Lyotard- Post Blog

Today in class I felt like it was the first time that I finally understood what Dr. Cummings was talking about. With most of the readings I was having trouble trying to understand the theorist’s “theory talk”, but I think Habermas and Lyotard wrote in a way that I could understand. I really appreciated Dr. Cummings letting me work out my thoughts in my head in class. Even though I felt like I sounded stupid, I still felt comfortable in dissecting the work of the theorist. I think by Dr. Cummings getting me out of my comfort zone I was able to really digest and process the pieces at hand. Hopefully my classmates didn’t mind me struggling (haha). 

With looking at Lyotard’s work in class today the one thing that I took away from Lyotard’s argument was that the postmodern society does not have one narrative, but many. The concept of “The Canon” helped me understand Lyotard’s concept even further. In class we discussed how “The Canon” is defined to be the suggested body of work that we look back to for reference, otherwise known as the “classics”. For example, if I was going to school during the 60s or 70s I would be reading classic literature from predominantly White males. Now, in the 21^stcentury we still look at the classics, but we have other artists, writers, and theorist from different backgrounds and disciplines that we learn from. 

With learning this concept it kind of makes me think about why different generations think in different ways. For example, since I am a millennial, I am exposed to so many different types of media that cover a whole range of cultures. Therefore, I am able to think in a broader lens then some other generations. Since Lyotard states that we now live in multiple narratives, I am unsure if  he think this is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand we can say it as a good thing to be exposed to different types of arts from different people and their backgrounds, but on the other hand we are kind of drifting away from the “classics” and loosing the roots in the culture. I would think Lyotard thinks this diversity is a good thing, but I am not entirely sure.