Jing Ke
Nov, 2007
Course Title: Media and Culture Analysis
The interactions between mass media, culture and politics in the postmodern circumstance
- Take U.S. TV series 24 as a case
In contemporary society, mass media, culture and politics are always integrated and interacted with one another, the mass media is a reflection of the culture and politics to which it belongs and it has the reaction to both of the two domains. In this paper, I’ll analyze the process of interactions between mass media, culture and politics with a case study of the TV series 24.
First of all I’d like to analyze what 24 is as a mass media product. According to Roland Barthes, the entire signification of a culture product can be scaled into three levels: The denotative level, the connotative level and the ideological level.[i] Connected with 24, the denotative level of it is a story about a competent agent Jack Bauer working for a fictional U.S. government Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) and fights against terrorism threat to save the nation, it is an American TV series wins many awards and is full of suspense. The connotative level is about a super-hero fight against evil and protects the country, making choices and also suffering from the conflicts between family and country, life and death, trust and betrayal, humanity and bloodiness, ration and emotion. And on the ideological level, 24 questions some major subjects in the field of culture, sociology and politics, e.g. the relationship between human power and technology, the roles of male and female plays in contemporary society, the individualism and worship of hero in the American culture, together with the ideological icon this TV series implies after the 9/11 terrorism attacks.
24 and ideology: The mass media’s function in building up an ideology
Postmodernism holds a trenchant point of view on mass media and its function in solidify a system of ideology. According to Fiske and Hartley[ii] and other theorists, people understand the world through their own ideologies, which infiltrate into the culture via language, narrative, symbol, and mass media, etc. Since the ideologies are repeated ceaselessly in a certain culture context by the media, people (the receivers of such repetition), form a natural response and begin to certificate and accept those ideologies without any question or doubt. This process has established the “power” or “violence” of mass media, they have the power to define, to judge and to dominate everything in public life: for instance, they keep on telling people stories about crimes and immorality as well as the threats caused by them, as a result the person who receives such information will spontaneously distinguish “him/herself” from “them” in this context and thus behave him/herself as a law-abiding, cautious and conscientious citizen. Anything excluded by such narrative created by mass media is regarded as deviation and is being marginalized in society. In one word, postmodernism asserts that it is mass media create the legitimacy of ideology.
In this perspective, 24 is successfully using the power of mass media to conform the U.S. ideology and rebuild people’s confidence after 9/11. The first episode of the TV series is shown nearly two months after the 9/11 attacks, this terrorism attacks had arouse profound transformation in the U.S. politics, economics, diplomacy and social life, also, the country’s confidence of being a superpower is collapsed attended with the Twin Towers; the sense of panic, insecurity and wrath caused by the attacks flourished the country and anti-terrorism became an international subject overnight.
In such condition, 24 rigidly touches the sensitive subject of anti-terrorism and sets the whole story in a tragic and anxious atmosphere, directly facing the panic consist in American citizens and insinuates the 9/11 and Iraq War throughout its narratives. In my perspective, Jack Bauer, the leading character, is an extension of American former screen superheroes like the Superman, Batman and Terminator etc. that all cater to the country’s worship of individualistic heroism. And for Jack Bauer, his almighty competence and bravery in fight against terrorism give the audience an image of a hero who can conquer any difficulty in any condition and roughly but successfully save the country, save people’s lives, a hero like him is exactly needed for American citizens to construct a sense of security after 9/11.
Then 24, as a TV series and a form of American mass media, tries to build up the nation’s confidence by advocating heroism and creating a virtually secure environment which is similar to the realities but not at all realities. We have to admit that what we called “reality” is “an agreement we make with ourselves and between ourselves and the rest of the culture about what we will call real”[iii]. Postmodernism develop this point of view to a higher level by pointing out the delusive aspect of the reality such as “representation” and “simulacra”. To same extent, 24 matches what Jameson called a “pastiche” in the contemporary vision-dominated postmodern world and we can define 24 as a pastiche which represents the image of U.S. according to the traditional and ideal views to comfort and lull people. It gives an image that “Even if the same thing happens in reality, some superhero like Jack Bauer will come forth and defuse the crisis.”
Another influence created by the “hegemony” of mass media is that, different ideologies will “compete” with each other and show their validity in the space exploited by their own mass media. (Like the Hollywood blockbuster Titanic, the ideological information it bears is obvious: the success of the American New World, which is portrayed as youthful, energetic, full of democracy and freedom, while oppositely the European Old World is senile and autarchic. With the film sweeping the world, the glamorous, perfect image of America spread.)
Things are similar in 24, the ideological conflict between the east and the west is reflected in the TV series. For instance, in 24, the source of terrorism attacks is directly alluding some Mid-East and Asian countries and the images of the nation’s hostile countries including China are aggrandized again on screen. The ideological and political inclinations, similar to many other American mass media and popular culture products did, cultivate the validity and superiority of American Ideology in order to consolidate its meta-narratives.
I’d like to discuss more on that, in fact, ideology, culture, politics, and civilization are all intertwined, and mass media plays a dedicate role in this net. For instance, 24 is about anti-terrorism, and the origin of terrorism is actually rooted in the conflict between the East and West Civilizations, between Christianity and Islam (the religion is a representation of civilization). However, without a thorough analysis and objective understanding of the origin for which the West World should take much of the responsibility, anti-terrorism won’t be effective, at least, the way like expressing ideological opposition in 24 won’t be effective.
To sum up, from the TV series 24 we can educe that the ideological function of mass media is never out of date, the news, the films or other forms of mass media all have a huge influence on building up an ideology and meta-narrative, on propagandize political and cultural inclination, from this perspective, 24 has more meaning on ideological function besides entertainment.
24 and gender: The transformations in the gender role in postmodern time
Postmodernism emphasize the change in the power relationship between male and female in contemporary society. According to Richard Dyer[iv] and Foucault[v], the stereotypes of masculinity are shifting all the time in different situation, which indicate a change in the social status played by male and female roles. Power is dynamic; the nature of power relationship may shift all the time.
Although I mentioned in my previous discourse that Jack Bauer, the leading character, is an extension of American former screen superheroes like the Superman, Batman and Terminator etc. The differences between those heroes are also obvious: Firstly, unlike the 1970s muscle stars such as Schwarzeneger and Stallone, the actor, Kiefer Sutherland, who enacts the hero Jack Bauer, is a haggard-looking man with wrinkles and tiredness on his face. Besides his bravery, wisdom and almighty competence, 24 also shows the audience other aspects in his personality, something more like a human, a father, a husband, and a friend, rather than simply a hero. Like many other contemporary TV series and films (e.g. the Spider-Man), 24 breaks the traditional image, or stereotype, of a strong, callous white male and conveys the idea that a hero has his own emotions and sensibilities, happiness and sufferings, just like any man on the street. The ideal image of a hero has changed.
Secondly, the individualistic heroism in 24 is no longer real “individual” - Superman can save the world all by himself but Jack Bauer cannot, he has to depend on his supporting team including his fellows (many of them are females), the whole CTU and other government agencies, his leaders and, most importantly, machinery and technology (which will be discussed later). Here I’d like to concentrate on the roles male and female each played in 24, which can be a reflection of the gender issues in postmodern society.
In postmodern context, the traditional domination of patriarchy in the family or society is weakening and the male-centered meta-narrative is collapsed. Such is also happened on Jack, his family is broken, his daughter is rebellious, and his venture life is totally a mess. Although he is a superhero who can invincibly save the nation, he also, to some extent, reflects the living status of contemporary urban male citizens: living under huge pressure, being both physically and mentally debilitated, enmeshed in family and working crisis, lacking a real trustworthy friend in his life, etc. (And in 24, Jack cried many times when he faces the death of his wife and workmates or confront some rather difficult choices.) His loneliness and helplessness correspond to the declination of masculinity in postmodern society as man are no longer the center or most powerful group in society since knowledge have been greatly transferred to females. On the other hand, the imperfections of Jack Bauer as a superhero make the image of him “perfect” on the contrary, which is more real and amiable than the earlier screen heroes.
If we see Jack Bauer as a representative of contemporary masculinity, the female characters in 24 can then be figured as a representative of contemporary feminism. Around four hundred years ago Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet “Fragility, thy name is woman!” However, things have changed today, women are no longer, at least not only, an existence of fragility; the female characters in 24 have comprised almost every typical stereotype of contemporary women, which indicate the sense of independency of women in postmodern society.
Jack’s daughter, Kim, a typical contemporary American teenager, also a young woman, rebellious and capricious, she tends to see her family problem in her own point of view and stands for self-directed ideas in her life. She is a trouble-maker and is not a liked character in 24; this is probably because she reflects some of the eccentricity of teenagers in today’s society. However, when she tells her mom “I love you” for the first time as she is in real danger and struggles to escape with her friend after being hijacked, we can feel that under her rebellious façade, her inner world is rather frail and eager for love. Kim is the representative of contemporary young woman seeking for independence and love in their lives but always have no ideas when they are in real crisis situation. (And Jack’s wife, Teri, a mid-aged woman who worries about her family problem and relies on her husband when accident happens – by calling him ceaselessly, is more traditional and domestic. She represent the ideal image of women in patriarchy families.)
There are some stronger female characters in 24, like the dirty agent Nina Myers, one of Jack's closest and most trusted allies in CTU - Michelle, and the wife of the President, Sherry Palmer, etc. They have some common features: well-educated, very competent in the field they engaged in, sedate and intelligent – in one word, they play the roles that are supposed to be acted by men before. In contemporary society, the group of such “forceful women” in the field of politics, business, high-tech, academe etc. is increasing rapidly, the power has been largely transferred from man to women. This corresponds to Foucault’s discourse on power-knowledge relation, which asserts that knowledge is the determinant of power rather than gender in postmodern time and the one who owns knowledge owns power.
Here is another question on the postmodern gender issues: with the fluid of power between genders in today’s society, the boundaries of different social roles male and female played are blurred, this has caused the traditional gender characteristics disappearing. For instance we can see that neutralized dress and style has become a fashion internationally and many people are tending to be transgender. Is it a natural step in the development of human beings or a kind of alienation of human society? Personally I cannot prefigure the future of this power transference between men and women and curious about what men and women will be like decades later.
24 and technology: cyborg citizens and biopower in postmodern city
One research subject of post-humanism is how to face the influence of technology on human beings and how to use technology properly in postmodern time. We cannot deny that human beings have already been alienated by technology – non-personalized, abstracted, symbolic and becoming instrument. According to Chris Gray[vi], advances in technology have changed our definitions of what it is to be a human and what it is to be a citizen, we can move beyond the fixed states of the human body and nation, we can communicate beyond the limit of geographical position, by cyber-modification and cybernetic systems such as the Internet.
Further, Gray argues that since technology enables human to get beyond the natural bounds of the body and promote the artificial intelligence, the distinction between human and machine are fading away, the human brain can be biologically altered or technologically enhanced to its perceived potential. Thus, Gray proposes to rethink the definition of citizenship since citizens have largely become cyborgs and the influences of cyborgs on ethics and politics in today’s society.
Take 24 as an example, it is obvious that Jack Bauer is a cyborg citizen living in the 21st century and utilizing every latest achievement of technology. More accurately, his power is largely relying on technology and we can say without technology Jack Bauer can do nothing but sitting in his office or staying at home. Technology and his body have been merged into a unity which is defined as a “cyborg”. McLuhan said media is the extension of man, for Jack Bauer, technology (to which media belongs) is the extension of himself. Gray advocates the political equality and the right to express opinions democratically for cyborg citizens which is rather hard to achieve in real life. For Jack, since his power and knowledge are granted by the country government, he has to act accord with his social status rather than act as he really wants to. In 24, we can see that Jack lost his wife and workmates in order to fulfill his responsibility to the nation and for many times he wants to quit but he couldn’t. The rights for cyborg citizens are restricted.
On the other hand, due to the infiltration of technology into every aspect of social life, the status of women has been greatly improved and a new social relation between man and woman is building up. This is what Haraway called “a boundary-less form”, which is a new phase in the development of feminism.
I’d like to analyze more on the restricted rights of today’s cyborg citizens. It is not only a deprivation of utterance but also an outcome of the mechanism of surveillance in postmodern society. According to Foucault[vii], surveillance (the act of keeping watch over a person or place) is one of the primary means through which a society enacts control over its subjects. Modern social subjects regulate their own behavior in a panopticon way: presume they are being watched by the power system (e.g. social institutions) and then they control and regulate their behavior to fulfill the system. As a result, a certain type of citizen is “produced” by the mechanism of surveillance and the relations of dominance and subordination are maintained in the process. The combination of modern power and human body generates the “biopower”, which refers to the power exercised over human body in order to train or force individual to act by the dominance’s intention: willing to work, fight wars, produce babies, etc. It is like creating a meta-narrative and only when the individuals obey such orders can they obtain their own power.
Let’s go back to 24, Jack Bauer is a typical existence under this biopower, his identities regulate his behaviors. He is an agent of CTU, so he has to bet his life to fight against terrorism; he is a father as well as a husband, so he is responsible to protect and rescue his family; he is a superhero in others’ eyes so he is deemed to perform missions that are impossible to achieve. All of these identities are conveying surveillance from the “gaze” of the social institutions as well as from the whole community, once Jack Bauer trespass against such regulations, he will be marginalized and lose his power – he is no longer “Jack Bauer” and become nobody in his society. On the other hand, the terrorists in this TV series are also operated by the biopower of their society and politics; they behave like “jihad” in order to match their system of surveillance and ideology. In one word, biopower produces a certain kind of citizen that serves to the establishment of an ideology.
Conclusion: 24 and the eternal pursuit of human nature
What strikes me most in 24 is the discussion and investigation of human nature. From my perspective the pursuit of human nature and humanity is the only eternal subject glowing throughout the history and development of human society. It surpasses the struggles on politics or conflicts between different countries and different interest groups; it characterized the universal strengths, weaknesses, anguish, happiness and needs, etc. of human beings exceeding the boundaries of races and ideologies. In postmodern circumstance, the investigation of human nature and the returning of humanism are rather important for people since human and human societies are being enormously alienated by technology.
From my perspective, the theme of 24 is not only about political struggles, diplomatic mediations and anti-terrorism - it also represents the test and challenge on human nature. The first thing I want to mention is conflicts. The whole TV series is abounding with conflicts: the conflicts between countries, values, religions, ideologies and political interests in the exterior and the conflicts in families, friends, personal mentality and beliefs in the interior. These conflicts and struggles exist in our everyday life and 24 represent the complexity of such conflicts to incite the audience (at least I have) ponder on some rather serious questions: Why there are so many struggles in the world? Are political interests really more important than human’s life? Why people living in the 21st century have to be cyborgs and dominated by biopower? How can we make ourselves live in a safer and more peaceful environment? More importantly, is the alienation (such as the religions which were created to comfort human beings but now brings in more suffering to some extent is a typical sort of alienation) a degeneracy of human society or a natural stage? And are the criteria of “justice” and “evil” we believe in trustworthy? Since the conflicts and struggles are becoming the themes of human life, the real human nature and humanism are dying away - it may be too pessimistic to say so but we cannot deny that human beings are becoming more pugnacious, brutal, callous and selfish. (I remember that it is written in Holy Bible, “We are all sons of God”, and after watching 24 I have a better understanding on why Nietzsche said “God is dead”!)
Another essence in 24 is choices. The characters in 24 are facing choices related with life and death almost every minute, and every choice brings in sufferings. Take Jack Bauer for instance, as I have mentioned ahead, he is a cyborg citizen with many different identities he has to fulfill. It is this diversity of identity that brings him conflicts and choices: choices between individual and country, career and family, life and death, trust and distrust, etc. All these choices make Jack a superhero but ruined his life and smashed his spirit at the same time; he lost almost everything in his life including his wife and friends, becoming lonely and unhappy. Although there is not a real Jack Bauer in the reality, there are many modern citizens like him and we can find some similarities between Jack and ourselves: for instance, we both live with multi-identities, under pressures from different sources and are weighed down with playing our roles. However, it is simply a truth that no one can have an eye on everything simultaneously and as a result, although modern citizens are playing many roles, they do not play any of them well. As a matter of fact, after seeing the whole TV series, we can go to the conclusion that what is presented in 24 is exactly what we are doing all the time: making stiff choices between different interests and striving to play our roles well.
What’s more, in the process of facing conflicts and making choices, and the sacrifice of families, affections and workmates, the characters in 24 are all struggling with their own destiny and fighting against their inner weaknesses. Accordingly another message 24 conveys is the toughness of human beings and tells people the real enemy you confront is yourself.
In conclusion, as a media product made in the U.S. after 9/11 attacks, 24 reflect the complicated relationship between mass media, politics and cultural background of human society. It suggests the tendentiousness on U.S. ideology and diplomacy and can be viewed as a product of the traditional adoration of heroism. Also, the story told in 24 is a representation of the new model of relationship between genders and human – technology in postmodern society. Besides discussing the alienation of human in modern time, 24 puts up a paradigm of goodness, faithfulness and mutual-affections, it calls for the return of human nature. - This is my personal interpretation of 24 in the cultural-analysis context.
References:
[i] Roland Barthes. Rhetoric of the Image. Image, Music, Text. Ed. and trans. Stephen Heath. New York: Hill and Wang, 1977. 32-51.
[ii] Fiske, J. and J. Hartley (1988). The Signs of Television; The Codes of Television. In Reading Television. (pp.37-67). London, Routledge.
[iii] Kolker, R. (2002). Preface. Film, Form and Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill
[iv] Dyer, R. (1997). The white man’s muscles. White (pp.145-183). London: Routledge.
[v] Foucault, M. (1979). Excerpts from The History of Sexuality: Volume 1: An introduction. In Natoli, J. & Hutcheon, L. (EDs). 1993. A Postmodern Reader (pp.333-341). NY: State U of NY
[vi] Gray, C. H. (2002). Citizenship in the age of electronic reproduction. Cyborg citizen (pp.21-54). New York: Routledge.
[vii] Foucault, M. (1984). Panopticism. In P. Rainbow, (Ed.), The Foucault reader: an introduction to Foucault’s thought (pp.206-213).
Mar 26, 2010
The emergence, characteristics and influences of Postmodernism
Jing Ke
Nov. 2007
Course Title: Media and Culture Analysis
The emergence, characteristics and influences of Postmodernism
- A brief review of the semester
The emergence of Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a set of ideas appears in a wide variety of disciplines including art, architecture, music, film, literature, sociology, communications, fashion, and technology, it emerges since the 1950s and popularized in the 1970s and 1980s. There are two main historical events catalyzed the emergence of postmodernism:
1. World War II (1939-1945)
This worldwide military conflict resulted in the deaths of over 70 million people and made numerous cities destroyed and people homeless, it is the deadliest conflict in human history and a calamity in human civilization. After WW2, the dream of a peaceful and harmonious society had collapsed in the capitalist world and the reliability of human rational thought and self control are under suspicion, people began to reflect the society and human nature and are also less confident in their own judgment, these had caused a sense of loss, insecurity and anxiety. In one word, the traditional values and beliefs are re-examined.
On the other hand, WW2 also greatly stimulates the development of technology.
2. The revolution in science and technology since the 1950s
Science and technology in human society have developed rapidly since 1950s, for instance[1]:
1951-The first commercial computer was invented
1952-First animal cloning
1962-Launched the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts
1969-The original Internet was born in America
···
Every new invention and development has triggered off profound transformation in people’s life styles and ideas, especially in developed countries. Technology has greatly enhanced human power, making people stronger and smarter. At the same time, under the impact of technology, especially the Internet and mass media, people are separated from the reality and are living a digital, virtual life. The identity is diversified and the clear sense of “self” is disrupted.
From Modernism to Postmodernism: The relationship
There are mainly two viewpoints on the relationship between modernism and postmodernism:
1. Postmodernism is a reaction to or even rejection of modernism.
2. Postmodernism is the development and new generation of modernism and they are two aspects of the same thing.
According to Frederic Jameson, modernism and postmodernism are cultural formations which accompany particular stages of capitalism; he outlines three primary phases of capitalism which dictate particular cultural practices:
However, Jameson’s outline is not a precise portrayal, as we know there is not definite division of time between modernism and postmodernism, and to judge objectively, postmodernism is either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism.
Compare modernism with postmodernism:
Since postmodernism is emerging from modernism, they’re similar in some basic propositions, e.g. they are both in opposition to fully developed modernity and disgusted with the banality and “dehumanized” quality of life in industrial capitalism. However, to concentrate on their differences can help us understand postmodernism more profoundly.
Modernism is about the pursuit of order, unity and coherence and constantly fights against “disorder” which might disrupt order. Modernists believe in a binary opposition between “order” and “disorder” and then create a grand-narrative to protect the “order”; they also believe the knowledge produced by science is always the truth. However, postmodernism acknowledge disorder and allow it coexist with order, it advocates pluralism rather than dualism, thus postmodernism is the critique of grand narratives and favors mini-narrative.
Further more, although they both tend to present a fragmented view of human subjectivity and history, modernism presents that fragmentation as something tragic, something to be mourned as a loss. They uphold the idea that works of art can provide the unity, coherence, and meaning which have been lost in modern life. But postmodernism, in contrast, doesn't mourn the idea of fragmentation or incoherence, but rather celebrates that. Like one postmodernist said, “The world is meaningless? Let's not pretend that art can make meaning then, let's just play with nonsense.”[2]
Postmodernism: the characteristics
1. Death of metanarrative (central to the concept of postmodernism)
Before Lyotard, one fundamental premise of modernism is that the knowledge produced by science is “truth”, and is eternal, it will always lead toward progress and perfection, which means all human institutions and practices can be analyzed by science and then improved. However, Lyotard separates knowledge from scientific truth and argues that science can’t explain everything in the world and science is as same as other narratives.
Let’s go back to the “order” pursued by modernism, for Lyotard, “order” is maintained in modern societies through the means of “grand narrative” or “master narrative”, which is a story a culture tells itself about its practices and beliefs. According to Lyotard, every belief system or ideology has its grand narratives, for instance, Marxism, the “grand narrative” for Marxism is the idea that capitalism will collapse and a utopian socialist world will evolve. Metanarrative is a story that is told to explain the belief systems that exist. Lyotard argues that modern societies are depending on these grand narratives.
Postmodernism is the critique of grand narrative. Lyotard tells people since a message can be reproduced by mass media for any purpose to anyone in a society, there is no real value or meaning in the metanarrative in postmodern society and it’s not trustworthy, so he shows incredulity towards metanarratives and claims the death of it.
2. Death of history
According to Jameson, postmodern world is a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, and what is left is the imitation of dead style which he called a “pastiche” (an empty copy). He asserts that in postmodern society, history has stopped because we can’t relate authentically to our past, we don’t remember the real thing any more and what we have is a representation of it. In his point of view, people see things in postmodern world from the empty image which represents no “reality”. In such society, sensations or passions are dissociated, individual and social life passes into linguistic fragmentation.
For Jameson, society lives itself through an understanding and organization of narratives by which it orders itself (Which is something similar to Lyotard’s metanarratives). In postmodern society metanarratives break down and as a result, postmodern culture becomes pastiche.
The representation of past ideals and objectives lead to what Jameson calls contemporary nostalgia culture. It is the collective desire for the images of a past one cannot regain in postmodern culture. In his book Postmodernism, he wrote, “The nostalgia form of postmodern culture approaches the ‘past’ through stylistic connotation, conveying ‘pastness’ by the glossy qualities of the image, and ‘1930s-ness’ or ‘1950s-ness’ by the attributes of fashion.” Nostalgia recalls traditional memories of the past by expressing them through the postmodern images. For instance, Superman Returns can be read as a nostalgia film for it uses the postmodern aesthetics to produce a nostalgic effect. Superman is one of the most famous and popular comic book in the US in the 1930s and the film brings back memories of the 1930s comic reading as well as the image of a superhero who can save the world and fight against injustice – which gives audiences a utopian circumstance in the dystopian realities.
3. Disappearance of depth and aura
In the beginning of the semester we learned how a meaning is produced by the combination of signifier and signified:
Sign = Signifier + Signified
Modern societies depend on the idea that signifiers always point to signified, and that reality resides in signified. In postmodernism, however, there are only signifiers. The idea of any stable or permanent reality disappears; together with the idea of signified that signifiers point to. Rather, for postmodern societies, there are only surfaces, without depth; only signifiers, with no signified.
According to Baudrillard, in postmodern society there are no originals, only copies, or what he calls “simulacra”. For example, like a painting by Van Gogh, besides the original work there are also millions of copies of it, but the original work is the one with the highest value, with something called “aura”. Contrast that with CDs or music recordings, there is no “original”, they are only copies, millions of copies, all the same, all sold for the same amount of money. The process of industrial reproduction caused the extinction of aura.
Baudrillard’s “simulacrum” can be interpreted as virtual reality, a reality created by simulation, for which there is no original. In one word, the original depth and aura is disappeared in postmodern society.
Posthumanism
1. Problems in identity under the impact of globalization
Globalization is one of the most influential trend in the postmodern time, it is the worldwide integration of economic, cultural, political, religious, and social systems; it brings in a growth of cross-cultural contacts and the homogenization of culture which caused the confusion in identity and cultural diversity.
In the beginning of the semester we learned that people define their identities through the ideologies conveyed by the media. In the era of globalization, the traditional distinctions between races and ethnicity are breaking down and many people have a multi-culture background. Take the immigration for instance, which means leaving one's home to become a member of another community. The differences in race, culture, language, religion etc. build up an inevitable boundary and many immigrants have an experience of marginalization.
Conflicts also exist inside the immigration’s own communities, as in the film East is East, from the son’s rebellious actions towards the father we can see the differences in self-definition and identity between the first and second migrant generations are emerging.
On the other hand, since the global impacts permeate in every aspect in the society, there is a growing series of cosmopolitan values and phenomena of cultural uniformity. As a result, people are creating their distinction and uniqueness in the overall uniformity in order to fix their own identities. Like the individual dresses, hairstyle, the way they speak and things they do – the personality is worshiped and developed but what is left behind is the traditional value and ideologies. This is the inevitable trend in this postmodern time and it is hard to simply define it positive or negative.
2. Panopticism and ISAs (Ideological State Apparatus) - Foucault’s theory of Surveillance
Panopticism
Panopticon is a type of prison designed by Jeremy Bentham, to allow an observer to observe all prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell if they are being observed or not. The Panopticism theory was invoked by Michel Foucault as metaphor for modern disciplinary societies. Foucault suggests that in contemporary society we behave as if we are under a scrutinizing gaze and therefore internalize the rules and norms of society.
Docile bodies
Foucault's argues that discipline creates “docile bodies”, ideal for the new economics, politics and warfare of the modern industrial age - bodies which function in factories, ordered military regiments, and school classrooms.
Biopower
It refers to the practice of modern states and their regulation of their subjects through “an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations”.
ISAs (Ideological state apparatuses)
It is a term used by Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser for how society reshapes the individual in its own image.
Within capitalist society, the human individual is generally regarded as a subject endowed with the property of being a self-conscious agent. For Althusser, however, a person’s capacity for perceiving herself in this way is not innate. Rather, it is acquired within the structure of established social practices, which impose on individuals the role of a subject. Social practices both determine the characteristics of the individual and give her an idea of the range of properties they can have, and of the limits of each social practice.
3. Technology, humanity and citizenship - Foucault’s power-knowledge relationship
Power/Knowledge
According to Foucault, knowledge is an important power and power is changing constantly in postmodern society. Modern societies are structured on a basic relationship of power/knowledge. Modern societies produce citizens who self-regulate their social behavior, creating more invisible political states.
Power systems develop the criteria for knowledge in a given society validated through social institutions such as the press, medicine, education. Expertise (journalist, doctor, and teacher) is a fundamental aspect of power relations.
This power produces a certain knowledge that produces certain kinds of citizens and subject.
Cyborg
A Cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a working human-machine combination, blurring many edges, allowing for a world that is free of gender demands and categories. Cyborg represents the breakdown of the human-machine boundary.
Cyborg-citizen live in a completely networked world, all information is easy to get. But on the other side, technology also deconstructed and alienated humanity at the same time constructing cyborg citizen, and privacy seems to be nowhere found due to pervasive surveillance.
4. Gender studies: Masculinity, Sexuality
Since the 1950s, the male film actors were mainly body-builders.
-Tarzan films (1910-1940s)
-Italian films (aka peplum) (1950s-1960s)
-Muscle stars such as Schwarzenegger, Stallone (1970s)
But nowadays, we can see a stronger female role in many movies. (Pulp Fiction, 1994)
Foucault believes that power plays a productive role: We live in a society that represses sexuality through its emphasis on heterosexual monogamy, which opposes premarital sex, homosexuality, multiple partners, GLBT, etc. However, we need not succumb to power exercised over us. We have a choice to rebel against it. That power is everywhere and belongs to everyone. It is not tied to institutions nor is it a structure.
5. Post-feminism and the Third Wave
Three stages in the history of feminism:
From the Women’s Liberation Movement to the Third Wave, feminism develops synchronously with the change of society and ideology. The Early Feminism focus on gender inequality and the promotion of women’s right, they believe the equality between genders is presented by things like they are doing the same job, or something that can prove women have the same competence as man, both physically and mentally.
However, in the 1980s, after decades of women’s liberation, and the idea of “knowledge is power” spread as the development of technology, some sociologists argue that women no longer lack equality in the social life and the oppression to women already belong to a bygone era. Accordingly, Post-feminism began to backlash against Feminism and assert that early feminism had exaggerated and created the “victim” image for women, they suggest the relationship between genders should be interpreted as “how to obtain harmony between male and female” rather than building up a binary opposition. Also, they call for a return of women to the traditional domestic role.
The Third Wave Feminism begins in the early 1990s, in response to the post-feminism, they challenged the post-feminism’s paradigm as to what is, or not, good for females. As women are becoming better educated and more powerful, the consciousness among women is a strong impetus of the Third Wave. Take Angela McRobbie for instance, she suggests a rethinking of feminism to new generation of women in postmodern world, she also advocates women live with fragmentation and re-invent themselves rather than search for the “real me” according to paradigms. For McRobbie, the disassembled self can be picked up and put together again and the new generation of women has the freedom to be who they are and what they want to be. Like in the film Somersault, Heidi finally find herself and understand what is the “real me” through her fragmented identity. This reflects the real nature of the Third Wave: To be yourself.
Conclusion
In this semester we have a panoramic view on postmodernism. Although there is no general concept or organized principles for it, this extremely complex, contradictory, ambiguous and diversified trend of thought really inspires us to reflect many phenomena around us. It is a way to understand and interpret the contemporary life, to explain social changes, to spur us rethink and rediscover our life as well as ourselves.
[1] http://inventors.about.com/library/bl/bl12.htm
[2] http://www.colorado.edu/English/courses/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html
Nov. 2007
Course Title: Media and Culture Analysis
The emergence, characteristics and influences of Postmodernism
- A brief review of the semester
The emergence of Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a set of ideas appears in a wide variety of disciplines including art, architecture, music, film, literature, sociology, communications, fashion, and technology, it emerges since the 1950s and popularized in the 1970s and 1980s. There are two main historical events catalyzed the emergence of postmodernism:
1. World War II (1939-1945)
This worldwide military conflict resulted in the deaths of over 70 million people and made numerous cities destroyed and people homeless, it is the deadliest conflict in human history and a calamity in human civilization. After WW2, the dream of a peaceful and harmonious society had collapsed in the capitalist world and the reliability of human rational thought and self control are under suspicion, people began to reflect the society and human nature and are also less confident in their own judgment, these had caused a sense of loss, insecurity and anxiety. In one word, the traditional values and beliefs are re-examined.
On the other hand, WW2 also greatly stimulates the development of technology.
2. The revolution in science and technology since the 1950s
Science and technology in human society have developed rapidly since 1950s, for instance[1]:
1951-The first commercial computer was invented
1952-First animal cloning
1962-Launched the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts
1969-The original Internet was born in America
···
Every new invention and development has triggered off profound transformation in people’s life styles and ideas, especially in developed countries. Technology has greatly enhanced human power, making people stronger and smarter. At the same time, under the impact of technology, especially the Internet and mass media, people are separated from the reality and are living a digital, virtual life. The identity is diversified and the clear sense of “self” is disrupted.
From Modernism to Postmodernism: The relationship
There are mainly two viewpoints on the relationship between modernism and postmodernism:
1. Postmodernism is a reaction to or even rejection of modernism.
2. Postmodernism is the development and new generation of modernism and they are two aspects of the same thing.
According to Frederic Jameson, modernism and postmodernism are cultural formations which accompany particular stages of capitalism; he outlines three primary phases of capitalism which dictate particular cultural practices:
However, Jameson’s outline is not a precise portrayal, as we know there is not definite division of time between modernism and postmodernism, and to judge objectively, postmodernism is either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism.
Compare modernism with postmodernism:
Since postmodernism is emerging from modernism, they’re similar in some basic propositions, e.g. they are both in opposition to fully developed modernity and disgusted with the banality and “dehumanized” quality of life in industrial capitalism. However, to concentrate on their differences can help us understand postmodernism more profoundly.
Modernism is about the pursuit of order, unity and coherence and constantly fights against “disorder” which might disrupt order. Modernists believe in a binary opposition between “order” and “disorder” and then create a grand-narrative to protect the “order”; they also believe the knowledge produced by science is always the truth. However, postmodernism acknowledge disorder and allow it coexist with order, it advocates pluralism rather than dualism, thus postmodernism is the critique of grand narratives and favors mini-narrative.
Further more, although they both tend to present a fragmented view of human subjectivity and history, modernism presents that fragmentation as something tragic, something to be mourned as a loss. They uphold the idea that works of art can provide the unity, coherence, and meaning which have been lost in modern life. But postmodernism, in contrast, doesn't mourn the idea of fragmentation or incoherence, but rather celebrates that. Like one postmodernist said, “The world is meaningless? Let's not pretend that art can make meaning then, let's just play with nonsense.”[2]
Postmodernism: the characteristics
1. Death of metanarrative (central to the concept of postmodernism)
Before Lyotard, one fundamental premise of modernism is that the knowledge produced by science is “truth”, and is eternal, it will always lead toward progress and perfection, which means all human institutions and practices can be analyzed by science and then improved. However, Lyotard separates knowledge from scientific truth and argues that science can’t explain everything in the world and science is as same as other narratives.
Let’s go back to the “order” pursued by modernism, for Lyotard, “order” is maintained in modern societies through the means of “grand narrative” or “master narrative”, which is a story a culture tells itself about its practices and beliefs. According to Lyotard, every belief system or ideology has its grand narratives, for instance, Marxism, the “grand narrative” for Marxism is the idea that capitalism will collapse and a utopian socialist world will evolve. Metanarrative is a story that is told to explain the belief systems that exist. Lyotard argues that modern societies are depending on these grand narratives.
Postmodernism is the critique of grand narrative. Lyotard tells people since a message can be reproduced by mass media for any purpose to anyone in a society, there is no real value or meaning in the metanarrative in postmodern society and it’s not trustworthy, so he shows incredulity towards metanarratives and claims the death of it.
2. Death of history
According to Jameson, postmodern world is a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, and what is left is the imitation of dead style which he called a “pastiche” (an empty copy). He asserts that in postmodern society, history has stopped because we can’t relate authentically to our past, we don’t remember the real thing any more and what we have is a representation of it. In his point of view, people see things in postmodern world from the empty image which represents no “reality”. In such society, sensations or passions are dissociated, individual and social life passes into linguistic fragmentation.
For Jameson, society lives itself through an understanding and organization of narratives by which it orders itself (Which is something similar to Lyotard’s metanarratives). In postmodern society metanarratives break down and as a result, postmodern culture becomes pastiche.
The representation of past ideals and objectives lead to what Jameson calls contemporary nostalgia culture. It is the collective desire for the images of a past one cannot regain in postmodern culture. In his book Postmodernism, he wrote, “The nostalgia form of postmodern culture approaches the ‘past’ through stylistic connotation, conveying ‘pastness’ by the glossy qualities of the image, and ‘1930s-ness’ or ‘1950s-ness’ by the attributes of fashion.” Nostalgia recalls traditional memories of the past by expressing them through the postmodern images. For instance, Superman Returns can be read as a nostalgia film for it uses the postmodern aesthetics to produce a nostalgic effect. Superman is one of the most famous and popular comic book in the US in the 1930s and the film brings back memories of the 1930s comic reading as well as the image of a superhero who can save the world and fight against injustice – which gives audiences a utopian circumstance in the dystopian realities.
3. Disappearance of depth and aura
In the beginning of the semester we learned how a meaning is produced by the combination of signifier and signified:
Sign = Signifier + Signified
Modern societies depend on the idea that signifiers always point to signified, and that reality resides in signified. In postmodernism, however, there are only signifiers. The idea of any stable or permanent reality disappears; together with the idea of signified that signifiers point to. Rather, for postmodern societies, there are only surfaces, without depth; only signifiers, with no signified.
According to Baudrillard, in postmodern society there are no originals, only copies, or what he calls “simulacra”. For example, like a painting by Van Gogh, besides the original work there are also millions of copies of it, but the original work is the one with the highest value, with something called “aura”. Contrast that with CDs or music recordings, there is no “original”, they are only copies, millions of copies, all the same, all sold for the same amount of money. The process of industrial reproduction caused the extinction of aura.
Baudrillard’s “simulacrum” can be interpreted as virtual reality, a reality created by simulation, for which there is no original. In one word, the original depth and aura is disappeared in postmodern society.
Posthumanism
1. Problems in identity under the impact of globalization
Globalization is one of the most influential trend in the postmodern time, it is the worldwide integration of economic, cultural, political, religious, and social systems; it brings in a growth of cross-cultural contacts and the homogenization of culture which caused the confusion in identity and cultural diversity.
In the beginning of the semester we learned that people define their identities through the ideologies conveyed by the media. In the era of globalization, the traditional distinctions between races and ethnicity are breaking down and many people have a multi-culture background. Take the immigration for instance, which means leaving one's home to become a member of another community. The differences in race, culture, language, religion etc. build up an inevitable boundary and many immigrants have an experience of marginalization.
Conflicts also exist inside the immigration’s own communities, as in the film East is East, from the son’s rebellious actions towards the father we can see the differences in self-definition and identity between the first and second migrant generations are emerging.
On the other hand, since the global impacts permeate in every aspect in the society, there is a growing series of cosmopolitan values and phenomena of cultural uniformity. As a result, people are creating their distinction and uniqueness in the overall uniformity in order to fix their own identities. Like the individual dresses, hairstyle, the way they speak and things they do – the personality is worshiped and developed but what is left behind is the traditional value and ideologies. This is the inevitable trend in this postmodern time and it is hard to simply define it positive or negative.
2. Panopticism and ISAs (Ideological State Apparatus) - Foucault’s theory of Surveillance
Panopticism
Panopticon is a type of prison designed by Jeremy Bentham, to allow an observer to observe all prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell if they are being observed or not. The Panopticism theory was invoked by Michel Foucault as metaphor for modern disciplinary societies. Foucault suggests that in contemporary society we behave as if we are under a scrutinizing gaze and therefore internalize the rules and norms of society.
Docile bodies
Foucault's argues that discipline creates “docile bodies”, ideal for the new economics, politics and warfare of the modern industrial age - bodies which function in factories, ordered military regiments, and school classrooms.
Biopower
It refers to the practice of modern states and their regulation of their subjects through “an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations”.
ISAs (Ideological state apparatuses)
It is a term used by Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser for how society reshapes the individual in its own image.
Within capitalist society, the human individual is generally regarded as a subject endowed with the property of being a self-conscious agent. For Althusser, however, a person’s capacity for perceiving herself in this way is not innate. Rather, it is acquired within the structure of established social practices, which impose on individuals the role of a subject. Social practices both determine the characteristics of the individual and give her an idea of the range of properties they can have, and of the limits of each social practice.
3. Technology, humanity and citizenship - Foucault’s power-knowledge relationship
Power/Knowledge
According to Foucault, knowledge is an important power and power is changing constantly in postmodern society. Modern societies are structured on a basic relationship of power/knowledge. Modern societies produce citizens who self-regulate their social behavior, creating more invisible political states.
Power systems develop the criteria for knowledge in a given society validated through social institutions such as the press, medicine, education. Expertise (journalist, doctor, and teacher) is a fundamental aspect of power relations.
This power produces a certain knowledge that produces certain kinds of citizens and subject.
Cyborg
A Cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a working human-machine combination, blurring many edges, allowing for a world that is free of gender demands and categories. Cyborg represents the breakdown of the human-machine boundary.
Cyborg-citizen live in a completely networked world, all information is easy to get. But on the other side, technology also deconstructed and alienated humanity at the same time constructing cyborg citizen, and privacy seems to be nowhere found due to pervasive surveillance.
4. Gender studies: Masculinity, Sexuality
Since the 1950s, the male film actors were mainly body-builders.
-Tarzan films (1910-1940s)
-Italian films (aka peplum) (1950s-1960s)
-Muscle stars such as Schwarzenegger, Stallone (1970s)
But nowadays, we can see a stronger female role in many movies. (Pulp Fiction, 1994)
Foucault believes that power plays a productive role: We live in a society that represses sexuality through its emphasis on heterosexual monogamy, which opposes premarital sex, homosexuality, multiple partners, GLBT, etc. However, we need not succumb to power exercised over us. We have a choice to rebel against it. That power is everywhere and belongs to everyone. It is not tied to institutions nor is it a structure.
5. Post-feminism and the Third Wave
Three stages in the history of feminism:
From the Women’s Liberation Movement to the Third Wave, feminism develops synchronously with the change of society and ideology. The Early Feminism focus on gender inequality and the promotion of women’s right, they believe the equality between genders is presented by things like they are doing the same job, or something that can prove women have the same competence as man, both physically and mentally.
However, in the 1980s, after decades of women’s liberation, and the idea of “knowledge is power” spread as the development of technology, some sociologists argue that women no longer lack equality in the social life and the oppression to women already belong to a bygone era. Accordingly, Post-feminism began to backlash against Feminism and assert that early feminism had exaggerated and created the “victim” image for women, they suggest the relationship between genders should be interpreted as “how to obtain harmony between male and female” rather than building up a binary opposition. Also, they call for a return of women to the traditional domestic role.
The Third Wave Feminism begins in the early 1990s, in response to the post-feminism, they challenged the post-feminism’s paradigm as to what is, or not, good for females. As women are becoming better educated and more powerful, the consciousness among women is a strong impetus of the Third Wave. Take Angela McRobbie for instance, she suggests a rethinking of feminism to new generation of women in postmodern world, she also advocates women live with fragmentation and re-invent themselves rather than search for the “real me” according to paradigms. For McRobbie, the disassembled self can be picked up and put together again and the new generation of women has the freedom to be who they are and what they want to be. Like in the film Somersault, Heidi finally find herself and understand what is the “real me” through her fragmented identity. This reflects the real nature of the Third Wave: To be yourself.
Conclusion
In this semester we have a panoramic view on postmodernism. Although there is no general concept or organized principles for it, this extremely complex, contradictory, ambiguous and diversified trend of thought really inspires us to reflect many phenomena around us. It is a way to understand and interpret the contemporary life, to explain social changes, to spur us rethink and rediscover our life as well as ourselves.
[1] http://inventors.about.com/library/bl/bl12.htm
[2] http://www.colorado.edu/English/courses/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html
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