Postmodernism - Media, Market, Make-Believe - Essay Example

POSTMODERNISM: MEDIA, MARKET, MAKE-BELIEVE? The media had proven to be the most effective way to convene the public of various messages and information. This however may be contradicted by the theories and opinions of postmodernists. What is postmodernism? McGowan stated a definition which could be most suitable for the term. The author expressed that “postmodernism marks a particular despair about the possible success of these schemes along with a far-reaching search for new strategies of intervention in the dominant order … postmodernism can best be defined as a particular, if admittedly diminished, version of romantic dreams of transformation – hardly the middle age that poets in their youth would have chosen, but a despondency that is fitting all the same.”1 With such statement, postmodernism could be concluded as the melting pot of all the desired transformation by authors or inventors throughout the ages. It would be the harmonious sequencing of details to emerge as one. Postmodernism has influenced some if not all forms of the arts whether performed or written. Others may perceive that postmodernism, in the more modern and in some technological aspect, to be affecting the social media as it could be affecting or contravening the classical capitalism. In this sense, though there is a harmonious mixture of transformation, there are also events that may have affected other aspects of the economy, government or the media itself.2 A theory of postmodernism said to have pronounced the “end of the real.” With the aim of postmodernist to infuse transformations, it did not claim any exclusion therefore media is not excluded from these changes. A concern that can be brought about this is that the public would be given a very hard task of knowing what is real and what is not. Though this will bring out the instincts and curiosity of the audience, people often have a tendency to believe more what is seen rather than what is yet to be discovered through rigorous reading and investigation. There can be various reasons and objectives as to why and what transformations and complexities postmodernism introduce to various media forms.3 4 Before, the only thing which could be fictional is the story of a particular movie or series. With the availability of technology, currently it is also possible that the characters in these forms of media can a fictional or an animated one. Maybe during the first few years or decades of postmodernism, the audience were giving their full attention as to knowing what new ideas or innovations would be brought up. This could be the negative effect of technology not just in media but even with postmodernism. As time passes by, people have seen what technology can do to a movie or a series since none of the two are broadcasted or aired live. The film could have been edited, recorded and re-recorded a hundred times. There are instances that the editions and transformations made to the film makes it quite similar to other films earlier produced. This could affect the attention-span of the viewers.5 As Jameson further stated, “the analogy between media and market is in fact cemented by this mechanism: it is not because the media is like a market that the two things are comparable; rather it is because the “market” is as unlike its “concept” (or Platonic idea) as the media is unlike its own concept that the two things are comparable. The media offers free programs with which the consumer has no choice on the content and assortment whatsoever but the selection is then rebaptized “free choice.”6 Believing what is seen is more convenient for some rather than reading an endless text which could lead no nothingness and further cluelessness. Though the audiences are more intelligent in comparison to audiences from previous decades, there are still those who could not distinguish what is real and what is not. For some, media will always be the same but not for Bignell as he classified media to be old and new. Elaborating on this idea, Bignell stated that “New media therefore produce the ‘old’ media as old by mixing and incorporating them in new ways, allowing for the attribution of compute-based media as postmodern at the same time as they perpetuate modes of interaction which are equivalent to the media cultures they appear to leave behind.”7 The more the new media emerges, the more realistic the fictional world becomes. Bignell’s statement complemented the fusion of the modifications that postmodernism promotes. However, as these modifications occur more prevalently, the more information becomes fictional without the viewer’s knowledge where the truth ends and the imaginary begins. With too much effects and technological modifications made in stories, there are films that sometimes feel to lose its human sense. There are instances that one can question how a fictional character shows affection or compassion to non-fictional ones. Another instance that may bring the audience away from film media is the usage of themes such as disasters and tragedies. Though these themes will bring a more humanistic feel from the audience as others may also relate personal experiences, there are those people whose minds are far more curious than the others and may play or may instill fear within those lesser curious audience. What could be feasible in the world inside the silver screen is considered humorous in the real world. Not everything that is projected from the reel is the real deal and therefore should not be taken in the instance that it is projected.8 Constable further evaluated that “the loss of the real and the consequent undermining of the logic of opposition are demonstrated by attempts to interpret the meaning of political events.” As postmodernism introduces areas of the scientific fiction and further making its effects as realistic as possible, people are even starting to doubt the own reality that one experiences in his daily life. It is a known fact that there are controversial events that have happened in the history of the planet.9 However, there are a handful of events which are yet to be explained and justified upon its mysterious existence. It does not however give these people the right to criticize the organization involved as to the validity and legality of the reasons being conveyed to the public. Real-life people are doing the best in their own capabilities to explain events that are occurring in real world. Technology in the real world is not the same as the technology in the fictional world. There are tests and technologies that in the real world could take weeks or months before made available that in the fictional world can provide after a couple of segment gaps. The climax in every sequence or every scene equates to better earnings especially for a production company. It could raise the curiosity of the viewers which eventually could lessen one’s distinction of what is real from what is not. As things in the silver screen or inside the tubes are getting more realistic, depicting the true meaning and essence of a certain event could turn to the impossible. Instead of questioning how realistic the film was produced, audience could question why the real information is not agreeing on the things which have been shown commercially. To attract viewers, producers have that tendency to magnify events for the sake of gaining more income. Constable agreed with other authors like Baudrillard and Jameson as postmodernism in a way the key concept for annihilation of what is the reality and what is the product of a person’s imagination.10 Quoting Bignell, “When the media have inaugurated the hyper real, the difference between illusion and reality, and the critical work of negation, come to an end because the real is definitively absent.”11 What is real and what is not? The media should be the one helping its audience in defining which is which. However postmodernism has given the audience more problem of distinguishing between the two. Fact still remains that what is being seen by the eyes are more believable than those being read. With the effects and virtual environment that some fictional movies have, it is quite difficult to differentiate whether the information being conveyed is the truth or it is just another figment of the imagination. Postmodernism have its own negative and positive effects. So far, the negative effect of it is the increasing difficulty in analyzing the fiction from the non-fiction aspect of a film. A positive effect of postmodernism is that it attracts producers and writers to explore the media-related technology available to them. Technology gives more freedom to the post production team as to what the production firms can offer the paying public. However contradicting this idea, Woods expressed “…postmodernism represents a decline of faith in the keystones of the Enlightenment – belief in the infinite progress of knowledge, belief in infinite moral and social advancement, belief in teleology – and its rigorous definition of standards of intelligibility, coherence, and legitimacy.”12 Media should be the frontrunner in disseminating information to the public. Television and radio can penetrate more locations more timely compared to written media. This should be used properly as to serve its purpose of bringing accurate information to more people. As postmodernism emerges, television has been invaded by fictional effects and information which can be critical in the formation of a person’s opinion and outlook towards different aspects whether in the field of history, science, or the literary arts. Tackling on the discipline of the written art forms, there are also some novels which are being given life in the big screen. Reading novels give a certain satisfaction to its readers. As these fictional novels are represented in the big screen, there are the twists and turns that postmodernism influence gives to the film. In reading, one’s imagination can think of what is being done. Yet once seen, a person’s judgment towards a novel can be shifted to another gear as it is given more realistic interpretation that the eyes can see and the mind processes more. There is nothing wrong in modifying and transforming media towards a more attractive form to its viewers. What could be pivotal in the transformation is the reality of the information being conveyed in the story. One should be responsible however in drawing the line as to where the truth lies and the fictional takes its place. Quite true that the present viewers are more intelligent than perceived however at times intelligence can be the triggering factor responsible for jumping into conclusions that since something is seen it could be the truth. Postmodernism promotes and showcases what technological advancements can be done to recorded media especially to films. However as good as technology brings to the quality of the effects of the films, the more it is drawing reality away from what is being conveyed. Bibliography Bignell, Jonathan. Postmodern Media Culture. Delhi, IN: Aakar Books. 2000. Constable, Catherine. “Postmodernism and Film.” In The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism 2004, edited by Steven Connor, 43-59. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. USA: Duke University Press. 2003. McGowan, John. Postmodernism and Its Critics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 1991. Ward. The Loss of the Real. Attachment from client. Woods, Tim. Beginning Postmodernism. New York, NY: Manchester University Press. 1999. Read More