Post-modernism in music video's

Post-modernism is often thought, by many, to be 'the end of originality' as it follows a period of great experimentation in areas such as film and art.


Modernism (1900's-1940/50's)

• Modernists believed in experimentation and broke boundaries that were previously set, in all different art forms e.g. the typical art conventions were broken away from to create abstract art.
• Modernism appealed to the elite and most educated as it made ironical statements about society or topics which educated people were most likely to know about.
• In the music world Stravinsky was an important frontier in modernism.

Post-modernism

• This is highly self referential and wants its audience to be aware and engage with the media text.
• Uses 'allusions' - references to another text - or 'intertextuality'
• Also features bricolage/eclectic/pastiche (e.g. sampling):involves taking parts of things that are already established and using them in a new context.

Telephone - post modernism analysis

• Font reference/allusion to Tarantino's (KillBill)
• Genre crossing - 'starring' making reference to film conventions when it is a music video.
• Self referential - Lady Gaga refers to her celeb status - taboo rumours  'I told you she didn't have a dick'
• Eclectic features - taking things from a variety of sources to put into a new context - woman lifting a bar with no weights on to confuse the audience. She has odd shoes on (one white one black) and later on it is shown that another woman has the same odd shoes. Code for lovers. Lesbian relationship = controversy
• Self referential - Gaga plays her own song in the video 'paper gangsta'
• Product placement - breaks the illusion of reality
• Self referential 'telephone' transition - concious of production when you watch it.
• Allusion to Madonna's vogue - mixture of many different artists.
• Series of stills in tape = code for photo-shoot - breaking illusion of reality 
• Another allusion to Kill Bill (exact car) as well as Thelma & Louise.
• Self references on the radio 'This is lady gaga with telephone'
• Subtitles - Eng/Chinese - break illusions
• Concious of editing the whole way through - fancy transitions.
• Reference to cookery show (on screen recipe and applause) & News 
• Allusion = Character from Kill Bill - Lady Gaga dressed like her with eye patch
• Changes in costume in same setting - makes audience concious of the fact that it is a music video.

Post-modern media

• What are the different versions of post modernism? (Historical, Period, Style, Theoretical approach)
• What are the arguments for and against understanding some forms of media post-modern?
• How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional text reader relations and the concept of representation.

Post-modernism adopts a playful style. It was used in the western world predominantly and is highly self aware and referential.

Theoretical approach (relates to preferred/negotiated/oppositional readings) 

• This is where the audience has a creative input in deciding on the  meaning of a text.
• There is a shift of power from the creator of a text to the audience. Rather than trying to decode what the producer intended the text to mean, which was typical of a modernist reader, post-modernist audiences have their own ideologies and perceptions. 

Examples of how audiences interpretations can differ: 

• Feminists: A feminist person could read a media text and assume it is sexist if, for example, there are no woman involved or if these women are sexually objectified in some way. They may find this degrading to women, whereas the creator of the media text may not have intended it to be read in this way at all. 
• Cultural Context/Differences: This can affect the way the audience reads a text.
• Psychotherapy: How people think about things and their personal lifestyle could affect how they understand a media text.

Etc.

Modernism seeks to represent the world realistically and be believable. 

Post-modernist audiences are more engaged and conscientious of the middle man and the text itself (e.g. reality TV shows - Big bro) They are also aware of the ideological view of the text.

• In what ways do media audiences and industries operate differently in a post modern world?
• How does post-modern media relate to genre and narrative across to media, computer/video games and new forms of representation, post-modern cinema, interactive media, reality TV, music video, audience theories, globalisation, parody (mocking tone), pastiche and homage (tribute)

Constantly merging genres - hybrid/pastiche (e.g. new video game combines western setting/cowboys (genre) with zombies (genre))