Show notes
For
my first official post here on this lovely site I wanted to establish to our
listeners and now readers the facets of the age we are said to be living in,
which is that of the Postmodern age. Since my forte is literature, I sought to
explain the idea of postmodernism in reference to literature. But have no doubt
that these idea can be attributed to all aspects of the current culture that we
inhabit. "Why are you telling us this Lando?" you are no doubt
asking. Simple. We are living in an age akin to cyberpunk. Cyberpunk has been
considered postmodern. We are living in a postmodern age, and we should really
know just what in hell that means. Here is my attempt at it, I hope it makes
sense. Don't worry, I will probably never unleash such a long post on you all
as this. Buckle up, lock and load.
I
take on the precarious task then of explaining what Postmodernism is. It's not
an easy task by any means, because Postmodernism is itself a term in constant
flux. At the root, Postmodernism eliminates the final say of the critic and
empowers the individuals opinion. This means the reader is correct
dependent on his or her perception. Progressing out from literature to
nearly every walk of life, Postmodernism has been referred to as a hydra which
straight forward philosophical thought will never be able to cut down. As soon
as you define it in one genre or art form, it evolves into something else,
somewhere else. There are themes however which become prevalent in
Postmodernism which I will try to explain.
One
of the first themes that comes to mind is that of how the importance of
"high art" is broken down. By "high art" I mean the
classics: the paintings of Michelangelo; the music of Bach; the writing of
Hawthorne, etc. In the past, the critics had a strong control of what was and
what was not considered "high art", critics could distinguish and
attribute worth, deciding what deserved hanging in a museum. With
Postmodernism, the critic has been neutered. The state of art is determined by
the individual, and everything has a subjective value whether it is a painting
of the Virgin Mother done in menstrual blood or the works of Norman Rockwell.
"High art" and popular culture have collided violently into each
other, shading and sometimes eliminating the boundary.
The
next theme I'd like to discuss has to do with something called a Simulacra.
Jean Baudrillard is a phenomenoligist philosopher who proposed the theory of
the Simulacra. A simulacra is a simulation of the ideal apple; a thing that is
more real than the thing it represents. For example, when one thinks of an
apple, they think of a shiny red apple with waxy skin that you can almost see
your face in. When given a real apple right off the branch, it is often not so
shiny or well presented. In fact, it can look kind of ugly and unappetizing. In
this, the idea of the apple is the simulacra; we feel it is more real than the
reality that has been provided to us. Another example would be when we go out
for Mexican food. What passes for Mexican food in the United States is really
just an idea of what Mexican food should be like; it's a simulacra of Mexican
food. For those of us who have actually traveled to Mexico, we know that the
reality is very different than what you most often end up with in the US. That
said, in the realm of the Postmodern, we are presented with the Third Order of
the Simulacra.
In
the Third Order of the Simulacra, there is no reality. The public is presented
with a hyperreality that is completely fictional. A good example of this is in
the way movies are being made now with actors walking across massive green
screen sets, where in the scenery is added later. The hyperreality would be the
scenery which technology looks so real and yet is completely made up by the
special effects artists. The places depicted don't exist anymore or, in other
instances, never have. This phenomenon evolves further by the creation of
digital, who act alongside live actors as if they were actual beings. Gollum in
the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars are perfect
examples of this in film. These characters do not exist, they are constructed
from programming, and yet we act as if they are living, breathing actors. The Japanese
have their own version of this in their Idorus. An Idoru is a made-up pop star,
usually animated, that is presented as if it were a real pop star, selling
music and movies. The closest thing we have in the United States to that is the
pop band, The Gorillaz. The Gorillaz are a band which is made up of constantly
changing roster of musicians who are fronted by an animated cartoon band that
always remains the same.
Another
theme in Postmodernism is the way style takes precedence over substance. A
novel is written which has no plot and no arch, but the manner in which it is
written is so unique that it is trumped as genius and put on a pedestal. In the
age of Postmodernism, style is the draw. Style makes things sell, style make
actors bankable, style is what people want to buy in order to become stylish
and "in." In the age of postmodernism, the cover of the book can
matter more than what is behind it.
In
Postmodernism there is a great deal of recycling of old ideas. Whereas in
Modernism a great emphasis was made on new ideas and stories, Postmodernism is
conforming to the mold; the basic structure us coupled with a formulaic idea to
repeat the original genius: How many times has Frankenstein been
rewritten and refilmed in some slightly different way? Mary Shelly, Dean
Koontz, Robert Deniro. Shakespeare has been reconceived in the modern day, the
future and across a multitude of cultures. Why is it there are no new
Shakespearian-level works? As we see in the movie world, there are more remakes
than new ideas. Characters such as Superman and Batman are made into countless
movies while also heading up comic book series. The series are without
new ideas; the writers are afraid what may happen if they kill their characters
off and then have nothing to follow with. Heroes used to die, now they just
keep going till we get bored with them.
The
last theme I would like to explore is that of Postmodernism's lack of
metanarrative. The French philosopher and literary theorist, Jean-François
Lyotard, has said of Postmodernsim in a popular quote, "Simplifying to
the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards
metanarratives." (1984) A metanarrative can be explained as a story
with a point or lesson; it's a story that tells a vast vision of human history.
Sometimes a record of human events, other times the tale of one man's
progression toward knowledge, the metanarative has a very important place in
human social and literary history, a place that Postmodernism ignores or
outright attacks. The postmodernists are skeptical of the lessons a
metanarrative wants to teach and therefore they disregard it, then attempt to
discredit it, and finally they ignore it. In this, no new metanarratives are
being written; writers aren't concerning themselves with those types of tales.
And when they do, it is only to display them as parody.
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