Postmodernism can be understood as a philosophy that is characterised by concepts such as RE-IMAGINING, PASTICHE, PARODY, COPY, BRICOLAGE. It’s an approach towards understanding, knowledge, life, being, art, technology, culture, sociology, philosophy, politics and history that is REFERENTIAL – in that it often refers to and often copies other things in order to understand itself.

 As Shuker notes, two points are frequently made about music videos: ‘their preoccupation with visual style, and associated with this, their status as key exemplars of ‘postmodern’ texts.’ (2001:167). Shuker refers Fredric Jameson’s (1984) notion of the ‘metanarrative’ (discussed in more detail below) that ’embody the postmodern condition’ (168). For example, the fragmentary, decentred nature of music videos that break up traditional understandings of time and space so that audiences are ‘no longer able to distinguish ‘fiction’ from ‘reality’, part of the postmodern condition’ (ibid). Alongside their similarity to adverts (essentially the music video is a commercial tool to sell music products) ‘making them part of a blatantly consumerist culture‘ (ibid). And of course, the ‘considerable evidence of pastiche, intertextuality and eclecticism‘

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

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.

‘in a postmodern world, surfaces and style become the most important defining features of the mass media and popular culture‘ (Strinati: 234)

In 1959, Richard Hoggart (Uses of Literacy) 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‘ (1959:46).  Urry goes on to note 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’ (97). Thus, a characteristic of modern (postmodern?) societies, is the creation, development and concentration of centres of high consumption, with a displacement of both consumption and production that has radically altered the nature of societies and individuals living in them. Postmodern culture is more about consumption and we are more displaced in postmodern culture

Fragmentary consumption = Fragementary identities.

As an example, mobile telephony (both hardware and software) now appears to proliferate and connect every aspect of our lives, and generally does so from the perspective of consumption – consuming images, sounds, stories, messages etc – rather than production. We don’t make mobile phones, mobile networks (hardware) or Apps, content and platforms (software).

 Jean Baudrillard – Implosion

Another way to understand this approach is to reflect on the emergence of, often off-shore, leisure and theme parks which are ‘highly commercialised, with many simulated environments more ‘real’ than the original from which they are copied’ (Urry 2014:81). Illustrating this point with references to ‘newly constructed sites of consumption excess’ (79) Urry highlights Macao described as ‘a laboratory of consumption, as the Chinese learn to be individualised consumers of goods and services being generated on an extraordinary scale’ (81). Or Dubai, which up to 1960 was one of the poorest places on earth and yet by the 2000’s was the number one global site for ostentatious shopping’ and other forms of hyppereal consumption – a domed ski resort, and copies of the ‘real’ more perfect than the originals – the pyramids, Taj Mahal, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a snow mountain etc.

Fredric Jameson claimed that Postmodernism is characterized by pastiche rather than parody which represents a crisis in historicity. 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 characterised by pastiche (not parody) and as such, suffers from a crisis in historicity.

This links to Jean-Francois Lyotard’s proposition that postmodernism holds an ‘incredulity towards meta-narratives‘ (1979:7) those overarching ideas, attitudes, values and beliefs that have held us together in a shared belief, For example, the belief in religion, science, capitalism, communism, revolution, war, peace and so on. Lyotard points out that no one seemed to agree on what, if anything, was real and everyone had their own perspective and story. We have become alert to difference, diversity, the incompatibility of our aspirations, beliefs and desires, and for that reason postmodernity is characterised by an abundance of micronarratives.

1. Pastiche: A pastiche is a work that imitates other works in a positive way, such as a homage or inspiration. 
2. Parody: A work that imitates another work with the intent of irony or ridicule.
3. Bricolage: A collection of works that are brought together in the creation of one work.
4. Intertextuality: The connection between different texts and the influence of some texts to other texts. When other texts appear in texts by different people it is an example of intertextuality.
5. Meta-narrative: The loss of a meta-narrative is described as a loss of overarching ideas, attitudes and values. So a meta-narrative is the overarching ideas in society.
6. Hyper-reality: The idea of Baudrillard that our reality is non-existent but hyper-reality exists built on simulations.
7. Simulacrum: Simulations on which our hyper-reality is based – based on representations of familiar things.
8. Consumerist Society: A society that is based on consuming products more than production. In a consumerist society, people are often fragmented and focus on themselves and their own aspirations.
9. Fragmentary Identities: Refers to the idea that in postmodern culture we are disconnected from our local societies and the people within them.
10. Implosion: The idea from Jean Baudrillard in which Society would collapse if we continue to only focus on surface elements.
11. Cultural Appropriation: The use of other cultures by people of different cultures (often more dominant ones) outside their original cultural contexts. This is an example of how dominant cultures often use aspects of disadvantaged cultures without appreciation for those cultures.
12. Reflexivity: The deliberate self-conscious technique of drawing attention to the process of creating something.