Capitalist realism makes past cultural possibilities seem impossible retroactively
Evidence
Nothing is more illustrative, I think, the triumph of capitalist realism in the UK than Channel 4, which started off showing Tarkovsky seasons, had hour-long programmes simply consisting of philosophers discussing ideas — to Location, Location, Location or whatever else is on Channel 4 at the moment. There’s some massive decline that then produces this retrospective impossibilisation. That other Channel 4 did exist, but now it seems utterly impossible. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2170
Categorization
- XREF: Channel 4’s Tarkovsky-to-house-hunting trajectory exemplifies the ‘retrospective impossibilisation’ central to Fisher’s capitalist realism argument. — connects to: Capitalist realism structurally prevents the emergence of popular enthusiasm — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1855; Capitalist realism reduces historical time to technological upgrades — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1906; Capitalist realism is a pervasive atmosphere that constrains thinking itself, not just culture — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No…, 35 (+6 more)
- SEED: An essay on public-service broadcasters’ early experimental eras as evidence that institutional paternalism produced culture market logic cannot.
Broader Connections
- A hegemonic realism retroactively erases cultural possibilities it cannot absorb
#corroborates(0.95) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1009 - Capitalist realism makes alternatives to capitalism unthinkable
#expands(0.85) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 8 - Capitalist realism makes a coherent alternative to capitalism unimaginable.
#expands(0.85) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 8 - Capitalist realism restricts the horizon of what is politically possible
#qualifies(0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 410 - Capitalism failed to strip social life of historical consciousness embedded in culture
#complicates(0.80) - Capitalist realism is a pervasive atmosphere that constrains thinking itself, not just culture
#expands(0.78) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 35 - Capitalism’s rupture with older social forms makes their myths undecipherable to us
#expands(0.78) — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 1674