Seminar / Making Connections / Deconstruction & Pastiche

Firstly, we looked at Jacques Derrida's theory of Deconstruction, 'a mode of questioning assumed hierarchies and structures'.

The theory picks apart  and questions 'binary codes' that are consistent throughout Western culture, in which assumed hierarchies exist. 'Deconstruction denies the possibility of a pure presence and thus of essential or intrinsic and stable meaning.'

We looked at Design, Writing, Research by Lupton and Miller, 1996. in which Lupton discussed Derrida in terms of visual culture, notably Typography. She uses Allen Hori's typographically confusing poster as an example that asks and expects the reader to work and uncover a message, thus positioning typography not as econdary to the written word but actually influencing it.

The typographic poster relates to the assumed theory that speech is inherently more valuable than the written word. 'Typography inherits the written word, not the speech', and yet, the typographic play seen in Hori's poster has ultimate control over the written word. This goes some way to proving the need for deconstruction and the necessity to question the assumed hierarchy.

We then moved on to look at Pastiche, a theory developed by Marxist theorist Fredric Jameson. Like parody, Pastiche is the imitation of a peculiar, unique or idiosyncratic style.

Jameson takes issue with pastiche, claiming it is a harmful practice, with regurgitation simply leaving behind the historical significance of the thing that is reworked. We looked at alcohol brands, for instance branding a whiskey company with a visually similar identity to that of whiskey from the early 20th century. This is the designer using visual shortcuts to build a link with a past which a consumer can identify with. 

Jameson claims that without proper thought and reason, pastiche removes this link and thus the product is only in the here and now, with the consumer taken away from the deeper historical context. 

I understand the notion, and feel that it is so important to be informed about something you are working with in relation to its visual history but also feel that pastiche is so rife as to the point of unavoidability. We all bring in visual cues from somewhere in our past, something we've seen, visual cliches, and it would be naive to think otherwise.