Transcript ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties Dr. David Lavery Summer 2015 The Space Age.

ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in
Contemporary Literature: Mad Men
and the Sixties
Dr. David Lavery
Summer 2015
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
Late for the Sky: The Mentality of the Space Age (1992)
Table of Contents
Introduction: To Hear Us Talk
Probe: The Real Two Cultures
1. Due Back on Planet Earth
Probe: Gnosticism and the Cult Film
2. Departure of the Body Snatchers
Probe: Nemesis and NASA
3. Infinite Presumption
Probe: The Anti-Gnosticism of E. M. Cioran
Probe: "Body's Earth": H. E. Francis' "Ballad of the Engineer Carl Feldmann"
4. The Simulator
Probe: Space Boosters
5. The Abandoned Earth
Probe: The Revolution of the Earth
Conclusion: Dreaming Nothing
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
“The House on Maple Street”
(“It was a perfect lift off.”)
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
HYATT: THE PERFECT WORLD
Andrei Codrescu
I went to the Hyatt House in Indianapolis recently,
and I have come back to report that it can support
human life indefintely. Its climate very much
resembles that of the earth. There are green
plants hanging from protruding formations, and
once I stumbled into a circle of extremely real
looking potted shrubs around a black piano. The
air is neither too thin nor too thick and is slightly
scented by the thousands of bodies scrubbed with
hotel soap that stumble out of its showers every
morning. The creators of the Hyatt have contrived
to take a perfect late summer day on earth and
are able to play it over and over, no matter what
season or time is experienced on the outside.
ENGL 6480/7480
ENGL 6480/7480
I had a good look at the city of Indianapolis out the window of
my room and the air outside appeared to my naked eye to be
cold, crisp and turbulent. I experienced none of those
conditions behind the plate glass window that separated me
from the city. I would have liked to go out there, to walk
around, but I immediately suppressed that nostalgic impulse
by reminding myself that, thanks to modern art which isolates
the eyes from all the other senses, I could safely view the
world without actually mucking about in it.
But the most remarkable aspect of the Hyatt was the
supportive nutritive system. On several floors discrete little
feeding stations functioned smoothly. All of them produced
several varieties of nachos, Bloody Marys, and fried zucchini.
The ones on the lower floors also stacked large slabs of
recently killed meat so that, I became convinced, an advanced
system of communication existed between the Hyatt and the
outside world.
ENGL 6480/7480
As I rose silently in the glass bubbles of the elevators, I
surveyed the seemingly endless tiers of this perfectly
ordered world. In a large room businessmen stood before
gadgets with drinks in their hands. In another large room
writers read poems to appreciative audiences with
pockets bulging with their own poems. This was the room
where I too was expected. I pulled the paper from my
pocket. At the top it said "Hyatt, the Perfect World." I
began to read.
ENGL 6480/7480
In a Cathy comic strip—Cathy Guisewite's ruthlessly perceptive daily
chronicle of modern spaciness—Cathy and her boyfriend Irving introduce us,
in a Sunday comic show-and-tell, to all the new material possessions in their
repertoire, all of which are "state of the art“ and none of which is ever used:
an "anodized aluminum multi-lens three-beam mini excavation spotlight that
live its life in the junk drawer with dead batteries"; a "high-tech, epoxyfinished, heavy-gauge
steel grid hanging unit for home repair tools that required two
carpenters to install and is now used as a scarf rack“
“safari clothes that will never be near a jungle";
"aerobic footgear that will never set foot in an aerobics class";
a "deep-sea dive watch that will never get damp";
"architectural magazines we don't read filled with pictures of furniture we
don't like";
ENGL 6480/7480
"financial strategy software keyed to a checkbook that's lost somewhere
under a computer no one knows how to work";
an "art poster from an exhibit we never went to of an artist we never heard
of.“
Guisewite brilliantly labels this post Me Decade conspicuous consumption,
"abstract materialism": materialism about as "realistic" or representational as
a Jackson Pollock canvas. "We've moved past the things we want and need
and are buying those things that have nothing to do with our lives," Cathy
herself tells us in the cartoon's final frame. In the 1980s, the age of the
yuppie, we perfected the art of what Time magazine has called
"transcendental acquisition."
ENGL 6480/7480
ENGL 6480/7480
The Pythia of Delphi has now been replaced by a computer which hovers over
panels and punch cards. The hexameters of the oracle have given way to
sixteen-bit codes of instruction. Man the helmsman has turned the power
over to the cybernetic machine. The ultimate machine emerges to direct our
destinies. Children phantasize flying their spacecrafts away from a crepuscular
Earth.—Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
. . . the emphasis on surface; the blankness of the protagonist; his striving
toward self-sufficiency, to the point of displacement from the recognizable
world. . . . Does the icy quality of an artificial outer space, the self-conscious
displacement and blankness of car commercials, MTV, and "Miami Vice,"
correspond to a glacial inner space?—Todd Gitlin, "We Build Excitement"
ENGL 6480/7480
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw Space Age microphotography—designed, we are
told, to view the Earth from space—reveal the epidermis
of a woman's skin in order to convince us of the positive
effects of an antiaging cream.
—I saw the three-ply lamination of Glad garbage bags fuse
together, set against the backdrop of interstellar space.
—I saw Maybelline Dial-a-Lash tubes shoot off from
launching pads.
—I saw a fashion model, standing on the lunar surface,
wear Revlon lipstick said to exhibit "out-of-this-world
colors.”
—I saw a Technics turntable orbit the Earth.
—I saw the Cincinnati Bell logo transformed into a space
station.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw an ad for Always Plus Night Super Maxi Pads depict
the feminine hygiene product as a UFO.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a ready-toassemble "wall system"—
labeled, of course, as a
"Space Age" product—
offer "new heights in
organization" and
"infinite" possibilities for
creativity, solving storage
needs by allowing the
owner to "fill unlimited
space.”
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a United Negro College Fund appeal, showing
African-American scholars in graduation robes and mortar
boards set against yet another cosmic backdrop. (For, after
all, this solicitation for contributions informs us that the
mind is as "vast as space.")
—I saw Taster’s Choice—like Tang before it—offered to us as
the choice of astronauts (the shuttle astronauts in this case).
—I saw a spot for Home Box Office show a family in its living
room flying through space, watching HBO
.—I saw an insurance company's famous "piece of the rock"
appear in a cosmic landscape resting on an Earth seemingly
without atmosphere (the moon appears only miles away),
orbited by a ranch-style, two-stall garage home, a sports car
approaching on a highway through space, and a floating
sailboat followed by frolicking dolphins—all in keeping with
ENGL 6480/7480
the advertisement's promise that "With the Prudential, the
sky's the limit.”
—I saw cartoon children carried into space by Bubblicious
balloon bubbles. ("It tastes so unreal it'll blow you away.”)
—I saw, during a decade in which (inspired by Reagan-era
deregulation) it became increasingly difficult to distinguish
Saturday morning television programming from its
advertising, "kidvid" become more and more spacy. (A
television critic notes that producers—under the influence of
both George Lucas's and Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars"—came
to agree that "outer space, high tech and faraway enemies in
a distant future are a safer, tidier, less complicated way" to
capture an audience (Engelhardt 1986, 88-89).
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a vacuous blonde, female astronaut in a lunar lander
proclaim to her companions, "Go ahead without me. I've got a
run!" ("She would have been the first woman on the moon if
only she'd worn Sheer Business Panty Hose.")
—I saw Timex watches link together to form Star Wars-type
spacefighters, accompanied by a montage of images of a man
and a woman in space suits on an alien world, while a voiceover tells us that "Timex performs with all the accuracy and
beauty of the cosmos.”
—I saw a special new antiplaque electric tooth-brush
("Interplak"), bearing a striking resemblence to the starship
Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey, majestically dock into its
recharger on a bathroom sink—choreographed to a Strauss
waltz.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a man, traveling through a magically real yet alien
landscape (Earth visible on the horizon), have a "vision of the
future," not, we are told, of "space travel" or "time machines,"
but of the financial welfare of his family (through the assistance
of Equitable Insurance). Upon his arrival home, he then
witnesses his garage door open—like the entrance to the
mother ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind—to disclose a
blaze of white light out of which emerges a figure we take to be
an alien but which turns out in fact to be his daughter, excitedly
pronouncing, "Daddy!"
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw woofers and
tweeters of a DelcoGM Sound System
become a formation of
flying saucers
beckoning us to "Ride
into the Sound Set.”
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a youth, dressed in Levi's jeans, launched toward
distant skies while a voice explains that in the famous jeans
"the mind knows no limits.”
—I saw an ad for a Chevrolet pickup truck instruct us not to
"leave Earth without it" and insist that a new model has
"brakes so good they're almost extraterrestrial.”
—I saw two female astronauts extol the benefits of a new
roll-on deodorant called "Real": "We have seen the future
and it is Real.”
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw "Almost Home"
chocolate-chip cookies
float in space in order to
optimally display their
"almost out of this
world" taste.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a man in a cumbersome space suit EVA into the
cockpit of a new Toyota compact and then—so impressed is
he with the car—leap in ecstasy out of the frame, beyond the
limits of gravity, never to come down. ("Oh what a feeling!")
—I saw the new Hyundai Sonata, introduced to us as a "space
vehicle," soar off into the cosmos at the commercial's close.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw an image of a
patch of lawn, complete
with a house, shade trees,
and two family dogs,
floating in outer space,
evidently removed from
the Earth by cutting along
a still visible dotted line
surrounding the property,
advertising the Invisible
Fence "dog containment
system."
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a solicitation for new members of the National Space
Society illustrate its motives and goals through two paintings:
The Ultimate Sandbox (by Michael Whelan) showing a little girl
in a "Miss Piggy" space suit building a sand castle on the moon;
and Leonardo's Finale (by David Brian), in which the great
Renaissance man, sitting in his study surrounded by drawings
and plans for future discovery, holds a prototype model of the
space shuttle in his hands.
—I saw three former Apollo astronauts ("Schirra, Apollo 7,"
"Bean, Apollo 12," "Gordon, Apollo 12"), looking for all the
world like has-been athletes, testify—in extreme, unflattering
close-ups—that Actifed relieved their snuffy noses in spaces.
—I saw an Always Ultra-Thin Panty Liner become an
unidentified flying object.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a small, evidently sick
young girl lying in bed, a
thermometer in her mouth,
securely wrapped in sheets
with a sky and cloud pattern
(which, because they fill the
frame of the advertisement,
make her appear to be
floating), reassuringly touch a
space helmet—all beneath a
headline that reads: "When
your little space traveler has a
fever . . ."
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw both Motorcraft spark plugs and oil filters blast off,
as if from launching pad, from the hoods of Ford
automobiles toward distant skies.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw the Chevrolet Astro minivan circle in orbit about
the Earth and yet (we are promised) still remain small
enough to "fit right in your garage!”
—I saw—in yet another image plagiarized from Close
Encounters of the Third Kind (promoting McDonald's
"Spaceship Happy Meals")—children look up at the sky
with true cosmic yearning (fantasizing, no doubt, about
"flying their spaceships away from a crepuscular Earth").
—I saw a poster in a McDonald's restaurant (advertising a
"Space Age Calendar") instruct parents to "help your child
into outer space.”
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw the traditional Jewish child's toy top, the dreidel, no
longer satisfactory, undergo a Space Age sea change into an
"Outer Space Dreidel" (made in Taiwan)—a battery-powered
model that not only lights up but "makes outer space sounds!”
—I saw, prior to the feature presentation, a short subject,
sponsored by theater owners and intended to discourage
littering, depict an interstellar cloud of snack bar-debris—
popcorn, Raisinettes, straws, nachos, Milk Duds—out of which
an exemplary soft-drink cup/rocket speeds toward the brightly
lit landing dock of a trash receptacle/space station.
—I saw a cartoon Albert Einstein plug the "genius" of Betamax
while ensconced in an armchair in a living room floating in the
cosmos.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a Canon Typestar
typewriter blast into orbit ("A
new Typestar lifts off"), its
"lift-off" correction key in turn
lifting off from it, like a
communications satellite out
of the cargo bay of the space
shuttle.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw the "baby of today" in
the "diaper of the future"
(actually old-fashioned 100
percent cotton!) orbit about
the Earth in the arms of a
New Age father whose legs—
evidently his means of cosmic
propulsion—dissolve into
beams of light.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw Concept Custom Length
electric guitar strings ("The Final
Frontier" in guitar strings)
advertised by an image of a
spaceman strolling the lunar
landscape, an American flag planted
in the moon to his left, the Earth
visible in the background; and I saw
Kahler guitar strings, in comparable
"far-out" imagery, become in effect
the orbital path of a space vehicle
made of tuning pegs.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw the Nady Systems
Lightning Guitar and Thunder
Bass—instruments with "the right
stuff"—billed as the first electronic
guitars of the Space Age and
advertised in copy divided into
sections entitled "Countdown,"
"Liftoff," "All Systems Go,"
"Ground Control," and "Link Up"
and in the usual "product in orbit"
imagery; and I saw the Carvin
V220 guitar blast off from Earth in
an ad whose headline proclaims
the instrument to be "One Step
Beyond."
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw an ad for a Kenwood
stereo satellite receiver announce
the company's proud claim that
"after conquering Earth, we
headed into space." (An image
from the Japanese science fiction
film The Mysterians [1959]
appears at the top.) "We've been a
force in home and car audio on
this planet for over 25 years. But
now we're aiming even higher."
"Get on board now," we are
warned in a class Space Age threat.
"Or get left behind.”
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a space colonist, showered by the spores of a huge,
menacing flower on an alien planet, plagued by allergies ("No
matter where you go, there's going to be pollen"), at least until
he uses Contac.
—I saw us encouraged to give to the college of our choice
through an image of a young boy in a Day the Earth Stood Still
space suit and his dog standing beside a space capsule /
doghouse accompanied by the following text:
ENGL 6480/7480
Today he's off exploring the back
yard. Tomorrow, he may be off
exploring new galaxies.
But before kids of today can conquer
the frontiers of outerspace, they'll
have to conquer the complexities of
mathematics, physics and chemistry.
That's where you come in. For only
with your help can they be assured of
the first-rate college education they'll
need. . . .
ENGL 6480/7480
So please invest in the future. Give
generously to the college of your
choice.
You'll be helping launch America to a
successful future.“ Help him get
America's future off the ground," the
public service advertisement's
headline pleads.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a woman, once "in the dark about blinds,"
open her Levelors—blinds "enlightened by Space Age
technology"—to watch, as if from the Archimedean
point, an Earthrise.
—I saw a woman in Sheer Energy slippers blast off
from the Earth's surface—finally able, with their
support, to overcome the harsh demands gravity has
placed on her feet and distance herself from its
draining effect on her energy.
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw a new breakfast
cereal from Ralston-Purina
called Freakies—marketed
as "multigrain . . . crunchy
honey-tasting spaceships
with marshmallow"—offer
"out of this world fun with
earthly nutrition.”
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw the legendary Barbie herself enter into space.
"Barbie's on the Moon," proclaimed the cover of an
issue of Barbie magazine, and there she was, in her
"Astronaut Barbie" manifestation. (Later, in the
"Barbie Drama" section, I learned that being the first
woman on the moon was all a dream, though a spacy
date with Ken at the "Lunar Lounge" made it all come
true!)
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw in a Space Age toy store a new line of dolls
called the Shimmerons, a species of alien Barbie clones.
"Lacy-Spacy—Out of this World . . . Space Cadets" with
spindly bodies and sparkling wardrobes, they have
come to Earth—according to their back-of-the package
mythology—because our planet offers not only the
cosmos' best shopping but also the most awesome
parties! ("What on Earth are they doing here? Well the
Shimmerons wanted to discover why the Planet Earth is
number one for teenage fun, and show you how fun is
done on the Planet Shimmeron." "Here on Earth, the
Shimmerons are discovering skateboards, hot dogs,
rock music, and shopping malls!")
ENGL 6480/7480
—I saw us encouraged to
"Expect the World of ABC
News," for, as their
advertisement—showing the
Earth from space, coupled
with a cosmic telephoto lens
and an extraterrestrial Peter
Jennings—made clear, the
network evidently covers the
planet from the Archimedean
point.
ENGL 6480/7480
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age
ENGL 6480/7480, Studies in Contemporary Literature: Mad Men and the Sixties
The Space Age