Post-Modern Previous Exam Questions

5. Postmodern Media

The questions in the exam will be generic, allowing for the broadest possible range of responses within the topic area. You must be prepared to answer an exam question that relates to one or more of the four prompts listed later.

In the exam you might explore how post-modern media relate to genre and narrative across two media, computer / video games and new forms of representation, post-modern cinema, interactive media, reality TV, music video, advertising, post-modern audience theories, aspects of globalisation, parody and pastiche in media texts or a range of other applications of post-modern media theory.

Exam Questions

Here’s an example of a couple of specimen exam questions you could choose from:

10. Discuss two or more media texts that you would define as ‘postmodern’ and explain why you would give them this label. Cover at least two media in your answer. [50]

Or

11. Consider the ways in which postmodern media challenge conventional relations between audience and text. Refer to at least two media forms in your answer. [50]

For question 10 – an A grade response will be characterised by detailed reference to a variety of texts and accurate application of different definitions of postmodernity. For question 11, a high level essay will be characterised by detailed reference to several texts and the application of definitions of postmodernity to the role of the active audience.

Remember, in our study of this topic there should be emphasis on the historical, the contemporary and the future, with most attention on the present.

1. Historical – you must summarise the development of the media forms in question in theoretical contexts.
2. Contemporary – current issues within the topic area.
3. Future – you must demonstrate personal engagement with debates about the future of the media forms / issues that the topic relates to.

You will need to offer a balance of media theories, knowledge of texts and industries and personal engagement with issues and debates. For example, during our study of cinema you will need to discuss theories of postmodernism in relation to films like The Matrix (1999) or Blade Runner (1982).

You’ll need to consider texts from video games, postmodern cinema, interactive media, reality TV, music video, advertising, parody and pastiche in media texts or a range of other applications of postmodern media theory.

As an example - studying computer games you will need to consider the status of games as post-modern in relation to their subversion of traditional text-reader relations, discuss the avatar (embodiment of the player in character form onscreen) in terms of how this might challenge a traditional understanding of media representation.

To cover the historical, contemporary and future perspectives, you will need to study the history of computer games as a media form, the current industry and contemporary theories / debates, and perspectives on the future of gaming in terms of players, designers and industries.

In particular Post-modern Media asks you to understand the following specifics:

1. What are the different versions of post-modernism (historical period, style, theoretical approach)?
2. What are the arguments for and against understanding some forms of media as post-modern?
3. How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional text-reader relations and the concept of representation?
4. In what ways do media audiences and industries operate differently in a post-modern world?

When writing about two media, it is not necessary to devote exactly half of the time to each one. One may be more significant than the other. For example, for Post-modern Media, you might spend most of your time writing about post-modern films and videos, and a shorter chunk of your essay might be devoted to the development of post-modernism on the small screen. However, whichever way you choose to construct your answer, you will gain extra marks for comparing, linking and contrasting at least two media, rather than writing about them separately.

Wider Notes

Postmodern as a temporal change – e.g. web 2.0 as postmodern as the consumer and producer are mixed up.

Postmodern techniques in creating media – e.g. the films of Tarantino or Michael Winterbottom or the Cadbury adverts.

Postmodern themes / subject matter – e.g. The Wire

The idea of hyper-reality so the distinction between reality and media representation is blurred – e.g. images of 9/11, 24 hour new media in general

Videogames as postmodern media because the text only exists when the 'audience' use it

I've taken historical period to be about the social and cultural changes that occurred between the late 60's and early 90's as a rejection of the importance of cultural cannon and cynicism around authority. For style I've understand this as the distinguishing features of a product that would be consider postmodern - such as the use of intertextuality, irony or the deliberate blurring of the lines between fiction and reality. For theorectical approaches I've looked at key theorist, such as Baudrillard, whose ideas have come to define postmodenist thinking. I can recommend Christopher Butler's book 'Postmodernism A Very Short Introduction' for a look at postmodernism that provides an easily digestible account of postmodernism as a cultural and social movement.

Jan 2010

Postmodern Media

10 What is meant by ‘postmodern media’? [50]

11 Explain why the idea of ‘postmodern media’ might be considered controversial. [50]