The eclectic mix of influence in the song Heroes , in turn, presents us with a composition that
drifts and perhaps, even blurs the lines between the conflicting notions of personal experience
and politics, leaving both Bowie and us as the listener emotionally starved. This serves as a
powerful, poignant message that highlights the futility of politics amongst perhaps the most
depoliticized of generations under neoliberal capitalism
Jameson goes on to argue that Postmodernism is the result of late capitalism 8 . Patricia Ewick
expands on Jameson’s theory and discusses how what we define as postmodernism "Reveals
less about the powerless and their choices than about those in power and how choices are
constrained and denied” 9 she goes on to argue that “The point is not that those challenging
power from below has […] made the wrong decisions; rather, this materialist conception of
postmodernity asserts that those who would challenge power are now up aga inst something
altogether different. Focusing our critical attention, then, on strategies of resistance may deflect
attention away from the real story: the changing organization of power" 10
Baring Ewick’s above statement in mind, it could be said that popular culture or art such as
Bowie’s work may be seen as a bigger sphere of influence as opposed to the politics of the era.
The Generation of the 1970’s – the punk generation, in particular, was highly politicized. The
form of politics that they chose to reject, however, was a more traditional form of
institutionalised politics, a more dominant mode of discourse within society. Perhaps this was
in an attempt to change or at least challenge the changing organization of power that Ewick
8
Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism Or, The Cultural Logic Of Late Capitalism (New Delhi: Rawat, 2012).
9
10
Postmodern Melancholia- Patricia Ewick (Law & Society Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 (1992), pp. 755-764 )
Postmodern Melancholia- Patricia Ewick (Law & Society Review, Vol. 26, No. 4 (1992), pp. 755-764 )