In his essay of “Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism”, Fredric Jameson describes postmodernism. He links the postmodernism to the capitalism. Central idea is that “esthetic production today has become integrated into commodity production” because of the role of capitalism.
Jameson would see the painting by Matt Groening above as a postmodern artwork. Before discussing the work as postmodern, it is essential to distinguish postmodernism from modernism. While artists, in the modernism era, questioned realism, they, in the era of postmodernism, started critiquing realism. The image is a pastiche of the masterpiece, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. The masterpiece has been remade into many other pictures. This particular one replaced the feature with a female cast from the Simpsons and the whole image has been cartooned.
Jameson suggests that it is “essential to grasp postmodernism not as a style but rather as a cultural dominant” The popular culture, the Simpsons, has such cultural power that impacts on viewers. The painting appeals to viewers with its cultural power. It gives the viewers its own unique and new original meaning in this remake.
Jameson suggests that capitalism is related to postmodern movements. He claims that the capitalism torn down the barrier between high culture and mass or commercial culture.
He says, it motivated “more novel-seeming goods” and “aesthetic innovation and experimentation”. The desire for novelty motivated artists to remake masterpieces in their own ways and to create popular culture that is closely related to capitals.
The Simpsons is an internationally famous television show, which earned reputation and capital and created its own cultural power. The show is known for parodying other masterpieces in the past. However, its parodies and remakes have its own unique tastes with its cultural power. Jameson would see this painting as postmodern because it is a great example of popular culture, which is based on capitalism.
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