Video: Surrealism Without the Unconscious

Frederick Jameson discusses the evolution of the postmodern, capitalist society that has diverted to forms of media, namely video art, that have polluted society. However, because of this medium's ability to be reproduced, it naturally captures the essence of culture despite its disconnect from previous epochs.

To Jameson, the postmodern period is characterized though a striving for material objects rather than focusing one's self on personal or religious growth. Furthermore, the installation of new mediums as a dominant centerpiece of society can be attributed to an emphasis on aesthetics, new technologies and societal establishments. Jameson then introduces the notion of reification or the treatment of something abstract as if it existed as a real and tangible object. He says that this reification has caused words and by extension, images, to lose their intended meaning. However, before the initial meaning can be recovered, it is replaced by something else. Because the signifier has been separated with its signified, the meaning must be interpreted more and more by the viewer. According to Jameson, this flowing and interpretation of words, images, and ideas (video) is the defining element of postmodern society because of its emphasis on time and space.

Jameson claims that "memory seems to play no role in television, commercial or otherwise." Is television and commercialism in our capitalist society a mindless waste of time and space or does it contain merit and value?