4. The pomo features - RAG
R A G
Hybridisation/hybrids
Bricolage
Juxtaposition
Intertextuality:
Homage,
Pastiche,
Parody
Voyerism:
Voyerism,
scopophilia,
panopticisation
Self reflexivity
Non linear narratives
Dystopian narratives
(& pessimism)
Flattening of Affect
Hyperreality
Nostalgia
High/low art hybrids
Artificialness
6. theories
Baurillard Hyperreality
Simulations & Simulacra
-audience: will have distorted sense of reality (as media create idealistic representationsof reality)
-audience will left to feel inadequate (hyperbeauty/sexuality)
Foucault Panopticanisation (& voyeurism in pomo times)
The act of watching was an act of power and control.
Lyotard Grand narratives or ‘metanarratives’
Dominant ideologies that people claim as ‘truths’. The metanarratives is a way of simplifying to an
extreme like ‘the overall story’. Postmodernism is scepticism toward metanarratives as it breaks down
metanarratives and breaks down these ‘truths’.
According to the advocates of postmodernism, metanarratives have lost their power to convince – they are, literally, stories
that are told in order to legitimise various versions of "the truth". With the transition from modern to postmodern, Lyotard
proposes that metanarratives should give way to "localised" narratives. Postmodernists attempt to replace metanarratives by
focusing on specific local contexts as well as the diversity of human experience. They argue for the existence of “multiple
standpoints" rather than grand, all-encompassing theories.
Jameson There are no original ideas
7. Past paper Questions
DATE EXAM QUESTION
Jan 10 What is meant by ‘postmodern media’?
Explain why the idea of ‘postmodern media’ might be considered controversial.
June 10 Why are some media products described as ‘postmodern’?
“Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation”. Discuss this idea with
reference to media texts you have studied.
Jan 11 Explain why certain kinds of media can be defined as postmodern.
Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.
June 11 How do postmodern media differ from other media?
How far do you accept the idea of postmodernism?
Jan 12 “Postmodern media manipulate time and space.” To what extend does this definition apply to texts
you have studied?
Define postmodern media with examples.
June 12 Assess the arguments for and against postmodernism, in relation to media examples.
“Postmodern media break the rules of representation.” Discuss.
Jan 13 “All contemporary media is postmodern.” Discuss this statement in relation to examples you have
studied.
Evaluate theories of postmodernism in relation to media.
June 13 Provide your definition of postmodern media and support it with examples.
To what extent do postmodern media challenge the relationship between text and audience?
8. Past paper Questions
DATE EXAM QUESTION
Jan 10 What is meant by ‘postmodern media’?
Explain why the idea of ‘postmodern media’ might be considered controversial.
June 10 Why are some media products described as ‘postmodern’?
“Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation”. Discuss this idea with
reference to media texts you have studied.
Jan 11 Explain why certain kinds of media can be defined as postmodern.
Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.
June 11 How do postmodern media differ from other media?
How far do you accept the idea of postmodernism?
Jan 12 “Postmodern media manipulate time and space.” To what extend does this definition apply to texts
you have studied?
Define postmodern media with examples.
June 12 Assess the arguments for and against postmodernism, in relation to media examples.
“Postmodern media break the rules of representation.” Discuss.
Jan 13 “All contemporary media is postmodern.” Discuss this statement in relation to examples you have
studied.
Evaluate theories of postmodernism in relation to media.
June 13 Provide your definition of postmodern media and support it with examples.
To what extent do postmodern media challenge the relationship between text and audience?
Sometimes no
option to define it
9. Required platforms to study
• How post-modern media relate to genre and narrative
across two media,
– computer / video games and new forms of representation
– post-modern cinema
– interactive media
– reality TV
– music video
– Advertising
Also study…….
– post-modern audience theories
– aspects of globalisation
10. Styles of questions
• Definitions of postmodernism (in relation to media products and media audiences).
• What are the different versions of post-modernism (historical period, style, theoretical approach)?
• The difference between postmodern media and traditional media.
• What are the arguments for and against understanding some forms of media as post-modern?
• In what ways do media audiences and industries operate differently in a post-modern world?
• The impact of postmodern media on audiences and the ways in which we think about texts.
• How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional text-reader relations and the concept of representation?
• In what ways do media audiences and industries operate differently in a post-modern world?
• How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional text-reader relations and the concept of representation?
• Debates about postmodernism and whether it is really a useful theory or not.
• Examples of media products which you think can be, or have been defined as postmodern, and the reasons for
them being analysed in this way.
11. Essay Question Checklist
• Definition (elements)
• Different versions
• Comparison between pomo/traditional
• How pomo texts challenge traditional text reader relations
and concept of representation
• How audiences & industries operate differently in pomo world
• Impact on audience
• Arguments for/against (debates) – useful theory?
You will have choice of 2 questions, answer 1
12. Case Studies (texts) you should know
-catfish (Reality TV/documentary hybrid)
-facebook and other social networking sites (interactive media (online/internet)
-black mirror - 15 million merits (TV drama and online/internet)
-black mirror - be right back (TV drama and online/internet)
-black mirror - the entire history of you (TV drama and online/internet)
-X-factor (Reality TV (bricolage)/drama/documentary/game show hybrid)
-big brother, (dead set - optional)........could also do TOWIE/made in chelsea (reality TV)
-Dove sketches advert (advertising)
-Elnett hairspray (or any other beauty advert) (advertising)
-some of the films on the handout! (cinema)
-online videos (parodies such as ‘harlem shake’ or any parody (or miley cyrus parody) (interactive
media/online/internet)
video games such as grand theft auto (optional) (video games)
-Disneyland/Vegas
-Cadbury gorilla advert
-any media in which you can be an avatar (user in virtual environment) (games/films/tv shows/online)
-war on the news or editing of reality TV & Kuleshov effect (re presenting facts which are not accurate)
-2-3 pieces of art from different time periods
Red = must know Green = optional
14. Representation
• How do pomo texts blur line between reality and representation?
– Representation: to re-present a reality
– So much of what is being ‘represented’ is not real (therefore it’s hyperreal) or
it’s not ‘traditionally’ represented. It’s very easy to get ‘lost’
• i.e. hyperbeauty
• i.e. Products not being represented in a literal way (Cadbury chocolate)
• i.e. war on news (so much of what we see is so highly edited and biased, it’s not accurate
– the facts we are told show little resemblence to what actually happened therefore it’s
hyper-real
– Link to semiotics (signs and meanings)…..texts are very polysemic
– Texts are very interactive and therefore blur roles (video games and online
videos – ‘concept of prosumers’
– Other traditional theories including genre, narrative & representation are
challenged in pomo texts…. (because of above)
• Genre: so much hybridisation and challenge of generic conventions
• Narrative: change of time and space (modern day editing)
– Kuleshov
– Can manipulate audience to believe anything with editing
– Modern films: modular narratives (which manipulate time and space as they are not linear)
15. Julian McDonald video
• http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/_mmclips/mcdougall_postmodernism1.php
• Is the reality of NY a something that exists outside of media representation or is that media representation in your
head?
• You have a reality that is a reality based on non-reality = hyperreality (Disneyworld)
http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/_mmclips/mcdougall_postmodernism2.php video games & the
cadbury ad
Video games (such as GTA)
-blurs understanding of who you are (audience)
-are you playing game?
-are you a character?
-are you reading a story?
-playing game using controllers (physical world)
-can’t apply traditional theories on genre, narrative, representation etc. (because study showed male audience
followed different things)
-interactivity element
-1 male said ‘it’s like watching a film, except going into the screen/world and being in it’ (hyperreality)
