post-modernism is a philosophy which means it is a way of seeing the world.

Parody v Pastiche 

pastiche is a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist

parody is a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony

Bricolage is a useful term to apply to postmodernist texts as it ‘involves the rearrangement and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning’ (Barker & Jane, 2016:237).

Similarly, Inter-sexuality is another useful term to use, as it suggests 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. In other words . . .

There is an idea that we live in a fake-news society that

the focus on FRAGMENTATION OF IDENTITY is characterized and linked to an increase of consumption and the proliferation of new forms of digital technologies. In effect, another key characteristic of postmodernism is the development of fragmented, alienated individuals living (precariously) in fragmented societies.

The loss of Meta-narrative

claimed that Postmodernism is characterized by Pastiche rather than Parody which represents a crisis in historic. Jameson argued that parody implies a moral judgment or a comparison with previous societal norms. Whereas pastiche, such as collage and other forms of juxtaposition, occur without a normative grounding and as such, do not make comment on a specific historical moment. As such, Jameson argues that the postmodern era is characterized by pastiche (not parody) and as such, suffers from a crisis in historicity.

A way of understanding this comes from Baudrillard’s provocative 1991 book The Gulf War Did Not Take Place which suggests that not only was our experience and understanding of this war a ‘mediated reality’, but it was also constructed as a media experience to the extent that reality did not match mediation. Put another way, the media was used to construct and propagate a myth about this conflict. Similarly, we can look at the the Twin towers terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 which were organised as a media event, suggesting perhaps that reality only exists as a mediated experience?