Dale Luck

Postmodernism Exam Questions

A2 Media Studies

What defines postmodernism?

Postmodernism is an extension of both modernist and structuralist thinking, with a preference for the reference of past texts as opposed to looking to the future (as is common of modernist texts). Postmodern texts defy the idea that there is no text without genre, as stated by Derida, through the use of intertextuality, bricolage and pastiche, creating something new and unrestrained by any particular genre by combining styles and works in one way or another. In this sense, its also a rejection of the structural functionalist view, where defined structures and roles are seen as necessary for things to function properly. There are several key characteristics common in postmodern texts that one could use to define a text as such, one of which is the idea that the presentation of the message is more important than the narrative itself, an idea stated by McLuhan. This adds greater importance to visual presentations, and has lead to the increased use of simulacra that is, the simulation of something without complete accuracy that is still accepted by the audience. This idea was presented by Baudrillard, who also said that the use of these simulacra leads to the existence of a hyperreality, where realism has been disregarded in favour of style. A director that tends to make heavy use of hyperreality and self-reflexivity (the text being aware that is in fact a man-made text, another common characteristic of postmodern works) is Quentin Tarantino, a man often criticized for his overly comfortable approach to violence in his films. Inglorious Basterds, for instance, was a film presented in a manner more fitting of a fairytale its story was split into several non-linear chapters, visibly seperated from each other on screen via credits, and made several references to conventions of fairytales too (with its own version of a glass slipper situation akin to Cinderella, and a violent variation on the age old tradition of fairytales taking place in the woods). Its characters, too, could be seen as hyperreal, in that they are seen as heavily detached from the violence on screen and constantly partake in the use of witty remarks and comedy for example, the character of Ando Raine, played by Brad Pitt, orders the men to scalp every Nazi they kill, and he tortures a woman whos been shot in the leg by sticking his finger in the bullet wound, all whilst not blinking an eyelid, and yet hes meant to be playing the good guy. Rather controversially, the Nazis themselves are shown to have more humanity and emotion for the most part, at one point having one attempt to negotiate his way out of a bar so he can go home to see his newborn child (and is subsequently gunned down). Of course, there are other characters who keep more to the stereotypical bad guy role, such as Hans Landa, played by Chrisoph Waltz, a ruthless hunter of Jews but even he is given comedy value when seen to smoke from an overly large pipe and down a glass of milk in one take at the beginning of the film. This lack of characters with absolute moral values and disattachment from the violence and each other (with the Basterds not really showing any emotion when their own men die) shows a rejection of a traditional good versus bad narrative that youd expect from a Western war film and a disregard for public decency, both of which are characteristics that Lyotard identified in postmodern media texts. At several points in the film he substitutes elements of western films, something that hes also known for doing, such as the scene where The Bear Jew is coming out of the tunnel slowly for dramatic effect and playing over it is music much more fitting of a spaghetti western. He also makes direct reference to an iconic scene from The Chasers, a western film from 1956, by directly copying a shot style (of the protagonist standing in a doorway) and using it in the first chapter of the film. This is an

Dale Luck

Postmodernism Exam Questions

A2 Media Studies

example of bricolage and intertextuality, which, as noted above, help define it as a postmodern text. Smith noted that most postmodern texts use some level of parody or pastiche of past texts to create humor or purpose in their own text, such as social commentary or even just nods to fans of the referenced text. This is mostly seen in television, where the use of intertextuality for humor is common practice. For instance, the show Family Guy created by Seth MacFarlane constantly references other texts and even real-life people and products a common character who makes an appearance is the Kool-Aid Man, a mascot of the popular drink Kool-Aid, and they even created an entire parody of the original Star Wars trilogy named Blue Harvest, replacing the iconic characters with their own cast and putting comedic twists on famous moments in the film. The show also incorporates elements of hyperreality with characters like Brian, a talking dog with more class and intellect than the main adult male of the group Peter, as well as the repeated joke of a giant chicken coming to fight Peter at any given moment. These elements all come together to define it as postmodern. Another good example of hyperreality and intertextuality/bricolage is the situation comedy The Mighty Boosh, known for its surreal approach to comedy by disconnecting almost entirely from elements of reality by including such characters as dancing wolves in the mod subculture, a talking gorilla named Bollo and the presence of a crack-addicted fox. It mixes elements of science fiction, fantasy and musicals into an original story of two zoo keepers (later shop owners) who have weird adventures in space. Every episode opens with them talking about said episode to the audience through the camera, breaking the fourth wall and showing a level of self-reflexivity that Ford stated to be an element of postmodern media, along with challenging boundaries of almost everything it can get its hands on by simply acting like they dont exist a running joke in the show is that the main character Vince Noir, played by Noel Fielding, is often mistaken for a girl because of his long hair and fashion sense, something that he curiously doesnt deny too often. The juxtaposition caused by his characters presence alongside his co-star Howard Moon, played by Julian Barratt, a jazz enthusiast who has the running joke of everyone thinking hes Vinces father despite being the same age (with one scene showing Vince in school as a child with Howard sitting next to him, still a fully grown man and being bullied by other kids). The success of these shows speaks wonders for the future of postmodern television comedy through parody, intertextuality and hyperreality is becoming increasingly popular, with shows like the Napoleon Dynamite cartoon adaptation, The Cleveland Show, American Dad and Mongrels, and I dont think it would be too much of a stretch to suggest itll become the dominating form of comedy in the future, especially considering the popularity of panel shows that focus almost entirely on commenting on current events. Kramer, a music theorist, also identified several key traits to do with postmodern music. For instance, the reference to multiple cultures, the use of technology in production rather than simply distribution and the sampling of other music or media. For instance, the artist Beck is known to be one of the more famous postmodern musicians of our time, and is known for combining multiple genres throughout his albums with hip-hop, creating something entirely original. A few of his songs, such as Girl on the album Guero, also use technology to create contrasting sound effects in Girl, the opening of the song uses chiptune sounds reminiscent of old-school games, but then quickly shifts into the use of an acoustic guitar for the rest of the song. Another modern artist known for being a mainstream example of postmodernism is Lady Gaga, a musician who created an alter ego she adopts on stage whilst also referring to her audience as little monsters (thus uses

Dale Luck

Postmodernism Exam Questions

A2 Media Studies

hyperreality) this sense of odd-for-the-sake-of-odd is exacerbated by her odd outfits, one of her more well-known pieces being a suit made only of slabs of meat, and her work combines the genre conventions of electronic and dance music. The Protomen are also known for referencing different forms of media altogether, mainly musicals and videogames, as their songs and albums are based on the story of the Megaman videogame franchise and created to be a story in multiple acts their given lyrics even include action directions like what youd find within the script of a play. With the progression of technology being as it is, I think that the future of music will involve increasing amounts of digitally produced work as it becomes easier to work with, as is what happened with film after the introduction of DV (digital video) cut down the cost of video production. Videogames too are seen as a postmodern form of media, being fairly recent creations that arent yet taken too seriously as a form of entertainment (at least for adults) but has been growing in popularity in recent years. Many games nowadays focus on giving the players full freedom in what they do and implement a first person perspective, both elements show self-reflexivity as the games acknowledge that thats what they are the interaction with these itself could be seen as hyperreal, as the ability to avoid the narrative altogether gives the audience almost full control over the narrative of the story. For instance, the sandbox genre has grown popular since Rockstar Games created the Grand Theft Auto series that emulates cities fit with citizens, vehicles to drive and weapons to use, taking an almost passive approach to the players use of violence and even rewarding them in most cases this amount of freedom and anything goes approach to bloodshed can be seen to fit in Lyotards theory that postmodern texts show no restraint when it comes to violence and McLuhans idea that narrative significance is belittled by the presentation of the text. However, there is another difference happening in recent years that I believe is due to the domination of postmodernism the simplification of gameplay for the sake of cinematic sparkle. This can be seen in two main game series Tomb Raider, and Resident Evil. The Resident Evil series was renowned for being the best survival-horror series around, mixing together zombies and mutants with a strong story based on the attempts of one company to create biological weapons gone wrong but with the introduction of gaming to mainstream audiences by the rise in popularity of war shooters and the like, the series was forced to change into a third-person action shooter which, whilst fun, sacrificed freedom, removed any need for thinking where to go next, and removed all elements of horror just to allow for the creation of a more cinematic experience. And it worked too, seeing massive amounts of profit that were lead to them keeping that style and ditching their old target audience in favour for those inflicted by the postmodern condition an audience unconcerned with narrative strength and obsessed with instant positive feedback from the media. The Tomb Raider series reflects this too once a puzzle platformer with some shooting involved, it was recently rebooted to be a much more linear experience focused on just shooting between areas, interspersed with cutscenes that add drama and tension, if little to the story itself. Production companies of all kinds of media are beginning to cater more and more to the postmodern audience as theyve become the majority and, with that, comes massive profit. This leads to there being less and less original works, especially from large companies for instance, youd find yourself hard tasked to find a large number of Hollywood films that were anything beyond clichd to say the least, or non-independent videogames that didnt focus on cinematic appeal. Im under the personal impression that this is exactly why there are so many reboots, remakes and adaptations being made nowadays rather than new franchises, and I only see it getting worse as the years go on its up to independent studios to make unique products now.