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MEP 203 CONTEMPORARY MEDIA THEORY

Delve into the shift from modernity to postmodernity, analyzing key postmodern ideas and the impact of information society on culture and media. Learn about postmodernist theorists Jameson, Lyotard, and Baudrillard, and debate the implications of media saturation and hyperreality. Explore criticisms of postmodern media theory and the complexity of contextual understanding in a postmodern world.

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MEP 203 CONTEMPORARY MEDIA THEORY

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  1. MEP 203 CONTEMPORARY MEDIA THEORY 8. POSTMODERNITY AND INFORMATION SOCIETY

  2. From modernity to postmodernity • MODERNITY – industrialisation, science, capitalism, metropolitanism, technological development, individualism • MODERNISM – art and culture assoc. with MODERNITY: ‘high’ culture, elitist in its condemnation of mass culture • POSTMODERNITY – rejects the canon of modernism, embraces popular culture

  3. Key postmodern ideas • The disappearance of history • Intertextuality and pastiche • Decline of meta-narratives (inc. the concept of high art / culture) • Hyperreality and simulation • Media saturation • Information society

  4. Jameson (1991) Postmodernism • POSTMODERNITY = PASTICHE + INTERTEXTUALITY • History can no longer be represented by “postmodernist ‘nostalgia’ art” (p. 198) • Individual style / originality is unavailable • Postmodern texts are not authentic, they pastiche (mimic) parts of other texts

  5. Lyotard (1984) The Postmodern Condition • POSTMODERNITY = breakdown of meta-narratives (e.g. Bible, Newtonian Physics) • 2 types of narrative legitimation: • ‘SPECULATION’ – science as the quest for knowledge and truth • ‘EMANCIPATION’ – knowledge as freedom • Postmodern culture delegitimation of knowledge through power struggles

  6. Baudrillard (1983) Simulations • POSTMODERNITY = HYPERREAL • “Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, when in fact all of Los Angeles and the America surrounding it are no longer real, but of the order of the hyperreal and of simulation.” (p. 172) • MEDIA SATURATION means simulations of ‘the real’ supersede any sense of reality

  7. Information society • Some theorists (Bell, Toffler) argue that the post-industrial, postmodern age improves quality of life, leads to better privatised and public services, a ‘third wave’ of de-massified media heterogeneity • A post-industrialist shift from material to human resources (Bell 1974) • Others (Castells, Lyon) are more cautious – information can exclude and be used for political or military ends as well as liberating peoples

  8. Postmodern media theory - criticisms • Ahistorical – ignores history as a resource for knowledge • Usually about TEXTS but what about CONTEXTS / AUDIENCES / PRODUCERS • Limited focus on ‘the contemporary’ but some postmodern ideas have a history (e.g. intertextuality is age-old) • Cynical about social research

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