Postmodernism in Preciousness, Endgame, and The Simpsons - Essay Example

?Postmodernism in Preciousness, Endgame, and The Simpsons Postmodernism is a term applicable to various fields. Nonetheless, the paper will dwell on postmodernism in the context of literature, drama, and in television shows. To be particular, the paper will anchor on the works of Clarice Lispector, which is Preciousness, on the play written by Samuel Beckett, which is the Endgame, and lastly on the postmodern television cartoon which is The Simpsons. With these works, postmodernism will be understood and characterized in terms of the manner it is presented in the latter works. One of the most known works of Clarice Lispector is her book, which is Family Ties, published in 1972. Similar to Helene Cixous writing, a chapter of this book, which is Preciousness, also represents Lispector’s ability to let her characters disappear in order for the reader to appear in her texts. Lispector allowed the reader to be a part of the text in stating in the beginning of the chapter that: “And within the mist there was something precious. Which do not extend itself, did not compromise itself nor contaminate itself. Which was intense like a jewel. Herself” (102). Another textual example in the chapter is when Lispector described the reality after the character passed through her imaginative scenes. She described it as: “When suddenly everything became unimportant and more rapid and light, where her face revealed freckles, her hair fell over her eyes, and where she was treated like a boy” (105). The character disappeared, and the reader became a part of the text as the character’s environment became real again. Lastly, the presence of the reader appeared as she “dressed hastily and downed her coffee in one gulp. She opened the front door. And then she no longer hurried” (107). This is a manifestation of the duality of silence in Lispector’s work, which is a character of a postmodernist literary artist. This dual structure is a character of her fiction that adds tension to the texts while creating the contextual silence on her works (Fitz 421). In relation to playwrights, postmodernism can be defined as the manner of standing out from the current rules. In this manner, the playwright, along with the artist, works without following the rules because they create the rules while creating the piece per se (Counsell and Wolf 55). It deviates from the usual realism and is considered as an important part of the pre-World War II plays that manifest metaplays. With this on hand, one of the best examples of postmodernist play is the Endgame written by Samuel Beckett. According to Keshavarz, as a postmodernist play, the characters in the Endgame represent a natural form of sadness (140). He presents a modern status of a person who fears and leans on a goddess with bitterness, doubt and indifference. On the other hand, it represents the modernity of a selfless person who lacks the stability of his identity but still manifests social awareness. On the part of the audience, Beckett deviates the ideas and views of the audience from the formal work of dram and injecting postmodernism by bringing the audience in the middle of reality and real-play. He believes in the notion of metatheater that the world is a stage. In this manner, the audiences become characters of the play while experiencing the experience of the characters that they have chosen to be. It can be inferred that postmodernism, in the light of the Endgame, tries to eliminate the potential characters of modernism that alienates reality from theater, or vice versa. Therefore, the Endgame eliminates the rules of basic drama and theater and allows rebuilds it in a manner that the play can be grasp juxtaposition with life itself. The postmodernism manner in the Endgame can also be considered as a literary strategy by Beckett by destroying the irony of a parody (Keshavaraz 140-142; Rahimipoor and Edoyan 102). In the light of television shows, one of the most popular and long-running postmodern shows is The Simpsons. One of the most explicit characteristics of postmodernism that is depicted in The Simpsons is the presence of parody. Parody is considered by the defenders and the retractors of postmodernism as its central character. The parody on The Simpsons is identified by Weinstein in an episode that showcases parodies of advertisements and movies (63). In an episode, a commercial by Disney that showcases the Disney World is presented in The Simpsons through a parody by the Duff Gardens. The Duff Gardens in The Simpsons reflects the total opposite of relaxation and fun. People are placed inside a washing machine along with faces that suggest unpleasurable experiences. In this manner, parody is created in order to appeal to the audience as not offensive. Another parody presented in The Simpsons is the presence of a fish in a tank that has a shape of a beer mug. The people surrounding the fish see the drunken fish moving drunkenly and hit every part of the tank. The advertisement is a parody that reflects the effect if a person drinks too much alcohol. It exemplifies that the people who are bombarded by alcohol advertisements are not aware of its honest effects when being taken too much. Therefore, these parts of the episodes of The Simpsons depict the parody of postmodernism in a manner that it uses historical contradictions. It also represents the parody of postmodernism which is “value-problematizing, de-naturalizing form of knowledge the history (and through irony, the politics) of representations” (90). This is a representation that no person can completely control his or her environment; thus, with the use of technology in order to exercise power is useless because reality is unpredictable. Postmodernism is presented in The Simpsons in a way that not only television shows can be rebuilt and remade, but life itself can be altered, remade, and rebuild endlessly. The critical analysis of the works of Lispector, Beckett, and of the cartoon series The Simpsons allowed an in-depth view on the premises and characteristics of postmodernism. It has been exemplified in such a way that the artists and the creator of the cartoon series had used the different characteristics of postmodernism in order to bring a variety on their works. It can then be inferred that postmodernism plays a vital role on the past and current artistic works. It also gives an assumption that postmodernism can still be used in the future branches of art. Works Cited Counsell, Colin and Laurie Wolf, ed. Performance Analysis: An Introductory Coursebook. London: Routledge, 2001. Print. Fitz, Earl E. “A Discourse of Silence: The Postmodernism of Clarice Lispector.” Contemporary Literature 28 (1987): 420-436. Print. Keshavaraz, Marzieh. “Beckett’s Metatheatrical Philosophy: A Postmodern Tendency Regarding.” Waiting for Godot and Endgame 3.3 (2012): 137-144. Lispector, Clarice. “Preciousness.” Family Ties. By Lispector. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1972. 102-113. Rahimipoor, Saeid and Henrik Edoyan. “Self and Identity Ambiguity in Samuel Beckett and Harold Printer’s Oeuvre.” American Journal of Scientific Research 34 (2011): 101-110. Print. Weinstein, David. “Of Mice and bart: The Simpsons and the Postmodern.” Postmodernism in the Cinema. By Esposti. London: Berghahn Books, 1998. 61 -71. Read More