Theory of the Gimmick: Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist Form

Acclaimed critic Sianne Ngai theorizes the gimmick as an aesthetic category reflecting the fundamental laws of capitalism. Gimmicks make promises of saving labor and increasing value that we distrust but also find attractive. Exploring the use of this form, Ngai shows how its aesthetic dissatisfactions reflect deeper anxieties about capitalism.

• | Author: Sianne Ngai
• | Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
• | Publication Date: June 16, 2020
• | Number of Pages: 416 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 0674984544
• | ISBN-13: 9780674984547