Arguements for/against understanding texts are PoMo?

Focusing on question 2

What are the arguments for and against understanding some forms of media as postmodern?

Arguments for

The principal argument for understanding media forms as post-modern is that there is no pre-postmodern moment in culture i.e. all forms of communication rely upon the suspension of disbelief and having faith in meanings that are arbitrary. (SMOKE SIGNALS REMEMBER?) This could be said to apply to early forms of speech or the cave paintings created by primitive man. Moreover, issues of intertextuality and parodic qualities often deemed characteristic of post-modernism has a place in European culture in the form of the carnival, which goes back to the Middle Ages.

If we trace the development of modern media to the invention of the telephone and the proliferation of cinema in the 20th century (MODERNISM) then it is easy to see the way in which these technologies further blurred the boundaries between what is real and what is simulated. Nobody questions the meaning of conversation because it takes places on the telephone: its truthfulness is taken for granted. Likewise the representation of society and culture on the silver screen has framed and shaped the way in which audiences think about society and culture. In both instances the everyday use of media technologies that blur the boundaries between the real and the simulated compound the post-modern experience.

While the early part of the 20th Century (MODERISM) was characterised by significant development in media technology, the accelerated speed with which information technology permeated society and culture in the West in the second half ("POST-MODERNISM") of the century emphasised this post-modern sensibility [FEEL]. In addition to this, the advance of consumer culture and decline of manufacture & industry throughout this period has seen Britain’s become a more post-modern economy in which workers engage in creative and information based employment (YOU YOURSELVES WORK IN AN OFFICE ENVIRONMENT USING PROFESSIONAL CREATIVE SOFTWARE - NOT MINING OR WORKING IN FACTORIES).

The 21st Century has, of course, been characterised by the proliferation of the Internet and the convergence of media technologies on the PC, laptop and tablet & smartphone. Social networking has further emphasised the way in which society is dislocated from traditional geographic bound notions of community. In particular, the success of web 2 has seen user generated content dominate media consumption, blurring the boundaries further between media producers and

consumers. (LAUREN'S SILLY VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE)

Arguments against

Many of the arguments against understanding media forms as post-modern run parallel to those arguments that support that viewpoint. Indeed, the very notion that there is no pre-postmodern moment in culture (i.e. all forms of communication rely upon the suspension of disbelief and having faith in meanings that are arbitrary) suggests that post-modernism is an inaccurate term. In this respect, it could be argued that those inter-textual and parodic qualities that are seen as

definitional of the post-modern text would be better served by the pre-Enlightenment term ‘carnivalesque’.

(POSTMODERNISM & CULTURE) Before we can discount the possibility that a text might be considered post-modern, however, it is necessary to understand a little bit more about where the term comes from. In this direction the history of Art is useful starting point. In this sense, when we refer to post-modernism we are quite literally referring to work that came after Modernism. Modernism in Art is typified by the paintings of Mondriane or Picasso, whose works experimented with form and structure. Unlike the

preceding Romantic era, Modernism was not concerned with authentic emotional expression but rather experimentation and innovation in terms of form. One of the arguments against understanding a media texts as post-modern is that it more accurately fits within definitions of Romantic or Modernist cultural forms.

While contemporary media texts may well embody post-modern cultural practice by dint of their reliance upon digital technology, in many instances they explicitly embody very different aesthetic rationales. The music of Van Morrison, for example, may well be a post-modern product but at text level it is very romantic in its projection of emotion as aesthetic experience. In this sense, post-modernism could be viewed as a conceptual framework that is thrust upon media texts for

whom it is not central to the way in which they communicate. (COULD THIS BE APPLIED TO 15 MILLION MERITS OR SCOTT PILGRIM?)

The final argument against post-modernism as a way of understanding contemporary media texts is that the proliferation of digital technology has actually reinforced key aspects of community. Facebook, Bebo and MySpace all encourage people to interact with one another and in many instances are very geographically specific in their usage – connected to colleges, for example, or workspaces. In this sense, while contemporary society is more globalised, in many instance our media consumption is very localised and inward looking.

Post-modernism and Popular Music

Arguably there is no pre-post-modern moment in popular music. Records are often considered the ultimate example of the simulacrum (copies without original) because they tend not to be recordings of an actual performance but a composition composed of multi-tracks recorded and mixed in the studio.