What is meant by postmodern media?

(50) When deconstructed postmodernism is a contradiction in terms, as post means after and modern means now, it is impossible for anything to be after now. The term itself is supposed to be deliberately unexplainable and seemingly somewhat impossible to exclusively define. Modernism itself was a philosophical movement in the arts that along with cultural trends and changes arose from wide-scale and far reaching transformation in western society in the late 19th and early !th centuries. "egarding literature and media it is usually considered to be anything which ma#es little attempt to hide the fact that it is not real, it intends for you to #now that it$s been created, this is %yperreality. %yperreality is used in postmodern philosophy to describe a hypothetical inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern cultures. &uch as in 'nception ()hristopher *olan, !1!+ ,aris folds in on itself with the landscape completely distorted, whilst the city )obb and his wife have created collapses into the sea. Moreover relating to %yperreailty is that of -audrillard$s theory of &imulacra. -audrillard claims that our current society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that human experience is of a simulation of reality. %e believes we cannot separate the image from the .reality., when we drin# co#e we drin# more than brown coloured water flavoured with sugar, we drin# the mar#eting and lifestyle associated with it. /urthermore ta#e the distinguishable Mc0onalds 1M$. 't represents nothing and is never replicated within the food that is served. 2et such a text creates the impression of infinite amounts of identical food, despite it being neither endless nor far from identical. &omething highlighted in /allen 0own (3oel &chumacher 1994+ starring Michael 0ouglas, whereby he complains upon the grounds that the food he ordered does not match up to the images displayed at the counter. "epresenting -raudrillards theory of &imulacra in relation to %yperreality. Moreover ,ostmodern media (as ' have noted+ ma#es little attempt to hide the fact that it is not real, it wants you to #now that it$s been created, such as in 'nglorious -asterds (5uentin Tarantino, !!9+, Tarantino explicitly showing scenes as sets and not real places, with the use of over-head shots. *ot only is this %yperreal but selfreflective a common feature of his wor# and postmodern texts. 6dditionally ,ostmodern media is associated with texts that cannot be witnessed as original, most often based on pre-existing media products. The Music Theorist 7irby /erguson suggested that everything (within the media spectrum+ produced is a remix and that all new media is therefore ,ostmodern. 6 concept that any new media texts have no associations with originality and that any 1so called$ creativity relies on an ability to copy, transform and combine existing wor#. &uch a theory of this continuous adaptation of what already exists is even present in the most prominent of media texts. /or example the world renown .8old 0igger. by 7ayne West is a remix of the song .' got a woman. by "ay )harles, which itself is in fact a remix of .'t must be 3esus. by The &outhern Tones. &uch wor# is actually ,ostmodern, being an

example of 9evi &trauss$ -ricolage because the ideas are not original or uni:ue as they incorporate elements from the other song, such as the bac#ing trac#, by the method of addition. Moreover the -ricolage is further established by the changing of the songs meaning, removing it from its original context and altering the message that was originally portrayed. The original song goes from being about the wonderful acts of 3esus, then to the #ind acts of a girlfriend, followed by the degrading song about a 8old digging girlfriend. The lac# of consideration to context highlights the -ricolage and further establishes it as ,ostmodern. /urthermore lots of other music is viewed as postmodern for reasons other than ;ust -ricolage. Ta#e 0anger Mouse$s 8rey album, it was a combination of the -eatles White 6lbum and 3ay <$s -lac# 6lbum, very different artists, eras and genres. The whole album was based on pre-existing wor#, but was mixed together to create something new, by paying %omage to both the existing artists, with 3ay < said he was honoured to be on the same song as The -eatles. This collaboration of such different music again represents the disregard for context in ,ostmodern media, especially regarding music. 6s well for example in 'nglorious -asterds, &paghetti Western music is used in a film set in 19=!, years before such films were released, whilst in 'nception the score for the film is created from a 194!$s /rench pop song 3e *e "egrette "ien, by >dith ,iaf-*on. %ans <immer uses the song as a foundation for extrapolation by slowing the song right down, in order to create a discordant unnatural sound for the film. &uch a 194!$s pop song is used in a highly futuristic film showing again the disregard for context in postmodern media. Meanwhile postmodern media also changes the context of features within a product by transferring it from one area of the media to another. /or example the title text used in 8rand Theft 6uto? &an 6ndreas is the same as used in 0rive (*icolas Winding "efn !11+, the ,in# font is replicated in a film that was released @ years after the video game. 0espite both texts being centred on driving and bone crunching violence, the alteration of both time and type of media is a great change of context in postmodern media. 'n addition ,ostmodern texts are designed to be read by a literate (i.e. experienced in other texts+ audience and exhibit many traits of intertextuality, especially in films. 5uentin Tarantino is a director whom includes many intertextual references in his films, such as 'nglorious -asterds. >ven the title of the film is of direct reference to the 1The 'nglorious -astards$ (>nAo 8. )astellari, 19@B+ a war film, whilst both this film and The 0irty 0oAen ("obert 6ldrich. 19C@+ relate to Tarantino$s picture by their similar plot of maveric# soldiers ;oining together opposing *aAis. Meanwhile the film includes references to other texts, not ;ust films. 't begins with onscreen text saying DEnce upon a time in *aAi occupied /ranceF, as well as being set in luscious /rench countryside giving the impression of a fairy-tale. Whilst the girl in 'nception chosen to design the maAes and levels is called 6riadne, a direct reference to the 8ree# Myth of Theseus and The Minotaur in which a character called 6riadne gives Theseus a roll of string so he can find his way out a maAe. 't appears that the inclusions of such references are intended for an illiterate audience in order to increase their particular en;oyment of such texts.

6s much as postmodern texts alter context and transfer ideas from different eras they often include references to other films, not to alter context but to establish an identity amongst films to the audience. Ta#e Tarantino, his iconic 2ellow typography is featured among his films including ,ulp /iction, 3ac#ie -rown and 'nglorious -asterds, something that to illiterate viewers highlights it is Tarantino$s wor#. &imilarly his foot fetish is a theme in his wor#, another somewhat ,ostmodern feature. &o what for the future of ,ostmodern MediaG Will it go on forever, can it go on forever. &urely texts will eventually be copied to a point of saturation and new ideas will have to be created, but what from. ,erhaps it will arise from the production of texts, using ideas from ,ostmodern texts. The era of ,ostmodernism will end and a new artistic and cultural era will have to begin, upon what ideology it will be based is unclear, but for now it seems ,ostmodernism will continue. To conclude ,ostmodern Media in essence is that everything in some way is connected and for the foreseeable future media appears destined to remain ,ostmodern, with the ma;ority of texts being produced and influenced from sources all over the media spectrum. /inally we say ,ostmodern Media as if it is only associated with certain texts, but ta#e any film at the cinema, every aspect is %yperreal because it has been edited in so many ways altering our perception of what we see. Therefore any recent media text theoretically is ,ostmodern as what we engage with are not our own experiences but those of the media product.