Marxist Perspective: Frederick Jameson
Frederick Jameson brings a neo-Marxist perspective into his own reflections on authoritarianism—as he sees it in a “postmodern” world. For Jameson, authoritarianism is much more a matter of state then of trait—though he would also undoubtedly (like Adorno) find that this perspective has become infused in the heart and soul of many postmodern residents. The penetrating analysis he offers in Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991) is often considered foundational to the contemporary perspective on postmodernism. It also is considered to be a major contribution to the formulation of a Neo-Marxist critique of Western (particularly American) society.
According to Jameson, postmodern man has acquired a portable and diffuse personal identity—leaving him quite open to authoritarian influences in contemporary societies. This vulnerability seems to be founded in particular on the “troubling ambiguities” that are to be found in all elements of the postmodern world. He illustrates the ambiguity of boundaries in contemporary society through an analysis of a variety of domains, including culture, art, architecture, video, film, novels, economics and marketing—focusing on the inside and outside of many buildings, as well as the mixing of high culture and mass culture in contemporary American society. In typical postmodern fashion, Jameson sometimes addresses himself to obscure, experimental art (high culture) and at other times to popular television programs and advertising (mass culture)—the distinction seems unimportant to him.
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, for instance, is used by Jameson to illustrate his conclusion that postmodern architecture produces buildings that are inconsistent with regard to boundaries. Entrances to the Bonaventure Hotel are rather unimpressive, whereas the lobby area (as in many contemporary buildings) is very impressive and spacious. When inside the hotel, one seems to be in a world unto itself (not unlike Disneyland or other popular theme parks). Yet, once within the space of the hotel, other boundaries are diffuse. One feels uneasy riding up and down in glass-enclosed elevators, not knowing whether they, the passengers, are floating in the air or solidly encased in a safe mode of transportation. The revolving, glass-enclosed cocktail lounge at the top of the building similarly leaves one with an uneasy, unclear sense about whether one is inside the building or on top of the building. A further sense of confusion and edginess is created by the absence of any clear markers regarding which of four towers one is in at any one point in time.
Jameson tends to focus on architecture and other graphic media in part because words are readily recognized, whereas visual images are more slowly assimilated.i We immediately recognize a song or childhood jingle, while struggling to recognize an old picture from our youth or a postcard from some place that we know we’ve been. Similarly, Darwin describes how the inhabitants of Easter Island struggled with the recognition of visual images. They were unable to detect the presence of the large British sailing ships in the harbor because they had never seen such large sailing vessels and had no cognitive framework for the perception of such objects. They did, however, recognize the smaller landing vessels when they were launched from the ships, for they had boats of similar size in their own culture. Jameson suggests that auditory stimuli (such as the shouting of men on the large ship or the firing of a large gun) would not be as readily ignored. Thus, in essence, visual messages can be ignored, whereas auditory messages cannot. The growing predominance of auditory messages in postmodern organizations may lead to a condition whereby information can less readily be ignored today then it could a decade ago. We are more likely to answer the phone then answer a letter.
