POST MODERNISM (Emerged from 1970s, after Modernism)
= CULTURAL/ LITERARY/ ARTISTIC/ THEATRICAL/ SOCIAL/ PHILOSPHICAL movement
- A particular approach or mindset
- Not a single movement or style
- It’s nature resists rigid structure + being a categorized/ finite thing
- FEATURE: Resist’s certainties + TRUTH (that modernism strove to create)
- AIMS: To subvert + challenge ideologies/beliefs that Modernism upholds
*SUBVERT= Look at something from a different perspective (turn it around to see different)
MODERNISM:
Realism, Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism, Absurdism, German Expressionism –
Every movement thinks their way of thinking is correct + will help find the TRUTH (each
modernist didn’t allow for other interpretations of truth)
REJECTING GRAND NARRATIVES:
*GRAND NARRATIVE = Dominant belief systems that society adheres to, believes, and let’s
pervade our thoughts (holds it up as the absolute truth)
- Created by modernists: Certain way of seeing + perceiving THE truth (not A truth)
Eg) Gender roles / nuclear family / racial division / capitalism benefits all
o These truths construct our reality + define how we perceive/understand our world
o POMO rejects idea of 1 truth = Rejects the grand narrative
o Plays rather focus on mini-narratives (truths of individual characters)
o Play don’t focus on 1 individual and their struggle/POV, but rather focus on many
o PLAY AIM: To explode/deconstruct the idea of an authority figure
CHANGING PERCEPTION:
Modernist artists also challenged the way others perceived their art – some deconstructed
the grand narratives
Eg) DUCHAMP: Broke down boundaries between works of art + everyday objects
- Cheap postcard of da Vinci’s MONA LISA with a drawn on moustache and beard, and an appended title
- FOUNTAIN- Standard urinal (should this even be art? But was an icon of 20 th century)
, Eg) RENÉ MAGRITTE (surrealist): Created witty/thought-provoking images + depicted ordinary objects in unusual context =
challenged preconditioned perceptions of reality
- How is the pipe considered a pipe and not a pipe simultaneously?
- Why is or isn’t this a mermaid (opp. way round- what is the opp. way round though)? Or is it just a Half woman or
half fish?
MULITPLE TRUTHS
Multiple perspectives, styles and ways of examining things
= All truths co-exist equally (none hold authority)
(Not THE truth- but many truths that are simultaneously truthful/ equally valid/ equally
invalid)
ECLECTIC / SYNCRETIC: (PASTICHE- collage)
= Combining a variety of different styles into 1 work
- Contradict, juxtapose and layer different elements = Interesting for viewer
- Allows for multiple interpretations / meaning (layers of meaning created)
- POMO relies on viewer’s interpretation to create meaning (DOESN’T DICTATE
meaning)
*INTERTEXTUALITY = Borrowing ideas + referencing known texts
o Nothing new or unique – artists borrow ideas from everywhere + place them with
other things / reinvent them = creates new meaning/interpretation
o Celebrates our chaotic world – constantly bombarded by popular culture (Tv, social
media, advertising, print)
o Rejects notion of ‘high art’ or ‘low art’ + Includes popular forms
o Embraces popular culture + constantly references it intertextually
o
Eg) ARCHITECTURE:
- Diff styles combined to create new buildings = Playful sense of POMO
Eg) FILMS:
- Diff cinematic styles/genres/ideas combined + juxtaposed = Unsettling effect
- TARANTINO: Approaches cinema from POMO perspective – combines diff styles and references / steals from
others
2
= CULTURAL/ LITERARY/ ARTISTIC/ THEATRICAL/ SOCIAL/ PHILOSPHICAL movement
- A particular approach or mindset
- Not a single movement or style
- It’s nature resists rigid structure + being a categorized/ finite thing
- FEATURE: Resist’s certainties + TRUTH (that modernism strove to create)
- AIMS: To subvert + challenge ideologies/beliefs that Modernism upholds
*SUBVERT= Look at something from a different perspective (turn it around to see different)
MODERNISM:
Realism, Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism, Absurdism, German Expressionism –
Every movement thinks their way of thinking is correct + will help find the TRUTH (each
modernist didn’t allow for other interpretations of truth)
REJECTING GRAND NARRATIVES:
*GRAND NARRATIVE = Dominant belief systems that society adheres to, believes, and let’s
pervade our thoughts (holds it up as the absolute truth)
- Created by modernists: Certain way of seeing + perceiving THE truth (not A truth)
Eg) Gender roles / nuclear family / racial division / capitalism benefits all
o These truths construct our reality + define how we perceive/understand our world
o POMO rejects idea of 1 truth = Rejects the grand narrative
o Plays rather focus on mini-narratives (truths of individual characters)
o Play don’t focus on 1 individual and their struggle/POV, but rather focus on many
o PLAY AIM: To explode/deconstruct the idea of an authority figure
CHANGING PERCEPTION:
Modernist artists also challenged the way others perceived their art – some deconstructed
the grand narratives
Eg) DUCHAMP: Broke down boundaries between works of art + everyday objects
- Cheap postcard of da Vinci’s MONA LISA with a drawn on moustache and beard, and an appended title
- FOUNTAIN- Standard urinal (should this even be art? But was an icon of 20 th century)
, Eg) RENÉ MAGRITTE (surrealist): Created witty/thought-provoking images + depicted ordinary objects in unusual context =
challenged preconditioned perceptions of reality
- How is the pipe considered a pipe and not a pipe simultaneously?
- Why is or isn’t this a mermaid (opp. way round- what is the opp. way round though)? Or is it just a Half woman or
half fish?
MULITPLE TRUTHS
Multiple perspectives, styles and ways of examining things
= All truths co-exist equally (none hold authority)
(Not THE truth- but many truths that are simultaneously truthful/ equally valid/ equally
invalid)
ECLECTIC / SYNCRETIC: (PASTICHE- collage)
= Combining a variety of different styles into 1 work
- Contradict, juxtapose and layer different elements = Interesting for viewer
- Allows for multiple interpretations / meaning (layers of meaning created)
- POMO relies on viewer’s interpretation to create meaning (DOESN’T DICTATE
meaning)
*INTERTEXTUALITY = Borrowing ideas + referencing known texts
o Nothing new or unique – artists borrow ideas from everywhere + place them with
other things / reinvent them = creates new meaning/interpretation
o Celebrates our chaotic world – constantly bombarded by popular culture (Tv, social
media, advertising, print)
o Rejects notion of ‘high art’ or ‘low art’ + Includes popular forms
o Embraces popular culture + constantly references it intertextually
o
Eg) ARCHITECTURE:
- Diff styles combined to create new buildings = Playful sense of POMO
Eg) FILMS:
- Diff cinematic styles/genres/ideas combined + juxtaposed = Unsettling effect
- TARANTINO: Approaches cinema from POMO perspective – combines diff styles and references / steals from
others
2
