https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwQzVzpySKdPZWlJNnE0aUhnMVU
Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs meaning through the following:
Watch 4 times.
Before the 1st one – write out a template for the 4 x microfeatures with codes, shorthand for some of the technical features that might come up.
This is fun to watch. It might help you iron out some issues you have with postmodern media.
Otherwise, you should revise from the following slideshare:
Why not do your own flyer on Nosedive and Chained to the Rythmn so that you can really go over those key points from these texts.
In order to survive the revision stage, you need to be organised.
Go back through Classroom and all your google docs and copy all presentations, essays over into the following folders. Some of these will be on the blog too so why not go through the blog posts and get your own copies before POMO starts. If everything is in specific places it will be an awful lot easier to revise.
TV DRAMA
MUSIC INDUSTRY
SKILLS
CONCEPTS
POSTMODERN MEDIA
There is a post in classroom with some Revision Templates so that you can start to plan your revision in small bitesize chunks.
PLUS
A story broke last year and the ramifications of it are still rumbling on. The Guardian newspaper basically exposed Facebook for the monster it has become and all of us as unwittingly playing into the hands of the ruling classes – we have been moulded and monstrously manipulated by those who can – governments, politicians, corporations.
Watch the entire video below to fully understand the enormity of how Media has played right into the hands of those who have sort to ‘manage’ society.
Baudrillard would say – well, what more could we expect from a society that is managed through the media. We were bound to be fed and fall for falsehoods.
Lyotard – would he be saddened by the fact that even though we think we’re free to question, look beyond, beneath and behind in this pluralistic society, are we in actual fact, free at all? Just like the prisoners in Platos cave – have we actually come much further? However, he would applaud the idea that the grand narrative of unbiased, investigative journalism is able to blow the ‘pretence’ apart and that what we are seeing has to be questioned, deconstructed, disseminated.
This is a really current case study that would sit well in any Level 4 essay on postmodernism
It is essential that you try not to make your POMO essays purely a list of examples. You should endeavour to open up the debate, criticise and analyse. Have some fun with the essay. You should also try and consider the past, present and future of POMO. Here are some ideas that you could develop as to how POMO might develop in the future. Use some of the buzz phrases you have heard in the example critiques and reviews. But do remember this is a MEDIA essay – not an historical or political one – bring these elements in but the Media text has to be the focus.
Good luck.
Counter arguments to Postmodernism
Some might argue that the world needs to change – as everything is being corrupted or has been corrupted, perhaps we all need a new direction? ‘Do not – focus on the shadows on the wall but on the light source itself’.
Could this mean civilisation, needs to redefine itself? Will the freedom of the internet eventually bring about our disintegration? Do we need Big Brother to come in and censor our lives? Are they spiralling out of control and is POMO media feeding that descent?
In fact, do we need a BRAND NEW GRAND NARRATIVE?
Brilliant expose of Love Island and how little of it is ‘real’ and not unscripted, unproduced. Mrs Cobb is devastated! She thought it was ‘real’.
Postmodernity and the Katy Perry Video
Newstatesman article with examples and ties in with Nosedive!
Student analysis on Chained….
POSTMODERN MUSIC VIDEO ESSAY Katy Perry- Chained To The Rhythm is an example of a postmodern music video, it was released February 10th 2017 and was featured on her new album ‘Witness’. The video was produced by Max Martin and Ali Payami and was directed by Mathew Cullen. Music videos can be postmodern through a number of factors which may be featured in the music video, these include irony, intertextuality, pastiche, parody and fragmentation.
There are a number of artists in the industry today who portray postmodernity throughout their videos however Katy Perry’s video to her new song stood out the most and gave me a number of postmodern factors to talk about. Firstly, postmodernism is a way of thinking about culture, philosophy, art and other meanings. However, in relation to media postmodern media rejects the idea that any media product or text is of any greater value than another and that the distinction between media and reality has collapsed and we now live in a ‘reality’ defined by images and representation. In relation to my case study, the video features intertextuality and is mainly reference the political issues currently taking place is the US.
The first scene in the music video is people walking into a theme park called ‘Oblivia’, seeing as the video is highly political it is believed ‘oblivia’ is meant to mean ‘oblivious’ and is suggesting that people are unaware of the political problems current. Another scene which stood out was a sign stating ‘The Great American Dream Drop’ which clearly has reference to the American Dream and suggests that society today has made it harder for people to achieve the Great American Dream whereas before people were able to work hard and in return receive this big dream everyone wished for. One scene also has intertextual reference to the Disney film Sleeping Beauty where the female character cuts her finger on a sharp object in this case a rose thorn, this scene is portraying a message to the audience that although something may look good it will always have a negative side effect. The next two scenes have a very obvious reference to political issues and President Trump. There is a scene featured in the video of characters being thrown over a wall into another area we do not see, to me this clearly has reference to Trumps promise policy of building a wall between two countries and may be the singers way of mocking his promise. Another scene sees a sign stating ‘bombs away’ with bombs flying all in frame of the camera, this highlights the threats beings thrown between the US and Korea and suggests the singer is trying to get these issue across to her audience to spark debates and see if any solutions can be found to resolve the problem.
To conclude, postmodern music videos like this one are good to cause debates and get opinions across to an audience although some may be seen as controversial however it allows an audience to think about issues they may not realise are a problem which could spark a positive or negative reaction.
As a media art form, music videos are often conduits for various elements of postmodern culture. Sometimes they also, point a self-accusing finger at themselves for doing so and sometimes the videos and lyrics are about postmodern society too.
Andrew Goodwin, a renowned media theorist sums up the postmodernism of music videos:
The Rizzle Kicks – is made in a postmodern fashion but also points the finger at postmodern society.
Lilly Allen, The Fear is also made in a postmodern fashion but also points the finger at postmodern society.
We will be studying in depth some current music videos, one of which you should choose to focus on as your 2nd media text in your essay (the other one will be Nosedive, Black Mirror by Charlie Brooker).
Music Videos are often examples of postmodern media, not only because their place as a recognised art form has come about in the postmodern era but mainly because they evidence a range of ideas about what makes a text postmodern.
We will be looking in detail at a more recent episode of Black Mirror as our detailed case study later in the term. In the meantime, this episode from the previous series, called Nosedive, really spotlights the world that we live in: the simulacra, the hypereality and the consumer culture that surrounds us.
Listen to the above analysis of the episode and watch it in class with your teacher.
The top story is all about the lovely Lorraine Kelly…she is just so genuine, so ‘real’, so cosy’ so authentic and so honest’. But start to consider how and why many presenters are able to connect to the audience in such a ‘meaningful’ manner. How real are they? Are they just a brand? Are they just acting? Click on the image to go to the story. What would Baudrillard say about this?
This is a link to a recent video about the Christchurch massacre (scroll down to the video at the end of the article). It starts to open up the questions that New Zealand, and to be fair most countries in the world, do not want to ask or answer. The idea of ‘white superiority’ is a grand narrative that has permeated society for centuries. It is a hard one to square up to and acknowledge. New Zealand, have taken claim to the image and idea that they are a peaceful, multi-cultural society where all is good and dandy. The reality may not be as it seems. The difficulties in race relations between the ‘colonising’ nations and the indigenous Maori population is one they would prefer not to advertise – but it is an issue and one that has to be addressed. The grand narrative that lurks ominously in the wings is that this idea of entitlement, and ‘white superiority’ is to blame. Lyotard would love this to be tackled – questioned – aired and challenged. Does it take a tragedy though to make us ‘own’ something we would rather not?
Finally, on the same subject, this is a cartoon that appeared in the Guardian last week. It again focuses a light on how the new grand narrative of us now living in an anti-racist society. In other words the narrative is that as the human race, we have questioned the, ‘it’s never ever White people’s fault’ grand narrative that has permeated history, and we have and are successfully challenging this. Problem sorted. No racism, no inequality – it’s all good.
However, stop and revisit how the press, the media who have a direct impact on our ideologies about racism, Islamaphobia, homophobia, sexism are still reporting issues. How responsible are they for the grand narratives that may not shape the world – and not in a good way? Perhaps Lyotard would argue that it takes a tragedy for the world to wake up to its own failings?
