Terry Eagleton - After Theory

     Eagleton is quick to admit the changes that have taken place in life and in theory. He draws what I would consider a bit of an extreme picture “the politics of masturbation exert far more fascination the the politics of the Middle East” and “middle-class students huddle diligently in libraries, at work on sensationalist subjects like vampirism and eye gouging, cyborgs and porno movies”. Although I think he is trying to emphasise the change that has taken place in the world. We see millions of images everyday and you can now openly explore any image you choose.

     He embraces the changes, “one of the towering achievements of cultural theory has been to establish gender and sexuality as legitimate study as well as political importance”. Theory is changing as a result of freedom of expression. There was a time that a bikini on the beach would have been indecent exposure. “Cultural theory is a at present behaving rather like a celibate middle-aged professor who has stumbled absent minded upon sex and is frequently making up for lost time”. This is down to the fact that sex sells. Women, with slim and curvy bodies and men with toned bodies excite everyone. It gets ur impulses going and we feel good about it. In an age tha ta girl that can barley sing but looks hot can have a number one single there is no other answer. I don't think its that we are “making up for lost time”, I think we know what we like. We probably always have, but now it is freely admitable. Albeit with a barrier of sexual harassment, but you have to stop somewhere.

     I like Eagleton's talk of the death of the puritan. A person that is strict in moral or religious matters. “Pleasure falls outside the realm of knowledge and thus is dangerously anarchic.. traditionally it is known as moral discourse. But political discourse would do just as well”. I could relate some studio tutors as puritans. In the way that you try to think outside the box, but what ever you do, you have to be a slave to their views of Architecture. Who made them the governors of architecture? University architecture is an expression of thought away from the working world but I have to tow the line of the tutor. We have broken free from the puritan but we will never break free from ignorance.