Summary of all the post modern ideas we have looked at

2.  Breakdown of distinction between culture and society
(mediaization) – art’s purpose used to be to reflect reality; now
we refer to media texts to portray reality, emotions, truth
 Confusion of time and space – instantaneity of travel,
communication and media; content can become incoherent
due to speed and ease
 Decline of meta-narratives – universal ideas and ‘answers’
abandoned in favour of personal and individual ideas and
opinion
 Style at the expense of substance and content – culture places
value on appearances over function; cult of celebrity;
advertising wins over product quality
 Breakdown of distinction between high art and pop culture –
high art is no longer just for the elite but is being combined
with pop culture to appeal to the masses; bricolage

3.  Hyper-reality
 The copy (or media representation of the original) is
more real than the original and this fake is more
readily accepted by society
 Simulacrum (sg), simulacra (pl)
 These media representations are simulacra of reality –
a copy of an idea or concept that is more successful
than the original
 Within culture meaning is lost and all that is left is the
surface representation.
 Rejection ofTruth
 universal ideas and ‘answers’ are not to be trusted.

4.  Historical deafness
 As mediaization increases so culture finds itself
losing a sense of historical context – we live in the
‘now’; instantaneity, there is nothing new just
copies of copies of copies…..
 Cultural depthlessness
 Meaning is lost and all that is left is surface
representation
 Everything is meaningless and just for
entertainment

5.  Decline of grand-narratives
 There is no single truth, there are multiple truths
 Interpretation of meaning lies with the audience;
not inherent in text or dictated by the author
 This makes a postmodern society less stable than
a modern society because grand-narratives are
challenged and there is no single unifying truth;
fragmented society.

6.  The study of signs and symbols (denotative
and connotative)
 Denotation (what it actually is) and connotation
(the associated meaning the audience attaches to
the object)
 Interpretation of meaning lies with the
audience and depends on the experiences,
interests, beliefs and culture they bring with
them; multiple meanings

7.  Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (may be
hybridised or subvert conventions)
 Relationship between lyrics and visuals (interpretation may
rely on audience knowledge, experience and culture)
 Relationship between music and visuals
 Demands of the record label will include the need for lots
of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs
which occur across their work (cult of celebrity; self-
reflexivity)
 Frequent reference to the notion of looking, particularly
voyeuristic treatment of the female body (reflection of a
postmodern society; style over substance, appearance over
functionality, exterior valued over interior)
 Intertextual references

8. Audience interpretation of media texts:
 Dominant reading ‘hegemonic’
 Reader accepts and reproduces the preferred
meaning of the texts
 Negotiated reading
 Reader broadly accepts the preferred reading but
resists or modifies elements based on own
experiences, interests or beliefs.
 Oppositional reading (‘counter-hegemonic’)
 Reader understands the preferred reading but rejects
it

9.  Parody - A literary or artistic work that
imitates the characteristic style of an author
or a work for comic effect or ridicule.
 Pastiche -A text that is made up of element
borrowed from other texts.
 Pastiche differs from parody in using
imitation as a form of flattery rather than
mockery, and from plagiarism in its lack of
deceptive intent.

10.  Panopitcalisation – gaining power through
watching
 We live in a society where we are always
being watched and want to be watched
 We like watching other people

11.  To reflect and comment on society, attitudes,
social practices, ways of doing things
 Acknowledging the social/culture background
in which the text is produced
 Often making ‘fun’ of that context
 Can make serious comment on the issues in
society
 Talks about current issues
 Often negative

12.  Drawing attention to the fact that it is a
constructed text
 Direct Address to camera
 Seeing the means of construction (cameras,
obtuse editing, jump cuts,)
 Characters drawing attention to plot holes
 Referencing the media itself

13.  Language - Attention is drawn to the construction of
the text
 Genre - Genre conventions are challenged, subvert,
adapted, Hybridity
 Representation - Audience expectations are
subverted/ challenged, New ‘stereotypes’ New
Representations
 Narrative - Break all the rules, Fragmentation, Non
Linear, Open Ended, Multiple Lines of Action
 Audience – Diverse, Fragmented, Active, like texts
that challenge and don’t comfort.