This document discusses postmodernism in music videos. It explores several postmodern factors that are common in music videos, including irony, intertextuality, pastiche, different perspectives, and cultural flattening. It examines theories of postmodernism from Baudrillard on hyperreality, Lyotard on rejecting grand narratives, and Kramer on postmodern music challenging boundaries. As an example, the video for Fat Boy Slim's "Praise You" is discussed as embracing contradictions and eclecticism through its sampling, covert filming style, and mixing of electronic sounds and lyrics from different styles.

1. Objective: To explore music videos as postmodern texts

2. Postmodernism in music videos
What is your understanding of the term,
‘postmodernism’?

3. Postmodernism in music videos
What postmodern factors feature in
music videos?
Irony Playing with conventions
Black/dark humour
Intertextuality
Pastiche and parody
(mimicking other media
positively or negatively)
Magic realism
(exaggeration)
Different perspectives
(excusing all values of
judgement)
Bricolage (construction or
creation from a diverse range
of available things)
Cultural flattening (weakening and
devaluation of cultural identities,
symbols, icons and traditions)
Knowingness
(cynicism)
Hybridization (swap purity for new
combos of genres, styles and media)
Eclecticism

4. Postmodern Theory
Baudrillard: Hyperreality
A condition by which
‘reality’ has been
replaced by simulacra.
When a sign loses
its relation to
reality, it then
begins to simulate
a simulation.The process in which a representation
of something comes to replace the
thing which is actually being
represented.
The representation then becomes
more important than ‘the real thing’
Division between "real"
and simulation has
collapsed,
therefore an illusion of
an object is no longer
possible because the real
object is no longer there. Celebrities who reach a point at which every aspect of their lives is taken care
of by someone else are said to live in a hyperreal world.
They lose the ability to interact with people on a normal level and are
cocooned in Hyperreality.
Normal people often try to copy this, for example a fan of Snoop Dogg believes
their life relates to his, they genuinely believe that they live in the same world
as her. This is a common case in which someone has become more engaged in
the hyperreal world than the actual real world.

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
EVBsypHzF3U
Postmodern Theory
Discuss: How do music videos construct VERSIONS of reality?

6. Postmodern Theory
Lyotard Narrative theory:
Lyotard rejected what he called the “grand narratives” or
universal “meta-narratives.”
Principally, the grand narratives refer to the great theories of
history, science, religion, politics. For example, Lyotard rejects
the ideas that everything is knowable by science or that as
history moves forward in time, humanity makes progress. He
would reject universal political ‘solutions’ such as communism or
capitalism. He also rejects the idea of absolute freedom.
In studying media texts it is possible also to apply this thinking to
a rejection of the Western moralistic narratives of Hollywood film
where good triumphs over evil, or where violence and
exploitation are suppressed for the sake of public decency.
Lyotard favours ‘micronarratives’ that can go in any direction,
that reflect diversity, that are unpredictable.
Lady Gaga’s lyrics are
centered around the
metanarrative of not
answering her phone
in a nightclub, and yet
the micronarrative in
the video is that she’s
in prison and get’s
bailed out by
Beyonce.

7. Postmodernism in music videos
Lady Gaga Green Day Katy Perry Taylor Swift The Beatles Radiohead Madonna Iggy Azalea
Telephone Nice Guys Finish
Last
California Gurls Shake it Off Eleanor Rigby Man of War Material Girl Bounce
Irony
Playing with
conventions
Black/dark
humour
Intertextuality
Pastiche
Magic realism
Different
perspectives
Bricolage
Cultural
flattening
Knowingness

8. Postmodern Theory
Kramer: Postmodern music theory
According to Kramer, postmodern music challenges
barriers between ‘high’ and ‘low’ styles. Media
texts are often judged on their cultural value,
classical music for example is considered more ‘high
brow’ than rap.
He also states that postmodern music:
• includes references to music of many traditions
and cultures
• considers technology not only as a way to
preserve and transmit music but also as deeply
implicated in the production and essence of
music
• embraces contradictions
• encompasses pluralism and eclecticism
Fat Boy Slim
features samples in
his records and also
won awards for the
video ‘Praise You’
which was filmed
covertly in a ‘flash
mob’ style. The video
plays no relation to
the lyrics,
contradicting what
we might expect. His
music features
electronic sounds
and mixes combined
with lyrics. The music
is eclectic featuring
various styles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruAi4VBoBSM

9. Independent Study
Choose one of the music videos we have looked at today (or one of your own) and
analyse it from a postmodern perspective. Aim for 500-600 words.
You must include:
-The features of postmodernism
-Baudrillard’s hyperreality theory
-Lyotard’s narrative theory
- Kramer’s music theory