Postmodernism Essay

Analyze the key characteristics of postmodern media [15]

Post-modernism with its media itself is described as a rejection of modernism. The goal of producers in creating a post-modern text includes subverting the mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterization as well as breaking down the cultural divide between high and low art. In today's media, it is easier to see the postmodern aspects of media texts. In this text, I will thoroughly explain the key characteristics of a postmodern text to identify one, including the appropriate case study and concepts.

An example of postmodern text is the Disney+ Marvel spin-off series, She-Hulk, released in 2022, specifically on the season finale, episode 9. There are many characteristics of postmodern text, including intertextuality, imitations, satire, irony, bricolage, self-reflexivity, common themes, and loss of reality. She-Hulk as a series is a strong application of loss of reality, from the main character herself is someone who has unrealistic power and how one can transform into someone very unrealistic through a simple injection. The intertextuality in the episode is seen heavily throughout, as it is a product of Marvel, She-Hulk had multiple scenes that mentioned other products of Marvel, including Bruce (original Hulk) and other Marvel movies and characters like Daredevil. At the beginning of the episode, show their imitation of Hulk's original introduction which can be both a homage and parody. It is considered a homage as it can be a respectful tribute to the original Hulk and a parody as the introduction has some satirical and humorous aspects. There was a mention of the character "K.E.V.I.N" which was portrayed as a machine but is an actual producer in real life, this was an example of parody as the machine wore a hat like the actual producer and hence had a mock element. There was a scene where she entered a room surrounded by scenes from various Marvel movies which can be argued as a form of bricolage as it was resourceful and creative, supported by a scene where she "left" and "jumped out" of Disney+ to real world and met the actual producers behind the scenes which would also be a form of self-reflexity as they acknowledge their position as a fictional character. Another scene that expresses self-reflexivity includes how she breaks the 4th wall, communicating with the audience from one of her dialogues, "Is this what you guys want?", knowing they are watched by an audience. She also showed a humorous mimicry regarding Marvel movies, saying how all Marvel movies end the same way with the daddy issues and the predictability, and components of toxic masculinity. Overall, She-Hulk is a series that displays the common theme of future technology the most as supported by each and every element that was shown throughout this episode and series.

The media texts today have made it harder for audiences to distinguish the truth, as supported by the theories of Jean Baudrillard, especially his concept of reality, specifically on heightened reality and hyperreality. Hyperreality can be defined as when the audience is surrounded by many simulations to the point they cannot distinguish between simulation and reality, here hyperreality also has no/little connection to reality but is packaged as real. Heightened reality, on the contrary, has a strong link with reality but contains edits, though the audience will still be able to distinguish what is real and what is not through the distinguishable representation of reality. Media text that performs the idea of heightened reality includes David Attenborough's documentary series, A Life On Our Planet. This series discussed how steeply the health of the planet has declined throughout his lifetime. His series includes elements of reality as well as artificial; the elements that were an actual representation of reality include the old montage used to represent Ukraine, the events that were described to have happened, and the shots of the wild - displaying the animals' action and the movement of nature (a falling tree). Attenborough may still want to include these real representations to criticize the reality that the world has, to be an eye-opener for the audience. However, there are elements that were edited in and artificial, including the editing done towards the scenes; the producers had many narrations done by Attenborough and the background music accompanying that footage. The deteriorated building featured can be argued as an artificial aspect as the producer can choose which part of the building they want to show - to support their agenda, hence not fully showing the whole thing. This is to emphasize and exaggerate the impact he wanted to make for the audience. Hyperreality has also been applied to many media texts, one example is in the reality TV series of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. This is a series showcasing the Kardashians family personal and professional lives. The audience may find it difficult to determine which is real and which is artificial, but it can be argued that the real elements of this series include the montages shown of their workplace, restaurants, the location they went to, the actual event: fashion show and the actual night city life. These real representations can be used as a reminder of who the Kardashians are, successful business family who have a high economic status - boasting their lavish and elite lifestyle as influencers and celebrities. The addition of these actual footages also made it harder for audience to differentiate which is real and not, making audience fall to this "trap" of believing the life they show to be the life they live everyday. These montages was mixed with artificial shots of simulacra - a made up version of reality that doesn't exist. In the specific episode of Season 3 and Episode 4 of the entire series, the topic of the episode was mainly of the Milan Fashion Week, which had a significant amount of conflicts, arguments, and even events such as the prank done by the family. These scenarios may all be scripted by the directors and producers making it a form of simulacra as the feelings they show never really existed. The reason why producers or TV series adds these simulacra to exaggerate their lifestyle in a way to engage audience' interests and attention; by adding pieces of drama and issues to a significant person, it would be a great method to earn viewer's engagement - making them a topic to talk about, whether in social media or real life. But the reason why these hyperreality media texts is still heavily consumed by audience is due to its preference over reality, it would be more entertaining to watch and would support audience denial to be part of the reality they actually live in. However this method could be heavily critiqued especially as it may lead to audiences' loss of authenticity in everyday lives when they actually believe this is what their possible role models lives are like and want to live like them instead, when everything was just created and doesn't exist.