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Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture

Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008.

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Other Authors: Louw, N.
Format: Thesis
Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Louw, N.
author_browse Louw, N.
author_facet Louw, N.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/23499
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:29.889Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
publishDateRange 2013
publishDateSort 2013
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/23499 Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture Louw, N. Dreyer, Elfriede niuwin@webonline.bit Winczewski, Marianna Jadwiga Pastiche Society Marxism Schizophrenia Random borrowings Saturation Dystopia Lifted imagery Appropriation art Mass media Popular culture Identity Fragmentation Postmodernism Capitalism UCTD Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. In this mini-dissertation the ongoing battle between the self and late-capitalist society is explored as a theoretical response to the notion of the fragmented subject in relation to postmodernism. Frederic Jameson links the schizophrenic subject and postmodern culture explicitly to societal changes in Western economies: this author's tradition outlines a main part of my theoretical stance within this mini-dissertation. Jameson, decisive in his criticism of current popular culture that has formed as a result of postmodernism, conveys a key dystopic viewpoint in his association of schizophrenia with postmodernism and late-capitalism. This sentiment is echoed in this mini-dissertation, as it is my belief that capitalist consumption habits and pastiche are interrelated in current popular visual culture, simulating a schizoid experience which consumers in turn mirror when formulating a sense of self. An essentially fragmented (postmodern) viewpoint with regard to postmodern visual culture is argued, and is aligned with Jameson's perspective on how subjects form identities within late capitalism, with pastiche and consumption labelled as the main causes of the contemporary societal problem of fragmentation. The main contention of the study is thus that contemporary consumption practices, through the stylistic acceptance of pastiche, are the current causes of fragmentation within the self. This naturalisation of postmodern montage and pastiche, in my opinion, effectively disorientates consumers, as similar techniques that are adopted in consumer culture are applied to identity formation, thus contributing to a sense of egolessness, a key characteristic of schizophrenia. Focus is placed on visual examples that highlight postmodern techniques of nostalgic image recycling, aligned to similar postmodern identity models, with parallels drawn between the fragmenting individual and the consuming individual. As exceedingly discontinuous processes of change occur through capitalist consumption habits that are emblematic characteristics of the postmodern condition, it is thus my belief that current postmodern visual culture contributes to an overall fragmented experience of the individual, where consumer practices are negatively affecting identity construction, and thus spurring on further cultural fragmentation and social disintegration. Copyright Visual Arts unrestricted 2013-09-06T15:28:29Z 2010-03-29 2013-09-06T15:28:29Z 2009-04-29 2008-10-29 2010-03-26 Dissertation Winczewski, MJ 2008, Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture, MA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23499 > F10/153/gm http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23499 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03262010-175241/ © 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Pastiche
Society
Marxism
Schizophrenia
Random borrowings
Saturation
Dystopia
Lifted imagery
Appropriation art
Mass media
Popular culture
Identity
Fragmentation
Postmodernism
Capitalism
UCTD
Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture
title Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture
title_full Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture
title_fullStr Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture
title_full_unstemmed Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture
title_short Consumption, pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture
title_sort consumption pastiche and identity in postmodern visual culture
topic Pastiche
Society
Marxism
Schizophrenia
Random borrowings
Saturation
Dystopia
Lifted imagery
Appropriation art
Mass media
Popular culture
Identity
Fragmentation
Postmodernism
Capitalism
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23499
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03262010-175241/