On the bright side, I was able to hear today's lecture before posting. The discussion of patchwork and pastiche shed some light on Frederic Jameson's argument for our current societal schizophrenia and decentering.
Towards the beginning of the essay, Jameson says that post modern society involves "an insertion as individual subjects into a multidimensional set of radically discontinuous realities." (351) Add to this excerpt the definition of pastiche: an incongruous amalgam of styles and materials which has the collage-like effect that imitates other forms.
For me, this definition of pastiche brought to mind the world of haute couture. For many years now, high fashion has been a pastiche of concepts from bygone eras. Billowing, high-necked louses from the turn of the century are paired with 1960's mini-skirts and garish leggings reminiscent of the 1980's. This conglomeration feels to me like a collapsing of time in favor of a layered (or, as Jameson says, "multidimensional") space where we can be and experience everything all at once.
Also, I think it's very interesting the Jameson argues we suffer from a lack of originality. The idea that there is "nothing new under the sun" is an old one, but with the burgeoning awareness of recycling and reuse, I think Jameson's arguement can be applied across disciplines and may have implications for schools of thought as seemingly distant from new media and critical theory as the environmental movement, or, as Professor Chun pointed out, global climate change.
Finally, I have a question concerning Lacan. I can grasp his theory of orders, real, imaginary, and symbolic, but on a very literal practical level, where exactly is he getting the basis for this theoretical argument about the development of the self? Especially because Lacan is talking about infants and very young children, what is his basis for positing these ideas?
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