Postmodernism

Definition of Post Modernism: A style and concept in the arts characterized by a distrust of theories and ideologies and by the drawing of attention to conventions. 

A general and wide ranging term applied to many areas of discipline. A particular view of contemporary life that is characterized by the type of society and culture which that has developed in western society.  

Post modernist’s attitudes are playful and nostalgia. Modernists are critical and like to define by high and low culture.

Post modernity do not like big narratives. E.g. science, religion the ways of thinking about how the world works.

It is a contradiction to the reception of criticism.  

It looks at how we know the world through language. How language is the anchor to our understanding.

Key Concepts:

-Generic blurring
-intertexuality and bricolage
-playfulness/parody/pastiche
-hyperrealist
-Hyperconsciousness
-eclecticism
-death of representation
-uncertainly, loss of context

Traditional at its best is: meaningful, emotional, engaging.

At its worse: deceptive and sentimental.

Postmodern at its best is: playful, curious, startling.

At its worse: homophobic, detached, nihilistic, sexist, despairing and racist.

Lyotard - rejection of 'grand or meta-narratives', truth needs to be 'deconstructed' so we can challenge the big ideas, be sceptical of the truth.

Baudrillard - there is no longer a distinction between reality and its representing image or simulacrum (a copy of a copy of a copy etc.), hyper reality - there is only surface meaning.

Jameson - Historical viewpoint - postmodern is a development of modernism, PM works are often characterized by lack of depth, PM culture - self referentiality, irony, pastiche and parody.

They break boundaries - Avant guard vs fine arts tradition.

Mix high and low culture.
Combination of media happening at the same time

• Anti realism/ hyper realism - No Reality, weird things happen, reach back into the past and forward into the future, tend to adondend ground narrative structure.
• Very intertextual musically and pop culturally, employ a great deal of pastiche, blur historical chronology, they are amoral (anything goes)

A quote by a theorist says "Music videos creat a schitzophrenic abondoment of rational liberal discourse which creates a nihlistic amoral universe of representation" by Andrew Goodwin.

• Music video are well adapted to the notion of consumerism, commercial.
• Flow of different signifiers to challenge meaning. "Image, culture, impolosion of information, hyper real simulation" by Baudrillard.
• Showing of women's bodies
• Representation of race

These all highlight how music videos are postmodern.


                                      Postmodernity in Music Videos - Essay LADY GAGA

Postmodernism can be expressed through a wide variety of Media texts, one of which are music videos. However as in the case with many other outlets of postmodernism, it is not always clear which are and which are not postmodern. This is because there is no real consensus of to what postmodernism actually means. Therefore any postmodern labels attached to a text are merely a reflection of personal choice.

One example of a music video what I believe is postmodern or at least appears to be influenced by the subject is the video for “Telephone” by the artist Lady Gaga.

Postmodernism can be expressed visually via the presence of postmodern techniques. These techniques can include many of the following: Parody, playfulness, pastiche, intertextuality, eclectism, hyper consciousness and narcissism. These postmodern techniques have been shown in Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” music video and therefore have attached a label to the text as ‘postmodern’.

The first reason to why Lady Gaga is a postmodern artist comes from Baudrillard’s idea of hyper reality where he states that we cannot separate the images that we are shown from what is the reality. In relation to Gaga, her name is a clear symbol of hyper reality as it allows her to have two personalities as she is never referred to as Stefani Germanotta. This also allows her to keep her different lives separate; ultimately allowing her to control her image and get away with wearing outrageous outfits as this is the hyper reality presented to us for Lady Gaga. Furthermore, with the creation of a hyper – real version of herself, she is able to keep attention away from the reality of her everyday life.

Intertextual referencing is another key aspect into the bravado of Lady Gaga and this factor is used in almost every one of her videos. In relation to the “Telephone”video, Gaga calls Beyonce “Honey Bee” which is indirectly a reference to “honey bunny” who is a character in Quintin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Moreover, the label of “pussy wagon” on the car they drive is taken from “Kill Bill” where the same name is used. These intertextual references give the audience something to relate to, but also makes the original content and boosts her image.

To conclude, bricolage is another major influence on Lady Gaga’s persona and it could also be argued that the way she dresses alone is a bricolage due to the fact that it is so outrageous and creates a totally different image. Bricolage could also be denoted in her video “paparazzi” where she uses the iconic signifier of a cup and saucer and continues to style herself around that item. This has then become an iconic signifier of Lady Gaga, therefore highlighting a new image of an item has led to have a different meaning.