essay

Explain why 2 different media forms are considered postmodern

Modernism is considered to be the early 20^th century in which there was a belief in progress. There was clear structure and order to society, where people was inspired by science and technology and people has faith in ideas and grand narratives. Postmodernism is the time period after or anti modernism. In postmodernism the stricture and order of modernism has been abandoned, society is now largely pessimistic and dystopian and there is now no belief in progress.

Lyotards views on structures in the world has mostly been abandoned or collapsed. In the film Wreck It Ralph boundaries between structures are being collapsed such as the genre barriers of the games within the film. Wreck it Ralph quite clearly has a beginning, middle and a happy ending a very modernistic take on things. Ralph is seen to move from his own retro 80's game, to the action packed hero's duty, to the girly sugar rush game. The gender barriers are collapsed as the sergeant in heros duty is a women, programmed with the most triadic back story breaking the stereotype of the modernism woman as she is the hero and the leader of the team as they take on each challenge. The boundaries between good and bad has been challenged in this film as Ralph is a bad guy in his game now seeking to be seen as a good guy. The film itself is a Disney film aimed at young children by it also appealed to the children parents as a audience as they have brought back characters from the 80's creating nostalgia of their childhoods. Black Mirror '15 Million Merits' is a very dystopian TV series its gives people a view of what may happen in the future giving them something to think about. The guy in this episode Bing sells out at the end by trading his life in a isolated box, to a isolated home. This is not a happy ending as nothing is resolved the problem is just displaced, Bing is now a object on the TV for others to watch and all his words have no meaning to others he is just an entertainment figure. The boundary between real and hyper real is challenge as the fruit is a 2d image until purchase and it drops out of the machine as a real piece of fruit. The main difference in Lyotards terms between Wreck It Ralph and Black Mirror is that one is very modernistic and the other is very postmodern.

Jamesons point about 'culture eating itself' is quite clearly shown in Wreck It Ralph as they bring back characters from other films and games such as pacman, speadfreaks, papa smurf and sonic. Wreck it Ralph's game in the film is created in a 8 bit style which was around in the 80's.This will create nostalgia for the older generation who remember these characters and games from their childhood, creating a wider audience for the Disney film blurring the boundaries between adult and childhood. As there is now nothing new to create people now days have to bricolage the old and the new to create something new. This is why they have brought back old characters and by using intertextuality to bring part of the real world in to the hyper real film world of Wreck It Ralph like Grand Central station. Black Mirror is very dystopian and has intertextual references to social networking sites as well as shows such as X Factor. This shows how what we use today can shape our future for the worse as in black mirror the only way they communicate is through social networking. Both of these medias merge parts of society together to create a new meaning for things.

Baudrillard and Dubord ideas are to do with simulacra and simulations both of the media texts I am looking at do this. Wreck It Ralph is set in a animated world where even the humans are animated. They have created a whole new world in animation on a computer where Ralph is created in a 8 bit form. Where as in Black Mirror all the people have there own simulated avatar of themselves which they can dress. They are surrounded by simulations and there is a question to what real and whats hyper real. When Bing takes the girl to audition for 'hot shots' style over substance is used as the girl is chosen down to the way she looks from the waiting room this shows that the room is under surveillance which they watch contestants enter and which ones will go on stage. She is also given a job for her looks and takes away her dream of being a singer as she is better looking then she sounds. Both media texts use simulations in different ways but both have style over substance taking things as face value.

Wreck It Ralph is all about the past where as Black Mirror is about the future. Ralph has a traditional happy ending where as Black Mirror doesn't and is deliberately postmodern showing us a possibility of the future which could be said to be a grand narrative by with the dystianpian themes its more a idea then a theory to the audience.

As now days it is hard to tell the difference between real and hyper real in the future it can only get worse with people relying more on technology then ever before. I think that the other major change will be to do with cinema experiences, in a way that the audience is more involved. The audience will be able to change parts of the film as it happen by choosing the scenes as they go along effecting how the story will pan out and the people who are involved.