It is quite obvious that the essay was written during the late 1950's, the era when plastics slowly became "the replacement material" for many products in mass production marketing. the author point of view, although a bit advanced and future visualizing, is seeing plastics as a yet solved phase in the hierarchy of materials. somewhere between the cheap and the luxury projecting materials and somewhere between the flexible rubber and the hard metal.
Well, it is not easy, especially no during the 1950's, to have a determined point of view over a material which during time could almost replace any other material, texture and surface color.
Until recent days, plastic items, usually machine-manufactured, are considered, by the majority of people, to be a substitute or lower grade objects, an imitation of the original material or object. It is not easy to accept a new material that is chemically produced, replacing a natural one, like polyethylene boxes replacing aluminium ones. The natural, known and easy to visualize material is always psychologically prefered over the mysterious kind, maybe that is why the plastic item are considered as "fake", its ingredients, the basic materials are an enigma for the the common public, who is therefore having a hard time accepting plastic objects as the real thing.
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5 comments:
I strongly agree with Oz's opinion since I have a same thought about it. I also think plastic is one of the best used material in the world and it gives diverse ways of use, but, because of its diversity, it makes the plastic lose the value.
Nice analysis Oz. I like how you wrote down the reading into a clear and organized summary. It is very easy to read and get the main points of the reading. Plus, it has part of your mind too. Good job man.
Good job Oz. I like the way that you put down a clear information about the essay, I think plastic is one of the best materials to use.
I definitely agree with your view on plastics, especially as viewed by the author in the 1950s. I also think that most people are generally afraid of new things, and fear they will replace everything that they know and understand. I think a good example is the invention of computers, and the belief that they would eventually rid us of paper and pen. It takes people a surprisingly long time to adjust to new things. However it seems that now we are getting used to things changing and becoming obsolete more quickly. I wonder if we are still as skeptical as we were 50 years ago?
It seems Barthes is misunderstood here. Shame. And as for plastic, shame as well.
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