Homer Simpson tries to vote for Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aBaX9GPSaQ

The Simpsons as a Post Modern Text

The Simpsons is the well known comedy series and was first created in 1989 by the creator Matt Groening. The television series is a about a working class family in the city of springfield. The family includes Homer who is seen as the breadwinner in the family, Marge; the typical house wife and the three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. Throughout the 25 series of the show we see the family go through daily life. The creators make the life of the Simpsons into parody.
The Simpsons show many features which make the television series post modern, one feature being Intertextuaility. In the show we see all five characters stay the same age for example Lisa and Bart are the ages of 11 and 8 and throughout the 17 years of the show; the characters do not age. The show was made in the post modern era and has no sense of time and place.
The second point which makes the sitcom a post modern text is the fact the show does not follow the typical linear narrative. Every episode has a start and finish and all disruptions are resolved at the end of the episode. This is very common in many sitcoms like Family Guy and Futurama.
Another feature of post modernism is the decline of the meta narrative meaning the show parodies’, religion, government and other social issues. For example one episode includes Homer attempting to vote for the current President Obama. Other presidents have been referenced like the former President George W Bush. The creators of the shows make light of religion for example in the episode where Homer gives his soul to the devil. They also make humour of issues like obesity.
The typical American family is portrayed in the show. At the beginning of every episode we see the family all join on the sofa. You see that the television is important and brings the family all together. Lisa and Bart are shown as binary opposites because they are both very different characters but the television show Itchy and Scratchy always bring the pair together.
Jean Bauldrilards theory of hyperreality is referenced in The Simpsons. The show uses pop culture a lot in the show. The shows references other shows, actors etc. This makes it difficult because we are shown copies of copies and no longer the original references.
Overall I think that the television show The Simpsons is a Post modern text. It uses. Intextuality, hyperreality and meta narrative and other features. The sitcom was made in the post modern era and uses a lot of today’s pop culture.

What is the story of my production?

Discuss two or more media texts that you would define as post modern and explain why you would give them this label.

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

Modernism and Post Modernism

Run Lola Run

A young woman in Germany has twenty minutes to find and bring 100,000 Deutschmarks to her boyfriend before he robs a supermarket.

Director:

Tom Tykwer

Writer:

Tom Tykwer

Stars:

Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu and Herbert Knaup

Budget:

 

1.75 Million

The film features two allusions to Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo. Like that film, it features recurring images of spirals, such as the 'Spirale' Cafe behind Manni's phone box and the spiral staircase down which Lola runs. In addition, the painting on the back wall of the casino of a woman's head seen from behind is based on a shot in Vertigo: Tykwer disliked the empty space on the wall behind the roulette table and commissioned production designer Alexander Manasse to paint a picture of Kim Novak as she appeared in Vertigo. Manasse could not remember what she looked like in the film and so decided to paint the famous shot of the back of her head. The painting took fifteen minutes to complete.
There are also several references to German culture in the film. The most notable is the use of Hans Paetsch as a narrator. Paetsch is a famous voice of children's stories in Germany, recognized by millions. Many of the small parts are cameo roles by famous German actors (for example the bank teller). Also, two quotes by German football legend Sepp Herberger appear: "The ball is round, the game lasts 90 minutes, everything else is pure theory," and, "After the game is before the game."
On several occasions the theme of free will vs. determinism is integrated into the film. The opening narration states the futility of asking questions, as one leads to another and we only travel in circles. Lola's interactions with other people are similar in that a small conversation or interaction with the people on the streets lead to other interactions. For example, the man on the bike can become a happy, married man or a bum. The concept of free will is also presented because she has three different realities to choose from.

Throughout the film, Lola bumps into people, talks to them, or simply passes them by, and the sound of a camera flash warming up can be heard. Their resulting futures are then conveyed in a series of still frames. The futures are widely divergent from encounter to encounter. In one scenario, a woman whom Lola accidentally bumps into remains poor and kidnaps an unattended baby after her child was taken away by social workers. In another scenario the woman wins the lottery and becomes rich. In the third scenario, the woman experiences a religious conversion. The sound of the camera flash warming up is repeated a final time at the end of the film, when Lola smiles at Manni's question about what's in her bag.

How has the word 'Post Modern' been used by different 'theorists'

There are many different theorists who believe in post modernism for example Jean Bauldrillard or Fredrick Jameson. These theories might be linked to art, history, philosophy or politics.  Bauldrillard came up with the idea of ‘Simulacra’ and ‘Simulation’. Bauldrillard says that simulacra is an image that makes no reference to reality and simulation is. Baulrillard ask "It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real"  An example of Simularca is the Gulf War. Bauldrillards exact words are that ‘The Gulf War did not take place’. He said that the Gulf war was not ineffectual. Other theories came up was. He also associated with marxism which is situationism. Other ideas that Bauldrillard came up with was the four ways an object can obtain value. The first is the objects functional value of an object; its instrumental purpose for example a pen is there for writing and fridge is there for cooling. The second is the exchange value of the object meaning the economy. Again an example of this is the pen may be worth 3 pencils. The third is the symbolism of the object; the pen is a symbol of someone’s education. Fourthly a sign of the object: a diamond ring may be a sign of class and taste.

Other theorists like Jean Francis Lyotard who was known for his articulation of postmodernism. Lyotard was also know for is opposition to universals, meta-narratives and generality. According to Lyotard a Meta narrative is a big story and is represented in a shortened explanation for everything in society, for example feminism and Marxism.  He argues that ‘Meta narrative or otherwise known as ‘grand narratives’, we have ceased to believe that narratives of this kind are adequate to represent and contain us all. We have become alert to difference, diversity, the incompatibility of our aspirations, beliefs and desires’. Meaning we have created our own realities. Other ideas of Lyotard are ‘moral relativism’ meaning we no longer know what is wrong and what is right. The book The Postmodern condition outlines meta narrative and the ‘grand narrative’ and also elements of the post-industrial economy and the related postmodern culture, which had risen at the end of the 1950s after the reform of western Europe. This resulted with the idea that Lyotard came up with; ‘Language games’

Lastly, Fredric Jameson who argued against post modernism, who worked a lot with Marxism. He also believed that Post Modernism was pastiche and quotes ‘people tend to get this confused with parody’.

Overall you can see there are many theorists who use Post Modernism to present their views and who have come up with different ideas for instance Bauldrillard idea of simulacra and simulation. There are also some theorists who argue against Post Modernism like Jameson who thought it was pastiche.