Postmodernism Precis

Postmodernism is a big concept. It encompasses many things about society, and is a reaction to modernism’s need to represent reality.

One of it's main conventions is hyper-reality, which is about the world being made up of signs and semiotics, and reality being defined by these. Because these signs/versions of reality all belong to people, or are produced to be seen as the "truth" this then means there is no "pure reality"-it is all distorted by opinions. This means that what we believe to be truth is just the dominant discourse produced by society. This can lead to false reality as the media represents it's opinions not the truth. This creates "fake history" and has led Baurdrilliard to say everything needs to be deconstructed to find truth, because “the media do not represent reality, they create it.” The 9/11 attacks, therefore, can be said to just be “media events” and a symbolic spectacle. It has been argued that there is no truth anymore because of this.
Hyper-reality can be said to lead to other post-modern aspects- simulacrum are created- the originals loose meaning, and just become symbols- not the original meaning. This is another example of the creation of hyper-reality through symbols and meanings.

Also, hyper-reality can cause nihilism- the idea of no values/truth. The playfulness of postmodernism often illustrates a loss of values-through parodying ideologies, memes, and set boundaries of society. It can be said to distance viewers from reality. Some people claim that the simulacrum of the nihilistic world in games can cause hinder ability to distinguish between reality and violence etc.
There are also other factors of postmodernism- texts will often be inter-textual-they will have pastiches, parody’s and eclectics which are like other texts, and rely on our cultural knowledge of conventions to play and create these. The play is very important to creating a world which is an inter-textual mix of everything else -this makes it very unreal- creating a humorous, nihilistic imitation of society.

This has made some critics say that postmodernism is just a “pick and mix” of traditional films ideas. This is post-modern- the mixing of other people's ideas is an example of the concept of there being no originality-everything is a inter-textual, eclectic mix of everything else- creating an active audience who construct the humour.

The “pick and mix” idea links to the postmodernist idea about hyper-identity, where the people can create their own identity and change identity-a post-modern idea as we can use inter-textual culture to design ourselves, and also because we have no set identity- insinuating play, not seriousness etc. This creation of self is linked to the rise of celebrity culture and internet forums for everyone- you can be who you create.
Lastly, media is very self referential, this means it is playful with itself, aware of it's construction and audience- and laughs at itself, often because it is imitating the serious boundaries of society and media- in doing things like breaking the 4^th wall, it mocks conventional storytelling traditions and creation of reality.

500 WORDS EXACTLY.

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