Postmodernism emerged in the late 20th century as a departure from modernism in the arts, characterized by the mixing of different styles and genres, self-referentiality, and skepticism of absolute truths. Postmodern works blur fiction and reality, use appropriation and pastiche, and bring together high and low cultural forms. In film, postmodernism subverts narrative conventions and challenges notions of genre, time, and social divisions through works like Pulp Fiction that combine styles from different eras.

1. Postmodernism
What is it?
A late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which
represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of
earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a
general distrust of theories.
*Postmodern media rejects the idea that any media product or text is of any greater value
than another. All judgment of value are merely taste.
*The distinction between media and reality has collapsed. There is often a blurring of
fiction and reality/representation and the real, as audiences we are often deceived with
postmodern texts.
*postmodern text become mediated versions of reality, audiences start interpreting reality
based on interpretation rather than experience.
MODERNISM: Art/social-political movement that aimed to reinvent culture that had become outdated.
- Roughly occurred between 1890s - 1960s.
- A rejection against realism.
- Divisions of modernism include avant-garde and surrealism.
- Films/novels/art were self-reflexive of society.

2. ART
Characteristics which lend art to being postmodern; these include bricolage, the use of
words prominently as the central artistic element, collage, simplification, appropriation,
performance art, the recycling of past styles and themes in a modern-day context, as
well as the break-up of the barrier between fine and high arts and low art and popular
culture.
postmodernism describes movements which both arise from, and react against or reject,
trends in modernism. Specific trends of modernism that are generally cited are formal
purity, medium specificity, art for art's sake, authenticity, universality, originality and
revolutionary.
* One characteristic of post-modern art is its conflation of high and low culture through
the use of industrial materials and pop culture imagery
POSTMODERNISM IN ART
-Appropriation: the use of another imagery in a new context to create new meaning (referencing)
-Juxtaposition: using incongruent styles together
-Pluralism: viewpoints that are more liberal on race/gender
- Deconstruction: multiple meaning in an image/text
POSTMODERNISM
MODERNISM

3. FILM
Postmodernist film attempts to subvert the mainstream conventions of narrative
structure, characterization and destroys the audience’s suspension of disbelief.
Such films also break down the cultural divide between high and low art and often upend
typical portrayals of gender, race, class, genre, and time with the goal of creating
something different from traditional narrative expression.
example: Pulp Fiction
It is a popular example of a postmodernist film. The film tells
the interweaving stories of gangsters, a boxer, and robbers. The
film breaks down chronological time and demonstrates a
particular fascination with bringing in texts from both
traditionally "high" and "low" realms of art. The film uses uses
styles from prior decades and combines them together.

4. KEY TERM:
Reinvent-change (something) so much that it appears to be entirely new.
surrealism- movement in art and literature which sought to release the
creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational
juxtaposition of images.
self reflexive-containing a reflection or image of itself.
intertextuality- one media text referring to another
parody-mocking something in an original way
pastiche- artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work,
artist, or period. Self conscious imitation
bricolage-mixing up and using different genres and styles
homage- imitation from a respectful stand point