"HAMLET: Words, words, words." Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2, Page 8

Postmodernism as an idea could be easily summed up in the words of Hamlet in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, "Words, Words, Words" (Hamlet Act 2, Scene 2, Page 8). Stephen Toulmin states that Postmodernism is evident in "A world that ... does not know how to define itself by what it is, only by what it has ceased to be" (Anderson 6). To me, Postmodernism seems to just be what Hamlet exclaims "Words"

In my opinion, Postmodernism seems to be a very elitist opinion that goes along the lines of no belief system is really true and that when people with different belief systems interact both parties of belief systems will be disappointed because according to Postmodernism none of either of the two parties belief systems are true. Postmodernism attempts to debunk every belief system every created on the basis that there are other belief systems out there.

In Hamlet, Hamlet yells the phrase "words, words, words", this seems to be to perfectly sum up what Postmodernism is.  By simply arranging the right words in the right order, Postmodernists believe that they can eliminate every belief system that has ever existed.

Postmodernists argue that due to words, eventually all belief systems will fall away and that what will emerge from the ashes is some sort of magical utopia. Anderson states "We all know that some kind of a global civilization is coming into being, this is one of the truisms of our time" (Anderson 20). In this sentence, he makes a very broad statement that he backs up with nothing more than "you feel me"? Nowhere, in this article does he offer any evidence for his statements. The best he offers up as evidence is claiming that something is a social construct. As far as I am concerned Postmodernism is just words and has no real meaning or bearing in reality.

You Don't Talk About Postmodernism

What is postmodernism? This is a question that I found myself pondering my junior year of highschool. The class had just begun discussing the book "Fight Club" The highly aclaimed book famous for the fact that "you can't talk about it". The teacher began the class by introducing the book and calling it a "postmodern" novel. Know what could this possibly mean? We are modern right now aren't we? Is this book somehow in the future? Are we primitives unable to understand the deeper meaning of the novel? So I asked my professor," Mrs. Prochnow, What is Postmodernism?" and she replied with some long answer with the actual meaning of the word and what it meant etc. 

However, today I cannot for the life of me recall what she said. This leads me to the reading for this weeks blog post. The reading is by Walter Truett Anderson, and is called “Welcome to the postmodern world” in Reality Isn’t What It Used To Be. Anderson's article Having read the reading, Anderson defines postmodernism really as this idea of what if everything that we know is a social construct. This is a very appalling idea to me because being a college student, I have dished out how many thousands of dollars in some attempt at successfully or not successfully obtaining knowledge with the long term goal of using said knowledge to obtain wealth and be successful, eventually settle down and have a nice house with a two car garage, a beautiful wife, a nice dog, above average children and overall a very nice and secure life. This idea of postmodernism is one that  is quite disturbing to me as it would completely irradicate any need for my education, for which I have paid dearly. 

Now for an actual application of postmodernism. In the film "Fight Club" the theme of postmodernism runs rampant. Throughout the film the director goes back and forth in time to create this feeling of not knowing what is actually happening. This gives the film a postmodern feel as the idea of postmodernism is that everything that we know that is so is only so because of culture. Having read the book and watched some of the film, I left feeling quite confused about what postmodernism is and what good does postmodernism actually provide. I personally find that the theory of postmodernism was created by a professor for the sole purpose of acquiring tenure and keeping a well-paying job for the rest of their life. I found Anderson's article to be interesting and a valiant attempt at trying to place a finger on what postmodernism is. However, I am not personally a fan of a theory which discredits every single other theory on the face of the planet.

How Post-Modernism Ends the World as We Know It

Reading Anderson's Postmodern World combined with reading Baudrillard's The Precession of  Simulcara, the ability to identify postmodern ideologies within songs was relatively easy to pick up. The integration of what the authors were writing about is within many different songs that have been written throughout the changes in music over recent decades.  The first song that came to my mind was "It's the end of the world as we know it..." by R.E.M.

Anderson discusses how postmodernism is a "breakdown of the old ways of belief".  This idea is one that is consistently played with throughout the song, the chorus contains the name of the song "it's the end of the world as we know it..." is clearly a sign of changing times, but the other lyrics support the idea that the old ways of thinking are changing into something new.  The line "a government for hire and a combat site" addresses fully the idea that the country is changing, as well as people's thoughts about it at the time.

The postmodernist idea that Anderson discusses about every truth being viable is one that R.E.M. plays with throughout this song as well.  The song hurls an immense amount of information at the listener, in a similar manner to Billy Joel's "We didn't start the fire" R.E.M. lists an incredible amount of information and forces the listener to digest it in order to understand what the song is really about.

The writer's of the song use the idea of all truths being viable in order to get the reader to accept what they are speaking about is possible and that the world may in fact be ending because of the cataclysm of events that have occurred.   The song makes the listener feel as though Armageddon has happened, and that the result of it are the constant changes happening in the world.

Anderson plays with a final idea of struggling to find one's identity in his writing about post-modernism.  In the section titled "collapse of belief" Anderson speaks about how "people everywhere struggle in unprecedented ways to find out who they are".  This idea is carried into "It's the end of the world as we know it..." by the songwriters.  The song forces the listener to think about what they think the world is becoming and has already become.  This compilation of ideas not only gives the reader a sense for what the composer was thinking about, but forces the listener to think about what they believe in, and why.  This is directly connected with Anderson's writing about post-modernism and his idea about a collapse of belief and a struggle to find out who individuals are to themselves.

Like a P(rayer)ostmodern World

After reading Welcome to the Postmodern World and The Precession of Simulacra, a few things stuck out to me. Anderson describes postmodernism as a world that still has the belief systems of the modern world along with the pre-modern world. But there is something besides the belief systems that we have and that is a suspicion that all belief systems are social constructions. There is an ongoing, constant battle of postmodernism. Anderson says, "It fills our daily lives with uncertainty and anxiety, renders us vulnerable to tyrants and cults, shakes religious faith, and divides societies into groups contending with one another in a strange and unfamiliar kind of ideological conflict: not merely conflict between beliefs, but conflict about belief itself" (Anderson 3). 

The postmodern world does not define itself by what it is, but by what it has now ceased to be. There are three processes that have begun to shape postmodernism: the breakdown of old ways of belief, the emergence of a new polarization, and the birth of a global culture. The artist I first think of who can match these descriptions is Madonna in her music video "Like a Prayer." 

In relation to Anderson's first process, Madonna's music videos are indeed a breakdown of old ways of belief. Madonna added so much imagery and symbolism to her music videos, creating a spark for her generation, causing people to breakdown their old ways of thinking and open their mind to new ways. In "Like a Prayer", Madonna used symbolism and imagery to reverse the usual role of male as the dominant sex. Some scenes included an African-American church choir, Madonna being attracted to the statue of a black saint, and singing in front of buying crosses. 

Anderson's second process, "the emergence of a new polarization" is very apparent in Madonna's music videos. Madonna sparked political controversy with class, race, and nationality in her video "Like a Prayer." Madonna's music video reflects her American and Hispanic mixed street style mixed with her lively glamour. In her music video she is able to add imagery and incorporate Hispanic culture as well as some Catholic symbolism. Her addition of such multiculturalism was very successful in a sense that it opened her up to large and varied audiences. 

Finally, the third process, "the birth of a global culture." This creates a new arena in which all other belief systems look at and become aware of other belief systems, causing people to find out who and what they are. Many of Madonna's songs have the imagery of the music video in strong context, while still referring to the music. There are many contradictory responses to Madonna's excessively provocative music videos, "Like a Prayer" for example. Madonna's music videos were created to promote the songs and their impact, which struck many conversations and debates regarding her work. Madonna also became a social idol, influencing the way people acted and the way people dressed. 

Madonna reflects Anderson's three processes very well, displaying an almost perfect example of postmodernism in media. Her music video breaks down old beliefs, sparked political controversy, and birthed a new global culture. 

Postmodernism Built with Breeze blocks

In reading Anderson's Welcome to the Postmodern World and Jean Baudrillard's  The Precession of  Simulacra, it is easy to compare the concepts discussed to music in today's society. The song that popped into my head while reading these articles is a song by an up and coming group called Alt-J and their song "Breezeblocks". 

In the article written by Anderson, he expresses views on postmodernism in our society. He describes a lot of examples about the postmodern world and how it is coming to, and includes his "signs of a postmodern world". He starts off with the first sign, saying that it "is the breakdown of old ways of belief".

In the song, "Breezeblocks", the style of the music video is far from the ordinary music video. When watched all the way through, the video shows a fight between a man and a women and another woman to whom the man kidnapped. The catch in the video, is that the fight is displayed from end to beginning. This form of video display keeps the viewer hooked throughout the entire video, as they feel a growing sense to know what happened, and with each second more about the story is revealed. This style of music video is very different from ordinary music videos, and adds to the point that Anderson discusses.

The second process described by Anderson is what he describes as the "emergence of a new polarization". He goes on to explain this concept by describing it as "a conflict about the nature of social truth itself". Comparing this to the video is rather tricky, but if you dig deep into the symbols and people represented in the video, you can make some sense of things.

Anderson mentions "class, race, and nationality" as examples of the social truth. Looking at "Breezeblocks" the video shows the characters as a stereotypical white male, and his two victims as two average looking white females. At first, theres not much to think of this, it's just three average looking characters, but when deeper thought is added there is more to the thought behind it. In my opinion, this reflects the society in the US, because it shows how there can be evil in even the most generic looking people. It reflects how there is still evil behind things that look normal to us, and how our society allows people to mask themselves as nice people, when their intentions say otherwise.

In the third process explained by Anderson, is the birth of a global culture. In this process, Anderson talks about how "people everywhere struggle in unprecedented ways to find out who they are and what they are". The deeper meaning behind the song "Breezeblocks" relates to this concept very well. In the video, it shows the physical battle of a woman and a man who is her significant other. The other character in the video is another young woman who has been kidnapped by the man.

The song gives reference to how both women are "held down" by the man. The girlfriend is held down by no confidence to leave and because she is scared of the man because of physical abuse. The woman who was kidnapped, is held down physically by both wet clothes and a breezeblock (cinder block). The song talks about this in the opening lyrics, "She may contain the urge to run away, but hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks". This music video shows the struggle people have in relationships, and especially the struggle to get out of relationships that revolve around abuse. It shows how hard it is for one to "find out who they are" which Anderson refers to in his third process.

Same Love, New Belief

The readings Welcome to the Postmodern World and The Precession of Simulacra describe postmodernism at great length. As I read through the articles, I thought of same sex marriage being a postmodern belief. The song Same Love by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Mary Lambert shows a great outline of the same sex movement that is prevalent in today’s society.

Walter Truett Anderson describes in a section of his book, “Reality Isn’t What It Used To Be,” that there are three major processes that are speeding up the transition to a postmodern world. The three processes are as follows: forced to be free, the new polarization, and global memes.

The first process, forced to be free, includes the idea to “breakdown old ways of belief.” This music video exemplifies the old ways of belief. It begins with a married man and a woman who are having a child. The idea that only a man and a woman should be engaged in a relationship with one another is an old belief that is currently in the process of being broken. 

The White House after legalizing same sex marriage.

For a long time, the American government had laws against same sex marriage. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that states must allow same sex marriage. The music video then shows the beginning of breaking down that old belief. It shows the journey of two men in a relationship, who get married and are together until old age. It aims to prove that the love between same sex couples is the same as the love between a man and a woman. 

The second process, the new polarization, is the emergence of “a conflict about the nature of social truth itself.” The artists of the song state “America the brave still fears what we don’t know.” Same sex marriage has truly been a controversial topic in America. Even though there are new laws that allow this kind of marriage, many protest and disagree with them. As the song mentions, many of the protest come from “right wing conservatives [who] think it’s a decision and [one] can be cured with some treatment and religion.” And I believe Anderson would also consider them “enviably sure-minded citizens.” 

The lyrics also state that no law is going to change the belief system, that it has to come from society, but the law is a good place to start. I believe that we are now in this process as we try to transform society to join the old family favorites – hetero sexual relations and homo sexual relations.

The third process is global memes. This same sex marriage is growing globally but is not quite a global culture with a true worldview yet. I believe this is a new movement in the postmodern world and will very soon be on a global scale. Hopefully, the human species will strive to build a new civilization based on a new sense of social reality. 

Same Love displays the new ideas, mainly through lyrics, of a postmodern world. It includes the processes described by Anderson of trying to break down the old beliefs and create a freedom in the political specter while gaining global traction.

Postmodernism is Calling

After reading Welcome to the Postmodern World and The Precession of Simulacra, I thought of Lady Gaga as someone who displays a lot of postmodernism in her music videos and persona. When Lady Gaga first came to the music scene, she was definitely a spectacle with her odd outfits and her music challenging social norms. In her music video Telephone featuring Beyonce, Lady Gaga portrays postmodernism.

Lady Gaga's Telephone shows all three major processes as mentioned by Anderson. The first process is a "breakdown of old ways of belief." Gaga does this in Telephone especially well in the scene where she is in the kitchen making sandwiches. The scene first opens with text over the screen like an old-timey movie with the words "Lets Make A Sandwich" and Gaga in the center of a kitchen surrounded by male dancers. She then goes on dancing and making sandwiches, which is mocking the old belief that a woman's place is in the kitchen making meals for her husband and family. Gaga soon breaks down this old belief by adding poison to ingredients and handing the food out to Beyonce's table, where she is sitting with a man who wronged her and wants him dead. Gaga mocks old beliefs in her postmodern video by making the classic belief about women satirical and showing the worst side of a woman "in the kitchen."


The second process as mentioned by Anderson is the emergence of a new polarization, "joining old family favorites" like nationality. Gaga and Beyonce are seen toward the end of the music video wearing American themed outfits, but clearly mocking American values. The women have just gotten away with the murder of many people, and are wearing American outfits. This polarization about the view of America as home of the free versus the women getting away with murder makes Gaga's video a perfect representation of postmodernism. Gaga is polarizing old views of America with what she may truly think about America, being famous in America, or the American criminal justice system.

Finally. the third process Anderson mentions is "the birth of a global culture" with a view that is wordly. In this process, all belief systems become aware of one another and people struggle to find out who and what they are. This is portrayed in Telephone in the beginning of the music video. Gaga is seen walking into a prison, and there are women everywhere of all different kinds, struggling to find themselves. This represents exactly what Anderson is talking about. There are women of all different races, some women weight lifting, and some women scared of the situation they are in; all of them are trying to find out who they are between what is right in front of them.

Overall, Lady Gaga's Telephone is a perfect music video displaying the three process Anderson talks about when describing what postmodernism is. Gaga's video breaks down old beliefs, polarizes what "home of the free" really means, and displays people trying to find out who they are and where they fit into society.

Are the Fictional Worlds Really Fictional?

In the reading Fiction by Juul we dive into what makes comprise the fictional worlds we see in different video games and stories. Juul states that there is a difference between the description of a fictional world and the fictional world that is imagined by the user. In short the user does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to their own depiction of the fictional world, which is why often times people can have a different view of worlds in the same game.

My main problem with Juul's comments is that there are historical games with historical backgrounds that tell a fictional story during a very real time. Also there are some games such as sporting games that allow the user to create a character and fully immerse their character (and also themselves) in that real sporting world.

My first example is with the video game Call of Duty, in each game (aside from the newer versions) the user is fully submerged in a war against enemies. Many times real enemies that American Soldiers actually fought in previous wars. While the used characters may not be factually and real, other occurrences going on in the game are. Such as American Soldiers fighting Russian Soldiers and so on. So I would ask Juul could this so called fictional world be interpreted differently considering it may not be so fictional after all?

My second example is with the video games Madden and NBA 2K (video of player being created). In both games the user is allowed to create a character and fully immerse this character (and themselves) into what it is truly like to become an NBA or NFL pro. The user creates their very own character, yes through training with them, a draft, and even practices and plays games sole with this character alone. The names of all other players and teams are all true to what you actually see on the court or the field. So again my question to Juul would be his is I possible for one to depict such a fictional world differently when is uses events from other factual areas?

This is not to question Juul's thoughts in regard to every fictional world but I was just curious as to how these questions would be answered by her. While others when they think of video games think of these games with far off places and lands with creatures never seen before. I think of my favorite games Madden and NFL, and when i look at them the outside worlds seem rather stable, and quite the same.