Hi welcome to the third and final part of the post modernism FAQ
in
this one we will focus on post-modernism as a
Historical stage and its cultural aspects in other words post modernity or the postmodern condition
This is a common source of confusion people don't realize that
Post-modernism can refer both to a kind of theoretical tendency but, also to a certain
historical condition this video is about the latter this is a very rich topic and it is very easy to find hundreds of examples of
Different aspects of post modernity and in this video I can only point towards them but
I do plan to eventually make a video about what characterizes post modernity using examples from recent years
So let's start with sub Roy's question here what is the historical
context behind the rise of postmodern theory why did it all arise in the mid twentieth century
I'd like to list three main causes of course more could be mentioned but I think these are the most obvious and significant ones one
decline of meta-narratives
So this shouldn't be surprising it
Was simply the case that meta-narrative started playing less and less of a role in society it's important to understand that in many ways
Postmodern theorists did not cause post modernity but were reacting to it
diagnosing it even if they did end up having an effect on it the decline of
Meta-narratives was really a process that started all the way back at the Enlightenment, when the Christian meta-narrative became increasingly less dominant
Nietzsche is in many ways a proto post modernist and his statement about the death of God
could be interpreted as a statement about the death or at least the decline of
Meta-narratives for a very long time the Christian meta-narrative was?
Almost inseparable from Western philosophy some would argue that with the decline of the Christian
meta-narrative the disappearance of one single dominant
Meta-narrative it was only a matter of time for all other
meta-narratives to decline in significance as well
the liberal met a narrative of progress lost a lot of credibility in the eyes of people
When that which promised linear development freedom and increasing peace faced the largest war in history
genocide and the use of nuclear weapons the Marxist meta-narrative was also declining because of the failure of
Revolution in the West and the dissatisfaction a lot of people had with the form of Marxism that developed in the Soviet
Union this decline of meta-narratives naturally led philosophers to consciously develop theories that do not depend on
Meta-narratives or even explicitly reject them now one interesting thing about
Discussing post modernity or the postmodern condition is that one can agree on all the facts about what happened
but heavily disagree on how these facts should be evaluated in terms of value judgments in the case of the loss of
Meta-narratives some postmodern theorists see this as a good, thing as liberating, we are no longer confined to a single
interpretive framework or a worldview and not only is this liberating it's more honest on the other side the loss of
Meta-narratives is seen by saman, entirely negative terms as loss of direction in life loss of meaning
incapacity to make sense of one's position in history so we can compare two positions
Leotard a postmodernist on Frederick Jameson a Marxist both believe that we live under a
postmodern condition both agree that
meta-narratives have declined however
Leotard thinks that this is a good thing in that we should continue to reject
Meta-narratives while jameson believes that this is something that needs to be overcome by rescuing the marxist
Meta-narrative the second historical context is a shift in the West from an
industrial economy to a service economy
Fredric jameson describes this as the shift from monopoly capitalism to multinational or consumer capitalism
Another label used is the arrival of late capitalism because of multinational consumer capitalism
Many, changes came about
Different workplace organizing a decrease in the significance of national and cultural bounds increasingly faster
Transportation and the huge increase in the focus on advertising all of these changes
transformed how people related to their work to commodities to
Advertising as well as to themselves as consumers all these changes are part of what constitutes the postmodern condition
finally there was the rise of Media and communication
Technologies home computers television the internet etc. Etc
Well the new service economy changed how people related to work and commodities these new media technologies changed how people
related to world events
Representation, even truth and with it came the proliferation of signs and images to a degree never seen
Before whether we're at the supermarket
surfing the internet or watching TV we are always
Bombarded with images
So these kinds of changes led many theorists to conclude that new theories are needed to make sense of them and that was dubbed the?
postmodern condition for people like leotard and Baudrillard the postmodern condition
required
Postmodern theory little recycle bin asks about what exactly a simulacrum is this is an idea
Developed by Baudrillard and it is an example of how post modernity is sometimes
Characterized so a simulacrum is a copy without an original according to Badri yard the relationship between
reality and
Representation shifted in postmodern societies and
Representation is now primary
we are now surrounded by
Simulacra and although a lot of people find Badri arts claims to be somewhat exaggerated there are some great examples
the website critical theory gives the example of pumpkin spice lattes
pumpkin
spice lattes are only sold and fall this is of course because we used to only have access to pumpkins in the fall and
So we associate the taste of pumpkins with the season today however we could actually have access to pumpkins all year round so
its appearance in the fall is not actually due to any seasonal reality but wait that's not all the pumpkin spice and
Pumpkin, spice lattes does not contain pumpkin at all it's mostly nutmeg
Which is available all year round in other words this image of a fall themed pumpkin flavored drink has
Absolutely no connection to reality no connection to real pumpkins
or real seasons the image being presented as fall themed and pumpkin flavored is merely there to
mask
The very fact that it has no referent reality and for Badri yard pretty much
Everything is like this today with a media constantly masking its own detachment from any kind of real, we are presented with relentless
Simulacra all these images that merely refer to other images so as you ask in what way fiat currency is a simulacrum
the most obvious aspect of it is that while commodity money referred to precious metals to determine its value
Fiat currency does not refer to anything its value derives entirely from its image or
Appearance as money and the way that this image refers to other images now let's talk about some postmodern
media
some people are asking about examples of postmodern movies or
Postmodern media in general there are two movies that have been perhaps more than any others cited as examples of postmodern cinema
Blade Runner and Pulp Fiction so what is postmodern about them well in Blade Runner there's a blending of images from different times
places and cultures
1940s clothes and offices are combined with punk hairstyles and
Oriental images there is a mixing of languages the movie itself blurs the boundaries between genres such as
Sci-fi and film noir now one could keep postmodern. Media
completely separate from postmodern theory but as you might have noticed they are related just as postmodern theory highlights the
instability of certain categories and the dependence of signifiers on other signifiers so postmodern media and culture
Destabilize established categories and play with the mixing of seemingly unrelated
signifiers whether those of culture genre or history additionally the plot of the movie
problematizes the very notion of being a human subject another topic in postmodern theory Pulp Fiction on the other hand
Demonstrates what is called intertextuality
intertextuality
Refers to the way that the meaning of a text is shaped by other texts for example through allusion
referencing and quoting Pulp Fiction is like a collage of
References to other quote unquote texts almost every scene refers to something else whether other movies or
50 celebrities or cultural icons as Gary Groth described it the world of Pulp Fiction is composed of Hollywood
products you could contrast intertextuality
with a strongly opposed idea the
Romanticist idea of the artistic genius the genius is an
Individual who receives an artistic idea almost like a revelation from heaven and then directly
Transfers it into some piece of art a postmodern view of creativity is very
Different it sees the individual genius as more of a myth and instead emphasizes how creations are always like remixes
Borrowing bits and pieces from different sources
Converging different influences constantly mixing signifiers now
Intersexuality is of course a theoretical notion that could be applied to very old texts as well not just
Postmodern films but we see how intertextuality in a postmodern world is becoming a more and more
Appropriate way of making sense of texts because
we have an increasing amount of things like collage art
Sample-based music or movies that thrive on referring to other movies this blinding
Also involves a blending of high and low culture
another commonly cited
Characteristic of post modernity as there is an increasingly smaller divide between what kind of art to different economic classes enjoy another
Postmodern aspect of Pulp Fiction is how self
Referential it is it is an action movie that instead of referring to some real-life event or history or concept
Refers to the action genre
Itself it is more interested in how criminals are portrayed in action movies then in how they actually are in real life
the philosopher Umberto Eco characterized television as self referential like this we have TV shows about TV shows
talk shows in which people are interviewed about television
commercials that parody TV movies
Etc etc
Today of course there are more recent examples it is not hard to see for example the way in which internet memes are self
Referential and again this can be evaluated both positively and negatively some would say that this emphasis on intertextuality is
More honest and liberating that it allows us to be more cooperative in our career and that it doesn't force us to hide our
influences on the other hand some are a lot less hopeful Fredric Jameson for example
characterizes art and culture under post-modernism as only pastiche for him the kind of intertextuality
Operating today isn't actually capable of creating anything new merely
Imitating and mixing around the old for Jameson in pre post modern times by imitating other texts
We were able to satirize them and use it as a method of critique but satire has been taken over by mere parody which is
creatively impotent and politically ineffective another postmodern aspect of Pulp Fiction is the way that it plays with
Narrative it's not a simple linear story with a unifying narrative but a collection of almost
Accidentally intersecting stories told in a nonlinear fashion and here we can touch on a postmodern TV show twin piece
Now there's many ways in which Twin Peaks is a postmodern TV show it's blurring of established genre conventions is an
obvious example but there's, also the way in which it approaches narrative a modern approach to narrative would be to have a
Predetermined beginning and a predetermined end where the relations of all the parts of the story are decided in advance
Between Peaks functions in a more postmodern way the creators thought up what will happen as they went along
There, was no predetermined ending it
Was meant to be left?
perpetually open not only that there was no
predetermined beginning the creators would come up with things that happened in the past as they went along as well in
one scene in the prequel movie fire walk with me
Something that happened in the future affects the past in other words there is no pre-established
Narrative and because there is no predetermined beginning or end every event is open to constant
Reinterpretation now again we could keep this aspect of postmodern media completely separate from
Postmodern theory more generally but you might have noticed that this approach to narrative is related to the postmodern approach to history
traditional meta-narratives would conceive of a pre-established
beginning and a predetermined end for example the Christian meta-narrative starts with the creation of the world and man's fall from grace and
it is determined in advance that this narrative will end with the second coming in
salvation
but a postmodern view posits no meta-narrative no absolute beginning or end
Even how we interpret past events can depend on. What happens in the future this of course such is also on haunt
Ology another postmodern concept that I've introduced before now
what about
Architecture how does architecture relate to postmodern theory it might seem that it's not related at all but it
Is first of all there's the destabilization of categories just like in postmodern theory and postmodern movies
postmodern
Architecture no longer has a style connected to a particular place or culture
Or a way of life it's often disregards national and cultural bounds it is also in a way intertextual
borrowing from many different
Architectural styles to form a kind of
Architectural collage and when it comes to fredric jameson and his critique of post modernity a whole video could be made about his views on
Architecture as architecture was his entry point, into talking about post-modernism many times he addressed the way
We reorient ourselves through the architectural structures we walk through, how it shapes our lives
Some theorists characterize post modernity as consisting of more and more so called non places these are places that
Again are not tied to any culture
Or way of life they are not even meant for people to stay in but are mere places of transit rest areas
airports train stations gas stations
places that have no cultural roots in the areas they are built on some go even further and talk about post modernity x'
disappearance of space this refers to how physical space becomes increasingly less significant in
Several ways there's the obvious way in which transportation becomes more and more effective and moving from country to country is easier but
Also the way that culture is less dependent on
space
Staying in the same American small town I can on the same Street to find an Italian restaurant a Chinese restaurant and a Mexican restaurant
and then there are chain buildings that are almost copy pasted across areas a
Starbucks can look like the same place whether it's in the United States or
Dewayne, eeeh there's a Twitter thread that I love about the postmodern hellscape that is the Cheesecake Factory
you have the mixing of styles completely without any direction or unifying narrative the intertextuality
but, also the worst aspects of post modernity as Baudrillard describes it the complete lack of connection to anything real the
tankards that you drink from and the wicker baskets are all made from plastic the
Decorations are all completely fake it's all filled with cheap substitutes a bunch of images that only refer to other images all
Simulacra now just as with everything else
Discussions about postmodern architecture can be pretty
Polarizing take Las Vegas for instance very postmodern city you should notice why by now
it's full of fake replicas of cultural icons images
Thrown around everywhere with no unifying plan
Some find this charming the architect Robert venturi
solace Vegas as an ideal this kind of proliferation of images was seen by him as kind of a force of
Democracy with no outside authority dictating. What should be placed where and he, also saw it as a kind of resistance to elitism
Embracing simple pleasures and a casual kind of individualism and someone more on the Frederic James inside
would say that it's just a ste
Sh a bunch of images thrown together into an eyesore with no soul no
Meaning no direction no value and not liberating either but in fact being the mechanisms of capital
authoritative Lee asserting themselves into every conceivable aspect of culture which position is right I'll leave to you to decide in
fact I don't usually do this but I'd be interested in hearing your opinion in the
Comments with regards to these different aspects of post modernity
Do you find such developments positive or negative do you think we should embrace the postmodern condition
even push it further
or
Should we try to overcome it
now the video is getting kind of long so I'll stop there this has been the final part of my post-modernism
FAQ I know that chances are that you still have loads of questions relating to post-modernism that's, okay?
I do to the point of this FAQ was not to give you a
on the topic but to clear up some confusion and push back against the all-too-common
Slander and hostility people have against post-modernism or postmodern theory so I encourage you to follow up on some of the readings I have recommended
Throughout research ask questions in the comments and stick around
The only way to really do justice to postmodern theory is to consider each theorist
or idea
Individually and I will be doing that in future videos I hope this has been somewhat helpful finally I'd like to thank my patreon supporters
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Lucy Pearson and everyone else I appreciate you greatly
we'll see each other next time in
2019 on the occasion of the new year my next video will be on my favorite books that I've read in
2018
after that I'll finally return to my regular kind of videos
If you support me on patreon you will get to vote for the next video topic you will also have access to reading notes intended
To be helpful that I write for each video it's been a great year for
Philosophy thank you
