What is post modernism?

R

rogeroleary

Registered User
Messages
191
Talking with my college going daughter about the above and she's trying to find a reasonably succinct definition of what PM actually is. I've been googling but everything I review seems to lead back invariably to modernism.

So I'm wondering if someone could please advise what exactly is post modernism?

Thanks in advance
Roger
 
Thanks for that lads, had tried wikipedia but again seemed to be going around in circles. Suppose what I'm looking for some examples eg. examples of modernisn literature vs examples of post-modernism literature which, dare I say it could be used in an exam :D

Roger
 
Someone must know how many Postmodernists it takes to change a lightbulb!:)
 
rogeroleary said:
examples of post-modernism literature which, dare I say it could be used in an exam
Click to expand...

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Nearly any David Lynch film - Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire in particular.
 
Don't worry about it - it's just the extension of a theme + the passage of time.

Examples of modernists would be Joyce, Wolf, TS Elliot etc.

Post modernists simply used their innovations as an inspiration and template and explored/expanded a little further.

Bluffers guide:

Just find any book around 1920 - 30 that seems 'a bit mad', then find one at least a decade later that's a bit derivative but more 'mad' - it's probably an example of post modernism.
 
My understanding of postmodernism is that its a culture.

This question is best answered using a context.

In art: Post modernism is a blurring of what was accepted as art in the past and what is art now.
Jasper Johns exhibited his bed - an original Jasper Johns, the world went 'oooh, aaaah' and then he made another bed, exactly the same as his own bed and exibited that - thus proving that art can be replicated.
Warhol took this to an extreme by making copies of everyday items and displaying them in art galleries.
Are things displayed in art galleries art because they ARE are or because they are in an art gallery? Warhol (and Johns) thought that they became art because they were accepted as art when exhibited.

In modern culture we have an excellent example of postmodernism in the cult of celebrity. Celebrities used to be people like movie stars, the royal family, models etc... Now people are famous for no other reason than being famous. Jade Goody is an excellent example of this, she is photographed and written about - but she did nothing of any talent to become famous, she is literally famous for her fame - which began in a reality tv show. Reality tv shows are also an example of postmodern culture. TV shows used to be made based on reality but acted by actors, now we have reality shows, people who just want to be famous. And normal people sit at home in their own reality watching someone elses reality on tv!!

In short, postmodernism is the blurring of the lines of reality, the concept that nothing is original anymore, everything that can be done has been done so now art, music, tv etc.. are moving onto things that have been done - but doing them in a different way with everyday objects, everyday sounds, everyday people.

Now Im even more confused...
 
A post modern approach to doing a college essay would be asking strangers on a discussion board for a definition rather than, ehm, I dunno... reading books?

*speirbhean cowers and waits for the inevitable backlash against grumpy posts*
 
speirbhean said:
A post modern approach to doing a college essay would be asking strangers on a discussion board for a definition rather than, ehm, I dunno... reading books?

*speirbhean cowers and waits for the inevitable backlash against grumpy posts*
Click to expand...

Ah now, you are confusing 'post-modernism' with 'young people these days' two different and distinct movements.
 
gillarosa said:
Ah now, you are confusing 'post-modernism' with 'young people these days' two different and distinct movements.
Click to expand...
Ah, but isn't the blurring of these themes - now rendered less distinct by speirbhean's post - itself post-modern? And indeed, the whole thread's now rendered less original but possibly more po-mo by the introduction of an everyday theme ("Young people these days...", "Wouldn't have done it that way when I were a lad...") in a new context?

Or not. Post-modernism makes me grumpy anyway.
 
Fascinating discussion, let alone the origin in a father-daughter debate.....just a word of advise....they almost NEVER ask that in job interviews for like jobs....that they pay you for...whereby you do something productive....really they dont
 
Modernism is basically all about newness. More speculatively, and perhaps more specifically, it is about the value that is given to an idea that moves on from what was done last, one that is newer then ever before as it is different, it is modern.

Post modernism comes at a time when much of what is new now refers to what has already been done before. It works by homage and reference and selection. Its value is more about taste then innovation. It is about innovative selectivity.

An example that is easy to understand that might best illustrate post modernism is a contemporary DJ (not a disc jockey radio presenter, but a nightclub version of a DJ), who has achieved critical status of being creative or being an artist solely by selection and mixing of a group of songs together. (Bad example would Paul Okanfold).

Postmodernism is, in theory, evolution of artistic appreciation, because once the guise of having to qualify your idea by producing something new is overcome, art moves on in the same way that artistic ideas moved onward from Impressionism into something more complicated with post-impressionism.

The paradox, cynically, of post-modernism, is that really, when an artist selects from the past and presents the selection as artistic, the artist is saying that his selection is unique and new. (which is just another from of modernistic thought - a value of newness in selection of the old).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top