Could someone explain Postmodernism? (1 Viewer)

[brassedoff]

Our teachers have avoided explaining postmodernism for fear it will confuse us, despite telling us our Prelim texts were postmodern.

I found this, but am hoping for a better explanation:

I'm So Post Modern by The Bedroom Philosopher

I'm so postmodern that I just don't talk anymore, I wear different coloured t-shirts according to my mood.
I'm so postmodern that I work from home as a surf life saving consumer hotline.
I'm so postmodern that all my clothes are made out of sleeping bags, I don't need pockets, I'm a pocket myself.
I'm so postmodern I go to parties I'm not invited to and locate the vegemite and write my name on everyone.
I'm so postmodern that I write reviews for funerals, and heckle at weddings from inside a suitcase.
I'm so postmodern I'm going to adopt a child, and teach him how to knit, and call him Adolf Diggler.
I'm so postmodern that I breakdance in waiting rooms, play Yahtzee in nightclubs, at three in the afternoon.
I'm so postmodern I only go on dates that last thirteen minutes, via walky talky, while hiding under the bed.
I'm so postmodern I invite strangers to my house, and put on a slide show of other people's nans.
I'm so postmodern I went home and typed up everything you said, and printed it out in wingdings, and gave it back to you.
I'm so postmodern I held an art exhibition - a Chuppa Chup stuck to a swimming cap, and no one was invited.
I'm so postmodern I make alphabet soup, and dye it purple, and pour it on the lawn.
I'm so postmodern I request Hey Mona on karaoke, then sing my life story to the tune of My Sharona.
I'm so postmodern I only think in palendromic haikus - (insert palendromic haiku).
I'm so postmodern that I sit down to wee, and stand up to poo, at job interviews.
I'm so postmodern that I dress up as Santa, in the middle of August, and haunt golf courses.
I'm so postmodern that I cut off all my hair, and knitted it into a beanie, and threw it off a bridge.
I'm so postmodern that I stole everyone's mail, and cut them up into a ransom note and hid it in a thermos.
I'm so postmodern I take my leggo to the supermarket and build my own shopping trolley, and only buy one nut.
I'm so postmodern I wrote a letter to the council - ...I think it was 'M.'
I'm so postmodern I bought a round the world plane ticket, and stuffed my clothes with eggplant and pretended it was me.
I'm so postmodern I've got a tattoo of my pin number in heiroglyphics on my neighbour's guide dog.
I'm so postmodern I fought my way into parliament, and made a law banning Nuttelex, and then moved to Spain.
I'm so postmodern that I iron all my lettuce leaves, put my shirts in the crisper - they're real crisp.
I'm so postmodern I give live mice to buskers, dirty tea towels to the Mormons, and pavlova to crabs.
I'm so postmodern that I live in a tent, on a platform of skateboards that's tied to a tram.
I'm so postmodern I write four thousand-word essays on the cultural significance of party pies.
I'm so postmodern I recite Shakespeare at KFC drive thru's, through a megaphone, in sign language.
I'm so postmodern I'm going to watch the Olympics on a black & white TV, with the sound down.
I'm so postmodern I go to the gym after hours, push up against the door, then cry myself to sleep.
I'm so postmodern I wrote a trilogy of novels from the perspective of a possum that Jesus patted once.
I'm so postmodern that I marry all my friends, soak myself in metho, and tell them that they've changed.
I'm so postmodern I bought every book written in 1963 as a reading challenge, and clogged up a waterslide.
I'm so postmodern I think I might be a god in my undies rolling in sugar, in the carpark of a rodeo.
I'm so postmodern I prerecorded this song, and laced a message subliminally telling Shane Porteous to buy a smock.

 

[miaomiao]

In a word it's bullshit.

 

[miaomiao]

On a more helpful note try "Introducing Post Modernism"
Forgot who its by but it's part of the "Introducing" series and goeds into quite some depth without feeding you any of the incomprehensible crap most teachers and postmodernists will. It has pictures

 

[Mandy101]

Postmodernism is the rejection of modernism in a nutshell.

Modernism is:
• A belief that the truth exists
• A belief that creating art is a search for the truth
• A belief in meta narratives (sets of ideas that explain the state of things or lead us to the truth).
• A belief in the value of originality
• A distinction between ‘high culture’ and ‘low culture’
• A belief in progress, that things were getting better, and that society could improve
• The authority of the composer, the writer as a kind of god

Postmodernism involves the challenging of all of these and sometimes their rejection:
• Question the existence of absolute truths
• See art more in terms of an expression of the lack of truth in the world rather than the search for it
• Reject meta narratives (there is no grand explanation of life)
• Use lots of appropriated material. Not to be original, but to borrow openly from earlier texts
• Recognise no distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture.
• Not see progress in the world and reject the idea that human life will be enhanced by technology, new social arrangements or anything else. Things aren’t getting better.
• Reject the authority of the composer in favour of the text itself and the responder.

Characteristics of PoMo texts are:
• Post modernist texts question orthodoxies, challenge the validity of conventional beliefs.
• They usually avoid meta narratives. Postmodernist texts exist in a world where there is no absolute truth and there is no answer to the meaning of life, therefore meta narratives are usually rejected.
• They are all inclusive of all culture, rejecting the distinction between high and low culture.
• The truth is fluid. There might be ‘your’ truth and ‘my’ truth, equally valid.
• Intertextuality. Postmodernists believe that your reading of one text is influenced by your readings of all other texts you have encountered. Some postmodernist texts rely on an interplay with other texts.
• Postmodernist texts often utilise a range of perspectives. They sometimes create a dialogue between the past and the present.
• Use of irony and pastiche. The irony often results in postmodernism coming across as a ‘less than serious’ view of the world. Pastiche is the imitation of a style or genre. This often creates humour and always creates irony.
• Significant use of appropriation. Borrowing from elsewhere, and references to other texts is a very common postmodernist technique. The ‘relocation’ often creates irony or other new levels of meaning.
• Self-consciously constructed forms. This is very important. Postmodernists often flaunt their own ‘constructedness’. They remind the responder that this is a text constructed by someone.
• Playing with the conventional relationships between composer, text and responder. Postmodernists question all of this. The authority for meaning is in the text itself, not the composer, it perhaps it lies with each individual responder. Postmodernist composers often force the responder to take more responsibility than they are accustomed to in constructing meaning.
• They are self-aware. They know what they are doing and are doing it deliberately.


I found that a few months ago, and it really helped me to understand what it was all about

 

[hasterz]

wow mandy thanks so much thats really good, which source did u use to get this info from? did u use 'top notes'?

 

[Mandy101]

^Yup I found it really clear.

 

[AsyLum]

I suggest you read absolution's notes, they embody a very in depth and absolutely magnificent summary of the whole concept

 

[somechick]

but on a more confusing note, postmodernism has aspects of modernism too.

 

[YBK]

wow, if i found this post before our group work seminar was due it would've been great....

(we had to contrast postmodernism and modernism)