Mesmerization
blogOf all the books I own, there are few more beautiful than Mesmerization by Gee Thomson. Printed on substantial matte paper, it stinks of the ink that gives it so much colour and the love that Why Not Associates put into its design.
Subtitled ‘why we are losing our minds to global culture’, the book is a key to all contemporary mythologies — from consumer society to political ideology. Each “spell” (the word that Thomson uses to denote the malignity in today’s memes) is given individual design treatment and the result is a compendium of modern graphic design trends.
The spells all follow the same logic — they convey values, target certain people, evoke fears and emotions, seduce with certain promises, and then reward. Sometimes this structure works brilliantly, as with the dissection of Cool, which punctures the rock ‘n’ roll myths marketed by Top Shop and other high street shops. Other times it feels a bit forced; for instance, the chapter on Comfort makes it sound as if the idea of staying in to watch telly was invented on 9/11.
Thomson’s stated aim is to inoculate us against these negative spells and to encourage us to produce more benign ones. As such, each one has a “reality check” at the end of it, like this one on Girl Power, which sounds a bit too much like the conclusion to a crap episode of Kilroy:
Exploitation or empowerment? Girl Power thrives on such contradictions. But the central question remains: Is the new pole dancing, porn star chic, real liberation, or a cynical con created by big business (from magazine publishing, TV, fashion, and music) to co-opt the whole idea of empowerment for commercial gain?
Nevertheless, it is beautifully designed, full of vernacular typography, contemporary layouts, and Barbara Kruger-style section headings. If you want to understand contemporary graphics look no further, it is much better than a compilation of actual contemporary design because it is parodic.
In the same vein, it is perhaps better to read the book as a catalogue of cliches rather than a work of cultural critique. As cultural critique, Mesmerization seems like an attempt to revive postmodernism and in an age of ideology. Alas, postmodernists are too decadent, too cynical, and too uncertain in their conclusions to be of much use.
However, as a catalogue of cliches, it is a fresh and exciting corrective to cultural laziness. The thing about cliches is that however fresh and original they began, they soon congeal into dead words and dead attitudes. To avoid becoming a cliche, we just need to be more mindful — thinking about why we adhere to certain cultural memes rather than blindly embracing them. So I recommend you read it, before it becomes congealed.