Postmodernism Essay 2

Postmodernism is a theory that means ‘after modernism’ and it started in the 20th century and was a reaction to the hyper rationalism of the modernism theory. Modernism is a style or movement within the arts that departs from traditional forms. It is concerned with assigning value to things such as art and using modern ideas to modify traditional beliefs. On the contrary postmodernism has no set definition as it is just a social construct that is completely objective with no absolute truth. It is a way of analysing frameworks or text and is an epistemological issue, in other words, how do we understand what we understand, as well as an ontological issue, which means what it means to be human. However, the theory itself is very contradictory, as it is a theory of everything that states it is a fallacy to have a theory of everything. Nothing is ever fixed due to a constant collapse of metanarratives, it reacts against earlier modernist principles, as by reintroducing traditional or classic elements of style. It can be seen in many different types of media, from film to music videos or television.

Postmodernity is evident in many artistic creations from art, to films to music videos and many more. The music video for ‘Knights of Cydonia’ by Muse (Joseph Kahn, 2006) is an extremely postmodern video that is flooded with intertextual references, irony, parody and consumerism, whilst also completely disregarding the need for verisimilitude. The video is a cinematic, cattle punk western video with narratives, characters and even credits, which purposely use clichéd western fonts to constantly push the over stylised theme. It is clear that the film directly intertextually references Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977) with sci-fi bars, robots and lasers in deserts. As Star Wars is so widely recognised, including the conglomerate is strategic because most will understand the direct link to what the video is parodying, which is entertaining for the viewer. Jameson states that a parody has an ulterior motive to mock its reference, whereas pastiche is a ‘blank parody’ it is simply referring to something without the intent to mock it. A perfect example of parody, evident in contemporary text, is Blink 182’s ‘All the Small Things’ (Marcos Siega, 1999) as the video mocks artists such as N-sync and Backstreet Boys, as well as videos from Brittney Spears and Christina Aguilera. The material references created a flattening of effect, whilst focusing solely on style over substance. Jameson would highlight that the use of parody is contributing to a crisis in history, as this jumble of different styles no longer links to historical content, which to himself is very negative. This video parodies all of its references as the video itself is sarcastic, it mocks stereotypical kung-fu films as the beginning shows the protagonist practising generic moves, labelled ‘the circle of death’, moreover, the sarcastic big fight scene is a hand kung-fu battle that defeats the protagonist in a humorous way.

Additionally, the juxtaposition between spaghetti western iconography and the futuristic elements to the video, is very postmodern, as these merging of contrasting styles would not be a thing of the past, but instead a more present day idea and acceptable in today’s society. Furthermore, the video over sexualises the only female character in the story, she is shown on a unicorn in a bikini and this overtly sexual gender representation conforms to the hegemonic norms of females being inferior. Although, it could be argued that the video actually represents female empowerment, as the female then essentially saves the day and the male protagonist, which in a sense, defies hegmonic norms that males are the heroic ones. This concept is supported by Camille Paglia, who explores the idea that women should be proud of themselves and portraying women as powerful and sexy is a part of feminist empowerment. Throughout the video there is blatant and ironic use of consumerism, the video revolves around Muse’s CD being the saviour weapon, the exaggerated self-awareness is a key feature of postmodernity as it is very ironic and obvious, although, it also plays off the modernism idea that texts take a large role in the association of ‘me’. Consumerism and self-referential is a concept that Baudrillard heavily developed, he explains that one way an object can obtain value is with the symbolic value, which Muse’s video does as it assigns value to an object (the object being the CD) in relation to another subject (selling the CD/saving the day).

It is important, however, to look at older examples to truly see how this transition came to be. Films like Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) are perfect examples of strong postmodernism, whilst this only came out in the mid 1990s it highlights the evolution of art into postmodernism. The lack of metanarratives in the film, such as when Vincent and Jules discuss hamburgers with the same tone and seriousness as killing people, supports the declining Meta narratives over time that Lyotard explains are an essential feature of modernity. Moreover, the film fractures time, as the scenes are not shot chronologically, yet everything is explained at the end of the film. Year’s later, films such as Ex machine (Alex Garland, 2015) continue to develop postmodernity and create postmodern ideas about artificial intelligence. Ex machine heavily includes Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality and the simulacra, as the story questions what is real and what is not by using AI to question verisimilitude. Ava, the robot, is made to look like a female human to then extend our questions beyond the basic questions of AI as it asks; where does gender reside? What does it mean to be human? Do AI’s have rights if they are considered human? The constant ontological issues in the film are most present when Caleb asks Nathan in a scene if he programmed Ava to like him, to suggest feelings and sexuality are not natural, but programmed. Ex Machina also has many intertextual references, such as Nathan’s relation to Apocalypse Now’s, Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, as they are both mentally and geographically isolated. Moreover, Nathan’s ignorance towards the bigger picture and lack of care towards Ava, causes a juxtaposition between subjectivity which is a key feature of postmodernity, as everyone interprets something differently, creating the idea that morality is relativist. Baudrillard also commented on AI as he said ‘the sad thing about Artificial Intelligence, is that it lack artifice and therefore intelligence’, so he would argue it is not a clever or intelligence idea. This lack of realism with AI is an undressed issue due to humanities overwhelming concern with AI.

Postmodernity also transitions into TV shows such as Humans (Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley, 2015) which also has a similar underlying message to Ex Machina. There is an intertextual reference for the show as it stems from the Swedish show ‘Real humans’, telling the story of what robots living amongst humans would be like. The AI’s or ‘Synths’ are made to look like humans to create this blurring of reality and hyperreality that Baudrillard explains, making it harder to determine what is real and what is not, this is also part of the postmodern condition that both Ex Machina and Humans explore. The Cartesian self, or the fragmented self is a concept that Lyotard developed, and it is this loss of identity which is a common feature in postmodern text. Furthermore, the show focuses on the style or ‘look’, as the show simultaneously cares about verisimilitude as the synths look human, however, it contradicts itself by using AIs in the first place. The show also juxtaposes normality with futuristic technology to create over exaggerated parallels between humans and the Synths. The pilot episode explore the concept of AI and the ontological issue that surrounds postmodernism, as Anita is made to look human, although it could be argues this is just bricolage as nothing is ever new, and films such as blade runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) focus on the human look of AI and testing consciousness, therefore, the idea of merging humanity with robots is not new but simply empty borrowing. Also the character DR. George Millican, created a synth to look like his son, so he forms a personal connect to it, this sense of identity is Lyotard’s concept of a fractured/false sense of self.

Another TV show that venture into postmodernity is The Mighty Boosch (Paul King, 2004-2007), the show is full of postmodern stereotypes, as it focuses largely on style over substance and mocks many genres and ideas, creating a flattening effect and declining metanarratives. The show is mise en scene based and colourful, playing with eccentric costumes and set designs, however, it is also very ironic and plays off simulacra and the merging of real and fake and creating hyperreal situations and scenes. One of the most popular episodes is ‘Old Gregg’ who is a very unique, postmodern character who wears a pink tu tu, ha green skin, long hair, and is obsessed with watercolour. The eccentric characters has phrases such as ‘mother licker’ as well as being quite absurd and over the top. The Mighty Bosch shows no care for verisimilitude and due to the sarcastic, mocking tone of the show with also contribute towards a crisis in historicity which is negative according to Jameson.

As a whole, postmodernity is indefinable and subjective and it is difficult to predict is we are in the postmodern era or not, and it is only ever recycling ideas, known as ‘empty borrowing’. I agree that bricolage is a key feature of postmodernity, most Disney films are all remakes of cartoons, just with new technology to fit the modern age, therefore, complying with the concept of recycling ideas. It is difficult to predict where postmodernity goes from here as we do not even know what it means due to it being such a complex theory that will only ever create more eschatological or ontological issues.