The Gorillaz are to be considered a very Post-Modern band as they go against all main modernist beliefs with the band itself being virtual and each band member being an animated simulation of the human band member. The theory behind Simulacra was thought up by Baudrillard as he speaks about it being an 'artificial representation of reality that no longer bare any resemblance to the original', this is a very post-modern theory as it speaks about the belief that nothing is ever new and is always a copy of a copy, very good therefore linking this to the band as the animated characters are a copy of the band members, therefore making these 'characters'. Representation? It is also suggested in a post-modern world that the 'real' and 'un-real' is no longer apparent, which is represented clearly in this band as people are paying money to go see an animated band that are being perceived as real life musicians showing the collapse and blurring of what is reality and what is unreal. This also then follows onto Debords theory of 'the society of the spectacle' and how society is now only interested in the 'style over the substance' he also speaks about how the originality is all lost and it no longer matters about the songwriting and us as a society care more about the image and performance. But why is this challenging Modernism - what is being rejected from traditional Ideology, Representation, Genre etc? This Post-modern theory is shown clearly by the Gorillaz as there biggest selling point is their animated (CGI) characters therefore showing how image is their most important aspect and a modern audience no longer care for the music and more about the hyper-real and simulated band performing in front of them with the use of holographic technology. [The Postmodern audience in fact prefer this] As the Gorillaz are seen to be so real there is a sense of voyeurism as they are made out to have real personalities and a true virtual identity and background life story which is shown through their music videos and other media texts, and so therefore these are watched upon by an audience, which is a very big part of the gorillaz live performance as the audience become obsessed with watching the animated band on large screens. Here you must explain why this challenges Forms - which - genre? Representation? Audience? Ideology of Modernism? This idea of voyeurism shows how this post-modern world is full of a society that is overwhelmed and dependant upon visual intake of different media texts. Gorillaz are considered to be an electric band with a mix of different genres this mixing and blurring of genres is very commonly heard and seen in modern??? you mean Postmodern music and films, with the Post-modern convention for this being called hybridity. This also relates to the bands style as they mix high art of being an animatic band with different genres of music. The main Post-modern form that this band clearly shows is its superficial, there is no real meaning behind the animated characters displayed and they are simply there for entertainment purposes as an audience today care very little about the music and more about what they are watching with a huge lack of depth and meaning in the music behind the band. Good, well done.
With the Gorillaz band being known mainly for their style I am now looking into the TV show XFactor as this focuses more on the audience and their interaction with the show. In a modern era it was an important factor for a TV show to be structured with a beginning, middle and end, and the audience having no choice as to how it ended. However the Xfactor has taken on a very Post-modern style as they have challenged this form and convention with the audience being the main body of the show as without an audience there would be no show. The audience themselves are able to vote for their favourite acts resulting in the winner of the show. Good As the audience is lead to believe that they are in full control and without their money and votes then the 'most talented' artist won't win and go on to become 'famous'. However this is shown not to be true as it has been shown time and time again over the last few years that in fact the runners up of the show become more famous than the winners and so therefore the audience voting and spending their money each week don't have as much control as they seem to think. This therefore shows how this post-modern convention involving audience in tv shows isn't as effective as we may think and to a certain extent doesn't challenge the modern form of an audience having no control over an ending and what happens to an artist. Fair point, well done The xfactor is to be considered a fully simulated show with each artist on their performing an existing song with a few notes being changed here and there, this backs up the post-modern theory that nothing is ever an original anymore, with the artists simply copying a band/artists song already known in the music industry. What is this challenging? Ideology, Representation? This involves the audience as they are able to sing along to the show with songs they already know, also with the show doing themes each week this tells the audience what to expect, which would be seen as a modern convention with the idea of a storyline of what is already going to happen. Good
So with both the obvious sense of style over substance and a programme being controlled by an audience being effective in today's world, I feel it fair to say this will be the case for our future. With the idea that nothing is ever a new thought or design and with this being apparent with everything around us then it has been shown clear to us that we are unable to make any further changes or improvements and it to be even now a very distopian world we live in.
Very good effort Kirsten, could draw a few more points about regarding how it challenges forms -
Ideology: High Culture (Art, Opera etc) vs Popular culture (mainstream disposable) who decides, experts or popularism? Music first or Image first. Fame for a reason or just for sake of fame.
Representation: Hyper-reality, the boundaries between the real and the simulated collapsing, preference for the fake (Xfactor). Fluid idenitities
Demonstrates good understanding of the concepts around PoMo, and you are confident with debates and theory. Well done.
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