{"id":135,"date":"2014-01-14T18:46:10","date_gmt":"2014-01-14T18:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=135"},"modified":"2023-08-28T20:45:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T00:45:03","slug":"postmodernism-introduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/topicstoanalyze\/postmodernism-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Postmodernism Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\">No clear <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">definitive<\/span> definition (depends on the subject). This topic could easily be a semester-long investigation. Think of this as an introduction and not a definitive, exhaustive exploration of postmodernism. <\/span><\/span><a href=\"#workscited\">(works cited below)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\">If you want a date, post WWII (circa 1945)<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">1. History:<\/span><\/b> no monolithic narratives; not necessarily a story of universal human progress; different interests interweave with and question each other (Malpas, p. 99).<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Postcolonial<\/li>\n<li>Africana Studies (African Diaspora)<\/li>\n<li>Feminism<\/li>\n<li>Queer Theory<\/li>\n<li>Class Studies<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;historical pluralism&#8221; (Malpas, p. 99)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These and others have challenged \u201ctraditional\u201d ideas of historical\/social narratives. Often those in power write history from their privileged perspective.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">2. Architecture:<\/span><\/b> Fredric Jameson sees it as aspiring to &#8220;a total space, a complete word, a miniature city&#8221; (p. 40).<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Generate multi-layered spaces for inhabitants<\/li>\n<li>Often structures will help users (consumers) have a totalizing experience. (Mall, Towne Centre, Vegas Casino, etc.)<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Robert_Venturi\">Robert Venturi&#8217;s<\/a><\/strong> <em>Learning from Las Vegas<\/em> discusses Vegas Casinos&#8217; attempt to be a totalizing experience<\/li>\n<li>Familiarity across distances (McDonald\u2019s in Charlotte is the same in LA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While we&#8217;re on the subject of architecture, let&#8217;s consider an actual edifice from antiquity. Notice the changes to the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/5c\/Arch_of_Constantine%2C_Rome_%28between_1840_and_1870%29%29.jpg\">Arch of Constantine<\/a><\/strong> (1840-1870)<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/23aa11d28fcf2eb980f2-650f7b390294ee3bc134c877ae8a4be4.r52.cf1.rackcdn.com\/2011.076.132_1.590x590.marked.jpg\">Arch of Constantine<\/a><\/strong> (circa 1945)<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/f\/f5\/Triumphbogen_fexx.jpg\/1200px-Triumphbogen_fexx.jpg\">Arch of Constantine<\/a><\/strong> (circa 2000)<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2023\/08\/ArchConstantine_944x966.jpg\">Arch of Constantine<\/a><\/strong> (25\/06\/2023)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.luminous-lint.com\/__phv_app.php?\/f\/_location_italy_rome_arch_of_constantine_01\/\">Lots of photos over the last 150 years.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">3. Art:<\/span><\/b> art with no single purpose and no need to change the world; increased democratization of art and increased types of forms and techniques for producing art.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Attempt to level artificial boundaries such as low and high<\/li>\n<li>Embraces Markets<\/li>\n<li>Literature: questions of ontology (the nature of being, of a subject\u2019s existence)<\/li>\n<li>Textual self awareness: a text is reflexive of itself as a text\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Fragmented narratives and realities<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Parody:<\/span> &#8220;A literary composition modelled on and imitating another work, esp. a composition in which the characteristic style and themes of a particular author or genre are satirized by being applied to inappropriate or unlikely subjects, or are otherwise exaggerated for comic effect&#8221; (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/search?searchType=dictionary&amp;q=parody\">From the online OED, which you should have access to on campus<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Pastiche:<\/span> &#8220;concerned only with the superficial appropriation of different modes and genres for the generation of its own performative style&#8221; (Malpas, p. 25).<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Satire:<\/span> &#8220;A poem, or in modern use sometimes a prose composition, in which prevailing vices or follies are held up to ridicule. Sometimes, less correctly, applied to a composition in verse or prose intended to ridicule a particular person or class of persons, a lampoon&#8221; (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/search?searchType=dictionary&amp;q=Satire&amp;_searchBtn=Search\">From the online OED, which you should have access to on campus<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">4. Politics:<\/span><\/b> economic theories from Baudrillard, consumption and simulation<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We are the sum total of our purchases<\/li>\n<li>Late-capitalist system\u2014built-in obsolescence (iphone, HDTV, fashion, next-generation this and that)<\/li>\n<li>Commodification of all that\u2019s possible or that can be conceived<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\">Hyperreality: (Baudrillard) &#8220;creation of media, film, and computer technologies have come to be more real for us, and interact more fundamentally with our experiences and desires, than\u2026realities of nature or spiritual life&#8221; (Malpas, p. 125).<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is &#8220;real&#8221; is simulated or artificial, even on a collective scale; collectively, members of a culture believe in the reality of the simulation<\/li>\n<li>Media saturation turning events into commodities; infotainment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\"><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">5. Resistance:<\/span><\/b> (Least recognized, highly debatable) Well, in theory, resistance is a component of the postmodern, but it\u2019s often absorbed by corporate entities or dominant entities.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Emancipation in the nature of postmodernist art, theory, and culture<\/li>\n<li>Demonstrates the fractures and silences of grand narratives<\/li>\n<li>Exposes contemporary false consciousness<\/li>\n<li>No universal consensus is possible\u2014millions of special interests<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\">Moral relativism critique of postmodernism: if there\u2019s no absolute truth, than one\u2019s &#8220;moral&#8221; position is relative and can\u2019t be wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: large\">Understanding Arguments in the Postmodern<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Ways of knowing or, more accurately, ways of arguing often get supported by the following:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\">Tastes and convictions<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\">Opinions<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Verdana\">Theories\/Laws<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Facts<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Truth is often defined as facts, so the above list is ranked from more personal knowledge (1) to most socially accepted knowledge (4).<\/p>\n<p>Where might &#8220;statistics&#8221; go?<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small\">Works Cited<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small\">Jameson, Fredric. <i>Postmodernism: Or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism<\/i>. Durham: Duke UP, 1991.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: xx-small\">Malpas, Simon. <i>The Postmodern<\/i>. London: Routledge, 2005.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No clear definitive definition (depends on the subject). This topic could easily be a semester-long investigation. Think of this as an introduction and not a definitive, exhaustive exploration of postmodernism. (works cited below) If you want a date, post WWII (circa 1945). 1. History: no monolithic narratives; not necessarily a story of universal human progress; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":2019,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-135","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-2b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10113,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/135\/revisions\/10113"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}