Postmodernism

Postmodernism & Deutschland 83: blog task


1) Read the section on Strinati's five ways to define postmodernity. What examples are provided of the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society (media-isation)?

The examples which are given between the breakdown between culture and society would be the TV show 'X factor' as one way of postmodernism because the characters Bruno and Borat are seen saying and doing things that people in reality cannot do this is seen as a shift from what is acceptable in society. 

Or - 

"1. ‘Media-isation’ of culture – we make sense of reality using media texts
2. Emphasis of style over substance e.g. celebrity, reality TV
3. Breakdown of difference between art and popular culture
4. Confusion over time and space – modern society is built on the instantaneous
5. Decline of meta-narratives or grand narratives (e.g. religion or political theories such as communism)".

2) What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83?

Jameson's idea of historical deafness refers to us as an audience only understand historical events through the media which connotes the sugar coating of some events and interms of media-isation and representation. This can applied to Deutschland 83' because this show interprets the division between East and West Germany during the cold war. 


3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?

One theory provided for the idea of "Style over substance" would be Jean Baudrillard (media theorist) that argued that an audience only sees a copy of reality in the media. Another theorist would be Jameson's argues that the media creates a more undertoned approach to events which will cause misinformation in the form of entertainment.

4) What examples from music are provided for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture? Can this be applied to Deutschland 83?

Examples about music which relates to the breakdown between art and population culture would be Andy Warhol who was an artist known to push boundaries in terms of mixing artistic elements such as the famous "Campbell's soup can in 1962 (low art). This can be applied to Deutschland 83' because we know from historical perspective that the East was controlled by the USSR which meant that literature, art and music was controlled to fit their political agenda whereas the west was controlled by western countries such as America so the art and culture was expressed by individuality this was the disvion between them.

5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?

A bricolage is the juxtaposition between old and new texts to fit different meanings. The examples of bricolage found in Deutschland 83' would be the theme and opening to copy the 80s news and other forms of culture such as the music in grocery store scene was a popular band which as a anti-war song called 99 Luftballons.

6) How can the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 be linked to postmodernism? Read 'The decline of meta-narratives' and 'Media texts and the postmodern' to help answer this.

The audience pleasures of Deutschland 83' would be linked to postmodernism because of the diversion and surveillance as you're learning historical events through this period-drama but also having an escape and living vicariously through the show. 

7) Read the analysis of media concepts and postmodern approaches on page 3 of the factsheet. Choose three of the concepts and write an example from Deutschland 83. Clue: genre, representation, ideology and audience would all be good options for this task.

Genre - A spy drama with all the conventions such as technology, action and different narratives for each character to play a part. This means that the postmodernism part would be that links to the cold war tensions between the East and West as its conflict. 

Representation - The hyper-reality and exaggeration of the west being wealthy and free whereas the east is poor and oppressed however the reality is that they both have underlying problems such as psychological division of the German people.

Audience - The audience is represented as passive and not active meaning they just consume what is given to them however the postmodernism linked to this would be that the audience also have a say in what is happening and have a perspective on it.

8) Now look at page 4 of the factsheet. How does Deutschland 83 demonstrate aspects of the postmodern in its construction and ideological positioning?

They demonstrate a postmodern perspective through hyper-reality as we see the protagonist coming from East Germany to help west Germany for information and his actions are questionable. This can be seem as a favouring communism at that time. 

9) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why?

Key scenes which provide postmodernism in Deutschland 83' would be the underlying cause to make capitalism/ communism both wrong and the grocery store scene with the music is the background bring an anti war song which is contrasted by what was going on at the time with cold war tensions. 

10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers?

An audience would enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83' because it provides real events with drama and suspense. Another reason would be because it provides realistic pastiche elements to give hints to our reality today.