I. POSTMODERNISM A. Means many things, ranging from social conditions to a critical perspective B. The "modern" period occurred during & after the Enlightenment 1. Rise of the individual & the beginnings of capitalism & industrialism 2. Associated with writers like James Joyce, Marcel Proust, T.S. Eliot, & William Faulkner 3. Connected to artists like Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, along with Dadaism & surrealism 4. In music, modernist composers include Igor Stravinsky & Bela Bartok

Postmodernism, con’t. C. Postmodern refers to 4 interrelated phenomenon (Denzin, 1991): 1. An artistic, aesthetic movement called postmodernism (seen in media & architecture, as well as traditional art forms) 2. A historical transformation of society following World War II 3. A new form of theorizing about the contemporary historical moment 4. Social, cultural, & economic life under late capitalism D. Influential postmodern theorists include Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault & Jean- Francoise Lyotard

Postmodernism, con’t. E. Some key concepts: 1. Truth & knowledge a. Postmodernism disavows truth, especially the notion of absolutes & universals. b. Knowledge is a discourse that becomes an accepted statement of truth, or "metanarrative“ 1) Metanarratives set their own criteria or standards for what counts as truth (e.g. science) 2) Must be skeptical about metanarratives c. Postmodernism also attacks the law of non- contradiction (that an object cannot be both A & not A), seeing it as an instrument for control

Postmodernism, con’t. 2. History & subject a. Postmodern society tends toward disconnection & fragmentation (not order & definition b. Postmodernism "eschews history; humans exist in fragmented current moments." (Gill, p. 202) c. Thus reflects "the end of history“ (end of metanarrative of linear historical progress)

Postmodernism, con’t. d. Postmodernism also argues for the "death of the subject“ 1) Individuals occupy positions in various language games or "communication circuits," (where we are both sender-receiver) 2) The self is socially & linguistically constructed, a position which generally denies autonomy & individualism e. The postmodern critic asserts that the author/artist/creator of discourse has no special privileged status in determining meaning

Postmodernism, con’t. 3. Embracing low/popular culture. a. Consists of a “degraded landscape of schlock & kitsch, of TV series & Reader's Digest culture, of advertising & motels, of the late show & the grade-B Hollywood film," with romance novels, murder mysteries, science-fiction, etc. (David Lodge, 1988) b. Popular culture integrated with all other culture, with past & present mixed together c. Gill notes that such art can be "sexually explicit, rebellious…critical of both political & social norms. It also is schizophrenic & disorderly" (p. 203)

Postmodernism, con’t F. Some postmodern elements: 1. Simulacra of experience--a type of "virtual reality" or hyperreality, as in video games 2. Pastiche--a mixture of elements not normally connected; a "crazy quilt" of images, etc. 3. Self-referential elements--there is a self-consciousness that occurs through multiple allusions & intertextuality 4. Spectacle--over inflated staging of events, designed to promote euphoria 5. Overcommodified--focus on clutter & consumption 6. Contradictory images —paradox is embraced

Postmodernism, con’t G. Postmodern American society is "culture as garage sale” (Gitlin, 1989) H. Postmodern examples include architecture, Andy Warhol's paintings, Disneyland, Las Vegas, shopping malls (especially mega malls), William Burroughs, Monty Python, science-fiction/action films, MTV, etc. I. Todd Gitlin (1989) offers this perspective on postmodernism: “It self-consciously splices genres, attitudes, styles. It relishes the blurring or juxtaposition of forms (fiction- non-fiction), stances (straight-ironic), moods (violent- comic), cultural levels (high-low)... It takes pleasure in the play of surfaces, & derides the search for depth as mere nostalgia.“