Postmodernism Art and Cognitive Mapping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Postmodernism Art and Cognitive Mapping - Essay Example In its particular form, postmodernism was used in identifying pluralistic style in various arts, such as painting, music, philosophy, literature and even films. It directly contradicts and revolting against the "pretensions of high modernism" art (Honderich 1995). Usually, the form is taken as a basis for critical theory of certain work primarily architectural, then later on in literature and designs. It was historically regarded that this was formed by architectural movement to emphasis their dissatisfaction to modernism form (Britannica 2004). Its flexibility proven as it stretched its horizon and encompasses as well cultural description, constitutional interpretation, business and marketing. They are described as a revival of the traditional elements in designing, and techniques (Merriam-Webster 2004). In its easiest description, postmodern art abandons the political advocacy for particular principle that modern art had been known of. Francis Berry, in his work Art of the Eye and Mind (2007), described this form and its occurrence as "the political ideals that fueled modernism had given way to profound disillusionment with abhorrent wars such as Vietnam, ultra-utilitarian architecture, and academic minimalism". Along with this, Barry explained that postmodernism "undermines the manipulative aspect of ideologies by exposing the artificiality of style" (Barry 2007). However, this study deals on the postmodernism significance to assess certain literary works, as well as its certain role and effectiveness in delivering considerable points of the works. Frederic Jameson's Theory. Although Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jean Baudillard, and Jacques Derrida were the primary thinkers of the Postmodernism, it was Frederic Jameson who came up with lucid principle of the movement. In Jameson's work "Postmodernism, or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism", it was then analyzed that his theory is formulated with an integration of Marxist theory, known as the basis of the modernism politics. According to Jonathan Clark, Jameson had "proposed the epoch of post modernity with its own economic, political and cultural ideals, and practices" (2007), thus it made him the "most important cultural critic writing in English today". For further discernment of the subject, it is essential to analyze the understanding in Jameson's theory, of its background and initial drive of his project (Clark 2007). Like many of the prior structured movement, postmodernism is being criticized by its contemporary movements. In Jameson's work, it stated in there that cognitive mapping is the only hope for the postmodern art, as the form now has been debatable of its principles for certain political analysis. Cognitive Mapping. Perhaps Frederic Jameson's remarkable theory regarding postmodernism is the cognitive mapping. Craig Stroupe of University of Minnesota (2008) defined Jameson's cognitive mapping as "a process by which the individual subject situates himself within a vaster, unrepresentable totality, a process that corresponds to the workings of ideology". Stroupe continued his description of cognitive mapping. This time he picked up Jameson's comparative approach of the ideology to the physical geography of a person as the concrete process of cognitive mapping. He stated: "In a classic work, The Image of the City, Kevin Lynch taught us