Art Commodified

In his essay "Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" Jameson states that "aesthetic produciton today had become integrated into commodity production generally; the frantic economnic urgency of producing fresh waves of ever more novel-seeming goods (from clothing to airplanes), at ever greater rates of turnover, now assigns an increasingly essential structural function a nd position to aesthetic innovation and experimentation" (269-70).

I take this quote to mean that in general, people are being creative solely due to the prospect of getting paid for it, and that our system demands that they operate this way. I can see how this plays out in most cases, though some modes of creative expression yileds less payoff. We have put value on creativity and instead of representing feelings or ideas, it is assigned a monetary worth. Art is often times judged on how much it costs. The higher the price, the better the art is supposed to be. Also with odder aesthetic design comes a high price tag and people strive to develop oddball art, design, clothes, etc. to catch that golden dollar sign. I think that one of Jameson's points is that the way we think about creativity, the way we produce a piece, and the way it is seen in society has changed: everything now revolves around money.