Week 12 §What does it mean to be original? § 1. Preceding all others in time; first: § 2. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual § §What does it mean to be authentic? §1. of undisputed origin or authorship; genuine: an authentic signature. §2. accurate in representation of the facts; trustworthy; reliable: an authentic account §The quality or condition of being authentic, trustworthy, or genuine. § What does it mean to be Kitsch? §Something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste. See adjacent text. ORIGINS > §Around since 1870’s; comes to fruition in 1960’s § §Collapse of distinction between high and low culture § §Confrontations with the canonic §shocking, scandalous, ugly, dissonant, immoral, anti-social, is acceptable §a culture of kitsch -- artwork marked by sentimental or pretentiousness §Western culture = a state of decline § §Pomo = a celebration of that decline, mass art = commercial culture § §Andy Warhol - no distinction between real/mass art §Only context defines it (art gallery, museum) § Diagram Description automatically generated §Pomo = crisis in the status of knowledge in Western societies. §Collapse of metanarratives which explain and order our existence and mark the voices, narratives, and structure of everyday life (Christianity, science) creating the privileged truth §What will religion give to me? §What can I get from knowing science? §Cultural diversity over homogenization § §The intellectual’s privilege to explain and distribute knowledge is threatened, his authority, dispersed. § Creates new intellectuals, voices from the margins § - blacks, women, homosexual, minority or working class - §A culture of the simulacrum §No original = no distinction between copy/original §The hyperreal: real without origins or reality §Real and simulation continually collapse; no such thing as authentic/truth § §Disneyland §Watergate §Gulf War § §Collapse of metanarratives of authority, as centers of authenticity and truth § §The collapse of meaning and representation § FREDERIC JAMESON §Culture of pastiche - an open imitation of the works of other artists § Pomo culture is a culture of quotations, a culture of intertextuality, flatness/depthlessness = the waning of affect §A separation between affect and meaning; a loss of temporality; a schizophrenic experience §Pomo = hopelessly commercial culture; §collapse of culture into commerce = representation as a form of power §metanarratives replaced by micronarratives § Co-optation and incorporation make no sense -- we are already from the start § §The elevation/commodification of the ordinary §Infinite signification and insatiable desire §Irony § §Plurality of Value §Globalization §Convergence Culture § §Logics of Late Capitalism § §Q = who determines significance, and who has the right to interpret? §Pessimists = multinational capital, the decisions of the market and marketing §Optimists = consumers themselves, stylists who take the goods on offer and make their own marks with them § §What does it mean? http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_S92AOjzV1WQ/Sol6eJPEbJI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/dm5u804ty9c/s400/swastikapunkinger.jp g http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_nov2004/SafetyPinFace.jpg http://www.brtb.com/toynfo_mcdonaldscoffeestix.jpg http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001834871/472157784_crazy_bands_wrist_xlarge.png http://www.vanityfair.com/dam/culture/2010/02/disco-1002-06.jpg http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_250/MI0002/242/MI0002242446.jpg?partner=allrovi.com §The theory and study of signs and symbols, especially as elements of language or other systems of communication. Semiotics involves the study not only of what we refer to as 'signs' in everyday speech, but of anything which 'stands for' something else. In a semiotic sense, signs take the forms of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects. It is the study of how meanings are made and how reality is represented. "Signs do not just 'convey' meanings, but constitute a medium in which meanings are constructed. Semiotics helps us to realize that meaning is not passively absorbed but arises only in the active process of interpretation. "'Commonsense' suggests that 'I' am a unique individual with a stable, unified identity and ideas of my own. Semiotics can help us to realize that such notions are created and maintained by our engagement with sign systems: our sense of identity is established through signs. We derive a sense of 'self' from drawing upon conventional, pre-existing repertoires of signs and codes . We are thus the subjects of our sign systems rather than being 'users' who are fully in control of them." §“alternative facts” replace actual facts, and feelings have more weight than evidence. §science denial (“facts” don’t exist) §fake news (the decline of traditional media, rise of social media, impact of advertising culture, propaganda) §psychological blind spots (emotions/confirmation biases) §The public's retreat into nformation silos §wishful thinking, political spin, mass delusion, bold-faced lying (tech-enhanced) §Post-Truth is an assertion of ideological supremacy by which its practitioners try to compel someone to believe something regardless of the evidence. “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” (Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, Nazi Germany) §postmodernism—specifically, the idea that there is no such thing as objective truth—an attack on science and facts. § §Education – what does it mean? §The study of Culture and Media – From Culture and Civilization to Postmodernism §Why bother to study it? §What is the point of this class and its structure? §What does asking these questions do to the meaning of this course and its content? §What is the value of education (and its processes) for a post-truth world?