Assignment

DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION

LAHORE LEADS UNIVERSITY

2018
 MODERNISM
DEFINITION:
According to a brief definition of Modernism:
"Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose
from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society during the late 19th and
early 20th centuries."
Modernism was a revolt against the conservative values of realism
A.C.Ward, Nietzsche, Marx, Freud and Darwin were prominent philosophers who worked for
Modernism.This movement was started in 1880, in 1920 it was its peak and its decline started in
1950.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHANGES:
In the beginning of 20th century, the world faced rapid economic and social changes. The
old life styles had changed and new economy were introduced in the world. The world has been
started to expand. There was an increase in the world’s population. Societies have become more
disjointed and individual become more flexible.
The background of Modernism is
 The start of urbanization in England (People preferred to live in urban area,
industrialization)
 Intellectualism (Increase in awareness)
 Scientific revolution (more and more inventions)
 Marxist influence (capitalist thinking)
 Invasion of psychology (more advancement to study human psychology)
EFFECTS OF FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS:
The First and Second World War (1914-1918 and 1939-1945 respectively) had left
effects on the entire world, important changes on a large-scale. This kind of worldwide effect is
an important occurrence of the century. Literacy rate increased after 1870 Education Act, more
people learnt read and write. The field of literature had expanded. Many new thoughts have
introduced in literature. The modernist movement, at the beginning of the 20th century, have
introduced the first time the term "avant-garde“ (experimental), with which the movement was
labeled until the word "modernism" prevailed, was used for the arts. Surrealism (visual artwork
and writing) gained fame among the public as being the most extreme form of modernism, or
"the avant-garde of modernism".
DIFFERENT PERIODS OF MODERNISM:
It is difficult to draw a clear cut line between different time periods of modernism, but to
have an overlook; we can divide it in following different periods:
Time Period (Beginnings) Main Feature
(First half of the 19th century for Europe )
Late 19th to early 20th century In the 1890s a strand of thinking began to assert that it was
necessary to push aside previous norms entirely
Explosion, 1910–1930
Second generation, 1930 –1945 beginning to be looked to as the source for ideas to deal with the
challenges of the day. (propaganda movies)
After World War II economically and physically rebuild and to politically
regroup.(rebuilt of society )
In the 1960s and after
(a) Pop art/culture unrelated material / Movies or films (imagery)
(b) Minimalism Simplicity, clarity, singleness / geometric style (following the
pattern ) love triangle movies
(c) Post-Minimalism relation to music and the visual arts
(d) Neo-Dada use of a number of different Culture together
(e) Inter-media, Multi-media use of a number of different media together
(f) Fluxus abstract expressionism movement
Late period abstract expressionism

According to my understanding, period of modernism can be referred to as more absorbent and

more accommodative in nature. People who were rigid in their thoughts and who were not accept
the ideas of their fellows, they started to accept them and they tried to understand the background
of any problem.
If we can observe this phenomenon in our society, it can be seen that people belonging to old age
group is more rigid and conservative in their thought, as compared to young generation. New
generation is more accommodative to others and they do respect the ideas and feelings of other
people. They can adjust with different peoples’ groups more easily and due to this reason, they
are called modern. If somebody has seen Indian movie “Mohabattain”, the character of Mr.
Amitabh represent people belonging to conservative group and the character of Mr. Shahrukh
represent “Modern” group. In fact modern generation’s thought is “everyone is ok”.
Against Modernism it was that it produced hectic and difficult writing that it moved ahead of the
capacity of many readers. Indeed, it is true that readers require some awareness of psychology,
history and aesthetics to know about literature of the starting years of Modernism.
The philosophy of Modernism was adopted by many of other play writers and directors, who
explored alternative ways of expressing the modernist vision. Craig and Yeats might be said to
have attempted to direct a translation from poetry and painting to drama. Even when there are
clear parallels, with the novel, which is perhaps the most similar in using characterization and
narrative techniques- the theatrical forms of Modernism are distinct
Novelists such as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and D. H. Lawrence will probably remain among
the most significant of the century; poets from Thomas Hardy and W. B. Yeats to T. S. Eliot and
W. H. Auden will probably still be read in a hundred years time.
The refusal of Victorian orthodoxies along with the logical and chronological structures of
traditional narrative may be standard for modernists’ poet. The philosophers reflected sense of a
disintegration, culture, dissociated personalities and disjointed awareness. It was a short step
from the philosophers’ dominion of the collective unconscious to the Surrealism, whose belief
that the free flow of imagination would liberate the deepest levels of the psyche led to
experiments with automatic writing.
A short list of some of famous Modernist writers includes Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Joseph
Conrad, T.S. Eliot, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, E.E. Cummings, Sylvia Plath, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, D.H.
Lawrence, and Gertrude Stein.
Individuals’ Importance
In Modernism literature, the individual is more interesting than society. Specifically, modernist
writers were fascinated with how the individual adapted to the changing world. Mostly writers
showed the individual success over hindrance. Individuals have more central position and their
feelings are important.
Experiments
Modernist writers left old structure and method. Poets neglected traditional rhyme schemes and
wrote in free verse. Novelists defied all expectations. Writers mixed images from the past with
modern languages and themes, creating a collage of styles. The inner workings of consciousness
were a common subject for modernists. This preoccupation led to a form of narration called
stream of consciousness, where the point of view of the novel meanders in a pattern resembling
human thought. Authors James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, along with poets T.S. Eliot and Ezra
Pound, are well known for their experimental Modernist works.
Absurdity
The bloodshed of two World Wars extremely affected writers of the period. Several great
English poets died or were wounded in WWI. At the same time, global capitalism was
reorganizing society at every level.
Criticism
There is some criticism on “Modernism” is as following:
 New invention in social sciences have brought change in methods.
 Two dimensions in criticism.
 After World War-l, traditional ideas of criticism were changed.
 Everything was sought to be explained in psychological terms.
 Strong disagreement of different approaches
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