Sunday, November 20, 2016

OUGD501 Study Task 02 - Parody and Pastiche

Frederic Jameson P16 - P19
Marxist - understands literature, culture, politics. 

What is this about?

Jameson believes that pastiche has been replaced within the modern world by parody, but lacks the satirical and political viewpoint. This is shown as he says  "Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language.."

What is Jameson's definitions of parody and pastiche? Quote?

"Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style... speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody's ulterior motives, amputated of satiric impulse, devoid of laughter.." - The original has a place within it's historical context but when removed it becomes mute, devoid of context within capitalist society. It is extracting signs from their original place in time... and ultimately their meaning.

Parody - "Ulterior motives" challenges the establishment through humour and aggression.

Linda Hutcheon P179 - 186

What is this about?

Hutcheon talks about postmodernism is a parody of modernism, and these postmodernist artists are creating a parody from the original. 'Philip Johnson probably could not have built the postmodern Transco Tower in Houston if he had not first designed the modernist purist form of Pennzoil Place - and if he had not begun his career as an architectural historian.'

What is her definition of parody? How does this relate to pastiche?

Parody - "ironic re-reading of the past"

Pastiche and parody are the same.

How does she criticise Jameson?

Hutcheon believes that looking back at the past helps 

She believes that we look back at the past for a reason, its not done randomly but to help contemporary aesthetic production. "There is absolutely nothing random or "without principle" in the parodic recall and re-examination of the past by architects like like Charles Moore or Ricardo Bofill."



Write a 300 (ish) word summary of parody and pastiche according to Jameson and Hutcheon relating these theories to at least 2 examples of graphic design (one from this session and one found yourself).

According to Jameson Pastiche is similar to parody which is “the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style… speech in a dead language. But is as neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody’s ulterior motives, amputated of satiric impulse, devoid of laughter…”. Pastiche looks back at the past, but the original has a place within historical context when removed from that is becomes mute, devoid of context within a capitalist society. It is extracting signs from their original place in time and ultimately their meaning. Parody on the other hand has purpose it challenges the establishment through humour and aggression, it brings something new to society. 

Hutcheon however classes parody and pastiche as one of the same, “Philip Johnson probably could not have built the postmodern Transco Tower in Houston if he had not first designed the modernist purist form of Pennzoil Place – and if he had not begun his career as an architectural historian.”. This looking back at the past is done for a reason to help contemporary aesthetic production.

Parody can be seen today within the design of clothing as famous logos and catch phrases are changed to have a different meaning. Shown in fig (1) is the Nike logo tick, with their modified slogan from ‘Just Do It’ to ‘Just Donut’. This provides humour and flips what the brand was trying to promote, being active and motivated to being lazy. Pastiche is still widely used within packaging design as it promotes a feeling of nostalgia to help increase sales, being that it’s the same brand you know and love. This can be seen in fig (2) where the new PG tips packaging has been stripped back and is very simple and bold much like it used to be.

Fig (1)



Fig (2)

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