USA and conclusion

Dos Passos’s USA shows us the American society through the lives of twelve characters and their position in the social structure of the USA during the modern era. 

“Tin Lizzie” is the story of Henry Ford, the businessman who creates the car industry.  He achieves the success thanks to his resolution and his self-esteem.  Despite his success and his brilliant capacities to be a leader, Ford ends his life on his father’s farm far from money and fame. In fact he found happiness in the simple life after many years of obstacles.

“The Bitter Drink” is the biography of a Norwegian Professor moved to the USA, where he found a capitalistic society damaged by the needs to make money. His inspiration was Karl Marx which had supported his “common man” point of view and has helped him to analyze and criticize the corrupt American social system.

Obviously my favourite one is “Architect”, the life of my work’s inspiration: Frank Lloyd Wright.  This time, thanks to the author, I had the opportunity to read about him from a different point of view.  Moreover, I have finally seen a piece of writing quite critical to Wright, which is not easy to find in the Architecture’s literature. “Architect” talks about the success of Wright, thanks to his clever use of new materials such as steel, glass and concrete in a personal and innovative way.  Nevertheless, he confirmed his success with the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, which survived to a strong earthquake in 1923. The “dark side” of Frank Lloyd Wright came out with his arrogance after many years of success and fame. However, many of his projects remain on paper or unfinished.  In conclusion, Wright understood that he was not in the place where he would like to be and the buildings determine the lives of workers, like the cells in the honeycomb determine the bees’ functions.

As Faust developed by making endless sacrifices, the protagonists of these biographies achieve their dreams and success, but they are not fully happy yet. The paradox of the American social system made these men incomplete, despite their fame.  They are in different way alienated from the society, where the theory of the  ¥€$” (¥en, €uro and $ Dollar) brings them to an endless way to happiness.  Who knows if contemporary “Archi-stars”, such as Zaha Hadid, have the same feeling? Their Architecture like UFOs decided by the ¥€$ will give them only money or some happiness? In the “Fountainhead” we found another character like them: Kent Smith. He found the way of the success by copying and complying with the art critics, but in the end he understood his mistakes and finished his life in shame.

Finally, my journey in this course of “Critical thinking” shows me that there are not easy ways to be satisfied with ourselves. After all, if we will follow our ideas and if we will fight for them, we can be proud of ourselves. The contemporary society gives us the opportunity to achieve our goals, but any false step can take us down to the bottom.

Decline and Fall

This entertaining and clever book is a very good example of “easy
reading”. The author, Evelyn Waugh, has written about education,
religion and alcohol in an intelligent way. In fact, it is
difficult stop to reading this novel and the stories of its clever main
character called Paul. Waugh gives us a detailed portrait of an
England that has lost its authority and honesty. Everything is about
money and success. Moreover, the famous courtesy and kindness have
disappeared, replaced by rudeness and impolite habits.

Although the book talks about the British society during the 1920s, it
could be still a contemporary book as it is in some aspects about human
nature whatever the time. However, the novel is very focused on the lifestyle of the
middle and upper classes in the post-war period in England, viewed through
the story of the main character. Moreover, I have noticed that there
is another main character in this novel: money. In fact, the money is
the tool for those social classes to escape from the post-war crisis.

Paul was a teacher in a school, when he fell in love with the mother of one of his pupils. He decided to give him private lessons at home in order to see the mother more often. Paul’s love was reciprocated and
he began a love affair with the mother but in the end the
situation ended in disaster and he served a prison sentence.
Paul found happiness when he returned to Oxford as a student. Through
this story the author shows us many amusing characters and through to them
he describes to us the society in Britain during that period.
Nevertheless, his amusing writing creates a bizarre atmosphere
throughout the novel and many serious issues are more readable despite their
sadness.

Outsiders

The novel and film focus on Howard Roark, who sis an individualistic young architect who chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision.  He followed his battle to produce modern Architecture, which he believes to be superior, despite a popular traditional way.  Nevertheless, this film is an icon for the triumph of individualism over the collectivism, Howard Roark won his battle to continue on his way without any other influence and with the risk of failure. The owner of the Banner newspaper Gail Wynand, who was influenced for his entire life by public opinion, killed himself after a period of atonement. The Architect became famous after satisfying public opinion, Kent Smith finished his career in a mediocre fashion as slave of the art critics.

The character of Kent Smith is the most interesting.  He chose the easiest way to be rich and famous, in fact he was one of the most important Architects in the film, all architecture critics like him and the public agrees with this.  Basically he designed what people expect from an Architect of that period, traditional and classical buildings.  Moreover, he was without a strong personality and without creativity, but this was not necessary to achieve his success.  Emblematic was the episode when Kent Smith went to Howard Roark asking for help to design an important residential centre, in this case Kent confessed to be without creativity and during his time at University he had copied all projects from Howard Roark.  In conclusion he received the help from Roark to design the complex without the signature of Roark but with the condition that the project cannot be modified from the original design.  Kent Smith obtained consent for that project, but to build it he had to change something to make it more traditional and desirable for the public.  He tried to resist this but he failed.

To sum up, I found this character very iconic and contemporary.  We can see many Kent Smiths in the Architecture world. Design to be published is the dream of every Architect, but what is its price? How many projects are the results of a process like the episode that I have mentioned? Kent Smith finished his career in a mediocre way in remorse and without respect for himself.  How many “Kent Smiths” will finish their career in the same way? How many “Kent Smiths” will never care about integrity and will live happy with their success?

Bohemian criticism

The collection of poems “Howl”, written by Allen Ginsberg, is structured in three main parts: the first one describes scene, character and experience of the author in the community of artists, poets, musicians and drug users that he had met. The second part is a lament against the US government, which had been called “Moloch” in the poem, it is the name of the hotel that inspired Ginsberg during an hallucination. Finally, the third and last part talk about all the experiences, fears and hopes that the author had with Carl Solomon. The book has many references to the pop-culture such as film, for instance when he talks about “Saintly motorcyclists” he is referring to Marlon Brando in “The Wild One”, or in the second part of the poem when he writes about the “Moloch”: “Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! (…) Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jahovas!”, those are all references from the film “Metropolis” by Fritz Lang in which the name of “moloch” is directly related to a monstrous factory.

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

Angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection

to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,”

In this long sentence Allen Ginsberg gives us a good image of artist’s communities at that period.  Nevertheless, he wrote most of these poems under the effects of hallucinogens and other drugs.  Thanks to his descriptions we can see a big movement against the US government and against the accepted way to live imposed by a capitalistic social structure. 

In conclusion, I found “Howl” a brilliant poem that critisizes the social system through a collection of experiences and bohemian characters alienated from the society, but pure in their spirits.  

Faust is still here

“Money as an extension of man, as his power over men and circumstances”.

Marshall Berman has quoted Lukacs in the book “Faust” to show evidence that capitalism is one of the essential forces in Faust’s development.

In fact, Marshall Berman has compared the Goethe’s Faust to explain the tragedy of phenomenon the desire for development, which is an impulse generated by a dynamism that is the vital force of Goethe’s Faust.  Nevertheless, this emotion was the real drama of the main character represented by the evil presence of Mephisto.

Nowadays, we have the same feeling in Architecture, where the desire for development is the only reason to explore new technology and new scenarios for building.  On the other hand, this phenomenon becomes a proper drama for everybody will live and use that Architecture, because all these buildings do not have a soul and a meaning.  The article of J. Meades on Zaha Hadid proves exactly the same drama when Mrs. Hadid cannot explain any of her project.  It is obvious that money is the only meaning of her project and the only reason those buildings exist.  As Faust’s evil Mephisto, money is also the drama and the tragedy of development.

In conclusion, we could say that contemporary Architecture is often without a soul and without a meaning, because the idea of development to create new architectural incons brings these buildings to be only objects of design and products but not Architecture.  Unfortunately, Goethe’s Faust is still a contemporary and negative character.

Pop-Culture

“In the old days, rock music was a distraction from your studies; now it may well be what you are studyng”.

“Students once wrote uncritical, reverential essays on Flaubert, but all that has been transformed.  Nowadays they write uncritical, reverential essays on Friends”

These quotes from Terry Eagleton’s book “After Theory”, are very representive for the author’s  opinion on contemporary cultural theory: it is poor.

Nowadays, studying pop culture is very common in every University, it is not difficult find a PhD on contemporary music or TV shows.  Terry Eagleton seems shocked about this phenomenon and he tries to remind us that many years ago you could study a philosopher only if he was dead.  Moreover, Terry Eagleton is quite sarcastic about the contemporary studies, in particular about the middle class student:

“Quietly-spoken middle-class students huddle diligently in libraries, at work on sensationalist subjects like vampirism and eye gouging, cyborg and porno movies”.

First of all, I found this comment very poor, because he reduces all pop culture to few puerile subjects.  In fact popular  culture is also what is around us and luckily we can now study it.  This is principally a good example of freedom and it is also a demonstration of the researchers that are now living in a contemporary world rather their predecessors.

Finally, I can consider the possibility of studying contemporary subjects is a great opportunity to have much more awareness about our life and culture.  However, all this freedom could push students to study other puerile topics, as Terry Eagleton has said.  Every time we have the possibility to do what we want to do, we should be responsible in judging what is useful and what is not.  Otherwise Terry Eagleton is right. 

At home in Disneyland

“If there was no Burj Dubai, no Palm, no World, would anyone be speaking of Dubai today?”

In this concept the Financial Times has explained the meaning of Dubai.  This city exists thanks to its CEO Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum, who said that he would become the number one in the world and, for this purpose, he is trying to create a proper Disneyland for rich people.  

In fact, seen from Google Earth, Dubai looks like a theme park: the World and the Palm are ridiculously suggestive.  This sensation is well shown in “Evil Paradise” where Mike Davis describes what he saw during his landing in Dubai: “As the plane slowly banks toward the desert mainland, you gasp at the even more improbable vision ahead. Out of a chrome forest of skyscrapers soars a new Tower of Babel”. He is talking about the Burj Dubai, the 2600 feet height tower: the icon of Dubai, the icon of a new world.

In fact, Dubai is a decadent “toy” built to show the power and the richness as demonstration of the social status.  All social classes are well distinct in Dubai and there is not better city to show it and, at the same time, the difference between the higher and the lower class is extremely big, in the city where the rights are proportional with money.  More money you own and more rights you will have.

Dubai has taken the throne of the U.S.A. as icon of the capitalism. 

However, can we call Dubai a city?  Can anyone feel at home here?  The Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum has created a theme park, but can he create a “real city”?

Maybe.

If we take as example the most artificial city, Las Vegas, we could find even there people that feel at home.  Dave Hickey in his book “Air Guitar” shows how it is possible to have that sensation even in Las Vegas.  Moreover, Las Vegas has been define by D. Hickey as a democratic city where everyone is at the same level: “If Bruce Willis and Shanney Doherty just want to get their feet wet, they shoot dice with the rest of us”.  Nevertheless, D.Hickey said that in that city “money is just money” and everybody can ascend from “Food to Cocktail”.  

Maybe it will be the same in Dubai in the future.

Money has created Las Vegas and it could generate a new proper city: Dubai.

As we have seen, I could feel at home in Disneyland too.