Postmodernism is one of the more challenging ideas in A Level Media but fortunately Deutschland 83 provides a brilliant case study as a postmodernist media text.
We need to be able to look for postmodern ideas in the media texts we study - and some of that we've done already in our work on advertising and marketing, intertextuality and genre.
Notes and definitions
Postmodernism: a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories. (Source: Dictionary definition)
A brief history
Postmodernism is linked to the premodernism and modernism eras.
Pre-modernism: up to late 19th century.
Religion dominates society.
Modernism: late 19th century to mid-20th century
Science dominates; religion questioned; distinct difference between high culture (e.g. art) and low culture; industrialisation.
Postmodernism: mid- to late-20th century to present
Blurring of high and low culture/art and popular culture; media-driven hyper-reality; style over substance.
Postmodernism and the media
Postmodernism is often defined by scepticism, irony, self-referentiality or intertextuality.
What does that mean? The Simpsons provides an example. The structure is a classic family sitcom but the content ridicules authority (including its media conglomerate owner) and is full of intertextual references to other films, TV shows and popular culture.
We need to be able to look for postmodern ideas in the media texts we study - and some of that we've done already in our work on advertising and marketing, intertextuality and genre.
Notes and definitions
Postmodernism: a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories. (Source: Dictionary definition)
A brief history
Postmodernism is linked to the premodernism and modernism eras.
Pre-modernism: up to late 19th century.
Religion dominates society.
Modernism: late 19th century to mid-20th century
Science dominates; religion questioned; distinct difference between high culture (e.g. art) and low culture; industrialisation.
Postmodernism: mid- to late-20th century to present
Blurring of high and low culture/art and popular culture; media-driven hyper-reality; style over substance.
Postmodernism is often defined by scepticism, irony, self-referentiality or intertextuality.
What does that mean? The Simpsons provides an example. The structure is a classic family sitcom but the content ridicules authority (including its media conglomerate owner) and is full of intertextual references to other films, TV shows and popular culture.
Further examples of postmodernism
An example in architecture would be Las Vegas; in art, Andy Warhol's pop-art of the 1960s.
Award-winning 1998 German film Run Lola Run (‘Lola Rennt’) is credited with revitalising German cinema with a postmodern take on crime drama that features a repeating narrative and a blurring of genres.
An example in architecture would be Las Vegas; in art, Andy Warhol's pop-art of the 1960s.
Award-winning 1998 German film Run Lola Run (‘Lola Rennt’) is credited with revitalising German cinema with a postmodern take on crime drama that features a repeating narrative and a blurring of genres.
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