Effects Of Postmodernism In Relation To Communication And Society

1288 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Model answer assess the contribution of postmodernism to our understanding of society (20)

The movement occurred after 1945 is postmodernism which had shown it’s powerful effects in every aspect of life. It’s a movement that can’t be defined with a simple sentence because postmodernism has lots of components and directions. A postmodernist reflects history’s theological interpretations. When we talk about post-modernism we also take the concept modernism in our concept. Postmodernism is defined related to modernism as” the legalization of illegal parts of modernism”. Modernity and postmodernity appear and reappear in philosophical, literary and other texts in what is at first sight a bewildering array of guises.

Postmodernism combines simultaneous fragmentation and blurring of boundaries in a universe where no absolute truth governs the definition of reality and morality. This is in contrast to modernism, which emphasizes the coming together of the multifaceted, sometimes conflicting aspects of life into a unified whole that can be realized. Postmodernism accepts the conflicts as the standard mode of existence. Unlike the consensus sought by modernism, postmodernism accepts discensus, and even proclaims that one unified way of seeing things is impossible.

Postmodernism undermines the modernist notion of what Jean-Francois Lyotard describes as meta-narratives, or over-arching, absolute stories that explain the nature of the world. One of the difficulties with meta-narratives is that they only present the world from one perspective, even when it may make sense from several different angles. Trying to force everything to be seen only through the eyes of one point of view is referred to as colonization. The term can be used abstractly or figuratively to describe imposing a certain view or interpretation of something, but it is derived from examining the political and social domination that has been exercised over smaller nations and minorities by Imperialism and ethnocentrism. Postmodernism tends to encourage placing value on the unassimilated other- on accepting and respecting differences and not oppressing the other.

The postmodern celebration of difference can be seen in the experimental nature of postmodern art, architecture, and writing. These forms usually take liberties with conventional forms, and often involve bricolage, which is combining different forms and styles in a collage-like fashion.

Sociology and the society has a big role ...

... middle of paper ...

... always hidden in these works of art or these kinds of communicators. The artist or architect decides his message in his mind and reflects it in his works. The way to communicate with society is the works of the people whom wants to give a message to society. The receiver is the society and they take the message given by the communicators after these processes. The main purpose of all these are to give the message to the society, which is the receiver. After that society takes the message and the message effects every part of society differently. Every receiver takes the message differently and different effects are created on society.

As a result, after all the process postmodernism is an eminently contestable concept. As it’s reference points emerge in the philosophers, social theorists, film makers, painters, sculptors, photographers, architects, designers, novelists, poets and even politicians and generals, they create major crises of interpretation. This movement had a big success when it’s observed in communication. The message sent to the receivers very successfully also receivers had a communication between themselves so postmodernism effected all aspects of social life.

Show More
Related

  • Postmodernism Movement in “The 400 Pound CEO”

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    Postmodernism movement started in the 1960’s, carrying on until present. James Morley defined the postmodernism movement as “a rejection of the sovereign autonomous individual with an emphasis upon anarchic collective anonymous experience.” In other words, postmodernism rejects what has been established and makes emphasis on combined revolutionary experiences. Postmodernism can be said it is the "derivate" of modernism; it follows most of the same ideas than modernism but resist the very idea of boundaries. According to our lecture notes “Dominant culture uses perception against others to maintain authority.”

    Read More

  • Analysis of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the theme of the story is dramatically illustrated by Jackson’s unique tone. Once a year the villagers gather together in the central square for the lottery. The villagers await the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black box. Within the black box are folded slips of paper, one piece having a black dot on it. All the villagers then draw a piece of paper out of the box. Whoever gets the paper with the black dot wins. Tessie Hutchinson wins the lottery! Everyone then closes in on her and stones her to death. Tessie Hutchinson believes it is not fair because she was picked. The villagers do not know why the lottery continues to exist. All they know is that it is a tradition they are not willing to abandon. In “The Lottery,” Jackson portrays three main themes including tradition, treason, and violence.

    Read More

  • Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    Post-Modernism, the absence of any certainty, discredits the values of modernism, opposing the fixed principles of meaning and value. It is built on countless theories about society, the media and knowledge of the world, but it is also aware that there is no ultimate way of making sense of humanity. Ondaatje embraces aspects of post-modernism, by creating a novel that breaks away from the traditional narrative, thereby giving readers a greater perspective on the novel. One learns that any story is simply a storyteller's construction, and is never unbiased.

    Read More

  • Lift the Cuban Embargo

    2503 Words  | 6 Pages

    In 1959, revolutionaries nationalized Cuba’s wealth and did not compensate U.S. companies for our efforts to fight against the rebels. They did, however, repay corporations from nations that did not fight. Because of this seizure of our property, the Cuban embargo was put into action. In fact, Cuba is the only country in the western

    Read More

  • “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson: A Brutal Tradition

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    The famous civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people,” capturing the main message of the short story “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, perfectly, because of the themes of peer pressure and tradition present throughout the story. In this story, the people of a small village gather for their annual tradition, a lottery, in which one person is picked at random out of a box containing each of the villagers’ names. The village, which is not specifically named, seems like any other historic village at first, with the women gossiping, the men talking, and the children playing, but soon takes a sinister turn when it is revealed that the “winner” of the lottery is not truly a winner at all; he or she is stoned to death by everyone else in the village. The purpose in this is not directly mentioned in the text, and the reader is left to wonder about the message the story is trying to convey. But there is no purpose; instead, the lottery is meant as a thinly veile...

    Read More

  • Postmodernism in US Television Show Lost

    1784 Words  | 4 Pages

    Postmodernism can be defined as a rejection of the idea that there are certain unequivocal truths or grand narratives (such as capitalism, faith or science) and as a belief that there are multiple ways of understanding anything, whether it be it culture, philosophy, art, literature, films, etc, or even television... Television reflects the mass-produced society we live in and certain shows exhibit many of the archetypes of postmodernism that have become prevalent in other art forms. Postmodernism can be useful for understanding contemporary television it can help us to relate to the ever-changing world we live in. Television shows like ABC’s Lost (ABC, 2004-2010) dabble in matters of intertextuality, questioning of grand narratives and, amongst others, a manipulation of time through use of flashbacks, flash-forwards and, uniquely to Lost, the flash-sideways.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of The Lottery By Shirley Jackson

    1206 Words  | 3 Pages

    When the story first opens up, the introductory scene that opens the story up includes children gathering stones and running to the destination where the lottery takes place. According to Linda Wagner-Martin’s journal, “The Lottery by Shirley Jackson”, she explains that the children running around provides a calm and peaceful vibe to the story. She also explains that bringing the children into the description creates a poignancy not only for the death of Tessie, the mother, but for the sympathy the crowd gives to her youngest son, Dave. She explains that it’s family members, women and children, and fellow residents that are being murdered through this ritual. The author additionally attempts to throw the reader off at first by creating a beautiful image of a town where the “flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” which gives an innocent feel to the town; but, the story actually ends with an egregious ending. One of the children, Martin, “stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the younger boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones.” The reason behind the younger children picking up the smoothest stones was because it would allow the person that’s being stoned a slow death due to their soft edges. With this, Jackson indicates that the children define this murderous and unethical event as ethical because they help their elders murder someone

    Read More

  • Postmodernism vs. Marxism

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    Postmodernism is perhaps the most difficult thing to define at this point in time. That is in large part due to the fact that we are currently still in the movement, political view, or economy (to classify postmodernism as only one of the above is to have already defeated your definition). One of the few things that have been empirically proven is that it indeed focuses on culture. Jameson once argued that postmodernism was a more of a cultural dominant than anything else (Storey, p. 184). This would tend to classify postmodernism as an assimilation of all cultures, with a survival of the fittest effect. Take for example the effects of one culture, regardless of that culture's size, on mass culture ISA's. A battle occurs between the established ISA's and the new subculture ISA's until finally a victor has been declared. Which ever has gained more favor drowns the weaker, and all ISA's of the weaker genre will be discredited. Postmodernism is seen as the cultural dominant of our era, however this has not always been the case. One particular group attempted to attach cultural dominance, or rather cultural understanding, to their already established political body: the Marxists. While the cultural studies that were performed by the Frankfurt School were probably the first studies that ever addressed culture, their findings have not stood the test of time. One of the most important things to understand is that Marxism is generally a political body, while postmodernism is similar to a movement. Marxism has it's own views of culture that were developed through the Frankfurt School, but the movement of postmodernism disregards the Frankfurt school's theories. Postmodernism has in fact taken the...

    Read More

  • Dehumanity In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson uses the symbolism of a stone to show the cruelty of the human nature. Jackson introduces the story with a warm and pleasant setting suggesting that the lottery is just a typical day. The story, then, quickly changes direction when the children gather and make “a great pile of stones in

    Read More

  • American Dream Research Paper

    1620 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American Dream, the idea that has been glorified for centuries and has kept the generations pushing onward, in hopes of bettering themselves and their families, has not dimmed in the last twenty some years. The concept is essentially the same, but the means have changed over the years. In the past, hard work, sweat, sometimes blood, but always tenacity were the hallmark traits for success. No, it seems that without a college education, one cannot hope to succeed comfortably in modem American culture. Students have progressed from the traditional college•age students and have developed to include middle aged adults seeking a better paycheck. Regardless of the age, ahnost all of the students are going in order to get a better career and a

    Read More

  • Embargo on Cuba

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Cuban Embargo, also known as “el bloqueo” to Cuban citizens, was declared by the United States in 1960 to eliminate imports of Cuban goods. When the embargo was first set, it was only to eliminate food and medicine, but then on Feb. 7th, 1962 the embargo was extended to all exports. President Kennedy announced the embargo citing, “the subversive offensive of Sino-Soviet communism with which the government of Cuba is publicly aligned” (Galeano). “We have a hemispheric commitment to freedom and democracy and respect for human rights”, said Jose Cardenas, a former National Security Council staffer on Cuba. With only 90 miles of sea between the U.S. and Cuba the embargo chokes off Cuba’s number one trade partner and tourism of the island.

    Read More

  • 1984 Analysis

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1950s, authors tended to follow common themes, these themes were summed up in an art called postmodernism. Postmodernism took place after the Cold War, themes changed drastically, and boundaries were broken down. Postmodern authors defined themselves by “avoiding traditional closure of themes or situations” (Postmodernism). Postmodernism tends to play with the mind, and give a new meaning to things, “Postmodern art often makes it a point of demonstrating in an obvious way the instability of meaning (Clayton)”. What makes postmodernism most unique is its unpredictable nature and “think o...

    Read More

  • Videotape: Don DeLillo’s Illustration of Postmodernism

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Postmodernism is a vague term that can describe a variety of disciplines that include, architecture, art, music, film, fashion, literature…etc. (Klages). In the case of “Videotape”, postmodern literature would be the main focus or area of study. This type of literature emerged in the era that succeeded World War II and relies heavily on the use of techniques such as, fragmentation, the creation of paradoxes, and questionable protagonists. Furthermore, postmodern literature also exudes ambiguity and critical thinking where the focus is mainly on the reader and his/her experience of the work rather than the content and form. Building upon that, the selected passag...

    Read More

  • Postmodernism's Effect on Marriage and Family

    1828 Words  | 4 Pages

    Postmodernism first appeared around the 1980’s, following a hectic and messy period of time. The postmodernist theory that defines a new era describing the world as society is fragmenting, while authority is de-centering, and real truth does not exist; there are only representations of it. Believers of the postmodernist theory, believe that postmodernism is a mixture of present, past, and future, more specifically, the cultural and spatial elements of these different times (Lemert, 2010). The postmodern age is considered the information age, or even, the technological age. Both of these are evident through the changes that have occurred within the typical marriage and family. One of the main emphases of postmodernism is that no real truth exists, demonstrating the grand narrative. The grand narrative states that the “truth” is invented for the sole purpose of selling things. This is clearly shown, in a different manner, in marriages and families in today’s society. No real truth being in existence creates change in the typical marriage and family.

    Read More

  • Literature - Postmodern Literary Criticism

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    Postmodernism assumes an ontology of fragmented being. Where modernism asserts the primacy of the subject in revealing universal truth, postmodernism challenges the authority of the subject and, thus, universal truth based on it. Modernism and postmodernism, however, draw upon distinctly different epistemological modes: critical and dogmatic.

    Read More

More about Effects Of Postmodernism In Relation To Communication And Society

Open Document