Essay

Postmodernism can be defined in many ways; all in all there is no one definition for what postmodernism is. We can only define postmodernism as what we can interpret using existing theories from those such as Baudrillard, Lyotard and Jameson.

In short all three teorists stated...

Jean Baudrillard

“The secret of theory is that truth doesn’t exist.”
‘A condition in which “reality” has been replaced by simulacra’
Simulacra…When a sign loses its relation to reality, it then begins to simulate a simulation

Simulation:The process in which a representation of something comes to replace the thing which is actually being represented. The representation then becomes more important than ‘the real thing’

Hyperreality: Division between “real” and simulation has collapsed, therefore an illusion of an object is no longer possible because the real object is no longer there. He described media culture as consumed by what he called ‘an effect of frantic self-referentiality’ and stated that the implication of this is that as the media doesn’t have to make any necessary reference to reality, we now face a situation in which the image ‘bears no relation to any reality whatsoever’.In other words, there is no such thing as reality, known as simulacra. He said that due to our apparent obsession with images, for instance parents filming their children and the fact that there are images everywhere we look, we can only experience the world through a form of filter of preconceptions and expectations created in advance by culture.

Jean-François Lyotard

“Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodernism as incredutity towards the metanarratives.”

He said that the older and larger scientific explanations may no longer apply due to changes in culture and society, so therefore newer theories need ti be developed that have more relevance to the present. His main focus was knowledge and therefore looks at the scientific theories.

He said that postmodern science:

 Is no longer coherent, Its contribution can no longer be valued for its contribution towards human progress, no longer follows the idea that the sum of all knowledge will give us a perfect set of information, has becomes a mass of incompatible theories that has no goal other than to further research. He said there is no certainty of ideas, instead there are better or worse ways to interpret things. This is because of the limited amount of knowledge that humans can understand, so humans will never know this objective truth.

Fredric Jameson

“I would like…to characterize the postmodernic experience of form with what will seem, I hope, a paradoxical slogan namely the proposition that difference relates.”

Best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends-he once described postmodernism as spatialisation of culture under the pressure of organised capitalism. Believes that postmodernism provides pastiche, humorously referencing itself and other tests in an empty and meaningless circle. Pastiche is distinct from parody, which uses irony, humour and intertexual reference to make an underlying and purposeful point. He categorized postmodernism into two parts: pastiche and parody. Pastiche mixes different past styles together, but shows no understanding of history and the need to move forward, as it cannot think of anything better to do. This reflects a society that has abandoned any possibility of change. Jameson’s belief is that pastiche is taking over as postmodernisms most dominant trait. He said that parody is more common to modernism and copies from old styles, but unlike pastiche takes a critical view of it. So therefore it asks questions about it, rather than simply duplicating it.

Post-Modernism both questions what is real, true, and absolute, as well as playing with inter-textuality. Story A of the Lego movie is set in an animated world and is the heroic journey of regular-guy Emmett and his quest to stop Lord Business from destroying the world with his super weapon: The Kragle. Story B is set in ‘reality’ with a boy attempting to play with his dad’s Legos, while his dad wants to maintain complete and absolute order, not giving in to the creativity that Legos can unleash.

In many ways, The Lego Movie is The Matrix, with Emmet replacing Neo, the boy and Vitruvius combined to be Morpheus, Wildstyle as Trinity, and Lord Business as Agent Smith/The AI. There are layers of reality, and only the main hero is able to see both completely. Also, there are robots.

Built within this multiple-layered-reality are iconic figures like Batman, Star Wars characters, as well as eclectic combinations such as Unikitty.

Emmet is an Everyman, a character who represents all, and his specialness is in his non-specialness. It is through his perspective that we are swept through the fantastic landscapes of Lego City, and the wild west, and more. Batman is a vain, though handsome and formidable teammate. Wildstyle is both love interest and guides Emmet into the larger world. Vitruvius, as played by Morgan Freeman, is a just-quirky-enough wise guide, without overdoing his role at Emmet’s side.

The music video I’m making isn’t based on any music video in particular. The video is a journey of my holiday, going from country to country showing beautiful people around the world. There isn’t a story of sorts but merely a voyage that allows audiences to realise, no matter where in the world and the goings on of what happens around us for example war and suffering everyone is beautiful. It doesn’t matter if you’re homeless, working class, rich or whatever race, the concept still applies. Together with the beautiful people I also capture beautiful destinations and scenes.

None of the theories apply to my music video. The video doesn’t follow the stereotypical aspect of videos which theorists such as Kate Domaille talk about the fatal flaw, the indomitable hero or the dream comes true. Nor does the video follow points Tzvetan Todorov makes, such as the 5 stages of equilibrium, disequilibrium, recognition, action and restoration. Like stated before my video doesn’t have a story line, it’s merely following real life. Nothing is staged.

As the video is not one of performance it’s one that follows the lyrics of the son ‘Beautiful People’. The use of long shots allows the audience to see the scenery and the culture that beholds Zambia and London. People would be interested to see what a country in Africa is like. For those who live in hyper-reality and believe all they see in the media would assume there’s only poverty and wilderness, when a matter of fact it’s advanced. The video allows people to step out of the bubble of hyper-reality and see the bigger picture…it’s not all doom and gloom.

The video I’m making is linear; the video refers to a journey being told in an order of events, in addition to being omniscient narrative. The message is more or less what is seen on the screen. The meaning can be perceived in many different ways. The meaning is left open to the audience. What is provided in the music video is the simple meaning; everyone is beautiful, the lyrics to the video illustrate this alongside. The audience is left to perceive the video in anyway and mainly based on what they want to believe they are seeing. The video uses verisimilitude which is that the quality of appearing to be real or true and follows the rules of continuity. As Pam Cook argues that the Hollywood narrative structure includes: “linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution” and “a high degree of narrative closure”. My video goes against this and allows the audience freedom to have their own understanding. Not following conventions of typical videos I’d like to think my video is postmodern. It’s not restricted. There are no rules. Laura Mulvey – argues that cinema positions the audience as male. The camera gazes at the female object on screen. It also frames the male character watching the female. Once again the video ignores this and doesn’t exploit women but instead shows men and women as equal.

Referring to my music video case study; the video starts off with a long shot of a man looking at an art piece of Katy Perry with his back to the camera. The start of the video allows the audience to note that the video is most likely going to be artistic due to the reference to many pieces of art and pulp culture. As the director zooms in more into the picture, the picture starts to show more colour. As camera gets closer the audience can see the wig Katy Perry is wearing is similar to one of Beyonce’s many wigs. From this the audience can foreshadow that the video will make references to many well known celebrities. Pastiche/homage to the 70’s fashion and colourful style is immediately noticed in the first scene by looking at the large earring in Katy’s right ear while she doesn’t wear one in the right ear which is bizarre to do in this day and time. Male dancers dressed in grey suits with white shoes and red bow ties pays homage to Pee Wee Herman, who served as inspiration for Joel’s video for “Water Fountain” by tUnE-yArDs. The video pays homage to modern pop art through colourful pieces that visually represent the lyrics of the song. For example when she sings “Playing ping pong all night long, everything's all neon and hazy” the audience can see a neon ping pong table in the middle of the screen with people dressed in neon outfits with neon stars to represent that its night. Neon colours were popular in the 70’s making the video more post modern. As the video goes on a mid shot is used to shot Katy Perry Surrounded by Fake Chanel which illustrates that many people who cannot afford Chanel buy fake channel ‘if you can’t have fake Chanel’. Emphasising pastiche using an explosion of pop art, vintage fashion. What was worn in the early days is now being called vintage, the video is made more post modern by using a wide variety of vintage clothing. Ice cream truck and high ponytail is like the ice cream truck used in the Iggy Azalea “Pu$$y” video. The video takes even existing videos and pays homage to them through making the post modern just by the use of the bright colours on the truck and vintage clothing that is now back in fashion. The red, blue, and yellow squares reference the De Stijl Dutch art movement from the early 1900’s, going back to the point that the video references many pieces of art and pulp culture. use of the openly gay NBA player Jason Collins illustrates that it’s ok to be gay while Katy Perry sings “this is how we do” bringing forth the idea that being gay is normal more now than it was years back.

Reference to world famous Italo Disco, Pizzarina di Bellesima while Katy Perry wears everything from the Yves Saint Laurant Mondrian dress to a pepperoni pizza swimsuit to green hair extensions. Connotating that anything goes, people go with the flow and weird is part of our everyday life; people are allowed to express themselves in more ways than ever. She cruises around in a convertible with her hair teased out the way Fran Fine had in the hit TV series The Nanny, wearing similar clothing and colours the character would wear. This makes reference to an old TV show that people now wouldn’t have heard of. This part of the video is more like ‘you had to have been there to understand’. The video plays both references to topics relevant now and was relevant then. The director zooms out of the shot where the audience can see Katy Perry getting her nails done while sitting on a large hand. This mise-en-scene makes reference to Miley Cyrus’ foam finger in 2013 at the VMAs. There’s interetextual reference to Mariah Carey. This seen is merely a parody and mocks the well known singer as the celebrity double in the long shot wears and extremely tight dress that reveals her dress and her figure while she poses for the camera trying to look ‘sexy’. Nicki Minaj’s iconic bright hair colour is used on one of Katy Perry’s wigs while she sits on Lorde’s table-tennis. She makes references to well known singers in one take. In the scene where Katy Perry is on the floor singing Karaoke the audience can make link and the hair references to FKA twigs who’s an old singer born in the later years. The video as a whole is s sequel of sorts to both California Girls and Last Friday night which are both well known party songs by Katy. The strutting ice cream treats are a reference to the famous 1957 “Let’s Go Out To The Lobby” movie theatre snack promo. Intertextuality to Last Friday Night. A close-up of the singer is used to reference Brooke Candy who is Tumblr’s favourite rapper by the use of the hair style. Portrait of singer Aretha Franklin. A prince charming reference is used when an image of a shirtless man with a 10 on his face is shown where next a frog appears on the screen. This in turn references to princess and the frog as she ends up kissing a frog thinking it was her prince. This is shown by the putting on of the glasses when the ‘hot’ male is on screen and when the glasses are on the male turns out to be a mere frog. The twerking ice-cream makes renefrence to the singer Miley Cyrus as she recently brough back the trend of terrible twerking which in turn had a snowball effect leading to more twerking video on the net. 

In conclusion Postmodernism can be considered controversial due to it blurring the boundaries of reality and hyper reality, however with people considering postmodern as controversial, postmodernism is therefore being successful by making them think whether it is or is not, because they are then questioning texts and thinking even further into the media texts, considering the inter textuality, hyper reality and the blurring of boundaries.