Postmodernism Today
As we’ve progressed through this
course, we've had a lot of discussions about postmodernism in the context which Ragtime and Mumbo Jumbo were written. That got me thinking about how postmodernism shows itself in today's society.
Perhaps the
most obvious place we see postmodernism today is in politics, and most notably the
media. Throughout the 2016 election, we heard constant chatter from both sides
about “fake news” and scandalous reports where the reputations of both
candidates were fairly-or unfairly-tarnished. Now you might be wondering “how
does any of this connect to postmodernism?” One of the most important pillars
of postmodernism is the skepticism of authority and narratives they have
produced, as there is a belief of manipulation from authorities.
Another
very common place we see evidence of postmodernism is film. Not only is the
genre of science fiction itself post modern (as we don’t have any evidence to
prove against it). We even see it through films that are supposed to challenge
the viewer’s preconceptions of how filmmaking should be. A perfect example of
this, in my opinion, is the 2017 film “The Shape of Water”. I don’t want to
spoil the plot, but this film not only challenged typical cinematography by
using nontraditional camera shots and settings, but challenges the notion that
only humans have the capacity for love with each other. By using such an
unrealistic and yet confrontational storyline, this movie is the poster-child
for postmodernism.
We even see
evidence of postmodernism in sports. The most notable example of this is Colin
Kaepernick deciding to remain kneeling during the national anthem. By
challenging the notion that one must stand during the national anthem, he
created publicity (both positive and negative) for the cause he so vehemently
believes in.
In final,
it is easy to see how even today we see evidence of postmodernism in the 21st
century. If you have any other examples or other places where we see
postmodernism today, feel free to let me know in the comments below.
Growing up in TV shows I saw a lot of postmodernism but I didn't even realize that is what it was. Characters breaking the 4th wall in a show has become like more of an easy joke for show-creators to throw in, but I can imagine when this first started happening it was shocking and really challenged what people expected to see on TV. Definitely in books, TV, and movies its become easy to find lots of postmodernist concepts, some of which are becoming so common we might not even realize its postmodernist.
ReplyDeleteThe rise of mockumentaries or other kinds of movies and tv shows that are obviously fictional that are shot like documentaries seems like it could be related to postmodernism. In What We Do in the Shadows, Taika Waititi challenges our perception of documentaries always being true by creating a documentary that focuses on the lives of some vampires living in New Zealand.
ReplyDeletePostmodernism can be found throughout society today. As you say it is in politics, movies, and sports. But the example that came to my mind when we were talking about it was The Princess Bride. In the book the author is both telling the story of how he wrote the book and telling the story. In this way he acknowledges the fact that the story he is telling is fake, but he telling a fake story to do so.
ReplyDeleteThanks, this post really made me think about especially how postmodernism fits into politics. Can you see a world where in the future, where AIs that have been programmed replace Congress/President as a way of reliability, like you know how they will vote because it is in their programming? I know that isn't necessarily what your post was talking about but you definitely got me thinking, thanks.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I think you make an interesting point about bias in politics. It seems today that even the positions that are supposed to be politically neutral now have become politicized. I do not think the Founding Fathers wanted political parties to play such an integral role in the Supreme Court for example. I genuinely wonder what we must do as a society to provide the country with the necessary unbiased branches of government. You mention AI, but unfortunately I don't think AI has the capacity to interpret law as well as humans at this point. Until we, as a society, come up with a viable way to reform our government, we will continue to see the same issues of corruption and bias we see today.
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