There is no real You, only a collection of fragments. You as a concept is unstable and schizophrenic. You are an ongoing project.
Source of anxiety: we don’t know who we are on a fundamental level. Source of Exhilaration : We are free to construct ourselves.
The rise of new media technologies:
Conflicting views of events problematise our notion of the truth. Who has the authority to tell us who we are?
Multitude of images from the media provide frames for organising our reality – we have too many possible selves to choose from.
There is no cohesive identity, no real you there is no truth in history (personal or national); memory cannot be relied upon as evidence for knowledge. Fiction and fact depend on each other to the point that they can’t be divided. Knowledge doesn’t add up cohesively to truth, too many contradictory elements.
Rhizomatic thought — rhizomes are plant life that don’t follow the root-tree system e.g fungus or mould. There is no lesser or greater elements. if you destroy the centre of a mould the rest doesn’t die.
Gilles Deleuze philosopher and film critic, worked with a radical psychoanalyst called Felix Guattari to write some of the most impenetrable but insightful books attacking what we think of common sense.
relativism and a focus on ideology in the maintenance of economic and political power
Pastiche
A serious parody, using elements from original
Parody
the film talks about the film at the end when different characters talk about their own characterisation, acting, role in the narrative etc
Bricolage
skill of using whatever is at hand and recombining all that to create something new.
Intertextuality
relationship between different texts
Referential
the film talking about the film is REFERENTIAL (ie it refers to itself), for example when they are passionate and Allegro tells (us?) what the function of this scene is. Also at the end when each character analyses each character – motivation, script, narrative function etc
Metanarrative
Hyperreality
Baudrillard suggests we live in a world that is ‘real’ but not really ‘real’ we can see that in the film in that we are never quite sure what is the real world or the game world?
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’)
Baudrillard suggests that we live in copies of copies of the real world (?) but not really ‘real’ and we see this in the film because there are so many layers of game
Consumerist Society
Society where meaning is based on the desire and consumption of material things
Fragmentary Identities
Alienation
Implosion
sudden failure or collapse of an organization or system.
Postmodernism can be seen as reimagining and copying things off others. In regards to art its the modern version of the earlier version but still copied from previous work.
Pastiche – the work of art, drama, literature, music or architecture that imitates the work of the artist.
Parody – is work or a performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony.
Bricolage – ‘involves the rearrangement and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning’
Intertextuality
Referential
Surface and style over substance and content
Metanarrative
Hyperreality – nothings really real or new as we always copy off something from earlier years.
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – imitation of a situation or process an image or representation of someone or something.
Consumerist Society – a society in which people often buy new goods, especially goods that they do not need, and in which a high value is placed on owning many things
Fragmentary Identities –
Alienation
Implosion
cultural appropriation
Reflexivity
Richard Hoggart (Uses of Literacy) noted the shift in modern societies particularly the impact on our ‘neighbourhood lives’, which was ‘an extremely local life, in which everything is remarkably near’
created a high polarized class division between the rich / the really super rich and the poor / underclass (ie the really, really poor) made possible through the rapid increase of new forms of technological developments.
consumption by its very nature bolsters a self-centred individualism which is the basis for stable and secure identities. Strinati (238)
Putting it very simply, the transition from substance to style is linked to a transition from production to consumption. STRINATI (235)
‘In a postmodern world, surfaces and style become the most important defining features of the mass media and popular culture’ Strinati (234).
STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE. could be applied to both ghost town and letter to the free.
The loss of a metanarrative – ‘overarching story’ 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
The process of fragmentation is a key element of POSTMODERN CULTURE. The notion of separating, splitting up and dividing previously homogeneous groups such as, friends, the family, the neighbourhood, the local community, the town, the county, the country and importantly, is often linked to the process of fragmented identity construction.
Think about mobile telephony which is now able to construct multiple possibilities identities, at multiple moments in time and space. Think about the way we construct, our (multiple) digital identities, visable and varying across different digital platforms – work identity, social identity, family identity etc, which is most often not consistent with our analogue (human?) identity – look for example, at your profile pictures? This links to the work of David Gauntlet that we have looked at earlier in the course.
Fragmentary communities.
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). As John Urry comments, this was ‘life centred upon groups of known streets’ where there was ‘relatively little separation of production and consumption‘ (2014:76).
Urry goes on to note that the global population grew during the twentieth century from 2 to 6 billion, it’s now at 8 billion with some reports suggesting it will hit 9 million by 2037. This has given rise to mega-cities. Rather than forming mass centres of communal, shared living, such mega-cities often create more isoloation, more individualism, more fractured and alienated individuals struggling to survive and keep alive.
For many this is reflective of the new global economy (globalisation), which has created a high polarized class division between the rich / the really super rich and the poor / underclass (ie the really, really poor) made possible through the rapid increase of new forms of technological developments.
As such, another characteristic of POSTMODERN CULTURE is the emergence of FRAGMENTED COMMUNITIES. So if we are all so fragmented (communities and individuals) the only solution we have is OURSELVES . . . or INDIVIDUALISM.
Pastiche – a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
Parody – an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
Bricolage – Bricolage is a technique or creative mode, where works are constructed from various materials available or on hand, and is often seen as a characteristic of postmodern art practice.
Intertextuality – can be a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
Referential –
Surface and style over substance and content –
Metanarrative – theory that tries to give a totalizing, comprehensive account to various historical events, experiences, and social, cultural phenomena based upon the appeal to universal truth or universal values.
Hyperreality – something that give a representation of characters that aren’t socially normal or acceptable. eg disney world. exaggerated otherness
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – an image or representation of someone or something
Consumerist Society – a society in which people often buy new goods, especially goods that they do not need, and in which a high value is placed on owning many things.
Pastiche = a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
Parody = an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
Bricolage = the process of improvisation in a human endeavor
Intertextuality = can be a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
Referential= of, containing, or constituting a reference
Surface and style over substance and content= although someone looks immaculately dressed or styled, behind the facade, there is no substance or content.
Metanarrative= concerns narratives of historical meaning, experience or knowledge and offers legitimation of such through the anticipated completion of some master idea
Hyperreality= the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’)
Consumerist Society= a society in which people often buy new goods, especially goods that they do not need, and in which a high value is placed on owning many things.
Fragmentary Identities= multidisciplinary collaboration, involving visual communication, performative arts and fashion
Alienation= a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object or position of former attachment
Implosion= a situation in which something fails suddenly and completely, or the fact of this happening
Cultural appropriation= an inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.
Reflexivity= the fact of someone being able to examine their own feelings, reactions, and motives
Deconstructive postmodernism = deconstructionism is a challenge to the attempt to establish any ultimate or secure meaning in a text.
Hyperreality. something that give a representation of characters that aren’t socially normal or acceptable. eg disney world. exaggerated otherness
simulation. takes us to another place
consumerist society. purchases products frequently. material wealth.
fragmentary identities
alienation. lost from society
Pastiche
Parody
the film talks about the film at the end when different characters talk about their own characterisation, acting, role in the narrative etc
Bricolage
Intertextuality
Referential
the film talking about the film is REFERENTIAL (ie it refers to itself), for example when they are passionate and Allegro tells (us?) what the function of this scene is. Also at the end when each character analyses each character – motivation, script, narrative function etc
Surface and style over substance and content
The look of the film over the actual content of what is in it.
Metanarrative
Hyperreality
Baudrillard suggests we live in a world that is ‘real’ but not really ‘real’ we can see that in the film in that we are never quite sure what is the real world or the game world?
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’)
Baudrillard suggests that we live in copies of copies of the real world (?) but not really ‘real’ and we see this in the film because there are so many layers of game
Consumerist Society
Fragmentary Identities
The actors perform multi-rolling in the film showing fragmented identity. The film was also fragmented into sections that is intended to confuse their audience. (link to reflexivity)
Alienation
Alienation is evident within the film when
Implosion
It was thought that the ‘pod’ had imploded which was not the case due to the whole experience surprisingly being a game.
Cultural appropriation
Reflexivity
In the film reflexivity is displayed when the characters seemingly come out of the game at the end of the film and speak about their game characters and experiences.
Parody – An imitation of another’s style, with comic effect
Bricolage – Something constructed from a large range of aspects
Intertextuality – The relationship between texts, especially literary ones
Referential – Containing nature or reference to illusions
Surface and style over substance and content
Metanarrative
Hyperreality
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’)
Consumerist Society
Fragmentary Identities
Alienation
Implosion
cultural appropriation
Reflexivity
Postmodernism: Where all ideologies and realities are questioned
Pastiche
An imitation of another’s style
Parody
An imitation of another’s style, with comic effect. The film talks about the film at the end when different characters talk about their own characterisation, acting, role in the narrative etc
Bricolage
construction or creation from a diverse range of available sources
Intertextuality
The relationship between texts, especially literary ones
Referential
the film talking about the film is REFERENTIAL (ie it refers to itself), for example when they are passionate and Allegro tells (us?) what the function of this scene is. Also at the end when each character analyses each character – motivation, script, narrative function etc
Surface and style over substance and content
Metanarrative
A narrative which concerns narratives of historical meaning, experience or knowledge and offers legitimation of such through the anticipated completion of some master idea
Hyperreality
Baudrillard suggests we live in a world that is ‘real’ but not really ‘real’ we can see that in the film in that we are never quite sure what is the real world or the game world?
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’)
Baudrillard suggests that we live in copies of copies of the real world (?) but not really ‘real’ and we see this in the film because there are so many layers of game
Consumerist Society
A community in which individuals dedicate a large amount of time and effort to consuming
Fragmentary Identities
Alienation
The separation of human beings from some essential aspect of their nature or from society, often resulting in feelings of powerlessness or helplessness. Feeling distanced from family, friends and work is a common symptom of feeling alienated.
Pastiche – A copy that could be art, literature or tv, in a serious way
Parody – Something that mocks art, literature or the media, made for comedy purposes
Bricolage – construction or creation from a diverse range of available things.
Intertextuality – a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
Referential – relating to a referent, in particular having the external world rather than a text or language as a referent
Surface and style over substance and content –
Metanarrative- A metanarrative is a narrative about narratives of historical meaning, experience, or knowledge/drawing attention to the process of storytelling
Hyperreality-where audiences cant tell the difference from reality and non-reality.
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – something that replaces reality with representation.
Consumerist Society – hedonism.
Fragmentary Identities- exploration of the fragmentation and reconstruction of identity in the modern age.
Alienation- feeling withdrawn or ostracised within society.
Implosion- Best and Kellner summarize Baudrillards theory: distinctions implode between classes, political ideologies, cultural forms, and between media semiurgy and the real itself
cultural appropriation-
Reflexivity-a metaphor for the ontological questioning, discussion, and anxiety of the present age.
Postmodernism: Where all ideologies and beliefs are questioned.
The Love Box In Your Living Room – Parody
3 reasons why it’s a parody.
4:11 clip used for comedic affect.
Pastiche
Parody
The end scene includes the characters critiquing the film.
Bricolage
ExistenZ had a $31 budget so had a wide range of tools available. Also exhibited theories such as Baudrillard’s simulation theory and Stuart Hall’s Encoding and decoding model.
Intertextuality
The film has a postmodern outlook while supporting the idea of Baudrillards simulation theory , other films also support these ideas(The Matrix 1999)
Referential
The film refers to itself
Surface and style over substance and content
Metanarrative
Hyperreality
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’)
Consumerist Society
Fragmentary Identities
Alienation
Implosion
cultural appropriation
Reflexivity
Postmodernism Notes
Urry goes on to note that the global population grew during the twentieth century from 2 to 6 billion, it’s now at 8 billion with some reports suggesting it will hit 9 million by 2037. This has given rise to mega-cities. Rather than forming mass centres of communal, shared living, such mega-cities often create more isoloation, more individualism, more fractured and alienated individuals struggling to survive and keep alive.
Another characteristic of POSTMODERNISM is the creation, development and concentration of high consumption, with a displacement of both consumption and production that has radically altered the nature of societies and individuals living in them. This approach in terms of postmodernism is associated with Fredric Jameson‘s 1984 essay, and subsequently 1991 book; Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism which located postmodern culture (for example, music videos) in the expression of a new phase of capitalism, one which was aggressively consumerist, rampantly commodifying all of society as potential new markets for INDIVIDUALISED, ISOLATED, PERSONAL PLEASURE AND GAIN.
Surface and style over substance(Postmodernism)
‘in a postmodern world, surfaces and style become the most important defining features of the mass media and popular culture‘
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’
Characters and their roles (hero, villain, helper, princess, false hero, father)
Claude Levi-Strauss(Binary Oppositions)
Creates a dominant message (ideology) of a film. However, as mentioned previously, the way in which individual students / audience members decode specific texts, is also contingent on their own individual ideas, attitudes and beliefs
Binary Oppositions
Narrative is a structure of themes that relays a dominant message
Todorov:
Equilibrium, Disruption, New Equilibrium
Frame stories (stories within stories)
Single character transformations: The idea that characters follow a journey that leads to a realisation, changed personality. Linking to Ancient Greek narrative structures:
paradigm of dramatic structure outlining the seven key steps in successful storytelling: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement.
exposition – the background information that is given at the beginning of a story about the characters, setting etc…
inciting incident – the narrative event which launches the main action
rising action – the bulk of the plot which builds up to the climax
climax – the turning point or crisis in a narrative which is often the highest point of interes
falling action – when the climax begins to resolve
resolution – when the climax is resolved
denouement – when conflict in a plot is resolved and the plot concludes
Aristotle
Catharsis-Aristotle describes catharsis as the purging of the emotions of pity and fear that are aroused in the viewer of a tragedy
Peripetia– Peripeteia is the reversal from one state of affairs to its opposite
Anagnorisis– a change from ignorance to knowledge
3 Unities : Time, Place, Action. The idea that a narrative should be consistent and should encompass the same place, time frame and plot/action.
Roland Barthes
He came up with the ideology that narratives are often made up of action and thinking or talking about action. Barthes came up with two different codes to distinguish these.
Enigmas are puzzles that keep the audience engaged with the narrative. Enigma code is the way in which ideas are raised. How they keep the audience wanting more.
Postmodernism is the idea that individuals copy each other to form a similar version of what they are trying to portray and change into a more different style to form a different truth.
Pastiche = a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
Parody = a work of art, drama, literature or music that imitates/mocks the work of a previous artist with ridicule or irony.
Bricolage = Bricolage is a technique or creative mode, where works are constructed from various materials available or on hand, and is often seen as a characteristic of postmodern art practice.
Intertextuality = can be a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
Referential
Surface and style over substance and content
Metanarrative
Hyperreality
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’)
Consumerist Society
Fragmentary Identities – he notion of separating, splitting up and dividing previously homogeneous groups such as, friends, the family, the neighbourhood, the local community, the
Alienation
Implosion
cultural appropriation
Reflexivity
Deconstructive postmodernism = expresses the consequences of an idealism that has taken the linguistic turn and then has seen through the language
18;44 edited sellotape over mouths
The play on “Top Gear’s Smallest car episode” with the small 1 seater car joke.
margrat thatcher played as a man
there is an argument that postmodern culture is a consumer culture, where the emphasis on style eclipses the emphasis on utility or need. So that ultimately there is no real value to postmodern culture other than the need for consumption. If this is the case, then it is possible to link postmodernist cultural expression with broader shifts in society, specifically around economics and politics. individualism
e creation, development and concentration of high consumption, with a displacement of both consumption and production that has radically altered the nature of societies and individuals living in them. This approach in terms of postmodernism is associated with Fredric Jameson‘s
