The key pomo theoristst

1. Unit G325 Critical Media
Perspectives
Postmodern TV

2. Lesson Objectives
• To revise some postmodern theory.
• To know how to discuss TV and film as a
postmodern medium.
• To understand how to incorporate theory
into an essay on postmodernism.

3. Definition of post modernism
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4. Theorists
• John Belton identifies 3 characteristics of post
modern cinema: (don’t relate these to TV!)
• It is based on a pastiche (borrowing and re-using
in another context without changing) of
traditional generic material
• It is an imitation of images from the past, offered
as nostalgic substitutes for any real exploration of
either the past or for the present.
• This referencing the past reflects the fact that for
the modern film maker, there isn’t much that
hasn’t already been said.
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5. John Belton
• What was John Belton trying to say
about pomo film?
• Can you think of three examples where
you could relate John Belton’s thoery
with pomo films you have studied?
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6. TV as a Postmodern Medium
• In its resistance to simplification or generalisation, TV
is sometimes seen as one of the clearest embodiments
of postmodernism.
• TV provides a constant turnover of images and
symbols.
• TV is seen as central to the explosion of consumer
culture – unlike Modernist Art, which was thought to
be characterised by “integrity, authenticity and
originality” and therefore stood against capitalism and
consumerism, TV often focuses on these ideologies.
• Jim Collins said about TV: “TV is frequently referred to
as one of the main kinds of postmodern culture.”

7. Jim Collins
Film as a Postmodern Medium
• He analysed films by saying:
• There is a new divide in Hollywood today, between
• the eclectic or ‘hybrid’ film one one hand, smart and
‘knowing’ and
• a more traditional kind of film keen to endorse ‘authentic’
values and a solid, traditional sense of reality, as opposed
to a playful sense of representations.

8. Jim Collins
• Say that different films operate on different levels:
• Says that some explore a character adventure
• And some make the text very self referential and ‘knowing’
and in that sense the journey is the texts’ journey.
• The ‘text’s adventure’ can mean different signifiers from different
genres, disconnected from their typical narrative structures.
• Often there is a ‘knowingness’, a self-consciousness in deploying
generic features and on the part of the spectators in interpreting
them.
•
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9. 2 layers to post modern media
• Jim Collins was talking about films, not
TV programmes, and said you read a film
or TV programme on two levels:
• One is the straight narrative layer
• The other is the post modern layer which
is filled with meaning, pastiche, parody,
intertexual references, irony, humour and
knowingness.
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10. Hyperconsciousness
• Simply – a text’s awareness of itself, its
status, function and history.
• A term used by theorist Jim Collins.
• A hyper awareness on the part of the text
itself of its cultural status, function and
history, as well as how it will be received by
an audience.
• Jim Collins makes a distinction between the
‘knowing’ po mo text, the hybrid and the
solid traditional film.

11. TASK
• What did Jim Collins say about pomo
TV?
• What did Jim Collins say about pomo
film?
• Can you write a paragraph about how
post modern film is different to normal
film and relate this thought to Jim
Collins theory?
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12. Jean-Francois Lyotard
• He suggests that grand narratives like
religion, science, Marxism, capitalism no
longer have the same importance in our
lives. The concept of progress and the
arts, technology, medicine and knowledge
would progress to a greater good is now
seen to be questionable.
• The ‘death’ of the grand narrative, as it is
known, is explored in ‘Children of Men’
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14. TASK
• Why do pomo directors
reinforce the idea of the death
of the grand narrative in their
films?
• What examples can you think
of that do this?
• More importantly - why?
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15. Postmodern theory: Marshall
McLuhan
• As a background to postmodern theory
it’s useful to look at the media theorist
Marshall McLuhan (he wasn’t specifically
a pomo theorist)
• In 1964 McLuhan coined the phrase “the
medium is the message”.
• By this he means the way any message
is communicated is more important than
the message itself.
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17. Baudrillard and simulacra
• Simulacra - copies of historical events or
landmarks.
• Fantasyland at Disneyland - copies various
Disney films and books, eg Peter Pan, Alice
in Wonderland, King Arthur, Pinocchio.
• Umberton Eco said that ‘we enjoy a perfect
imitation, we also enjoy the conviction that
imitation has reached its peak and
afterwards reality will always be inferior to
it.”
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18. Disneyland and Simulacra and
simulation
• Both Umberto Eco and Jean Baudrillard refer to Disneyland as an exemplar
of hyperreality. Eco believes that Disneyland with its settings such as Main
Street and full sized houses has been created to look "absolutely
realistic," taking visitors' imagination to a "fantastic past."
• This false reality creates an illusion and makes it more desirable for
people to buy this reality. The fake animals such as alligators and
hippopotamuses are all available to people in Disneyland and for
everyone to see. The "fake nature" of Disneyland satisfies our imagination
and daydream fantasies in real life. Therefore, they seem more admirable
and attractive.
• In his work Simulacra and Simulation, Baudrillard argues the "imaginary
world" of Disneyland magnetizes people inside and has been presented as
"imaginary" to make people believe that all its surroundings are "real". But
he believes that the Los Angeles area is not real; thus it is hyperreal.
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19. Baudrillard
• What was Baudrillard saying about
reality and reproduction or about the
blurring of reality and fiction?
• His ideas are known to be very
controversial. What do you think of his
ideas - do you agree or would you
challenge his theory?
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20. Hyperreality
• From Wikipedia:
• Some examples are the McDonald's "M" arches which signify the material promise of
endless amounts of identical food. In "reality" the "M" represents nothing, and the
food is neither identical nor infinite.
• Hyperreality relates to consumerism, in respect of its reliance on signs.
• Eg. Abercrombie and Fitch shows that one is fashionable
• A Mercedes indicates one's wealth.
• These can be seen to create hyperreality
• Hyperreality tricks the consciousness so it doesn’t emotionally engage, and people
enjoy artificial simulation, and endless reproductions without meaning. Essentially.
• Fulfillment or happiness is found through simulation and imitation of a transient
simulacrum of reality, rather than any interaction with any "real" reality.
• Interacting in a hyperreal place like a casino gives the subject the impression that
one is walking through a fantasy world where everyone is playing along. The decor
isn't authentic, everything is a copy, and the whole thing feels like a dream.
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21. Jean Baudrillard
• Hyper reality is an exaggeration of something
that existed into something that is so perfect its
a fantasy. EG Disneyland
• And he believed that the media reality is now
the ‘reality’ of today. We all want an Xmas tree
for Xmas, but not a ruffled pine tree from the
forest, but a perfect one with perfect leaves.
• We see images of women in magazines who
have been Photo shop’d and touched up, so that
you have a fantasy woman that is very far
removed from what real women are like.
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22. Jean Baudrillard
• In the post modern world, media texts
make visible and challenge ideas of
truth and reality removing the illusion
that films, music videos or any media
text can ever accurately or neutrally
reproduce reality or truth.
• There are competing versions of truth
and post modern film explores this.
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23. Other examples of hyper reality
• Films in which characters and settings are either digitally enhanced or created
entirely from CGI (e.g.: 300, where the entire film was shot in front of a blue/green
screen, with all settings super-imposed).
• A well manicured garden (nature as hyperreal).
• Professional sports athletes as super, invincible versions of the human beings.
• Many fake places around the world: Disney World; Dubai; Celebration, Florida; and
Las Vegas.
• TV and film in general (especially "reality" TV), due to its creation of a world of
fantasy and its dependence that the viewer will engage with these fantasy worlds.
The current trend is to glamorize the mundane using histrionics.
• A retail store that looks completely stocked and perfect due to facing, creating a
world of endless identical products.
• A life which cannot be (e.g. the perfect facsimile of a celebrity's invented persona).
• A high end sex doll used as a simulacrum of an unattainable partner.[7]
• A newly made building or item designed to look old, or to recreate or reproduce an
older artifact, by simulating the feel of age or aging.
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24. Hyper reality
• What is hyper reality?
• What does it mean?
• Why is it relevant for us to study it in
relation to pomo film?
• What do you believe about
Baudrillard’s theories on hyper reality?
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25. Umberto Eco – Neo TV
• In an essay on Postmodern TV written in
1984, Umberto Eco argued that TV had
become so self-absorbed that it had
almost turned its back on the real world.
•

26. Examples of Neo-TV
Umberto Eco
• Chat Shows
• Awards ceremonies.
• TV News items about TV Celebrities.
• TV documentaries about making TV
programmes.
• TV Quiz Shows about TV shows.
• TV shows that allow the public to feedback
on other TV shows.
• Ads which recycle or spoof older TV ads.
• Games/Quiz shows with TV celebrities as
contestants.

27. Examples of Neo-TV
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz2j2-
Fbhz4
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=4iaWVV3ZQy0&feature=results_main&play
next=1&list=PL71E7841D97ADAA30
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28. Postmodernism : definitions
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