Postmodernism can be understood as a philosophy, a way of seeing the world. It is possible to understand postmodernism as a complicated and fragmentary set of inter-relationships, a practice of re-imagining, pastiche, bricolage and self-referentiality.

Definitions:

1. Pastiche –  a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist
2. Parody –  a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony
3. Bricolage  – bricolage involves the rearrangement and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning
4. Intertextuality –  it suggests signs only have meaning in reference to other signs and that meaning is therefore a complex process of decoding/encoding  /  the concept that the meaning of a text does not reside in the text, but is produced by the reader in relation not only to the text in question, but also the complex network of texts invoked in the reading process.
5. Metanarrative – a narrative about narratives of historical meaning, experience, or knowledge, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a master idea.
6. Hyperreality – an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies.
7. Simulacrum – a representation or imitation of a person or thing.
8. Conumerist Society – A consumerist society is one in which people devote a great deal of time, energy, resources and thought to “consuming”
9. Fragmentary Identities –
10. Implosion – a process in which objects are destroyed by collapsing on themselves
11. cultural appropriation – the adoption of an element or elements of one culture by members of another culture.
12. Reflexivity – reflexivity refers to circular relationships between cause and effect, especially as embedded in human belief structures

Parody VS Pastiche

PARODY: imitates something with the intention of ridicule or irony

PASTICHE: a reference/imitation to something else, e.g. inspired by another artist

Intertextuality: surface signs, gestures and play

Shuker writes in his book about music videos that they are seen as postmodern because of ‘their preoccupation with visual style’, there is a fragmentary, decentred nature of music videos.

Surface and style over substance

If it the priority is play, then the emphasis is on the surface, in other words, if the main focus is the idea of just connecting one product to another, then the focus is superficial, shallow, lacking depth, so ‘in a postmodern world, surfaces and style become the most important defining features of the mass media and popular culture’

 Richard Hoggart

wrote a book called Uses of Literacy which noted the shift in modern societies particularly the impact on our ‘neighborhood lives’, which was ‘an extremely local life, in which everything is remarkably near‘.

John Urry noted that ‘because the global population grew during the twentieth century from 2 to 6 billion. Cities, towns, villages and houses all became high-consuming energy centres’ 

Fragmentary consumption = Fragmentary identities.

The process of fragmented consumption separating, splitting up and dividing previously homogeneous groups such as, friends, the family, the neighborhood, the local community, the town, the county, the country and importantly, is often linked to the process of fragmented identity construction. 

the transition from substance to style is linked to a transition from production to consumption.

the focus on FRAGMENTATION OF IDENTITY is characterised and linked to an increase of consumption and the proliferation of new forms of digital technologies.

key characteristic of postmodernism is the development of fragmented, alienated individuals living (precariously) in fragmented societies.

The loss of a metanarrative

METANARRATIVE: a narrative about narratives of historical meaning, experience, or knowledge, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a master idea.

 From a societal perspective the ‘real’ seems to be imploding in on itself, a ‘process leading to the collapse of boundaries between the real and simulations’ (Barker & Emma, 2015:242). A process which the French intellectual Jean Baudrillard would describe as IMPLOSION which gives rise to what he terms SIMULACRA

SIMULACRUM

1. Pastiche = a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist
2. Parody = a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony
3. Bricolage = the rearrangment and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning
4. Intertextuality=  signs only have meaning in reference to other signs and that meaning is therefore a complex process of decoding/encoding with individuals both taking and creating meaning in the process of reading texts
5. Metanarrative=  a narrative about narratives of historical meaning, experience, or knowledge
6. Hyperreality= an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality
7. Simulacrum= an image or representation of someone or something
8. Conumerist Society= one in which people devote a great deal of time, energy, resources and thought to “consuming”
9. Fragmentary Identities = the development of fragmented, alienated individuals living (precariously) in fragmented societies.
10. Implosion= a sudden failure or collapse of an organization or system
11. cultural appropriation=  the adoption of an element or elements of one culture by members of another culture
12. Reflexivity= the examination of one’s own beliefs, judgments and practices…reflexivity is about what we do with this knowledge.

Letter to the free

Q1:How can you apply the concept of Orientalism to Common’s Letter to the Free?

Orientalism is a theory which suggests how people from the west view those from the east which involves stereotyping, prejudges and racism.

This has many similarities to the relationship between black and white which Common emphasises through both video and lyrics. The video and lyrics both show a pejorative view on stereotyping

Q2: Can you apply Fanon’s 3 phase plan of action to this music video?

The setting of a prison is showing Common’s recognition of where black people originated. His lyrics show his idea of being ‘the other’ ‘of having black and brown bodies fill them’ working round the idea of the pronoun ‘them’

Q3: How is the audience called / addressed / hailed (interpellated)? Use examples from both the lyrics and the visual grammar (shot, edit, mise-en-scene) to show how audiences are drawn into a specific subject position / ideological framework?

Ghost town

• Q1: Where can you identify ‘hybridity’, ‘ambiguity’ and ‘cultural polyvalency’ in this music video?

-Hybridity= A cross between two races and cultures

-Ambiguity= Open to more than one interpretation

-Cultural poly valency= Being part of more than one culture

Hybridity and cultural polyvalency are shown in the genre of the music. The specials was a two tone band who produced two tone music (a mix between ska and punk music). They are also shown through the different ethnicities of the band themselves.

• Q2: How does this text apply to Fanon’s 3 phase plan of action?

• Q3: How is the audience called / addressed / hailed (interpellation)? Use examples from both the lyrics and the visual grammar (shot, edit, mise-en-scene) to show how audiences are drawn into a specific subject position / ideological framework?

In ghost town the lyrics, genre of the piece and the mise en scene all mirror each other and create a sense of boredom