Modernism (c. 1900-1950)

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Modernism (c. 1900-1950)

• Major Idea reality is not objective and
  universal reality is subjective and relative
  inward, distorted by individual psychology.
• Causes pace of change, urbanization,
  secularization, reaction to World War I (radical
  rejection of all traditional authority by the
  Lost Generation), particularly nationalism and
  militarism, and conventional notions of honor.

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Pablo Picasso
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T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land (1922)
April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs
out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire,
stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept
us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow,
feeding A little life with dried tubers What are
the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of
this stony rubbish? Son of man, You cannot say,
or guess, for you know only A heap of broken
images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree
gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And
the dry stone no sound of water. Only There is
shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the
shadow of this red rock), And I will show you
something different from either Your shadow at
morning striding behind you Or your shadow at
evening rising to meet you I will show you fear
in a handful of dust.
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Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
For it was the middle of June. The War was over,
except for some one like Mrs. Foxcroft at the
Embassy last night eating her heart out because
that nice boy was killed and now the old Manor
House must go to a cousin or Lady Bexborough who
opened a bazaar, they said, with the telegram in
her hand, John, her favourite, killed but it was
over thank Heavenover. It was June. The King
and Queen were at the Palace. And everywhere,
though it was still so early, there was a
beating, a stirring of galloping ponies, tapping
of cricket bats Lords, Ascot, Ranelagh and all
the rest of it wrapped in the soft mesh of the
grey-blue morning air, which, as the day wore on,
would unwind them, and set down on their lawns
and pitches the bouncing ponies, whose forefeet
just struck the ground and up they sprung, the
whirling young men, and laughing girls in their
transparent muslins who, even now, after dancing
all night, were taking their absurd woolly dogs
for a run and even now, at this hour, discreet
old dowagers were shooting out in their motor
cars on errands of mystery and the shopkeepers
were fidgeting in their windows with their paste
and diamonds, their lovely old sea-green brooches
in eighteenth-century settings to tempt Americans
(but one must economise, not buy things rashly
for Elizabeth), and she, too, loving it as she
did with an absurd and faithful passion, being
part of it, since her people were courtiers once
in the time of the Georges, she, too, was going
that very night to kindle and illuminate to give
her party. But how strange, on entering the Park,
the silence the mist the hum the slow-swimming
happy ducks the pouched birds waddling and who
should be coming along with his back against the
Government buildings, most appropriately,
carrying a despatch box stamped with the Royal
Arms, who but Hugh Whitbread her old friend
Hughthe admirable Hugh!
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DADA
Un Chien Andalou, Luis Brunel and Salvador Dali,
1929
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The Bauhaus and Modern Architecture (end of
Victorian decoration and historical allusion)
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Totalitarianism

• Worship of the State in which all power resides.
  
• State is symbolized by a leader with a
  charismatic cult of personality (schools,
  media, spectacles).
• Contempt for human relations, emotions, and
  beliefs that do not contribute to the state
  (schools, media).
• Complete control of ALL behavior AND thought
  (secret police, surveillance technology).
• Seeks not just pretended agreement but genuine
  subordination of free will to the State
  (brainwashing, re-education, prison camps). See
  Orwells 1984
• Not just Nazi, also Communists under Stalin and
  Maoanywhere else?

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Totalitarianism Absolute control over the minds
of citizens (including art and literature)
Nazi and Socialist Realism (above)
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George Orwell, 1984
'How does one man assert his power over another,
Winston?' Winston thought. 'By making him
suffer,' he said. 'Exactly. By making him
suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is
suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying
your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting
pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human
minds to pieces and putting them together again
in new shapes of your own choosing. Do you begin
to see, then, what kind of world we are creating?
It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic
Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world
of fear and treachery is torment, a world of
trampling and being trampled upon, a world which
will grow not less but more merciless as it
refines itself. Progress in our world will be
progress towards more pain. The old civilizations
claimed that they were founded on love or
justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our
world there will be no emotions except fear,
rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything
else we shall destroy everything. Already we are
breaking down the habits of thought which have
survived from before the Revolution. We have cut
the links between child and parent, and between
man and man, and between man and woman. No one
dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any
longer. But in the future there will be no wives
and no friends. Children will be taken from their
mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen.
The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation
will be an annual formality like the renewal of a
ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our
neurologists are at work upon it now. There
will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the
Party. There will be no love, except the love of
Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except
the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There
will be no art, no literature, no science. When
we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of
science. There will be no distinction between
beauty and ugliness. There will be no curiosity,
no enjoyment of the process of life. All
competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always
-- do not forget this, Winston -- always there
will be the intoxication of power, constantly
increasing and constantly growing subtler.
Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill
of victory, the sensation of trampling on an
enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of
the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human
face -- for ever.'
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What is Fascism?

• Symbol bundle of sticks (see next slide).
• Technologically Progressive, Militaristic,
  Disciplined, Orderly.
• Extreme Nationalism, Anti-individualism.
• Hatred of Outsiders or Internal Enemies,
  Desire for Revenge.
• Sense of Destiny, Utopianism, Pro-Christian (in
  public).
• Populist (Celebration of the Volk), Racial
  Blood-Knowledge, Historical Mysticism (see slide).

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The Fasces
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Nazi Mysticism
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Fascist Politics

• Use simple language and images (see next slide).
• Conceal Implications of Ideology from Mainstream.
• Appeal to ordinary people on the following
  issues traditional morality, family values,
  patriotism, and religion.
• Portray nation as imperiled by mysterious,
  conspiratorial forces of evil that are everywhere
  and nowhere (link tolerance of this evil opposing
  political parties).
• Attack intellectual opponents as enemies of the
  nation and ordinary people. Surveillance of
  communications.
• Eliminate social programs as support for weak
  immoral.
• Sustain powerful economic interests through
  government spending on military technology,
  infrastructure, and surveillance.
• Pressure media to suppress alternative
  viewpoints.

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Nazi Populist Realism
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The Fascist Leader

• Great Orator, Presence (see next slide).
• Creates emotional bond with each individual, and
  fosters bonds between them against a common
  enemy.
• Understands Crowd Psychology, The Will.
• Speaks to Emotional Weaknesses.
• Seems to Suffer on the Peoples Behalf.
• Calls on People to Sacrifice for the Nation.
• Frightens dissenters into silence, pretended
  agreement.
• See Triumph of the Will.

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The Fascist Orator
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Eugenics
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Anti-Semitism
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The Holocaust (6 million killed)
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The Great Depression, 1929-1941
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Dorothea Lange, Photographer
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John Steinbeck, Novelist
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Keynesian Economics

• Response to Great Depression
• Opposed to Laissez-Faire Capitalism
• Full employment and political stability require
  government intervention in the economy
• Deficit Spending (Infrastructure, Military)
• Government as Employer (Bureaucracy, Military)

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Roosevelt and the New Deal
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Pearl Harbor, 1941
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Internment Camps
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D-Day, Invasion of Normandy, 1944
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Robert Capa, War Photographer
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Firebombing
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The Manhattan Project
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Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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The Atomic Age and the Cold War