense of the unique and the personal . . .” 

Robby Riehle-Derrida Make-up

The article Difference, by Jacques Derrida, discusses the distinction between words, and distinction between signs through a semiotic analysis he coined deconstruction. Derrida suggests deconstruction of texts through binary opposites construct our meaning and purpose. If we look back to Ferdinand de Saussure to help us unpack this concept we remember first, “Without language, thought is a vague, uncharted, nebula”. Thus, we created language to give something meaning or purpose. The question however, is, how do we ascribe meanings to words? De Saussure said, “In language there are only differences” and “we only know things because we know what they are not”. Derrida uses the concept “metaphysics of presence”, to help understand this, which refers to whatever is present, never what is absent. Therefore, when a word is selected it simultaneously means that other words were not selected, making them different. For example if I were to say the word ‘north’ one would apply all the other words from the same context in order to find its meaning. As a result, each word exists in a relationship of dependency with others. As Derrida claims, “Every concept is necessarily and essentially inscribed in a chain or a system, within which it refers to another and to other concept, by the systematic play of differences”. This is serendipitously similar to Macherey theory of intertextuality, the shaping of a text’s meaning by referring to other texts, everything based on something before and language is a system of interconnected terms with meanings derived from the others.

Robby Riehle Foucault-Make up

In Michel Foucault’s article Panopticon he says, “our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance”, I believe this to be the main point of Foucault’s argument. He uses the idea of a Panopticon, a circular prison with cells arranged around a central well, from which prisoners could at all times be observed, as an analogy for understanding how our society works. He illustrates this concept by stating, “Everyone locked up in his cage, everyone at his window, answering to his name and showing himself when asked.” But why do conform to this model? I believe it is because, as Dick Hebdige would say, “ideology saturates everyday discourse in the form of common sense.” Thus, allowing for these “inspection[s to] function ceaselessly”. Foucault goes on to say this “power should be visible and unverifiable”. This can be understood better by looking at Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatuses and Repressive State Apparatuses. You see this is because RSA’s control the public through means of direct violence of threat of violence. So for example because of the prevalence of CCTV in England it is the most watch country in the world. So, people assume they are always being watched, and therefore follow the rules of the law as to not experience any violence. Essentially the same way a panopticon “induce[s] in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power”. Meaning that while there maybe nobody watching people act as if they are to avoid conflict. Which fits perfectly which Althusser’s ISA’s and the idea that, “Ideology represents the imaginary relationships of individuals to their real conditions of existence.” Whether you look at is as a Panopticon or its ideological value, “We are neither in the amphitheatre, nor on the stage, but in the panoptic machine, invested by its effects of power, which we bring to ourselves since we are part of its mechanism.” 

Post Blog 11/28 Courtney Sparling

After Wednesday's class, I feel as though everything we have studied throughout the course of the semester has come full circle. Especially after reading and discussing Appadurai and watching the TED talk, I really feel that theory isn't just something just for scholars. As students, we can use it and see it taking form in our everyday lives. I think that it is most fascinating to read theorists' work that were written such a long time ago, before any modern technologies that we have today were even imagined, and see how it connects so eerily to what is actually happening. It is as if these theorists have predicted what couldn't have possibly been known, but somehow they do! I think that is my favorite part of theory that I have been introduced to this semester. For never having read theory and analyzed it so deeply before this class, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I could relate to it and how interesting it really was!

I really liked how in class, looking at Appadurai specifically, we paired up with a classmate and tried to define the 5 different streams of global culture flows in our own words. Ethnoscapes, financescapes, technoscapes, mediascapes, and ideoscapes, in my opinion, as I listened to my other classmates speak, is that they all overlap and create instability within each other's interactions around the world. These all are the heart of the disjuncture of the world that Appadurai speaks of in this reading. Our world dysfunctions.  

Melanie Roth - Post Blog 11/28

            Arjun Appardurai’s reading “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy” offers deep meaning, while exploring communication and ways to connect at a global level. Broadening the material by referencing other theorists, Appardurai introduces us to new ideas. This reading truly exemplifies the connections from one theorist to the other, and demonstrates correlation through this massive web of theory. 

Cuban emigration - 1980's

            Dissecting each of the “five dimensions of global cultural flows” (514) one by one, made it easier for my to organize my thoughts and to overall comprehend the material. One of the most important things that I have learned from this reading is that each of Appardurai’s “-scapes” is constantly changing. Out of the five, I personally find ideoscapes to be the most intriguing. The ever-growing global flow, and the spreading of ideologies throughout the world is what defines ideoscapes. The Mariel Boat Lift, an event that resulted in a mass emigration of Cubans to the United States, is an example of how ideoscapes work. In this specific case, the flood of Cubans to south Florida caused an overwhelming transformation of Miami. Because of the new population of Cuban immigrants, ideologies quickly were dispersed and changed, exemplifying Appardurai’s term ideoscape.  

I enjoyed concluding class with the video from TED talks where Hans Rosling provided us with visual imagery to share global statistics about population and life expectancies. The technology used to display this information provided viewers with a clear visual of how the world is continuously changing.

Image, the Imaginary, and Postmodernity's Mediascapes: The case of The Onion

BEIJING. The Chinese Communist Party may want to brush up on U.S. media.

The People's Daily, the party's official organ, ran a large feature on its website Tuesday on young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un being named The Onion's "Sexiest Man Alive."

The only glitch was that The People's Daily didn't seem to realize The Onion is a satirical publication...

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~ dc

Post Blog Appadurai

Today in Class we discussed our readings on Arjun Appadurai. There are phrases, quotes and ideas in this piece that resonate with me.  Two of the phrases were Disorganized capitalism and Path Dependency. I believe both of these conditions are caused by the structures that hold capitalism up. Something like path dependency, which is when we blindly follow the trend and even if, its not right path we still stay on it. Also Disorganized Capitalism is just as it sounds, capitalism but disorganized or not right. In class we heard an example about how Florida is the top grower of tomatoes in the US but how its one of the worst places to grow tomatoes. Also the scapes Apadurai had mentioned all about understood the structures of different landscapes. When dealing with media scape you must understand its power structures. You must be able to identify biasness so that you can look at the gaps in the text like Mache ray or Derrida. In this clip John Stewart points out Fox News’s bias, he sees the biasedness and is aware of his media landscape. Overall i learned a lot more in this semester than i thought i would. The first couple of days i was worried about learning theorist. But all turned out well and i learned a lot, hopefully i can bring up critical theory in other classes besides John Stewart Economics

Post Blog 11/28

Thankfully, after today’s class discussion I feel I now have a better grasp on Appardurai’s article. His essential argument is that the global cultural economy is growing at an exponential rate. There almost aren’t any countries or cultures that are purely there own. He states, “Cultural transitions between social groups in the past have generally be restricted, sometime by the fact of geography and ecology . . . ” (511). However, “it takes only the merest acquaintance with the facts of the modern world to note that it is now an interactive system in a sense that is strikingly new” (511). This interactive system of which he speaks with “new order and intensity” is congruent with the advancement of technologies. Technology is constantly growing and likewise its advancement effects industry and culture around it. This for example could be anything from advancements transportation of traded commodities to telecommunication satellites. Basically anything that contributes to the ‘shrinking’ of world. He creates 5 concepts for helping understand how this has happens in their respective categories. One example of this can be “technoscapes.” This refers to the technological contributes to the global flow of culture. For example lets say Michael Jackson, an American pop icon. Now I say and American icon, but in reality the majority of people of earth know who he was. Technological advancements in radio, television, Internet etc. has made it so nearly everyone in the world could identify a song if they heard it, and furthermore could even tell you when he dressed like. Appardurai’s has, for all intents and purposes, created a lexicon for which can be used to help understand the global economy and the cultural flow of the postmodern world. 

Post Class 11/28/12 - Arjun Appadurai-

Arjun Appadurai has rather a broader ideology of the global cultural economy. However, his ideas ties into one piece at the end. He discussed disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy which contains rather recent on going issues in global economy. He talks about "elementary framework for exploring such disjunctures to look at the relationship among five dimensions of global cultural flows that can be termed"(514). Those five dimensions are 'ethnoscapes', 'mediascapes', 'technoscapes', 'finacescapes', and ' ideoscapes'. They all tie into one similar relationship which shaped by globalization  and easier excess of everything. In today's society, whole world is so closely related especially in economy. No country is completely independent when it's come down to economy and culture. We think this irregular culture and relationships had been going on for long time. Yet this international phenomenon had been going on only last ten years, when we critically look at what Appadurai is discussing in his text. 

Post class 11/28

Once again, the class discussions truly brought forth the deeper meaning, and agenda, of Appadurai's reading in its totality. One of the links we drew in class was the sustained cultural forces creating a stronger communication across cultures and the ways in which its becoming stronger.

"A new power was unleashed in the world, the power of mass literacy and its attendant large scale production of projects of ethnic affinity that were remarkably free of the need for face-to-face communication or even of indirect communication between persons and groups." (511-512)

Mark Poster brings forth the rhizome and how it spreads down and out, just as Appadurai explains this cultural connection. Thanks to the ability of communication growing there's an equal spread of culture with that communication.

In regards to mediascapes, one of the five dimensions laid out, I was in thought over a governments bias with another country or culture in relevance to media. If a country's government were to have a tiff with America, would they then hold out a lot of American media from their own population? They would seem to have the power and resources to do so. How would this then play into the Americanization of that country? Would this then have a reaction similar to Appadurai's discussion of distance from metropolitan areas and their fantasy images? If a culture is far removed from America, then their images of Americanization would become imagined.

post class 11/28

Arjun Appadurai discussed the imaginary in his article. A lot of what I found can relate back to what Baudrillard discussed in his discussion on reality and simulacra. When Appadurai discussed the “ethnoscapes” in his piece he was discussing the people including tourists, workers, immigrants, refugues, and more all together creating the culture and society we live in. For example the tourists that go to Disneyland are choosing to partake in a type of culture and that is what creates the change in our world. His discussion of “mediascapes”is interesting as well because we have so much technology now, but the distribution of it is so important. A lot of what we have in the media is regulated or controlled by the government, and what is seen in the media influences our view on our culture. Media and technology shape our world today.

He also discussed “disorganized capitalism.” Every time I travel from my home in south Florida back to school I pass through the middle of the state with tons of orange factories. Almost all of our oranges come from Florida and it makes me wonder why that is. Florida is conveniently located within the United States. The shipments of oranges are sent out all across the country from just one state. I am not sure why, because other states could most likely grow them too and have local produce. This is one way our country and disorganized and makes it much more difficult then it needs to be. This has to do a lot with what Appadurai says. He questions the culture we live in and then how this is affecting our economy, and on even a bigger scale, our globe. 

Pre Clas Blog: Arjun Appadurai

Appadurai's article explores the global cultural economy. Appadurai notes that there is this sense of nostalgia for some, nostalgia for a place of time that one has not been to. Growing up as a teen, there was a television channel, that would air Different Strokes at night. I watched every single episode and was fascinated with the American sitcom. Purely for the fact that I liked comedy, but also the fact that it was a famous American show. I wanted to know what it meant to be American and somehow this show acted as a gateway. Although it was among a list of many that I would watch, all american shows. The reason why this one was different is the fact that there was this constant feeling of Nostalgia. The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two African American boys from Harlem who are taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman. There is a definitely mettanarrative around this whole show, and that is the notion of two black children taken in by someone who holds so much privilege in the country, during a time in which there where still pretty high racial tensions. Appadurai states " The past is now not a land to return to in a simple politics of memory. It has become a synchronic warehouse of cultural scenarios" (513), the show constantly drew upon the tensions that Mr Drummond faced, and at this time it was seen as kind of revolutionary for the country. I celebrated the family dynamic, although not really know what the underlying tones suggested. Living in an interracial household, this had never appeared as something that may be such a problem.

Pre Class- Appadurai

After reading Appadurai's essay, much of his argument about the global culture is very similar to different theorists we have studied all semester. He writes, "Yet today's world involves interactions of a new order and intensity" (Pg. 511). This notion of the new relates back to Lyotard and Baudrillard. Lyotard talks about a "period of slackening" and argues that "so-called realistic representations can no longer evoke reality except as nostalgia or mockery". Appadurai builds off of this concept, talking about Americanization, suggesting "that the issue is no longer one of nostalgia but of social imaginaire built largely around reruns" (Pg. 512). These configured worlds which Appadurai writes about, not only argues for Americanization but globalization as a phenomenon of reconfigured images. Baudrillards notion of simulacra also can be realted to this argument as well. The idea of simulating something to put a subject into experiencing the real is something cultures globally are exposed to.

The images of Harry Potter are a perfect example of the globalization that took place in order for the novel to circulate across the world.

Arjun Appadurai – Melanie Roth

Arjun Appadurai’s article Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy, presented theories that related back to previous theorists whom we have already studied. By doing this, I personally had an easier time understanding the reading, and what Appadurai’s was theorizing.

            One of the main topics discussed was the notion of technology connecting people at a global level. Appadurai states, “For with the advent of the steamship, the automobile, the airplane, the camera, the computer, and the telephone, we have entered into an altogether new condition of neighborliness, even with those most distant from ourselves” (512). This passage suggests that nations are connecting to one another through technological advances, allowing one to travel or communicate in a much simpler way. This allows us to be able to quickly share ideas, spread information, and connect on a personal level globally. This media, technology, and travel have resulted in “nationhood” which is what fuels consumerism.

            I found it interesting when Appadurai brought to light the notion of nostalgia, stating, “As far as the United States is concerned, one might suggest that the issue is no longer one of nostalgia but of a social imaginaire built largely around reruns” (512). These reruns are past scenarios from different eras, and it is theorized that nostalgia is a “central mode of image and reception” (512).

Appadurai states, “Americans themselves are hardly in the present anymore as they stumble into the megatechnologies of the twenty-first century garbed in the film-noir scenarios of sixties’ chills, fifties’ diners, forties’ clothing, thirties’ houses, twenties’ dances, and so on ad infinitum” (512). We continue to use past era phenomenon’s and styles to create past familiarities. I find it interesting that even if one is not from a specific era, it is easy to put yourself in such a scenario, through a construction of ideas taken from the past. “The past is now not a land to return to in a simple politics of memory .It has become a synchronic warehouse of cultural scenarios, a kind of temporal central casting, to which recourse can be taken as appropriate, depending on the movie to be made, the scene to be enacted, the hostages to be rescued” (Appadurai 216).

Appadurai - Courtney Sparling

"It takes only the merest acquaintance with the facts of the modern world to note that it is now an interactive system in a sense that is strikingly new."

I believe that the first quotation in this work not only sums up the theory that Appadurai continues on to explain in the reading, but also relates to all the other readings we have done throughout the year in this class. So many theorists and theories pertain to this new modern world that we now live in, relating it to the past, present, and future. One thing that is clear in all of the theories we have approached all year, is that the world we live in is based on interactions as the system we need and rely on. Today, this system is new and different from what has been used in the past. Technologies and the removal of global restrictions have transformed the world into "communities with 'no sense of place."

One quotation that really caught my attention:
"If your present is their future, and their future is your past, then your own past can be made to appear as simply normalized modality of your present."

We are not really in the present, ever. Appadurai gave examples of 50s diners, 20s dances, ect. We incorporate so much of the past in our present day. I also see that we incorporate the future in shows and gadgets that are constantly being released to the public in an attempt to outdo the previous. We also see the original Batman comic books, made into a film, and then more films that revamp the first, so to speak.

These examples are seen here as "American," but often times travel globally into numerous countries. We see Batman toys/puzzles in China, comics in India etc. Everyone around the world can become familiar with Batman.