Postmodernism - Baudrillard Flashcards
List the features of postmodernism.
- Irony
- Homage or Parody
- Bricolage
- Intertextual reference
- Fragmnanted narrative
- Self reflexity
- Common themes
Define the term irony.
When the opposite thing happens to what you expect should happen.
Define the term homage/ pastiche
Paying respect to a genre, style, person or product.
Define the term parody.
Make fun of a genre style, product or person.
Define the term bricolage.
Sampling and using older media products in their own.
Define the term intertextual reference.
Where producer/ director makes a subtle or a very direct reference to another media product.
Define the term self reflexity.
Where a character in a show, music video or film are aware that they are in a media product so they talk to the audience, they may speak directly to them breaking the fourth wall.
State the common themes of postmodernism.
What if, technology, human existence, etc.
Define the term hyperreality.
Is the idea that representations are now more powerful and ‘real’ than reality.
Irony in Stranger Things.
A scientist is attacked by an unseen creature at a U.S. government laboratory assuming to have been doing experiments however this took a turn when uns down a dark hallway, frantically pushing buttons and trying to operate an elevator. When the elevator arrives, the man enters and is seemingly safe then suddenly something growls above him.
Homage in Stranger Things.
They use Steven Spielberg to direct the Stranger Things series which is a homage since they are paying respects to his movies such as E.T. This is also an intertextual reference because like E.T children discover and befriend an alien. For example, in Stranger Things, while looking for Will in the local forest, the boys find a girl with a shaved head in a hospital gown. There are many repeated scenes/ideas from E.T like the shot when they just met Eleven. Additionally, this is a common theme of postmodernism, which is the supernatural.
Intertextuality in Stranger Things.
The 1980s shown through mise en scene and signs e.g costumes, hairstyles, props, set design, music, pop culture references.
Hyperreality in Stranger Things
Stranger Things can be described as hyperreal. It is a representation that is based on other media representations.
What is the limitation of postmodernism?
It doesn’t help to consider LFTV drama specifically as a media form, and it does not consider the pleasures of hyperreal media texts for audiences.
What is the strength of postmodernism in Stranger Things?
Baudrillard’s ideas are a very useful way to analyse how representations are constructed and the way meaning is made in a media text such as Stranger Things due to its extensive use of intertextuality and the predominance of signifiers to represent a historical time period.
