"Often in history there is a combination of continuity and change which looks perplexing because our view of both the old and the new is altered" (p. 281).
The very first sentence of Jencks' article is what caught my attention in the first place. I agree with him when he says that continuous change is astonishing to us because what we perceive as 'old' and 'new' is constantly influenced and altered depending on the context. This reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad before coming back to school after summer. You know how in the Apple stores you can bring you old iPhones and recycle them? Well when you do this, your old iPhone has a certain value that gets subtracted if you're purchasing a new one. So my dad wanted me to recycle his iPhone 4 and exchange it for an iPhone 6. In his mind, the iPhone 4 was still as valuable as it was before. When he said this, me and my sister immediately snapped saying that was the oldest iPone ever created and it would not be worth more than 40$. In his mind, the iPhone 4 was still 'new' even though he has had it for many years.. For me (and my sister), it was the most primitive version of the iPhone and had almost no value anymore... Now that I think about it, it all depends on our own perception of what is 'new' and what already 'got old'. Today, stuff gets old every single day. Everything is made with the purpose of it getting old soon so you have to go and purchase a 'new' one.. And the worst part is: we millennials complain about this, but support it at the same time. Myself for example, I try to re-use salsa containers instead of buying more plastic containers for the food. But when a new fashion collection comes out, I am obsessing over the 'newest' pair of jeans or the 'newest' dress. When I start looking at the collection, all my clothes seem old already and I bought them a couple months ago in the same store!!! So they are basically pushing us to buy more because they, themselves make what you bought look old-fashioned...
This reminds me of what we were talking about in class: originality. We were saying there is no originality anymore because everything we come up with nowadays is based on previous ideas.
What bothers me the most, is that expensive brands like Gucci, Michael Kors, etc. sell their products for ridiculously high prices and claim they are all "original"; especially when it comes to their logos. Their logos mean everything because it is what gets stuck in our minds and it is what we identify each brand with. However, are their logos original at all?? How can a brand logo be original anymore?
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