The seductiveness of ambiguity

[John McCreery]

Have been involved in a wonderful conversation in The Well about
William Gibson's _Pattern Recognition_. Some observations just came
together and clicked for me in a way that I find tantalizing. The
following came tripping off my fingers. Any and all comments are
welcome.

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A mechanical model of modeling/advertising/magic suggests that the
ideal for all three genres is driving home a single, unambiguous
message and thus imposing order on a piece of the audience's world.
But that model itself is part of the modernism that [Zygmunt] Bauman
contrasts
with postmodernism as discipline vs. seduction.

Ask yourself who is more seductive, a lover who is all what you see is
what you get or a lover with an air of mystery, of having unexplored
depths that leave room for your fantasies.

Here is a handfull of academic references:

Marshall McCluhan: hot vs. cool media, where cool leaves space for the
audience's imagination and can thus speak to a wider range of
audiences

Victor Turner: the inherent ambiguity and condensation of
contradictory meanings characteristic of dominant symbols

The Japanese *wabi* aesthetic found in *Raku* tea bowls, which are
deliberately left unfinished, their imperfections, a.k.a. resistance to
formal definition, seen as a part of their aesthetic appeal.

One of my favorite fables from Nietzsche (_The Birth of the Tragedy
and the Genealogy of Morals_): Two men are watching Salome perform the
dance of the seven veils. The Scientist is delighted to be tantalized
as one veil after another is lifted, revealing a glimpse of the
dancer's body. The Metaphysician is the boor shouting, "Take it all
off, NOW!"

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John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama, Japan 220-0006

Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery at gol.com

"Making Symbols is Our Business"