The concept of post modernism is that it is the movement away from modernism and is applied to art, history, philosophy and fictions and culture.. Post modernism rejects any reality like faith and science. Theorists like Jean Francis Lyotard said that we create our own realities. Post modernism features pastiche, irony and self-referentiality and black humour. It is described now playful and open. Fredrick Jameson also described it as ‘perpetuant’ and ‘present’. Pop Culture and the film industry Post Modernism is seen in many media texts for example the film Quantin Tarintino. Another example of who presents post modernism is the very famous pop singer Lady Gaga.
Lady Gaga is known for being post modern, like in the video Telephone. She is known for her controversial songs and videos. Gaga has been known for her similarities with Madonna and how their music is very alike. In the video, it features many elements to post modernism. For example Pastiche which is where it references other media texts. The video telephone features Quantin Tarintino and Thelma and Louise. Pastiche rejects the idea of a parody. It also references Consumerism in other words product placement. Virgin Media and Coke Cola are shown in the video. Meta narratives are also shown in the video. It is difficult to know what the main narrative of the video is because of the many product placements and the overall pop culture you see. You also notice that she references other musicians like Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper in her music.
Another media text which features Post Modernism is the film Run Lola Run which is a German film and is directed by Tom Tykwer 1998.The film is about how the character Lola, who needs to find 100,00 marks in 20 minutes for her boyfriend Mani. Run Lola Run is a post modern text because of many reasons. Jean Bauldrillard says that we live in a hyper real culture and this is shown in the film and the idea of it being like a video game and Lola having more than one life and can restart the game whenever she wants. The soundtrack of the film uses fast techno music and it reflects on the theme of a video game. Lola is shown as cartoon in the opening sequence of the film. She is shown in the way that she is a superhero. The color red dominates the film. This is maybe representing danger or death. The film also rejects the idea of the Meta narrative. We mostly see the main characters; Lola, Mani and her father, although we see the minor characters which are shown in the runs. We see the characters sped up and their own narratives. Time is a big concept in the film and Tyker shows this by constantly reminding the audience by showing us clocks. We see a clock and a ticking in the opening scene. We then see scene where Lola screams so extraordinarily loud that she breaks a clock. This may represent the shattering of time. All these features make the film very surreal
In conclusion both Run Lola Run and Lady Gaga are both good examples of Post Modernism. The theory of Post Modernism has many explanations but the concepts are clear in the film and Lady Gagas ,music. for example Run Lola Run is shown like a video game and this links with Bauldrillard's ideas and theories. Lady Gaga uses the idea of Pastiche and product consumerism in her video Telephone
