The Modern Era versus Past Charms
The Vintage Craze as Indicative of Dissatisfaction with Modernity
Aug 11, 2008
What is the appeal of past charms? Classic literature, silent films and old Hollywood, typewriters and Polaroid cameras, Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelite art, Romanticism, nostalgia, Victorian decor and ephemera seem to hold an increasing allure.
The Blatancy of the Modern Era
Modern culture is marked by blatancy and accessibility. The Internet in particular poses new problems in terms of allowing instantaneous access to information accumulated from every country and every era. This means an individual is able to sift through art, culture and knowledge as if through clothes on a rack, selecting and discarding as one pleases. Surely this inevitably entails a process of devaluation.
Arguably, as a consequence, the sanctity is eroded. Life experience itself is devalued and distorted by its artificial equivalent. Often the artificial comes before the real, which imposes distorted expectations.
Media consumption is prying further and further into the sacred or taboo in order to give viewers the shock they now crave, whether that be in horror, pornography, live surgery or alarming tales of abuse and rape in women’s magazines. Many teenagers and young adults have become jaded cynics, addicted to rapid visual stimulation. Children wear skimpy outfits with glittery playboy logos whilst their parents fret about paedophilia.
Can Answers Be Found in Critical Theory?
Critical theory is a branch of philosophy and sociology that examines and critiques modern society. Adorno and Horkheimer’s ‘Dialectic of Enlightenment’ is a renowned critique in which they voice their concern for modern culture (or ‘the culture industry’) and the dehumanisation of man in industrial society.
The Culture Industry
According to Adorno and Horkheimer (2002) culture does not arise from the genuine demands of the people, but rather it instils false needs. The culture industry essentially makes an industry out of the available cultures. In other words, it pillages aspects from art, film, music and history on the basis of what is sellable and transforms them in to fast trends and easy entertainment. Adverts and remixes are prime examples of this.
The culture industry thus devalues and dilutes the deeper meaning of the art by taking it out of context, repeating it and associating it with products or amusements. A further instance is editing of classic literature to condense it to a third of the length in order to make the books easily digested.
Any analysis of modern culture indicates the worrying consequences of assembly line production, commodity fetishism and standardization. All meaning and individuals are reduced to equivalence, and most social interaction takes place on the level of selling and purchasing. Is this why people are seeking refuge in the past where purpose and idealism prevail?
What Is the Allure of Past Charms?
Do individuals find a place for themselves in a past era because it offers them a framework of meaning? Whilst there is a benefit to the mass of information and entertainment at our fingertips, the culture created is superficial and diluted as if it picks from the surface of the vast feast of meaning that now lies before us.
Popular entertainment seems to be guided by cheap thrills, repetitive plots and gore porn and does not promote experimentation or critical thinking. Perhaps as a consequence, many are unfulfilled and turn to past charms in order to acquaint themselves with taboo, mystery, naivety, idealism - all these things are exposed and sucked dry by the culture industry.
References:
Connerton P. [editor] (1976) Critical Sociology: Penguin Books Ltd, Middlesex
Horkheimer M. and Adorno T.W (2002) Dialectic of Enlightenment: Stanford University Press, USA
The Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy <http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/adorno.htm#H4>
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