Disclaimer: I'm actually not quite done reading this book. That said, I did read it in 2004 while I was in graduate school, so I know what happens in the end: Martin Amis storms onto the last page to make fun of Eagleton, of course.
I first encountered Terry Eagleton in 1995. I was 18 years old, didn't really know shit about Marxism or literary theory, though I was majoring in English, and knew that I really liked books. I was a freshman in college, brand new to the whole adulthood thing, and I was a little overwhelmed. The only place I felt instantly at home on campus was in the library, which was quite often deserted, scandalously so, I thought.
So there I was, rummaging the shelves, skipping some shitty class -- old habits died so hard back then -- trying my best to branch out. In those days, the extent of my literary knowledge was Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. So, I figured, if I was going to wimp out of class for the day, I might as well learn something, right?
Back to the rummaging. I rummaged. Knowing what I know now, this next bit sounds a little unlikely, but I swear to Christ it's what happened. That day, whilst ransacking, I discovered two writers who would change my reading and thinking life (also known as my "life.") They were, funnily enough, Martin Amis and Terry Eagleton. I walked out of the library that day with two books: Success and Criticism and Ideology (two great places to start if you've never heard of either, I must say). Leaving aside the wild differences between the two writers, let me just say a word on Amis for a moment so I can move on to the task at hand.
Amis' novel Success changed me -- you have to remember that I wasn't yet an adult. I'd never been outside the U.S., and while I was already a bit of an Anglophile, it was all wrapped up in Dickens and Bronte and Victorian coziness. So the disgust Amis vomited forth impressed and sickened me. Enough on that for now -- I plan to revisit that book in 2010, and I'll tell you what I think of it then.
This is not a review of Criticism and Ideology -- though it's a book that I've returned to time and again. I fell in love with Eagleton on reading it. He was smart and funny, spirited, and he understood the pompousness of literary criticism, despite being a critic himself. That attitude would bolster me through the next decade of academia, and it bolsters me still.
After Theory is the book that I needed to read right now. Working in media, I keep coming back to the same issues -- why are people so willfully stupid? Why does it seem like "anything goes" is the name of the game? Why is the left so flaccid? Why are Americans so fat and boring? Why does nobody have any good ideas?
The thing about this book is that its scope is quite grand, and I can't get past the feeling that, in the end, its barely about theory -- well, theory's just following the course of society, isn't it? And it's Eagleton's beautiful and respectable adherance to reality, and the Marxist principles that underpin his humanism, that keeps his eye on this very prize -- reality. The man who wrote The Illusions of Postmodernism at the exact moment that I needed him to seems to have his finger on the pulse of all that I think is relevant and worth thinking about in modern life and theory.
So, this is less of a review of After Theory than a simple statement of my great, enduring love and respect for his work. I'll do a proper run through once I've finished.
Amis barges in, throws up on his shoes and lights a cigarette. "You have anything to drink around here besides altar wine, old boy?"
29 December 2009
Book Review: "After Theory" by Terry Eagleton
Tags:
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terry eagleton
23 December 2009
12 December 2009
07 December 2009
Fox News wants to know: "Is NOTHING sacred"?
Well, sacred stuff is sacred. Frosty the Snowman? Not so much. Just saying.
06 December 2009
05 December 2009
The Droid: Sarah Palin's favorite phone
I apologize in advance for some of the truly terrible (and offensive) language contained within.
Last night, right before bed, I checked out Twitter and saw this:
Is the New Droid Ad Anti-Women and Anti-Gay or Just Plain Idiotic? Actually, All Three!: http://bit.ly/5toLLN
It was a tweet that caught my eye, coming as it did from Kara Swisher -- writer for the Wall Street Journal's "All Things D." Kara's a woman -- and let's just say she's one of a rather slim crew of women who write about tech that I consistently pay attention to.
But what really caught my eye is something a bit more... embarrassing. I have to admit that the tweet caught me off guard, because even though we had posted about the ad (for Verizon's Android phone, the Droid) on Engadget (which is where I work), and I'd even come across it in my RSS feeds earlier... well, I hadn't watched the ad. I didn't watch it because I'm really busy, so in my regular search for news, I looked, saw that our fine editor Ross Miller had posted on it, and then moved on. Nevermind that the ad is about 30 seconds long, I just didn't take the time to peek at it. Droid ad? Seen enough of them. Move on.
Let's say that after reading Kara's entire post, I watched the ad. Twice. And I read what she had posted about it -- which may or may not have been written in somewhat of a rage. And, I have to say: with good reason.
I'm not going to repeat everything that Kara says about the ad -- you can read that for yourself, here. Let me give you the short version: this ad, in its rampant quest to target the iPhone as a phone that doesn't "get the job done" puts forth, essentially, the idea that the iPhone (no, it never names its target -- but we know well enough, don't we?) is for pussies, and the Droid -- which is a "robot" -- is for real men. Yes, there are Barbie dolls, exploding bananas, missiles, mannequins wearing scarves, and even a dolled up looking blonde talking on a phone applying makeup. Could it be any clearer?
Does it offend me? Is it effective? Eh. Let's leave those two questions aside while I tell you where my thoughts went, eventually, as I fumed about this advertisement.
There's not much information to be had here. We're not told much about WHAT the Droid "gets done" -- only that it essentially fucks shit up. Fair enough. Except that this complete lack of subtlety matters to me, and points to the "beer commercial" mentality I take issue with.
Let's just dilute the ad into the words -- into what it's actually saying. In effect, it's saying, "the Droid isn't pretty -- because being pretty means being weak. Being pretty means there's nothing contained within. The Droid means business -- which is just about getting things done. Doesn't matter what you're getting done or how it looks. Faggots and pussies need not apply."
Think that's a stretch? Not really. The ad is aggressive about its stance -- doesn't really give a shit what you think -- it's a ROBOT, for God's sake! It's not about elegance, informed decisions, or sophistication. In fact, the ad is an attack on sophistication, because sophistication is weak and "clueless."
Sound familiar? To me, the ad is overtly political -- so why would that be? Well, because, as a smart, liberal, thoughtful and gentle person, I've been repeatedly reminded that thinking is for suckers, and that I'm a "fag" if I put too much reasoning time into anything. During the presidential election, I unfortunately and misguidedly commented on one of Ken Layne's brilliant articles on the now-dead AOL Political Machine. His piece was a satire on the Obama birth certificate scandal, and if I recall correctly, his thesis was that we should start a Civil War -- rise up, if you will, not take any shit from this unAmerican trying to take over the world. I delivered my comment into the shitstorm abyss. I can't remember what it was. What I do remember is that I was immediately accussed of being both a "faggot" and a "pickaninny." Seriously? I didn't even bother responding to let them know I was a woman, white, and straight, because I knew that FACTS DIDN'T MATTER.
I'm struck now with the same feeling. The same feeling that drove Americans to love George Bush. He got shit done, he was down to earth and unapproachable all at the same time. Who gives a shit if the decisions were bad -- facts and reality be damned. This guy isn't a pussy. He's not going to take anything lying down. Fuck those over-thinking, wimpy, wine-drinking babies. FUCK THEM.
The Droid ad goes straight to the heart of another of my favorite topics, the concept of fanboys. At the end of the day, the ad takes the stance of the ultimate anti-Apple fanboy. It says: Apple's all about looks, it's for wimps who care more about architecture and good coffee and design than "getting things done" -- whatever that means. I see, day in day out, rabid Apple haters charge those that buy their products with being "rich people," and "hipsters," -- people who want to impress other people with their originality, their good taste. Well, you can't really put much stock in fanboys.
But then... you couldn't put much stock in the Obama birth certificate crowd either, until a few short months later when "the news" had taken up the quest, and there were Senators and people who knew better joining the cause. All this, of course, despite the overwhelming facts to the contrary. And now here we are, with Verizon making the tired fanboy argument -- playing to the base, if you will. Need I go on?
I'd like to point out one final observation... the Droid is actually a pretty good looking phone. Sure, it's more angular than say, the iPhone -- but it's a nice piece of industrial design all its own, and I don't look at it and see something particularly "manly." So why are the people who made it, and those selling it, pretending like it's some dumb fucking ugly hulking piece of machinery? Well, for an explanation to that one... let's just say there's a really long history of pretending that things that aren't ugly are ugly, and things that aren't fat are fat. My favorite example is 30 Rock's CONSTANT assertions that Tina Fey is ugly, undateable, and gross because she does things like eat and watch tv -- when most of us look at her and see a cute, super smart woman. So what's up with that?
Well, at the end of the day, the Droid ad is all about stereotypes -- which, I'm sure I don't need to point out, are all about appearance, not reality. And in the context of the ad, the Droid is stereotyped as much as women are. Funny, coming from an ad that positions itself the way it does, but there it is... the ad says the Droid is not about looks, but it's a great-looking phone all the same (remember, in this reality, being BOTH good looking and effective is not possible). The ad wants us to think there's some other phone out there, which, like women, are ONLY about looks, but no woman I've ever met was sheerly that, just as the iPhone can surely be said to have moved the bar higher in terms of smartphone performance -- "getting things done," if you will.
Now, is this how Motorola and Verizon really feel about their new and impressive device? I highly doubt it. But the iPhone is a juggernaut, and it must be taken down -- even if it means diluting their argument down to exploding bananas and missiles, for fuck's sake. Hey, I get it: when your back's against the wall, and you must win at any cost, fuck the truth. GET IT DONE.
Who could argue with that? Then again -- what do I know? I'm just a fucking pussy hipster who lives in Brooklyn and buys $20 bottles of wine from stores that I navigate to on my iPhone. I don't drive a hybrid yet -- but give me a few years, and I'll be tooling around in one, just to spite the pickup drivers.
So, I answer a rant with a rant.
02 December 2009
Nothing to report
Now that I blog for a living, I rarely blog for pleasure. I just spend too much time in front of a computer to sit at one in my spare time -- and by spare time, I mean the three hours I'm not sleeping that are left at the end of each day.
I'm not complaining -- I love my job. But I can't really say I regret not giving this more time these days. I still think of all kinds of hilarious and entertaining things to say, but I've never been an "oh, it's just an image and two words, let me throw it on my blog" kind of person. What I've always really valued about blogging was the fact that it was a place my words could live... and now I live with my words so often I run out at the end of the day! Seriously!
Anyway. I've been making little bird ornaments to give as gifts to my family and friends for the holidays. I cranked out about 12 of them in a day or two, then lost steam and didn't get back to the project for a while. Now I basically have to finish them this week -- which is fine -- they're not very time-consuming. They really turned out cute. So did the tree!!
