Realism’s function is to preserve consciousness from doubt, not to copy reality

Evidence

The challenge lay essentially in that photographic and cinematographic processes can accomplish better, faster, and with a circulation a hundred thousand times larger than narrative or pictorial realism, the task which academicism had assigned to realism: to preserve various consciousnesses from doubt. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 475

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lyotard’s functional definition of realism — its task is ideological reassurance, which mass media perform far better than painters or novelists.
• XREF: connects to: Realism is a form of paranoia that dehumanizes both nature and peoples — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 153; Realism is defined by avoiding the question of reality and serves ruling power — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on…, 482; Realism both critiques and reinforces the status quo’s exclusions — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 438 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Realism is defined by avoiding the question of reality and serves ruling power #qualifies (0.80) — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 482
• Comprehension requires conscious confrontation with reality rather than interpretive comfort #complicates (0.78)
• Corrective realism accepts terms set in advance by stereotype-makers #qualifies (0.75) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 162
• Realism both critiques and reinforces the status quo’s exclusions #qualifies (0.72) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 438