What is postmodernism?
Postmodernism is hard to describe in
a defined dictionary term as it is such an open and subjective word which reflects
on what in fact it means. This is because it is always changing due to the modern
culture world we live in. Its main purpose is to emphasize on the role of power
relations in which it uses to classify labels, goths, emos, chavs. Stereotypes
on males and females and also moral queries on homosexual people. This has also
been described by Fredric Jameson as the “Dominate cult of late capitalism.”
It would be best described as a theory
of what is real and what fantasy is as fantasy can also refer to the media. As we
live in a place where everything is dominated by the media which has massive
influences on our everyday life without us even noticing. Examples of these are
the obsessions young generations have due to the social networking sites of
twitter, facebook and youtube, where the ‘sex appeal’ is the major concern upon
young teenagers and the idea to look ‘perfect’ is in everyone’s mind-set.
The term dates back to the 1870s
where it was use as a general theory of the historical movement, which was then
later used in 1949 to describe the frustration with modern construction that
lead to post-modern culture movement. However in this modern era the ideas that
are conjured into what post-modern is relates to a variety of things which
include, culture, love, marriage, social revolution. This is then often and
associated with unity, authority and certainly while the post modernism is more
towards t difference, and textuality.
A lot of post-modern writers fail
to see the rational side in which scientist
do when it foes to economics, politics, morality and society, especially with
Marxism and Freudianism. Its so open because of conservatism and relatisivn as
we cannot judge our own neighbourhoods from everyone’s point of view as each
will be different depending on their surroundings and experiences.
Modernism was also criticised for
being the subject of a perceived ideal perfection and attempt to create harmony
in peoples mind, as the critics of modernism argued that a perfect mind-set is subjective
to all as we each have our own view on the matter which is individual. Some
significant contributions to the topic come from top literary figures which include
Jorge
Luis Borges, William S. Burroughs, and Samuel Beckett. (Jorge
Luis Borges experimented in metafiction and magical realism, while William S.
Burroughs wrote the prototypical post-modern novel Naked Lunch and developed
the cut up method (similar to Tristan Tzara's "How to Make a Dadaist
Poem") to create other novels such as Nova Express. Samuel Beckett
attempted to escape the shadow of James Joyce by focusing on the failure of
language, schizophrenia, and humanity's inability to overcome its condition,
themes later to be explored in such works as Waiting for Godot.)
So to actually sum up what is post modernism is a lot harder
and broader than you think as one very small word can mean so much more as it
looks.
