Nostalgia makes us recall the past. It is a nostalgic longing for the bliss of a previous time or place, regardless of whether it’s as a profession memory or experience, for another nation, for family and companions, or for period that is perceived as being in a simpler time. This essay will discuss how nostalgic colours and design have been utilized as a part of modern visual communication to recall the old day sentiments using Fredrick Jameson’s Paradox theory.
Fredrick Jameson’s paradox is a hypothesis that expresses that cutting edge customer culture is characterized by consistent speed and refreshing. Nonetheless, it abandons us with a feeling of not pushing ahead (Jameson,1991) . We are continually overflowed with the most recent advances that are being discharged like clockwork around. However there is an undeniable inclination that as a general public we aren’t advancing from the consumerist and entrepreneur society that we live in, even as new and refreshed items wind up plainly accessible. In Jameson’s theory, he likewise says that with the diminishment of thoughts of social advance inside society, we are stuck in a steady and endless present of consumerist society, and potentially dependably will be. In an our present society, we can’t interface the over a significant time span or think truly, which implies the we can reproduce the past utilizing recorded reference, yet they would not have any specific context.
Below are the posters that I have chosen to analyse using Jame’s Paradox theory. The first is a modern vintage poster designed in 2015 by Mads Berg which shows surfing at the Tabrobane Island, Weligama in 1950. The second image shows an old vintage poster which was designed in 1938 by G.S. Fernando in Kandy, portraying the famous Kandyan dance at the DaladaMaligawaPerahara. The Third image is vintage clothing worn in the current trend but which was first worn in the 90s.
I chose image one since it imitates the 1950 Ceylon Beach Look after sunset, the 1950s flower girls imitation, the olden classic vehicle, two foreigners who are getting ready to surf. We are able to identify those two men as foreigners since surfing was common among foreigners more than native Sri-Lankans, the coconut trees which are on the corner also shows the nostalgic effect since designers of the old golden era used to insert any trees from the corner of the design and the sky colour which has two different colours. The designer has used two different colours to show the effect of dark sky coming in while the bright sky diminishing little by little. Designers used to use pink to show a sophisticated impression of the past. The girl with a little pink dot which is also known as a ‘pottu’ shows that she is from the Tamil descent, which shows that Ceylon is a multicultural country. Her skin tone also shows the common Sri-Lankan skin tone – brown. Mainly her short hairstyle with the flowers gives us a 1950’s feeling. I would fail if I don’t mention her lovely smile, which shows love and peace.
Most designers or artists in the olden days would not use a lot of colours in their work; instead they use at least three colours, which would be used to differentiate the elements in the particular design or art by brightening or darkening the colours accordingly. Also the font which has been used gives old day feeling for anyone looking at the picture and the texture of the design which has a very old print look with sepia tones of which modern designers hardly use.
The designers have used pastiche to give the audience a feeling of nostalgia. This would be beneficial for travel companies as it would encourage tourist to visit to srilanka in the hope of being reminded of the beautiful past or even encourage other fellow tourists to visit srilanka. according to jamesons theory though people are getting used to new technology which is also driving them down without new ideas seek for the past to give a nostalgic feeling for the present generation.
The second poster design I chose shows the 1938 structure of the DaladaMaligawa and also the traditional parade which is called the DaladaPerehera with a country’s cultural Kandyan dancer. This poster was designed in the year 1938. If focussed on the texture which is a very old low quality texture, like as mentioned before designers of the old days would not use a lot of colours in their work, likewise, there are only about 5 colours used in this design to determine different elements in the design. According to Jameson’s theory, modern designs do not have much context in them rather would be filled with words or characters which would hardly give a nostalgic feeling. But the designs from the golden old days have more contexts in them which drives us back to the memory lane.
The third image which i chose is a vintage clothing fashion called high waisted jeans. The girl in this image is wearing a high waist Levis jeans. This fashion trend was followed initially in the 90s by women. After so many long years this fashion trend was brought back to 2017. This is another perfect example of pastiche, as the design is deficient in having any form of context which fits into Jameson’s paradox theory.
Fashion is an ever-changing cycle. As soon as one season gets underway, another is already planned and in production. Modern trends battle to be totally unique as many styles and looks have hints of previous trends and vintage inspirations. Iconic vintage styles for previous decades have paved the way for many designers who have taken inspirations from colours, cuts, design and style.
This image has been designed to bring back the past without any context as ‘Vintage’ has currently become a fashion trend for the new generation. The design simply references the past using pastiche most likely because of that feeling of nostalgia that makes us feel protected.
This is in opposition to the first image because although both the modern Ceylon poster and the high waisted jeans design use pastiche, they can be differentiated in many ways. They reflect the past in two different ways. With the first one referencing to the old travel and tourism industry in Ceylon and the third image referencing an old fashion trend using jeans, which were worn back in the 90s.
In such a world of pastiche, we lose our connection to history, which gets turned into a series of styles and superseded genres, or simulacra:
“The new spatial logic of the simulacrum can now be expected to have a momentous effect on what used to be historical time” (Jameson,1991).
In such a situation, “the past as ‘referent’ finds itself gradually bracketed, and then effaced altogether, leaving us with nothing but texts” (Jameson,1991). We can no longer understand the past except as a repository of genres, styles, and codes ready for commodification.
Postmodernism is the reason for the rise of pastiche. Both the first image and the last image I chose demonstrate this clause in a different way of their own. The first Ceylon poster shows how the travel and tourism industry was in Ceylon back in 1950, and the High waist jeans design is also a pastiche since it imitates an old fashion trend, which was used back in the 90s without any context but referencing to the past.
These three designs have been simply created to please the viewers. But also they could be viewed from Jameson’s theory’s angle. As the first design I chose has been created in 2015 with a 1950s vintage effect. Also this could have been designed to bring back the feeling of the old days or could have been designed to show the new generation how tourism back in the 1950s has changed to the present time. And the third image which I chose promotes a clothing wear which is being a treated as a new fashion now but which was actually treated as a fashion back in the 90s. These two images basically prove Jameson’s Paradox theory by using pastiche. This also shows that new technology has diminished the ideas of social progress within the society. However, it seems to be that the main aim of using historical reference for these designs was to use pastiche to establish the nostalgic feeling within the customer, making them feel that they are protected within the current fast transforming and constantly updating society. This also proves his statement in which he says:
“In an our present society, we can’t interface the over a significant time span or think truly, which implies the we can reproduce the past utilizing recorded reference, yet they would not have any specific context.”
Bibliography
● Jameson, F (1991) Post Modernism or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. London: Verso.
● The High Waist Jeans : https://www.pinterest.com/pin/94786767137294586/
● Ceylon Sunset Surfing Image – https://sticknobillsonline.com/collections/vintage-travel/products/ceylon-just-after-sunset-surfing-at-taprobane-island-weligama-1960s-retro
● Kandy Image – https://sticknobillsonline.com/collections/vintage-travel/products/ceylon-the-kohomba-kankariya-dance-at-the-dalada-perhahera-kandy-1938
● Modern and Vintage Fashion (Accessed – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140908163424-95700218-modern-fashion-design-and-vintage-influence/