Postmodernism, Indie Media and Popular Culture

Chapter 8, Postmodernism, Indie Media and Popular culture, was a reading that interested me. I enjoyed this reading because I left that it had aspects to which I could relate too based on the time many of these forms were taken place during.
Entering into the postmodern era of the Twenth century, media lost sight of what is real. Postmodern has multiple aspects such as society, identity and style. We are not living in a postmodern world. We are living in a place where we are surrounded by virtual technologies that has lead to an era of globalization (309). Our society has practiced "global Looking", which is understanding virtual media messages. The concepts of post modernity,postmodern society, and postmodern style are important aspects of this chapter. It talks about how all three of these concepts intersect with one another and also intertwine with modernity and modernism.
The idea of postmodernism began in the 1980's, by the attempt to understand the changing concepts of human subjects and the effects that globalization, postindustrialization,computerization and communication helped create worldviews of what society is perceived to be (pg310).
The reading began to discuss the difficulties of identity the origins of postmodernism. There was much discussion about whether postmodernism is a period, a set of style or a set of politics and ideologies (pg 311). Theorists used the tern postmodern to describe the post war, as a “cultural logic of late capitalism”. This phrase came to term by critic Fredric Jameson. Postmodernism, has been taught to be characterized as a response to the conditions of late modernity and then later linked stages of capitalism. It’s not just the style that is postmodernism it also links to changes in the social and economic conditions that help produce these styles. The changes that included the demise of the nation-state and the dissolution of national sovereignty is, Postmodernism. Thinker, David Harvey, expressed postmodernism as an economic and a cultural of flexible accumulation. Aspects of these theories have been around since the early 20th century and in the early 21st century.

Addressing the Post Modern Subject -
Postmodernism and postmodern styles are new kinds of human subjects. This style comes in forms of culture, art, literature, architecture, and advertising. These styles today, are are huge part of our media world. Now through these forms one can see how they create a mold to constitute new kinds of postmodern style. (pg. 316). In the 1990’s animated films began to grow in popularity, which dramatically shifted in style. Movies, such as Snow White and the popular television series, Sesame Street began to arouse many target audiences.

Reflexivity and Postmodern Identity
The reading states, that it is an important factor to make viewed aware of the means of production by incorporating individuals into the content of the product, was an important factor of modernism. This era brought on a new perspective of using strategies used by artist as a form of political critiques (322). Postmodernism, began to take art as a modern concept of reflexivity. The pop culture during this time, led postmodern artist to create work in a more abstract context. A photographer, Cindy Sherman is a good example of how artists took on this new perspective. Her works were a response to an era of feminist films. She wanted to challenge the view by showing the idea of, the “male gaze”. This ties into how men look at women as an object.

Some primary issues with ideas of postmodernism are the shifting of modernism and to which it created a new era. It began a new way of thinking and a new way of creating art. Like talked about in the beginning of the chapter, “we don’t live in a world of postmodernism but rather in a world of tension of modernity and post modernity are active and present (pg 343). From this perspective we are able to embrace many visions with the ideas from modern, postmodern and global and postindustrial approaches all in one.