Introduction to

Postmodernism

Questions to be Considered
n

What are the different versions of post-modernism

(historical period, style, theoretical approach)
What are the arguments for and against understanding
some forms of media as post-modern?
How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional textreader relations and the concept of representation?
In what ways do media audiences and industries operate
differently in a post-modern world?

We are interested in..

n

Postmodernism and..

Genre

Narrative

Representation

Interactive media

Post-modern audience theories

Globalization

Parody

pastiche

Why Reality Isnt What

It Used to Be

Timeline

Modernity
RENAISSANCE TO ABOUT 1900 (+/- 30 years)

Baudrillard:
Early modernity:

Renaissance to Industrial Revolution

Modernity:

Industrial Revolution

Postmodernity:

Period of mass media

The world according to white Anglo-Saxon males from Europe

TRADITIONAL WESTERN MODERN THINKING

Timeline

Your Place in History

14th C
n

1900

Modern

2000

Modernism

Postmodernism

You are here

TRADITIONAL WESTERN MODERN THINKING

Newtonian Order

Modernity
n

God, reason and progress

There was a center to the universe.

Progress is based upon knowledge, and man is

capable of discerning objective absolute truths
in science and the arts.
Modernism is linked to capitalismprogressive
economic administration of world
Modernization of 3rd world countries (imposition
of modern Western values)

TRADITIONAL WESTERN MODERN THINKING

What Is Language?

Language & Truth: The Modern View

as
n

People are the same everywhere

There are universal laws and truths

Knowledge is objective, independent of

culture, gender, etc.

Language is a man-made tool that refers to

real things / absolute truths

I, the subject, speak language

I have a discernible self

The self is the center of existence

TRADITIONAL WESTERN MODERN THINKING

Purpose of Literature

Liberal Humanism: View of Literature & Film

n

Good literature is of timeless significance.

The text will reveal constants, universal truths,

about human nature, because human nature
itself is constant and unchanging.
Good literature is honest and sincere.
Art is to be respected, and belongs on a
pedestal.
There are accepted traditional standards for
different art forms & genres that should be
obeyed and respected.

TRADITIONAL WESTERN MODERN THINKING

Death of the Old Order

Modernism
n

Early 1900s:
F

World War I

Worldwide poverty & exploitation

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Death of the Old Order

Modernism
n

Early 1900s:
F

World War I

Worldwide poverty & exploitation

Intellectual upheaval:
F

Freud: psychoanalysis

Marx: class struggle

Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Neitzsche

Picasso, Stravinsky, Kafka, Proust,

Brecht, Joyce, Eliot

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

The Bending of Time & Space

Relativism

E=mc2

Einstein: relativity, quantum mechanics

Refutation of Newtonian science

Time is relative

Matter and energy are one

Light as both particle and wave

Universe is strange

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Breaking the Rules

Modernist Art
n

Cubism

Surrealism

Dadaism

Expressionism

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Breaking the Rules

Modernist Art
n

Cubism

Surrealism

Dadaism

Expressionism

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Breaking the Rules

Modernist Art
n

Cubism

Surrealism

Dadaism

Expressionism

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Breaking the Rules

Modernist Art
n

Cubism

Surrealism

Dadaism

Expressionism

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

A World with No Center

Modernist Literature
Things fall apart,
The centre cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
--Yeats, The Second Coming

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Breaking the Rules

Modernist Literature
n

Emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity

Movement away from objective third-party
narration
Tendency toward reflexivity and selfconsciousness

Obsession with the psychology of self

Rejection of traditional aesthetic theories

Experimentation with language

PRECURSORS OF POSTMODERNISM

Acceptance of a New Age

What is Postmodernism?
n

Continuation of modernist view

Does not mourn loss of history, self, religion,

center
A term applied to all human sciences
anthropology, psychology, architecture, history,
etc.

Reaction to modernism; systematic skepticism

Anti-foundational

POSTMODERNISM

Acceptance of a New Age

What is Modernism?
n

The world according to White Anglo-Saxon

males, based upon the mythology of Western
Europe, rooted in the Judeo-Christian religion
and Greek-Roman philosophy.
Western man is superior.

Progress, reason and science are the highest

manifestations of humanity.
Western man was put one earth to modernize the
world (e.g., Manifest Density, Columbus).
The rest of the world consists of barbarians, and
orientals.
POSTMODERNISM

Acceptance of a New Age

What is Postmodernism?

The Enlightenment project is dead.

POSTMODERNISM

The End of Master Narratives

Postmodernism: Basic Concepts

n

Life just is

Rejection of all grand narratives.

All truths are contingent cultural constructs

Skepticism of progress; anti-technology bias

Sense of fragmentation and decentered self

Multiple conflicting identities

Mass-mediated reality

POSTMODERNISM

The End of Master Narratives

Postmodernism: Basic Concepts

n

All versions of reality are SOCIAL

CONSTRUCTS
F

Concepts of good and evil

Metaphors for God

Language

The self

Gender

Taste (aesthetics)

EVERYTHING!
POSTMODERNISM

Language As Social Construct

Postmodernism: Basic Concepts

n

Language is a social construct that speaks

& identifies the subject
Knowledge is contingent, contextual and
linked to POWER
Truth is pluralistic, dependent upon the
frame of reference of the observer
Values are derived from ordinary social
practices, which differ from culture to
culture and change with time.
Values are determined by manipulation and
domination
POSTMODERNISM

The Observer is King

Postmodern View of Language

n

Observer is a participant/part of what is observed

Receiver of message is a component of the

message
Information becomes information only when
contextualized
The individual (the subject) is a cultural construct
Consider role of own culture when examining
others
All interpretation is conditioned by cultural
perspective and mediated by symbols and
practice
POSTMODERNISM

Play and Parody

PostModern Literature & Film

n

No guiding traditional grand narratives

Extreme freedom of form and expression

Rejects traditional linear narratives

Plays with time and space

Repudiation of boundaries of narration & genre

Intrusive, self-reflexive author

Deliberate violation of standards of sense and

decency (which are viewed as methods of social
control)

POSTMODERNISM

Play and Parody

PostModern Literature & Film

n

Characters on the margins of society

Mix of high and low brow art forms

Integration of everyday experience, pop and

consumer culture
Playful treatment of serious subjects (no
gnashing of teeth)
Doesnt take itself seriously (no pretentious
universal truths)
Has fun with language and imagery (MTV like)

POSTMODERNISM

Fragmented Identities

PostModern Literature
n

Parody, play, black humor, pastiche

Ambiguities and uncertainties

Ironic detachment

Postcolonial, global-English literature

Global

Celebrate diversity of views and lifestyles

POSTMODERNISM

Binary Oppositions

Modernity

PostModern

History as fact

Written by the victors

Faith in social order

Cultural pluralism

Family as central unit

Alternate families

Authenticity of originals

Hyper-reality (MTV)

Mass consumption

Niches; small group identity

POSTMODERNISM

Modern or Postmodern?

POSTMODERNISM

An Epochal Shift in Thinking

PostModernism
n

The narrative is unravelled, the author is dead, the Enlightenment

project is toast, and history is history.

An epochal shift in the basic condition in being.

--Geoffrey Nunberg

POSTMODERNISM

Battle of World Views

PostModernism
A Global Battle:
THE OBJECTIVISTS
Modern

vs.

THE CONSTRUCTIVISTS
Postmodern

POSTMODERNISM

Battle of World Views

HOLLYWOOD

FUNDAMENTIALISM

VS

POSTMODERNISM

vs. FOUNDATIONALISM

Metaphors Kill

PostModernism
People were burned at the
stake for believing there was
more than one version of
reality.

POSTMODERNISM

We Live in the Middle

PostModernism
We all slip and slide between the
objective and constructive views:
1. We live in a world of nave realism. (We
accept grand narratives as true.)
2. But when we think about things, or
have to explain our views, we become
constructivists.

POSTMODERNISM

Celebrating Diversity

PostModernism
n

THE HOPE OF POSTMODERNISTS:

The deconstruction of foundational views

will lead to a recognition and acceptance
of a pluralistic worldview.
Create a truly global civilization.

POSTMODERNISM

Celebrating Diversity

Literary & FilmTheory

n

Different constructs of reality

Lenses through which we see the world

POSTMODERNISM