While Hegel's conception of history wasn't at the center of our readings, I think a grasp on it is important to understanding his concept of Spirit, or "Geist." The ideas are certainly entwined; Spirit, "our shared recognition of our mutual interdependence and ultimate collective identity," can only be realized in context of the whole of human history, as Hegel's idea of the Absolute is one that incorporates rather than excludes [quote from our first article on Hegel - I'm missing the author's name, page 61]. As we outlined in class, Hegel considers each cycle of thesis/antithesis/synthesis to be annexed as a whole into realization of "truth," thus necessitating a larger conception of the whole that retains its nuanced differences rather than a unified view of history as a repetition of the same efforts and results. His history is one that progresses to a final comprehension and recognition of the whole, and "in the Phenomenology, this all-embracing identity is Spirit [from page 62 of the same article].
My intrigue in the connectivity of Spirit and history reminded me of a film that ties them explicitly together: Amy Heckerling's Clueless (1995) features a history teacher named Miss Geist. I'm going to assume a general knowledge of the idea of the film - a campy early 90s remake of Jane Austen's Emma - but underline an aspect of it that's not often discussed. Its own conception of history is explored in Dierdre Lynch's "Clueless: About History," which complicates its appearance as a simple postmodern adaptation and credits Heckerling with a Hegelian sense of historical interdependence.
Lynch responds extensively to charges that postmodern thought disregards history by pointing out Heckerling's immersion in and distancing from that assumption. Cher, the film's main character, is, on many levels, clueless, decontextualizing everything from her home's neoclassical architecture ("Isn't my house classic? The columns date all the way back to 1972.") to her own obsession with fashion, dismissing outfit after outfit as "so last season." While Cher's level of consciousness plays into the idea that postmodernism has forgotten history, Heckerling underscores those ignorances with layered reference. The soundtrack is full of 90s covers of 70s songs, the characters are often archetypes (Christian = James Dean). Lynch suggests that Heckerling's 1990s LA both points out that historical interdependence and embodies a critique that can be made of Hegel's system - the loss of the role of the individual. In Miss Geist's history classroom is a poster that reads "HISTORY AND YOU," which is representative of the struggle the film exacerbates. Miss Geist constantly appeals to her students to pay attention to current and past events and leave their isolated social realms, but remains an isolated figure herself until Cher gives her a much-needed makeover and sets her up with another teacher. Both teachers are more fulfilled on an individual level, and their students are more willing to grasp their lessons. At the end of the movie, Cher enlists members of her clique in a charity fundraiser run by Miss Geist. Lynch cites this back-and-forth as representative of "the difficulty of coordinating “History” with “You”—of getting from everyday, personal ways of marking time to the objective time of event-full history and back again," (81) - the difficulty of interacting on an individual level with a Hegelian "big picture" sense of history.
Halley
[Lynch's essay can be found in the book Jane Austen and Co. (SUNY Press, 2003).]
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Way cool Halley. Clueless rocks.
ReplyDeleteI too have concerns about the relationship between the individual and Hegel's system. Cher's sheltered world yields absurd remarks and a hilariously shallow view from her "classic" home. As the film progresses she becomes more invested in the perspectives of other people and thereby discovers the truth (she loves josh).
When Hegel talks about human consciousness, he does not have an individual in mind so it becomes hard to contextualize the dialectical process which seems contingent upon alternative perspectives in order to progress toward absolute truth. Additionally, truth for Hegel is not a personal truth like "I do love josh" but rather a more overarching kind of truth. Perhaps if we think about ourselves as the viewer and our ability to reflect of her transformation, and how this falls in the context of other 90's teen films (like Can't Hardly Wait, which is my fav) then we might be able to find some truth here.
I think an interesting thing to point out here is that Cher repeatedly quotes very meritorious works of literature and manipulates their meaning to support whatever argument she is making. Do you think this could maybe be a reflection of Hegel's ideas for how we work with knowledge for the purpose of obtaining a greater truth? Considering Hegel views knowledge as a fluid conscious, I think one could argue that Cher has a concept of many objects being-for-us and tries to work with those concepts in order to obtain higher truths.
ReplyDeleteCher is a figure who ignores certain truths for the purpose of a greater understanding. My example is a quote where her father asks Cher for the time and she responds with "A watch doesn't really go with this outfit, daddy." Cher has an understanding of her materials/clothes/objects and what they provide as a cohesive, combined unit (how the outfit "looks") and thus she is willing to put aside some functionality of her outfit (an inclusion of a watch to help her with day-to-day tasks) for the purpose of attaining a higher truth (attracting a boyfriend.)
Cher is also very argumentative, regularly putting all ideas and "truths" to the test; trying to compromise grades, talk her way into passing her driver's test, etc. And her knowledge of actually relevant pieces of rhetoric to bolster her arguments suggests that Cher maybe does transcend the image she initially gives off.
Cool post!