Post-Modernism: Definition
A general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among others. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In essence, it stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. For this reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually. Postmodernism relies on concrete experience over abstract principles, knowing always that the outcome of one's own experience will necessarily be fallible and relative, rather than certain and universal.
A general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among others. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In essence, it stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. For this reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually. Postmodernism relies on concrete experience over abstract principles, knowing always that the outcome of one's own experience will necessarily be fallible and relative, rather than certain and universal.
Theorists
Lyotard - Rejection of 'grand or meta-narratives', truth needs to be deconstructed so we can challenge the big ideas, be skeptical of the truth.
Lyotard - Rejection of 'grand or meta-narratives', truth needs to be deconstructed so we can challenge the big ideas, be skeptical of the truth.
Baudrillard -
There is no longer a distinction between reality and its representing image or
simulacru, hyper reality - there is only
surface meaning.
Jameson -
Historical viewpoint - Postmodern is a development of modernism, Postmodernist works are
often characterized by lack of depth, Postmodern culture - self referentiality, irony,
pastiche and parody.
Aspects Of Postmodernism
Hybridity - Distinctions between high culture and popular culture, have gone, or become blurred, eg. films with more than one genre.
Bricolage - (A French word meaning 'Jumble') This is used to refer to the process of adaptation or improvisation where aspects on one style are given quite different meanings when compared with stylistic features from another, eg. punks used bondage gear and swastikas on their clothing were eclectic as they made a big fashion statement.
Simulation - The blurring of real and 'simulated', especially in film and reality TV or celebrity magazines. This referring to not only CGI in films like 'The Lord of the Rings' films (2001-2004), 'Avatar' (2009); or story lines of films like 'Blade Runner' (1982) and 'The Matrix' (1999) which forms the question 'Is it human or artificial?'.
Intertextuality - Now a familiar postmodern flourish across most moving image media and Jameson specifies pastiche and parody as belonging to a similar idea. This self-reflexive awareness of itself as a text is also termed hyper-consciousness.
Disjointed Narrative Structure - These are said to mimic the uncertainties and relativism of post-modernity in films like, Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' (1994) as the contemporary narrative often won't guarantee identifications with characters or the 'happy ending'. They often manage only a play with multiple, or heavily ironic, perhaps 'unfinished' or even parodic endings - 'Fight Club' (1999) and 'Atonement' (2007).
The Erosion of History - The deliberate blurring of time in films such as 'Cock and Bull Story' (2005) or more extravagant historical events like 'Elizabeth' (1998) and 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998), Inglorious Bastards (2009), where events and characters are telescoped, merged or discarded entirely. History can be viewed nostalgically or with suspicion.
The Active Audience - Postmodern theories suggest that there is a decoding process going on among audiences who no longer use the passively media for gratification. Postmodern audiences read texts actively because they recognize the importance of the analysis of various clues or signs. At its simplest level, the audience accept or agree with the encoded meanings sent out by a text, they accept and refine parts of the text's meaning or they are aware of the dominant meaning of the text but reject it for cultural, political or personal reasons.
Blurring of Boundaries - Boundaries between 'high' and 'low' culture has been eroded. This idea is alluring because of the democratic implications all class hierarchies have disappeared. However, paradoxically, for there to be any thrill in transgressing boundaries like those between 'high' and 'low' forms in Baz Luhrman's 'Romeo & Juliet' (1997) or 'Shakespeare in Love' (1998), those boundaries need still to have some meaning - and indeed they do, if you think of the huge industry still associated with the status and name of Shakespeare and his continuing cultural importance.
A Society of Spectacle - Postmodern media texts share a delight in surface style and superficiality, a delight in trivial rather than dominant forms from conversations about burgers in 'Pulp Fiction' (1994) to Lindsay Lohan or Victoria Beckham appearing in 'Ugly Betty' - and an alternative, excited, ironic tone involving skepticism about serious values.
Atmosphere of Decay & Alienation - The 'structures of feelings' that find echoes in the music of Radiohead or Aphex Twin, the films 'Blade Runner' and 'Fight Club', the music videos and advertising of Chris Cunningham.
Post-Modern Music Video Analysis; Hollywood Undead - Hear Me Now
Jean Francois Lyotard
Scream As Post-modern
Scream typified a new wave of horror movies in the 1990s, with its high school setting, improbably pretty cast, and ironic, self-aware script. Directed by horror veteran Wes Craven, its cast included Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, Skeet Ulrich, Courtney Cox and David Arquette, which is quite an all-star list for a horror movie!
Postmodern Slasher; Whether or not Scream invented a new genre, the so-called “postmodern slasher flick”, (or “meta-slasher”, in the hands of the more infatuated critics), it is certainly careful to show a high level of tongue-in-cheek self-awareness about horror movies. The plot premise revolves around a killer obsessed with horror movies stalking a group of friends in a small town, and the opening sequence involves Drew Barrymore picking up the phone to a stranger who makes her answer trivia questions about horror movies in order to try to save the life of her boyfriend.
The Rules; One character explains that “there are rules for surviving a horror movie”, which involve suspecting everyone, never drinking or having sex (since the virgin always survives in 1970s horror movies) and certainly never saying “I’ll be right back.” The killer clearly has similar ideas about the world – telling a victim “You might as well go outside to investigate a strange noise!”
In-jokes, or The Revenge of the Nerds; Scream is peppered with subtle references to other horror movies, for example, one of the characters is surnamed Loomis, a name shared by a character in Halloween, and another in Psycho. Wes Craven himself makes a cameo in the film as the high school janitor, wearing a striped jumper modeled on that of Freddy Kreuger from Nightmare on Elm Street. Interlinking reaches its height when Rose McGowan’s character compares their gruesome predicament by a film by “Wes Carpenter”, a nod to the director Wes Craven, and John Carpenter, who directed the famous Halloween horror franchise.
Sequels and Spoofs; Screams’s success led to two more films in the series (with appropriate self-conscious jokes about sequels and trilogies), and was spoofed by the film Scary Movie which, ironically enough, was Scream’s title whilst it was being made. Whether the movie is a genuinely original approach to the horror genre, or just a way of showing off the genre’s awareness that it had little new to offer, Scream is an entertaining and energetic movie. Despite the claims of the postmodernists, high culture this ain’t – but high camp and highly enjoyably it certainly is.
Postmodern Slasher; Whether or not Scream invented a new genre, the so-called “postmodern slasher flick”, (or “meta-slasher”, in the hands of the more infatuated critics), it is certainly careful to show a high level of tongue-in-cheek self-awareness about horror movies. The plot premise revolves around a killer obsessed with horror movies stalking a group of friends in a small town, and the opening sequence involves Drew Barrymore picking up the phone to a stranger who makes her answer trivia questions about horror movies in order to try to save the life of her boyfriend.
The Rules; One character explains that “there are rules for surviving a horror movie”, which involve suspecting everyone, never drinking or having sex (since the virgin always survives in 1970s horror movies) and certainly never saying “I’ll be right back.” The killer clearly has similar ideas about the world – telling a victim “You might as well go outside to investigate a strange noise!”
In-jokes, or The Revenge of the Nerds; Scream is peppered with subtle references to other horror movies, for example, one of the characters is surnamed Loomis, a name shared by a character in Halloween, and another in Psycho. Wes Craven himself makes a cameo in the film as the high school janitor, wearing a striped jumper modeled on that of Freddy Kreuger from Nightmare on Elm Street. Interlinking reaches its height when Rose McGowan’s character compares their gruesome predicament by a film by “Wes Carpenter”, a nod to the director Wes Craven, and John Carpenter, who directed the famous Halloween horror franchise.
Sequels and Spoofs; Screams’s success led to two more films in the series (with appropriate self-conscious jokes about sequels and trilogies), and was spoofed by the film Scary Movie which, ironically enough, was Scream’s title whilst it was being made. Whether the movie is a genuinely original approach to the horror genre, or just a way of showing off the genre’s awareness that it had little new to offer, Scream is an entertaining and energetic movie. Despite the claims of the postmodernists, high culture this ain’t – but high camp and highly enjoyably it certainly is.
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