Contrast IV: Instruction to Look at Writing Techniques, Art, and Literature

Jullien says that within writing techniques (calligraphy), art, and literature we can see Chinese metaphysics at work. He says:

This mode of thought never conceived or artistic activity as the West initially did, that is, as mimesis ... Rather, artistic activity was seen as a process of actualization, which produced a particular configuration of the dynamism inherent in reality.

So, I believe Jullien is instructing us to look at writing techniques, art, and literature if we want to understand the metaphysics of our contemporary electrate moment.

Although there are, it seems, a limitless number of contemporary artistic examples that we could use to look at to understand electrate metaphysics, I have chosen to look at television shows, specifically, Netflix's House of Cards.

Part of the reason for my choice is that many critics have argued that we are currently witnessing a Renaissance within television. As Jeff Bercovici argues in his article in Forbes, "conventional wisdom has it that the richest, most challenging and rewarding storytelling is taking place not in cinemas or even in novels but on television."

So, to continue with Jullien's contrast, if Chinese art sought to convey the shi that was always already inherent in nature, and Western art traditionally  conceived of art as mimesis, "the reproduction or imitation of a particular kind of 'nature' at some level more 'ideal' or more 'real'" (75), then what is the corresponding logic of contemporary television, specifically, of House of Cards.

I argue that the logic guiding this show, and much of other contemporary art and literature and writing, is similar to what Bolter and Grusin have described as "hypermediation." In this way, the art resonates with our own experiences--we are aware of the mediating apparatuses of our day-to-day experiences--transparent immediacy has become a thing of the past. We, then, identify, through recognition, with the "seams" that are placed on the surface of House of Cards.

For example, Spacey's character, Frank, directly addresses the camera. And, unlike a show like The Office, where this effect might by accounted for by the presence of a documentary crew in the diegetic world of the show, there is no explanation for how Spacey's character manages to break the fourth-wall and speak directly to us.

Furthermore, when Frank and the other characters receive text messages, we see these messages appear on the screen.

It is pleasurable because it is personal. And, if we can identify a logic at work in these aesthetic choices, I would argue that it is a logic of sped up, saturated, present mediation. A similar operation is at work with "postmodern" novels that are, in part, about the act of writing itself. Here, we see the logic applied to the digital image.