Postmodernism lecture

This lecture incorporates numerous clips from TV, movies and games related to postmodernism

Post-modernism -cultural phenomenon linked to socio-economic structures -modernism defined by opposition of capitalism & socialism -post-modernism defined by global, corporate capitalism Fredric Jameson “Postmodernism and Consumer Society” -characterizes postmodernism in terms of loss -conservative diagnosis (though rooted in Marxism) -mourning the death of the subject -postmodernism is both a reaction against modernism and an extension of it -much modern art seems to be already post-modern -James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Marcel Duchamp, etc. -in po-mo: art no longer poses a threat to the social order -collapse of high and low culture (film/TV studies symptomatic) -end of philosophy (becomes theory) -end of history (becomes nostalgia/stereotype/pastness) -“culture of amnesia” -media exist to help us forget the past -quotation and allusion become appropriation and incorporation -rap/sampling/scratching -styles are composed of random amalgamation of past styles -however: postmodernism is not a style -“Late capitalist” phenomenon linked to new world order -post-industrial (manufacturing moved to 3rd world) -computerized (primary commodities are information and culture rather than material goods) -organized around consumerism (people primarily understood as consumers/marketing demographics not “individuals”) -Po-mo as cultural dominant: nothing is shocking anymore Two primary features: pastiche and schizophrenia Pastiche: “blank parody” (parody without a sense of humor) -unlike parody, which has affection/respect for the original, pastiche simply mimics styles dissociated from individuality -characterized by fragmentation; juxtaposition -random appropriation/cannibalization of cultural elements -e.g., architecture, music -stylistic diversity and heterogeneity -death of the subject -no more individuals -no more new styles -innovation impossible -reflexivity -art about art (rather than about politics or society) -stylistically flat, lacking in affect or emotion Schizophrenia: (not like clinical schizophrenia) -fragmented subjectivity -resembles split personality but not literally) -de-emphasis of narrative and logical structuring principles -localized, temporary moments of intensity -textuality -breakdown of relationship between signifiers -time (and everything) is an effect of language (Lacan) -schizophrenics live in a perpetual present -temporal discontinuity -words lose meaning -language becomes material rather than signifying -importance of images Film and postmodernism -film is fundamentally modern -appeared at the height of the modern era -linear (successive frames) – like the factory assembly-line -perception based on cognitive & psychoanalytic effects Another theory of postmodernism: Jean Baudrillard -more celebratory and forward-looking than Jameson -we should revel in our contradictions/discontinuities -take pleasure from our own deaths as individuals -allows greater diversity, multiculturalism, gender equality -renewed perception of the world (maybe nothing’s real) -“reality” has become “reality TV” -The Gulf War Did Not Take Place (1992) -America is the postmodern city par excellence -Las Vegas and Los Angeles are the quintessential, postmodern American cities (L.A. Architecture?) -Disneyland, the Strip, Hollywood Wax Museum Simulacrum -exact copy for which there is no original -Blade Runner: what if we are all replicants – androids with human memories; what’s the difference between “us” and “them?” Screenings Pastiche Michel Gondry | Let Forever Be | Chemical Brothers Spike Jonze | Buddy Holly | Weezer Schizophrenia -Rico Gatson – Gun Play Self-reflexivity Wayne’s World – Justify My Love Mystery Science Theater 3000 – Kitten With a Whip Michel Gondry | Bachelorette | Bjork Intertextuality Virgil Widrich | Fast Film Surface over depth Tommy Palotta & Bob Sabiston | Figures of Speech