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Postmodern Media

Rob Miller | Friday October 26, 2012


Categories: A Level, OCR A Level, OCR A2, Hot Entries, New Media,
Postmodernism, Theory, Postmodern Theory

Postmodernism challenges conventional relations between audience and text


but also arouses controversy in terms of the validity of some theoretical
concepts these concepts have been much criticised, particularly by Marxist
writers. What makes some texts postmodern and some not has been, and is
the subject of much debate with the suggestion that to be truly postmodern
the boundaries between reality and representation must be blurred.
Postmodernism itself is a wide ranging term which applies to literature, art,
economics, philosophy, architecture as well and new and traditional media
forms. Interpretation is everything with the concept of reality constantly under
scrutiny and the key suggestion that these realities are social constructs
which are open to change; everything is subjective and there is no absolute
truth. The term itself was first postulated in the 1920s as an antidote to avantgarde modernity, but was developed further in the 1950s and 1960s by art
and literature.
In the classroom Postmodernity can either be explained in 30 seconds, over a
whole term or never a film or television programme that is a pastiche of
generic codes (bricolage), that makes constant intertextual references or is
self referential, focussing as The Day Today (Morris/Iannucci) did on the
mechanics and form of news reporting rather than the news itself see also
Charlie Brookers Newswipe.

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Charlie Brooker's How to Report the News - Newswipe - BBC Four


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My other attempts to explain postmodernity to students have also suggested
that perhaps the Victorians could be argued to be early postmodernists with
Victorian parlours lacking any distinct form or style and offering instead a
bizarre, cluttered eclecticism of styles with objects and ornaments from
different time periods with no obvious form or arrangement. Ikea or Habitat
living rooms would resist this classification.

Either way postmodernism denies and is against binary classification and


logic, it is style over substance Old Gregg, a character developed by Noel

Fielding in The Mighty Boosh (see case study below) epitomises this
postmodern construct, Ridley Scotts Blade Runner offers the narrative of a
science fiction text while wrapping the film in terms of visual iconography and
mise-en-scene within the traditions of film noir. Minority Report is a
postmodern copy of Blade Runner (itself a copy of the novel Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep). Films lend themselves to a discussion of the
postmodern perhaps more than other texts pre millennium angst is explored
in films like The Matrix, American Beauty, Fight Club and Being John
Malcovich with narratives involving men going through portholes into a
parallel universe, notions of identity and the self explored with the ultimate in
self referential Being John Malcovich actually starring John Malcovich - the
iconic poster for the film is littered with hundreds of masks of the actor. It
would be a mistake to say anything strange and not following convention is
postmodern but audiences could be forgiven for making this assumption. With
film texts in comparison with art, a narrative is more often than not apparent.
Surrealism and Modernity have nothing to do postmodernity but also often
defy the process of classification and have no obvious narrative structure with,
like postmodernism style and form dominant over content.

Postmodernity is more pluralistic with the role that language plays seen as
being crucial to understanding the concept (see Old Greggs strange

dialogue and utterances), it offers a range of diverse and equally acceptable


representations which challenge hegemonic assumptions which are regularly
reinforced and circulated by mainstream media sexuality, race, ethnicity,
national identity, gender, social class and notions of ability / disability are
questioned in an implosion and fragmentation of identity. Ironic self referential
reflection is also common to postmodernism with characters, comedians and
identities created by writers such as Steve Coogan e.g. Alan Partridge hyper
real extensions of the personalities of their creator. In this regard Jean
Baudrillard can be cited as an early postmodernist, constructing theories on
human society based on this kind of self-referentiality. He suggested that
societies constantly search for meaning in an attempt to make sense of their
built environment but struggle with systems of signs working together to
attempt signification. This understanding of reality he argues is a fruitless
task because reality or absolute truth does not exist audiences are drawn
into a simulated version of reality (like Morris representation of TV News in
The Day Today or even more darkly in Jam) or as Baudrillard liked to state,
hyperreality.

With Baudrillard however, Marxists and other critics of the concept of


postmodernity have the ability to challenge ideas and beliefs as a core
concept of postmodernity is that theories and ideologies are to be distrusted.
Whether poststructuralist or postmodernist Baudrillard had some ideas,
albeit ideas that suggested there may be no ideas any more it is this
interface that has come under the fiercest criticism with postmodernity seen

by critics as wishy-washy, a term banded around as an excuse for anything


that cannot be fully understood or comprehended. Dick Hebdige, media and
cultural theorist agrees with this proposal and goes further in his book Hiding
in the Light (1988) by suggesting that Postmodernity is in fact a buzzword,
fashionable and ephemeral:
When it becomes possible for a people to describe as postmodern the dcor
of a room, the design of a building, the diegesis of a film, the construction of a
record, or a scratch video, a television commercial, or an arts documentary,
or the intertextual relations between them, the layout of a page in a fashion
magazine or critical journal, an anti-teleological tendency within epistemology,
the attack on the metaphysics of presence, a general attenuation of feeling,
the collective chagrin and morbid projections of a post-War generation of
baby boomers confronting disillusioned middle-age, the predicament of
reflexivity, a group of rhetorical tropes, a proliferation of surfaces, a new
phase in commodity fetishism, a fascination for images, codes and styles, a
process of cultural, political or existential fragmentation and/or crisis, the decentring of the subject, an incredulity towards metanarratives, the
replacement of unitary power axes by a plurality of power/discourse
formations, the implosion of meaning, the collapse of cultural hierarchies, the
dread engendered by the threat of nuclear self-destruction, the decline of the
university, the functioning and effects of the new miniaturised technologies,
broad societal and economic shifts into a media, consumer or multinational
phase, a sense (depending on who you read) of placelessness or the
abandonment of placelessness (critical regionalism) or (even) a generalised
substitution of spatial for temporal coordinates - when it becomes possible to
describe all these things as Postmodern (or more simply using a current
abbreviation as post or very post) then its clear we are in the presence of a
buzzword.

Potentially deeply ironic theoretical criticism is also leveled at French thinker


and philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard who, although described by many as
the grandfather of postmodernity has been quoted as saying The point is Im
not a theorist. Please dont take the notion of postmodernity as theory
although much of Lyotards writings, particularly in his seminal text, The
Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1979) focuses on this
area of study with the key suggestion that postmodernity has led to the end of
grand narratives or metanarratives as he describes it. Lyotard goes on to
suggest that these metanarratives have been replaced by a series of micro
narratives and stories within stories with the idea that narrative structure and
genre study is now redundant. Mapped onto film Lyotard is suggesting that
metanarratives would include science, religion, history, war / conflict, national
identity, love / romance, other worlds the stuff of mainstream Hollywood
films and that these narratives have been replaced by more non linear,
localised narratives that explore individual experience and are more self
referential.
Taking Lyotard out of the sphere of film, his grand narratives on a
philosophical level included progress, enlightenment, emancipation and
Marxism which all comprised an essential component of modernity. This
inclusion of Marxism as a grand narrative put Lyotard in direct conflict with the
most outspoken critics of postmodernity who suggested that instead of on the
surface rejecting mainstream culture, postmodernity legitimised capitalism by
its lack of political and ideological structure. This perhaps grounds
postmodernism more in art and culture than in philosophical thinking. As with
many postmodern texts criticism also attacked a lack of meaning what
would be the purpose and value of something that has no obvious structure
and that exists has a surface aesthetic only? Noam Chomsky suggested
there was too much physical pleasure associated with postmodernity and that
there was nothing of empirical or analytical value. This may or may not be true
of so called postmodern texts and the irony if using a postmodern framework
this would be a decision made by the individual as a result of interpretation
not encoded shared values or beliefs.

The Mighty Boosh

The Mighty Boosh is unique, The Mighty Boosh is surreal, The Mighty
Boosh is apparently postmodern. Intertextual references are frequently made
to The Pythons, Frank Zappa, Mr Benn (clear drug connotations) and there
is a style and form over content and substance agenda The Mighty Boosh
and Noel Fieldings incarnations look, and sound interesting. There is,
however, some structure with a basic narrative premise being that in most
episodes Howard and Vince invariably embark on some sort of adventure
which gets them into trouble which leaves them in need of rescuing, often by
Naboo. Sometimes they get themselves out of it but more often not after
meeting odd characters such as Old Gregg and The Crack Fox. This
underpinning narrative premise gives the programme some sort of form and
structure that arguably challenges its postmodern classification. However,
escaping from Monkey Hell (Series 1) using hair gel does literally suggest a
postmodern aesthetic that is more interested in surface textures.
Developed from stage shows and a radio series (like so much BBC comedy)
the series has been broadcast on the BBC since 1998 with the niche digital
channel BBC3 being its comfortable home. Originated and written by Noel
Fielding and Julian Barratt Wikipedia interestingly identifies the subjects it
explores as Surrealism, Fashion Victims, ElectroPonce and Fantasy
(perhaps a suggestion of editing by the writers). The Boosh achieved an
audience of 1 million for its first episode and has a loyal target audience who
would happily accept the label of Cult TV. It is produced for the BBC by Steve

Coogans independent production company, Baby Cow Productions (Gavin


and Stacey).
It has been argued that The Mighty Boosh is postmodern because it is
based around fetishism and celebrity culture the characters always want to
become famous and often guest celebrities are persuaded to appear in
episodes. Hyper realism challenges the nature of truth and notions of celebrity
move carefully into this equation; what you see may or may not be what you
get (see Baudrillard on the Gulf War (1990). Everything is a copy of a copy (in
one episode Vince is depressed because someone is trying to copy him). A
celebrity is a non real construct; the representation is mythical and is
consumed as such by the public. The celebrity and the person are two distinct
constructs yet the reality of the celebrity is passively consumed by audiences
who either aspire to, or identify with the representation. Celebrity fits The
Mighty Boosh like a postmodern glove as the idea of celebrity is empty,
vacuous, on the surface and without real meaning. Fetishism remains the
abstract, obsessive interest with an object, an item of clothing, a sexual
preference and it remains without history or explanation. Some people really
like things for no given reason and again, this fits the postmodern template of
The Mighty Boosh as a love for surface aesthetics, for aforementioned
texture, for colour, for sensation.
The Mighty Boosh is also self referential Noel Fielding admits to being a
hyper real version of himself in the show; he often uses the technique of direct
addresses to camera (personal communication with the audience, insights
into his personality) which ticks the postmodern reflexivity box. In one episode
Gary Numan plays a different version of himself (he is introduced to cheer up
Vince) while a Shakespearean actor plays alongside Sammy the Crab vying
for celebrity and fame this surreal pastiche of different time periods, animal /
human and popular / high culture suggests a postmodern mix of codes which
challenges the audience to engage in the process of constructing meaning.
Again, the emphasis is on style over content / substance e.g. a journey to the
frozen wastes of the arctic tundra and where the Euro is used as currency in
the show for no apparent reason. This surface aesthetic is no better
referenced than in the character of Old Gregg who is pulled up from the water
by the strong arms of Howard on a fishing trip in series 2.

Old Gregg describes himself as a ScaleyManFish his physical


representation is surreal with green skin, seaweed hair, a tutu and a mangina
which emits light (reference to primary sexual organs is frequent in The
Mighty Boosh The Cockney Hitcher takes pleasure in weeing on people).
Gregg will launch into song at the drop of a hat but is vulnerable (Do you
love me?) but also potentially violent and psychotic. There is no reason for
Greggs existence and as a character he has achieved cult status for followers
of the programme and has become an internet meme. From a postmodern
perspective Gregg has no clear gender identity and no clear frame of
reference. Howard is initially dismissive of this character but learns he may
have to love him to survive. The fragmentation of gender identity is explored
by the character while Howard, with moustache is deliberately represented as
stereotypically blokey masculine. Gregg challenges cultural stereotypes by
provoking audiences into accepting a pluralistic version of gender identity that
has not been shared or developed. Audiences simply accept that this is Old
Gregg - Gregg is a funny character in a show.

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Old Greg (Original Full Version)


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A Cock and Bull Story

A Cock and Bull Story is a 2006 comedy film, directed by independent


British director, Michael Winterbottom and is based on The Life and
Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759) written by Laurence
Sterne, in nine volumes. It is a text with a deliberately confused narrative
structure but in essence is a narration of Tristram Shandys life; however,
Tristram cannot explain anything simply and his own birth is not referenced
until volume III. Non linear narratives focus around on the surface domestic
situations and the work arguably has no real substance. There is little
reference to Shandys life there is little content about his journey through life
which is the actual self reflexive point being made; in simple terms the book is
about a man failing to write his autobiography.

A Cock and Bull Story plays with metatextual levels depicting scenes from
the novel itself and fictionalised behind the scenes footage of the adaptation
process but also suggests a deep loathing and mistrust for British Films
obsession with adapting the 18th and 19th century novel into film. Produced
by Baby Cow Productions and BBC Film the screenplay was developed by
Frank Cottrell Boyce Boyce is a highly educated Oxford graduate with a
Doctorate in English who wrote criticism for the magazine, Living Marxism
while Steve Coogans production company, Baby Cow have a reputation for
producing texts which challenge the relationship between text and audience.
A Cock and Bull Story stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon and has notable
performances from Keeley Hawes, Shirley Henderson, Stephen Fry but also
Gillian Anderson playing herself, drawing on audiences understanding of her
iconic role in the X-Files as agent Dana Scully. Michael Nymans avant garde
soundtrack gives the film a fragmented underpinning which ensures any
expectations of the genre conventions of period drama are frequently
disturbed.

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A Cock and Bull Story is a postmodern film within a film with Steve Coogan
and Rob Brydon playing themselves (as egotistical actors) on set during the
film adaptation of Sternes metafictional novel Tristram Shandy. While
Shandy is about literary failure the film takes the form of failing to make the
film of the failed autobiography. The introspective approach combined with
pastiche, deliberate lack of narrative direction, genre implosion and focus on
the self labels A Cock and Bull Story a postmodern text. Even Nymans
musical score is not an original composition making intertextual references to
a number of films including The Draughtsmans Contract, Barry Lyndon
but also to Fellinis 8 , itself a film within a film. Critics have argued that the
intention of Boyce, Coogan et al was to originate a postmodern template
loaded with clever literary, filmic and intertextual references and to these ends
have suggested it lacks value. The film is just tub thumping, pretentious and
riding on the coat tails of the postmodern in the same way that Vic Reeves
and Bob Mortimer were just trying too hard to be surreal. Reeves and
Mortimer worked with limited production values but A Cock and Bull Story
reflects significant investment to achieve the production values of a period
drama (costume, set design and location) at just under 3 million.
Coogan and Brydons secondary persona and their dry, acerbic wit are a key
audience appeal and are set in direct binary opposition to the stereotypical
representations found in 18th/19th century period drama Alan Partridge is in
the 18th century with odd pieces to camera (direct address) and Rob Brydon
does impressions of Alan Partridge to anchor these self referential
representations. Coogan frequently responds with his familiar Partridge
exclamation A Ha!.The intertextual references continue with Brydon also
effecting impressions of Al Pacino and also referencing a range of texts
including Robin Hood and Cold Mountain. A complete lack of narrative form
is apparent and time and space are also subverted to ensure that although
the mise-en-scene encodes the visual iconography of period drama, aural
signifiers challenge this representation Radio 4 is playing while Coogan is
driving through the English countryside. Time itself physically freezes with
notions of the past and the present unclear.
The title of A Cock a Bull Story itself takes a dismissive view of the original
Shandy novel but also perhaps the predictable narratives contained within
period dramas. Period Dramas are seen as prestigious, high production value
critically acclaimed texts with an audience that buy into the aspirational
representations Coogan and Brydon unceremoniously pick this apart with
deep irreverence and present an alternative representation which is simply,
and crucially on the surface funny.

Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction (1994), written and directed by Quentin Tarantino remains a


much discussed text by academics looking to further an understanding of the
idea of postmodern media arguments for and against this notion are evident
in writings though most would argue that the film is an exemplar postmodern
text. There is no doubt that Pulp Fiction challenges traditional notions of
narrative structure by offering an entirely episodic, non linear piece which
contains seven narrative sequences as part of a circular narrative. Certainly
the film is also highly intertextual and a pastiche of generic codes with
different time periods and cultural references often cited but does this
necessarily make it postmodern? Quentin Tarantino was a young film maker
at the time who had received critical success for his first feature, Reservoir
Dogs after persuading Harvey Keitel to play a leading role and now had more
money to indulge his filmic interests Tarantino had worked in a video shop
for many years, is very film literate with a passion for 35mm and in Pulp
Fiction he is allowed to explore this cultural knowledge. Critics in Jaccuse
Citizen Kane tore Welless film to shreds with the suggestion that the film was
not brilliant, innovative and ahead of its time but in fact just an excuse to use
as many new filmic techniques as possible at the time because of the
availability of new technological developments Pulp Fiction received similar
hostility for its deliberately experimental approach. With this in mind and
placing both films in the avant garde it suggests a form of modernity rather
than postmodernity.
Many films have a non linear sequence and make intertextual references
this does not necessarily make them postmodern. Run Lola Run and
Memento take a similar approach to Pulp Fiction but perhaps there is
something else in the surfaces of Pulp Fiction that draw postmodern
references. It is a film of colour, visceral and visually interesting with unusual
mise-en-scene carefully arranged by the director. In the Jack Rabbit Slims
scene Vincent and Mia arrive for meal in a retro restaurant that combines the
past and the present in terms of its visual representations and references
copies of copies the steadicam follows Vincent (John Travolta) as he walks
around a narrative space that depicts posters reflecting different film genres,
people dressed in western costume, acapella singers and Buddy Holly and

Marilyn Monroe impersonators to name just a few.

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Jack Rabbit Slim's


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The waiter declares that his name is Buddy. This form of time travel of
course acknowledges Tarantinos cultural reference points but also allows
audiences into a world that has no meaning and that exists as a surface
aesthetic. The Steadicam has connotations of a first person shooter video
game with frequent camera work from behind the character combined with a
pastiche of musical styles anchoring the visual imagery. Retro is king in Jack
Rabbit Slims and is another world away from the main diegesis of the film.

Tarantinos references include Martin Scorcese films, The Blues Brothers


(particularly in the lift sequence) in all of his films he draws on intertextuality.
Kill Bill reflects his interest in martial arts films while Jackie Brown pays
homage to 1970s blaxploitation films but some critics are as yet unsure if this
is the much discussed postmodern visual representation that Tarantino and
his films have become associated with.

Mini Glossary of Terms


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Marxism: A political, philosophical and social ideology that explores the


inequality of class relations in society within a critique of capitalism.
Capitalism: An economic system based on private ownership and the
means of production and the creation of goods or services for profits.
Ideology: Am overarching system of ideas and beliefs that are often
used to control society.
Avant Garde: Literally in the advanced guard something that is
innovative, experimental and forward thinking.
Modernity: Futuristic, secular, associated with industrialisation it
suggests an experimental approach to building society and is associated with
capitalist ideology.
Binary Classification: Something that is deliberately placed in
fundamental, and often irreconcilable opposition to each other.
Surrealism: A cultural movement originating in the 1920s that is
typified but a lack of manifest meaning, reason or structure. Analysis of dream
sequences and an absence of logic underpin surrealist representations.
Pluralism: Diverse, more modern, liberal but equally acceptable
representations.

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Hegemony: Traditional, old fashioned representations or ideologies


that are selected, constructed and mediated to audiences as common sense.
Jean Baudrillard: French sociologist, philosopher and cultural theorist
most notably associated with Postmodernism and Poststructuralism (1929
2007).
Jean Francois Lyotard: French philosopher who has written widely on
the postmodern condition (1924 1998).
Noam Chomsky: American Marxist, linguist and philosopher (b. 1928).
Signification: The process of constructing meaning through
interpretation of a system of signs.
Hyperreality: Exaggerated representations that often appear more real
than real.
Metanarratives: Overarching narratives on the nature of existence.
Poststructuralism: A philosophy that denies the possibility of
truly scientific study. Like postmodernism (with which it is closely related) it
focus is on the self an identity

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