(copied from DrM post)

Fragmentary individuals.

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.

1. Pastiche – a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
2. Parody – an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
3. 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.
4. Intertextuality – can be a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
5. Referential –
6. Surface and style over substance and content –
7. 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.
8. Hyperreality – something that give a representation of characters that aren’t socially normal or acceptable. eg disney world. exaggerated otherness
9. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’)  – an image or representation of someone or something
10. 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.
11. Fragmentary Identities –
12. Alienation –
13. Implosion –
14. cultural appropriation –
15. Reflexivity –

Key Terms

1. Pastiche =  a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
2. Parody =  an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
3. Bricolage = the process of improvisation in a human endeavor
4. Intertextuality = can be a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
5. Referential= of, containing, or constituting a reference
6. Surface and style over substance and content= although someone looks immaculately dressed or styled, behind the facade, there is no substance or content.
7. Metanarrative=  concerns narratives of historical meaning, experience or knowledge and offers legitimation of such through the anticipated completion of some master idea
8. Hyperreality= the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality
9. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) 
10. 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.
11. Fragmentary Identities= multidisciplinary collaboration, involving visual communication, performative arts and fashion
12. Alienation= a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object or position of former attachment
13. Implosion=  a situation in which something fails suddenly and completely, or the fact of this happening
14. 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.
15. Reflexivity= the fact of someone being able to examine their own feelings, reactions, and motives
16. 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.

1. Pastiche – An imitation of another’s style
2. Parody – An imitation of another’s style, with comic effect
3. Bricolage – Something constructed from a large range of aspects
4. Intertextuality – The relationship between texts, especially literary ones
5. Referential – Containing nature or reference to illusions
6. Surface and style over substance and content
7. Metanarrative
8. Hyperreality
9. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) 
10. Consumerist Society
11. Fragmentary Identities
12. Alienation
13. Implosion
14. cultural appropriation
15. 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.
Implosion
cultural appropriation
Reflexivity

1. Pastiche – A copy that could be art, literature or tv, in a serious way
2. Parody – Something that mocks art, literature or the media, made for comedy purposes
3. Bricolage  –  construction or creation from a diverse range of available things.
4. Intertextuality – a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
5. Referential – relating to a referent, in particular having the external world rather than a text or language as a referent
6. Surface and style over substance and content –
7. Metanarrative- A metanarrative is a narrative about narratives of historical meaning, experience, or knowledge/drawing attention to the process of storytelling
8. Hyperreality-where audiences cant tell the difference from reality and non-reality.
9. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – something that replaces reality with representation.
10. Consumerist Society – hedonism.
11. Fragmentary Identities- exploration of the fragmentation and reconstruction of identity in the modern age.
12. Alienation- feeling withdrawn or ostracised within society.
13. Implosion- Best and Kellner summarize Baudrillards theory: distinctions implode between classes, political ideologies, cultural forms, and between media semiurgy and the real itself 
14. cultural appropriation-
15. 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.

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’

Narrative Theory Quick Recap

Linear, Chronological, Sequential, Circular, Narrative arc, foreshadowing,

Vladimir Propp (Character Types and Function)

uses STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories (e.g. hero, villain, helper, victim, false hero, princess, dispatcher)

• Stock characters
• Narratemes
• 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:

Barthes:

• Semiotics
• Hermeneutic code = Dialogue, character, reflection
• Proairetic code = Action and movement
• Enigmas = Puzzles, keeping the audience guessing

Freytag’s Pyramid:

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.

• Proairetic code = Action, movement
• Hermenuetic code = Dialogue, character, reflection

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.

1. Pastiche =  a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
2. Parody =  a work of art, drama, literature or music that imitates/mocks the work of a previous artist with ridicule or irony.
3. 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.
4. Intertextuality = can be a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
5. Referential
6. Surface and style over substance and content
7. Metanarrative
8. Hyperreality
9. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) 
10. Consumerist Society
11. Fragmentary Identities – he notion of separating, splitting up and dividing previously homogeneous groups such as, friends, the family, the neighbourhood, the local community, the
12. Alienation
13. Implosion
14. cultural appropriation
15. Reflexivity
16. 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

Postmodernism is a theory in which the differences between reality and fantasy are small and hard to distinguish.

1. Pastiche – A serious method of producing art where another artists work is replicated and built off of.
2. Parody – An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
3. Bricolage – Something constructed or created from a diverse range of things.
4. Intertextuality
5. Referential
6. Surface and style over substance and content
7. Metanarrative
8. Hyperreality – Being unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
9. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – Where events are played out as if they are real when in fact they are not.
10. Consumerist Society – A society where people buy unnecessary things and possessions are seen as power.
11. Fragmentary Identities – Where identity of individuals is not fixed and can be reconstructed and the effect this has.
12. Alienation – Disconnection from a group and turning against what you once stood for.
13. Implosion
14. cultural appropriation
15. Reflexivity

I think that The Love Box in your Living Room is a parody because it presents factual elements of the BBC alongside codes and conventions one would usually find in a comedy product such as rude words, informal dialogue and lookalikes.

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
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? “Tell me the truth, are we still in the game?” – Shows an inability to discern reality from fantasy.
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	In ExistenZ the characters have many fragmented identities between their “real” selves and their game characters
Alienation	In ExistenZ there is a denial from the waiter that the game is real and the alienation ha come to fruition.
Implosion	The implosion begins in the film when the two players kill the designer.
cultural appropriation

1. Pastiche =  a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist.
2. Parody =  an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
3. Bricolage = (in art or literature) construction or creation from a diverse range of available things
4. Intertextuality = can be a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style.
5. Referential
6. Surface and style over substance and content
7. Metanarrative
8. Hyperreality= the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality
9. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) 
10. 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.
11. Fragmentary Identities= multidisciplinary collaboration, involving visual communication, performative arts and fashion
12. Alienation= a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object or position of former attachment
13. Implosion=  a situation in which something fails suddenly and completely, or the fact of this happening
14. cultural appropriation
15. Reflexivity= the fact of someone being able to examine their own feelings, reactions, and motives
16. Deconstructive postmodernism = expresses the consequences of an idealism that has taken the linguistic turn and then has seen through the language

Postmodernism: The rework and copy of other works that may or may not be adapted to differ slightly. An emphasis on ideologies as a motive to maintain political power.

An intellectual stance or mode of discourse which challenges worldviews associated with Enlightenment rationality dating back to the 17th century. Postmodernism is associated with relativism and a focus on ideology in the maintenance of economic and political power.

 “in this era every women were called vera or lyn”

cellotape on mouths 18:44

lord reith big eyebrows making fun

Where there is marks may we bring spencers

Margaret Thatcher played as a man

Postmodernism notes

Postmodernism can therefore be understood (more than other creative movements) as deliberate, intended, self-conscious play (about play?), signs about signs, notes to notes? Often, this may be frivolous, trite, casual, surface, throw-away. It may even be ironic, joking, or literally, ‘just playing’. However, it is always a deliberate copy (of the old). Therefore, the old has been re-worked into something new, which clearly entails a recognition (a nod and a wink) to what it was and where it came from.

 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

Putting it very simply, the transition from substance to style is linked to a transition from production to consumption.