Awe-Full Critics

Again, this post wasn't required, but here's my notes on some critics and critical theory that seems to work well with the theme of awe:

Karl Marx and Marxism-Marxism deals a lot with power structures and oppressor versus oppressed. Hidden through every Marxism criticism is a kind of awe at power, I think, and the struggle for it from above and below. Anytime power is unequal, there is a possibility for awe in the moments of realizing the insurmountable power of the greater from the perspective of the lesser. This breaks down, of course, as Marx demands for an uprising from those with supposedly less power, but also in the struggle of the oppressed to throw off the oppressor almost always comes at least some moment of awe at the force of will to carry on despite all odds.

Jacques Derrida and Post-structuralism-awe is especially evoked in Derrida's theory of play, or that meaning in language is infinitely malleable as language is arbitrary and the universe lacks and center anchoring meaning at all. Any infinite space is full of potential for awe, so a theory that outlines that the possibility for meaning in any language is infinite is prime fuel for awe.

Edward Said and Orientalism-you could frame Orientalism as the study of false awe at the "other." Said recognized the patterns of what you could call "abusive awe" or "oppressive awe" in the West's depiction of the East. The East was seen as alluring, even seductive, and mysterious, even supernatural. The West held the East as a source of awe, and Said's theory is meant to break down that false awe, but also replace it with the authentic voices of the people from those "other" groups and reveal the truths that the West had been denying and oppressing. Obviously, the desired effect of this is to open minds to a higher plane of truth--awe is bound to tread that ground often.