A paper that talks about the theory of Postmodernism and it's application to some professional fields.

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POSTMODERNISM: INTO THE WORLD OF DIVERGENTS
By Juseph G. Elas, AB Journalism IV
Veronica Roth described them who thinks for their own and who contest the status quo as
Divergents. People who can fight a system of aesthetic patterns which a group of learned and
manipulative elites used against society to safeguard and assure that their interest will come above
those of the proletariats. There exists a group of people who oppresses and who underestimates
the power of society by feeding them with wrong ideas, wrong realities, false sense of semblance
from the government and dirty politics.
Roth’s idea of a dystopian world where chaos is very much inevitable, spurred by a turning
point, and how she played with the power of human mind to govern a being’s psyche and fight
outside variables that hinders it to function, highlights the underlying idea of the word
postmodernism. Now, not to confuse with modernism, postmodernism posts a skeptical point-of-view
of subjects like philosophy, sciences, psychology, sociology, architecture, media, arts, etc.
Moreover, it usually creates more questions than answers since it employs Jacques Derrida’s
theory of deconstruction.
Postmodernism is the Divergent of all genres in the media world. As mentioned above,
Divergents tend to think more consciously compared to those who fall prey to the status quo;
letting things happen without alterations. And since they are able to consciously think, they can
see more broadly. And broad in this context means that they are not being narrow and shallow;
they are giving us more options and a variety of possible interpretations.
When a media text (especially but not exclusively in modernism) is narrowly targeting one
idea only, our line of thinking would incline us to favour the thinking its creator has. And we are
persuaded that that is reality; that our condescending interpretation is the same with the rest of
those who exposed themselves to the same media text.
In postmodernism, media text does not merely employ one target idea. Consider it like a
rainbow; one line but with several spectrums. Each spectrum gives meaning, idea, and dictum.
Deconstruction then comes in. We are free to interpret that rainbow and our interpretation needn’t
to incline the thinking of its author or creator.
Simply put, modernism dictates that our construction of reality and meaning is
systematically created and should be linear. Our interpretations must coincide with the media text’s
creator. Whereas, in postmodernism, our line of thinking would then become anything goes and
nothing goes. We are given the freedom to pass judgment, interpret the text, construct our reality
and would allow us to tip the scale on whichever direction we like.
That’s where one should draw the danger line. Postmodernism offers us with a variety of
ideas and interpretations and meanings that the some things tend to become obscure and most often
dissolve in the background. And one casualty are values which was prevalent in the modernism
era – that is before the World War II.
Take for example one of the longest American sitcom I Love Lucy starring Lucille Ball.
The series was popular in the sense that the punchlines were audience-appropriate. The plot was
also very modern in the sense that the creators digressed from what was “status quo” then.

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However, how can one say that I Love Lucy was actually a modernist type of a media text?
In a modernist psyche, anything that was traditional should be reconsidered and should be
remade. Perhaps, the paralyzing horror of World War I was responsible for this so that the fear
impregnated by the war can be appeased. And since these era was called modernism, and change
was the game plan, media texts creators employed what was deemed inappropriate then – modern
thinking.
After the war, women learnt to stand and fight for their right in the society thus the
feminism was born. And that leads us back to I Love Lucy. Basically, the story revolves around
Lucy, herself. She is naïve and ambitious and she has this drive to make it to showbizness. Note
that women were never had this sort of drive before World War I since women were viewed as
incapable of anything but household chores, but with I Love Lucy, one can infer that women by
that time were starting to find that place in the society.
However, the catch with I Love Lucy, and one underlying idea in modernism, is the
employment of values in the plot. One notable episode in the same sitcom was when Lucy was
trying to teach Ricky, her husband, how to speak proper English.
“To what do you attribute your plethora of fatigue?” Lucy began. Ricky offered her a
confused look.
“The enervating activities of your nocturnal occupation?” Lucy elaborated.
It took a while for Ricky to respond. Still looking confused at his wife, as though his wife
was possessed by something, he answered “what?”
Lucy repeated her question.
Bottom-line is that, most of the media texts in the modernism era employed a plague of
values in the plots. And there’s a clear idea of what the creator was trying to convey; audiences
can have similar interpretations.
In postmodernism era, values were least considered and, most often, the obscured part of
the plot. Again, that’s where one draw the danger line. Most of thos who still maintain the
modernist’s psyche would often say “today’s generation is very different from ours.” Well, that
might be [just] true.
Postmodern TV shows are very dysfunctional in nature. Meaning, they show how families
build a home while also showing how this home is deemed failure from the start by injecting
infidelity and immorality and money and too much sex while blurring real values which we miss
from modernism.
Media, in the postmodern era, is a very powerful cultural apparatus. It does not mirror
reality in the real sense of the word, but it gives us a mutated reality. Another underlying idea of
postmodernism is the employment of intertextuality. Thus, hybrid media were (and are) born.
Question: how do you create media texts today that would sell?
One plausible notion: combined the then and the now.
That’s when the dictum of postmodernism would kick in. Anything goes and nothing goes.

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Divergent.
One very good and prominent figure in the postmodern era is Lady Gaga. She is a mixtape
of Madonna, Beyonce, Selena, et. al and herself. Anything goes and nothing goes. She does emit
that Selena taste by only wearing bras when performing, Madonna with her attitude on stage, and
Beyonce with the way she moves and dances on stage. Her music, perhaps, is the only thing that
belongs to her sense of “originality”.
But what makes Lady Gaga a postmodern figure, really? One needn’t to look any further.
Evidences were posted on YouTube and yes! We’re talking about her music videos.
Alejandro is one perfect example; this is where Gaga employed religious context but placed
it in a very dangerous, explicit, erratic, and perhaps artistic line of entertainment. Plus, she also
used that retrograde war-like idea that would give you that World War feels. These elements and
the kind of music she used all constitute to give us a look at what media texts creators are working
on nowadays. How they use two medium to create a hybrid type of media text.
Nicki Minaj is another postmodern artist. She’s a pop singer and a rapper. Her influe nces
include Madonna, Britney Spears and Marilyn Monroe.
Taylor Swift employed the music from 1989 to her upcoming album with the title “1989”.
Intertextuality.
However, a change in style of creating a media text is not only employed in mainstream
media like films, MTVs, sitcoms, etc. A change, a postmodern change, was also observed in other
forms of media.
In postmodern era, the demarcation between low art and high art is somewhat obscured.
This is true since most artists employ bricolage or the fusion of two art (especially but not
exclusively low and high art). This type of style is the cause why avant-gardism took a step back
and somehow dissolved in the background. Postmodernists like Frederic Jameson think that they
need to be playful and be up-and-about with their works. Jameson suggested that discontinuit y
should step in and expressionism should not be direct.
In interior designs, postmodernism would most likely be seen in the juxtaposition of old
and new materials used. Nowadays, architects and designers would deploy wood works together
with leather and lavish styles. The Mediterranean designs nowadays work well with highlands
European. Everything just goes and nothing goes.
The works of Kenneth Cobonpue are clear evidences of fusing low and high art. The way
he played with aesthetic designs and traditional are extraordinary that one would think they’re
original but the truth is that they were born out of bricolage.
Some scholars would often refer postmodern arts as contemporary art but others argue that
the term is too broad and would often confuse the audience. But for some, there’s little distinctio ns.
Works like of Picasso, Khalid Hussein, Francis Berry and others who employed aesthetic designs
in their paintings and mix it with traditional designs employ postmodern tyle. Such
experimentations were done in the modernism era but was appreciated much in the advent of the
postmodern era.

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Postmodern thinkers also believe that traditional is boring when put into a more modern –
modern than modern – context. That is why most of traditional arts where fussed with modern arts,
thus the birth of postmodern art.
In architecture, one good example are those of Oscar Niemeyer. In modernism era,
architectural designs were concentrated on square and rectangle shapes and linear figures. Size is
a priority of course but never was it an issue. But Oscar Niemeyer became a prominent figure in
the postmodern era when he started to design the capital district of Brazil, Brasilia.
Niemeyer employed the use of round shapes with squares and curves with linear. Notable
designs are the National Congress of Brazil (Brasilia). It’s a complex of two huge and tall
rectangular blocks put adjacent to one another while a dish sits a couple of yards away. In front of
it there is a large lawn where demonstrations take place. At the back of it, is the Praça dos Três
Poderes, where lies the Palácio do Planalto and the Supremo Tribunal Federal. Other breathe-taking
designs of Niemeyer include the hyperboloid structure Cathedral of Brasilia, the Brazilia n
National Museum, and Estação Cabo Branco, João Pessoa, Brazil.
In a modernist’s view, anything that is superfluous in nature is deemed unacceptable. It is
in the beliefs of modernists that form follows function. Meaning, the design must suit the function
of the firm and any extra details that might deter the function must not be considered. Whereas in
postmodernism, form and function are two different things. The form spells out the function but
function does not spell the form. Architectural designs in postmodern era are a lot crazier and wild
and dangerous and ambitious in nature.
Fashion has also blended with the postmodern trend. Fashions like of Francis Libiran and
Liz Uy are starting to have this retrograde-put-in-a-modern-context fashion. Also, the hipster style
is ruling the fashion world nowadays. Hipster that employs vintage and retro styles, that is.
Anything goes and nothing goes.
But on a more personal level, I think that postmodernism is not just a movement that sought
to respond to modernism; a movement that skeptically questions the traditional mindset of artists.
Postmodernism to me is more than a response, it is trying to cater the demand of a work-in-progress
world/society.
Modernism would have been enough and should have been the language of the media today
if not because of thinkers, who are radical and crazy in nature, didn’t ask questions that would
soon influence the world and would give birth to something. Modernism was an era where progress
started following the horrors of World War II. Industrialization took place, commerciality grew,
and the market became a place where the entire hierarchy of Maslow became commodit ies.
Modernism was the response to what was happening then.
Postmodernism rearranged the way we think; in a way it altered the way we view life. The
growth of commerciality extended postmodernism’s life span and give it a more solid spine to
exist. Deconstruction and intertextuality became the new dictum for postmodernists that is why
the box office was and is filled with films that tackles crazy things that people usually don’t (e.g.
transformers, cowboy vs aliens, priest, X-men).
The continuous production and even reproduction of media texts are simply powered by
commerciality which adheres to the concept of capitalism and Marxism.

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In my opinion, postmodern arts and media texts are created because (1) there is a need to
cater the demand of a work-in-progress world/society in terms of entertainment, (2) originality has
clearly been exhausted and to create something that is original is hard to come by that is why quasi-original
texts were made by combining two media texts and (3) probably traditional will not sell
to the modern generation.
One needs to remember that media – no matter what color and principles it may take – is a
corporation. ABS-CBN needs to create new teleseryes – regardless if it’s original or a remake – as
a response to the demand of the Filipino people and a response to a vacant timeslot. But beneath
that, they would need to create a new teleserye because the company needs to earn. The same
ideology applies to GMA, CW, MSNBC, and ABC.
Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez need to reinvent themselves to
continuously sell records, make it to the charts and to maintain that piece of limelight. But to be
honest, these artist will not reinvent themselves, they will just have to change influences and use
that in their own music and see where the road will lead them.
The fashions of Francis Libiran, the designs of Kenneth Cobonpue and ideas of Oscar
Niemeyer will change once a better inspiration and trend comes in. But will they create something
original from scratch? No! They will incorporate designs and styles from the past that will match
the present and that will eventually sell.
Postmodernism wouldn’t have come to pass if modernism was already enough and if
capitalism and commercialism didn’t encroach. However, we are not saying postmodernism is all
that bad. I personally enjoy the music of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran whilst doing my school
stuff, I love the works of Oscar Niemeyer and I personally think that he put Brazil in the map, and
I fantasize wearing Francis Libiran someday.
But I still do hope that there will still be productions where audience appealing plots don’t
necessarily have to be bold and too liberal to handle. I Love Lucy valued education and family and
I hope to see productions who would use this kind of technique.
Divergents. This is how I would describe thinkers of this day. Thinkers whose knowledge
are complex than mine and whose creativity is wild as the wildest flower in the rainforest of the
Orient. They are the ones who employ the aesthetics of traditional and modern world to create
something that would appeal to the modern Earth. Postmodernism is not just a movement that
sought to skeptically question our previously held reality and values, but it is a response to our
demands.