PostmodernismWhat is it? 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.

*Postmodern media rejects the idea that any media product or text is of any greater value than another. All judgment of value are merely taste.*The distinction between media and reality has collapsed. There is often a blurring of fiction and reality/representation and the real, as audiences we are often deceived with postmodern texts.*postmodern text become mediated versions of reality, audiences start interpreting reality based on interpretation rather than experience.

MODERNISM: Art/social-political movement that aimed to reinvent culture that had become outdated.- Roughly occurred between 1890s - 1960s.- A rejection against realism.- Divisions of modernism include avant-garde and surrealism.- Films/novels/art were self-reflexive of society.

ART Characteristics which lend art to being postmodern; these include bricolage, the use of words prominently as the central artistic element, collage, simplification, appropriation, performance art, the recycling of past styles and themes in a modern-day context, as well as the break-up of the barrier between fine and high arts and low art and popular culture.postmodernism describes movements which both arise from, and react against or reject, trends in modernism. Specific trends of modernism that are generally cited are formal purity, medium specificity, art for art's sake, authenticity, universality, originality and revolutionary.

* One characteristic of post-modern art is its conflation of high and low culture through the use of industrial materials and pop culture imagery

-Appropriation: the use of another imagery in a new context to create new meaning (referencing)-Juxtaposition: using incongruent styles together-Pluralism: viewpoints that are more liberal on race/gender - Deconstruction: multiple meaning in an image/text

POSTMODERNISM IN ART

POSTMODERNISM

MODERNISM

FILM Postmodernist film attempts to subvert the mainstream conventions of narrative structure, characterization and destroys the audience’s suspension of disbelief. Such films also break down the cultural divide between high and low art and often upend typical portrayals of gender, race, class, genre, and time with the goal of creating something different from traditional narrative expression.

example: Pulp Fiction

It is a popular example of a postmodernist film. The film tells the interweaving stories of gangsters, a boxer, and robbers. The film breaks down chronological time and demonstrates a particular fascination with bringing in texts from both traditionally "high" and "low" realms of art. The film uses uses styles from prior decades and combines them together.

Reinvent-change (something) so much that it appears to be entirely new.

surrealism- movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.

self reflexive-containing a reflection or image of itself.

intertextuality- one media text referring to another

parody-mocking something in an original way

pastiche- artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period. Self conscious imitation

bricolage-mixing up and using different genres and styles

homage- imitation from a respectful stand point

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