Media Factsheet #54: Introduction to Postmodernism
1) Read the section on Strinati's five ways to define postmodernity. What examples are provided of the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society (media-isation)?
The examples of the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society that were provided were Bruno and Borat (vs Sacha Baron Cohen) and The X Factor. Advertising has the power to make a poor quality product commercially successful if it has great advertising while an excellent product can fail without it. Bruno and Borat have more 'reality' for film audiences than their creator (Sacha Baron Cohen) because the characters seem real so they can get away with doing and saying things that a 'real' person could not- he is also only interviewed in character so his characters have a voice and he does not. The example of The X Factor is because of the fact that the contestants perform covers of cover versions of songs
2) What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83?
Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness' is that as mediaization increases, the culture loses a sense of historical context and now history is just reduced to ‘talking heads’ documentaries and historical knowledge that is often based on media representations. 'Historical deafness' can be applied to Deutschland 83 because the Cold War was dramatised in order to make the show entertaining for audiences to watch and the real events of the Cold War become distorted
3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?
The examples provided for the idea of 'style over substance' are branding and celebrities- people are heavily influenced by branding when purchasing products because the label of a product becomes more important than the actual product and the packaging becomes more important than the contents. The increase in celebrities through reality TV shows can be seen as the culture celebrating style over substance- many celebrities nowadays are famous for being famous rather than for a talent or ability and because of this, Jameson argues that 'style over substance' creates a cultural depthlessness. Similarly to Baudrillard, he sees the culture as being one where meaning is lost and all that is left is surface representation but he also argues that this is sometimes countered by outrageous claims for extreme moments of intense emotion (for example, the shared cultural grief after the death of a celebrity- Jameson claims that these emotional outbursts are a way of replacing the shallowness of ‘style over substance
4) What examples from music are provided for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture? Can this be applied to Deutschland 83?
The example from music for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture was provided was that pop music (low art) often samples classical music (high art). This could be applied to Deutschland 83 because the supermarket in West Germany was playing pop music which is not what audiences would expect to be similar to what would be played by the youth in East Germany. Although there were distinct differences in West and East German living standards, we are able to see how West Germany tends to listen to low art music in public places as opposed to high art music
5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?
Bricolage is the process of adapting and juxtaposing old and new texts, images, ideas, or narratives to produce whole new meanings- we can see this in Deutschland 83 where there are juxtaposing representations of their parties. High art (classical music) was being sang at the West whereas low art (pop music) was being played in the East
6) How can the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 be linked to postmodernism? Read 'The decline of meta-narratives' and 'Media texts and the postmodern' to help answer this.
Postmodern societies have presented the idea that people no longer believe that there are no absolute ways to explain reality- high profile failures of some grand narratives have led people to question whether it is possible to find an all-encompassing ‘answer’ to social and economic problems. Deutschland 83 has meta-narratives of communism and capitalism which help provide audience pleasures such as surveillance/information- the conflict between capitalism and communism in Deutschland 83 and which is considered to be 'right' provides an example of the confusion of a postmodern society
7) Read the analysis of media concepts and postmodern approaches on page 3 of the factsheet. Choose three of the concepts and write an example from Deutschland 83.
- Genre: Deutschland 83 is a hybrid genre of spy-thriller and romance and drama- this is representative of how postmodern texts play with genre codes and subvert them. This can be simply constructing a hybrid genre which can be harder to identify in more complex texts
- Representation: The protagonist in Deutschland 83, Martin, is infiltrating the West through a fake identity that includes deceiving others and putting others in danger and from the first episode, we are positioned to sympathise with this character. Postmodern representations typically subvert expectations and contemporary texts often play with conventional ideas in representations such as creating an immoral hero or a sympathetic villain
- Ideology: The protagonist in Deutschland 83 is a spy but this is seen as heroic by the East Germans because they know it is being done to defend their country. Postmodern texts complicate notions of ideology and challenge the simplistic binary oppositional approach- for example, evil acts may be undertaken with good motivations, characters may be good at times and evil at others, those representing good do not always win the ideological battle within the text, good and evil are often shown as being subjective and changeable ideas (depending on context)
8) Now look at page 4 of the factsheet. How does Deutschland 83 demonstrate aspects of the postmodern in its construction and ideological positioning?
Deutschland 83 demonstrates aspects of the postmodernism in its construction and ideological positioning because of the construction that allows a realistic representation of what Germany was like at the time reinforcing the political and social divide between the West and the East. The ideological positioning of Deutschland 83 is difficult to establish because the spy protagonist is depicted to be somewhat innocent despite the harmful nature of his mission
9) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why?
- The supermarket scene: There was pop music playing in the supermarket (despite the fully stocked shelves) which was similar to the music that was playing in the East- provides us with an example of bricolage
- President giving speech scene: Ronald Reagan was giving a speech in the show to make it feel more authentic and real and give the audience a sense of hyper-reality
10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers?
- Surveillance: The news reports provide a sense of hyper-reality that even allows the audience to learn something from watching which provides the surveillance audience pleasure
- Personal identity: Elements of pastiche allows the audience to feel a sense of nostalgia if they recognise the original work that the pastiche is imitating
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