POSTMODERNISM Owen, Rachel, Mary, Jessica, Ty, Elvira

WHAT IS POSTMODERNISM?• Culture and Society

• Mass media and popular culture as powerful institutions

• How can reality be defined?

• An emphasis on style at the expense of substance• ‘designer ideology’

• Art and popular culture• The distinction between art and popular culture• Mona Lisa print

WHAT IS POSTMODERNISM CONT.

Confusions over time and space• The growing immediacy of global space and time

The decline of metanarratives• What is a metanarrative?• The rejection of metanarratives by postmodernism

WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU THINK ANDY WARHOL IS TRYING TO CONVEY IN THIS ARTWORK?

HOW DOES IT RELATE TO THE MEANING OF POPULAR CULTURE AND HIGH ART?

CONTEMPORARY POP CULTURE AND POSTMODERNISM• Architecture

• Groups of architects have identified themselves as modernist or postmodernist

• Modern architecture radically rejected all previous forms of architecture. It insisted that buildings and architecture be created anew according to rational and scientific principles

• Postmodernism is characterized by highly ornate, elaborately designed, contextualized and brightly colored buildings.

• Cinema• Postmodern films emphasize style, spectacle, special effects

and images, at the expense of content, character, substance, narrative and social comment.

• Special effect come to the forefront with directors like Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay

• Television• Is a postmodern medium in its own right, basically a collage of

shows and advertisements that make up the programming on the channel.

• Miami Vice is an example of postmodern programming, it is reliant on style and surface

CINEMA

1. Inception Trailer - Blurs between space and time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hP9D6kZseM 2. Black Swan - Changes in cinema: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVO6VGqfWwQ

How does Inception relate to confusion over space and time in the postmodernism theory?

Any other examples??

POP MUSIC

1. Etta James "Something's Got a Hold of Me": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwQZp3s0HzM2. Pretty Lights "Finally Moving": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk9XYQMRiLY3. Flo Rida - "Good Feeling": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OnnDqH6Wj8

What is the main similarity between each of these songs that links them together?

What are the differences between these song and how do they relate to postmodernism theory?

Any other examples??

CONTEMPORARY POP CULTURE AND POSTMODERNISM

Advertising Advertising used to tell us how valuable and useful a product was.

They now say less about a product directly, and are more focused on humor and entertainment.

Pop MusicDubstep, House Music, music mixing are all forms of Postmodern pop music.

EMERGENCE OF POSTMODERNISM Consumerism & media- saturation Shift of capitalism from production to consumption Work ethic vs. Leisure/ Consumer ethic Importance of mass media

New middle-class occupations ‘postmodern’ occupations: develop & promote postmodern popular culture

Ex. Advertising, marketing, design, architecture, journalism

Erosion of Identity Increasing fragmentation of personal identities Declining traditional sources of identities

THE LIMITS OF POSTMODERNISM

Looking critically at some of the central arguments of the theory:

Idea of Mass Media taking over reality Identifying the importance of this claim and supporting it with empirical evidence

Other factors that contribute to the construction of “reality”

Popular media culture regulating consumption Media reality Vs. actual reality

THE LIMITS OF POSTMODERNISM Theorists who think postmodernism is emerging show the same anxiety and fear expressed by mass culture and the Frankfurt School

What has changed? Attention to peoples daily lives Metanarritives are declining Time and space Art and pop culture

Change in the cinema

RECENT THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENTS

Discourse and Popular Culture Splits audiences in to specific groups

The ‘dialogue’ approach to Pop Culture Contract between texts and audiences

Cultural Populism Peoples experiences and practices create culture, culture isn't imposed on people