Poster-Modernism

1. Poster-Modernism Concepts & Theories

2. What is Post-Modernism? • Post Modernism can not be defined exactly however from my understanding Post modernism is a style that questions theories and ideologies by highlighting the conventions. Post modernism not only challenges and undermines previous ages faith’s and religious beliefs

3. concept • The concepts of postmodernism are really hard to define however there are three underlying subthemes that support movement. The first subtheme is that postmodernism is a reflection of in the social, cultural, and political conditions and practices; two, a change in the way capitalism is working; and three, a shift in our way of thinking about what could/should be done about the social conditions in the future. It is the dynamic interaction between these three themes that forms the basis of our experience of postmodernism as a concept.

4. A FEW Key Concepts • Electrism • Hyper-reality ( an inability to distinguish between reality and fantasy) • Hyperconscious • Death of Representation • Playfulness (Irony & Sarcasm, • Parody & Pastiche) • Intertexuality and Brocolage

5. How some of these concepts apply to contemporary media

6. Family Guy is an obvious example of a Media is Post modern. It is a series full of Intertexuality and Pastiche , It constantly uses references from other shows films and the internet. A particular example the shows constant parody’s of star wars where they borrowed the story reusing it in another concept without changing much of it showing how postmodernism applies to todays media texts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5856g7lpKLA

7. Not only does Family guy takes the Post modern concepts of Intertexuality and Pastiche but it reveals itself to be a postmodern television programme as it doesn’t follow a linear narrative and it confuses space and time. One particular example of confusion of space in time is Season 8 Episode 4 ‘Lucky to be White’ In which Brian and Stewie Enter a Parallel world in which Brian is a human. Which creates confusion and adhering to the post modernist concept Hype reality as the Family guy represents a real place. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaYr8LmzDxg

8. hyper reality • Jean Bauildrillard a French philosopher and sociologist came up with concept of Hyper reality. Where the line to reality and a simulation have been blurred he introduced idea that nothing has a real meaning and now the signs and symbols are the meaning Baudrillarddeveloped the idea of simulation and simulacra simulation: 
the process in which representations of things come to replace the things being represented . . . the representations become more important than the thing”
 4 orders of simulation:
 1. signs thought of as reflecting reality: re-presenting truth; 
2. signs mask reality: reinforces notion of reality; 3. signs mask the absence of reality; egDisneyworld.

9. Hyper reality in the matrix • Matrix is a contemporary text that depicts the concept of hyper-reality. A film where A computer hacker learns from mysterious true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers. It is a film that depicts the Human reality as Hyper reality as everything in the film is just a simulation of what is perceived to be as ‘real’ proving Bauildrillard’s point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmkyg4-2poQ

10. Jean François lyotard • Is a French philosopher and literary theorist . Who rejected the Meta Narrative/Grande Narrative which are the large scale theories and philosophies of the world like history and the idea that all truths can be found through science. He believed the Meta Narrative should always be questioned so the dominant truth is challenged.  In regards to media texts it is possible also to apply this thinking to a rejection of the Western moralistic narratives of Hollywood film where good triumphs over evil, or where violence and exploitation are suppressed for the sake of public decency.

11. The Simpsons is an excellent example of the Meta Narrative being critiqued. It clear the shows distrust of authority and totalizing explanations and has the same stance as Lyotard’s – to reject systems. It has done this by anti-authoritarianism one of its most prominent recurring themes. One example is when homer tries to vote for Obama, but the vote goes to McCain, suggesting that the votes were rigged. The video is available through the link below.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aBaX9GPSaQ • Also episode of The Simpsons could begin with the issue of bullying but then go into and by tackling the issue of homosexuality which uses Jean François theory as Lyotardfavours ‘micro narratives’ that can go in any direction, that reflect diversity, that are unpredictable.

12. Frederic Jameson • Fredric Jameson is an American literary critic and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends. Jameson characterized post modern work as having lack of depth and that it is culturally recycles adapting and changing the past erasing the historical depth. The omnipresence of media output helps explain postmodernists’ merging of all discourse into an undifferentiated whole there no longer does seem to be any organic relationship between history we learn from schoolbooks and the lived experience of the current, multinational, high-rise, newspapers and of our own everyday life” (p.22 Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 1991.) Frederic Jameson

13.  Postmodern texts embody scepticism towards the ideas and ideals of the modern era, especially the ideas of progress, objectivity, reason certainty, personal identity and grand narratives.  Postmodernism takes pleasure in playing with convention, pointing out nature of how everything is a construction.