Nelly Luckett : BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts, UCA Rochester

Today's final lecture was on the overall idea of Postmodernism as a hydra, and how its many facets can be approached. Research Federic Jameson - The Cultural Turn (1998) Sokal Hoax Dick Hebdige - Hiding in the light (1988) Federic Jameson: "The concept of postmodernism is not widely accepted or even understood." Postmodernism is a disputed term: Origins - when did it begin? Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe (1972) Fountain - Marcel Duchamp (1917) Tristram Shandy - Laurence Stern (1759) Partially connected to rise of commercialism etc "The postmodern is deliberately exclusive as a concept, avoiding as much as possible the modernist desire to clasify and thereby delimit, bound and confine." Postmodernism is exhausted - been taught for a long time in art  and humanities - not exhausted as still in media Postmodernism is nothing without modernism Modernism  - affirms power of humans, create, improve and reshape environment, scientific knowl...

This week’s lecture was on Hyper reality. Research Simulacra and simulation - Jean Baudrillard David Boyle - Authenticity Definitions Pornification  - the increasing occurrence and acceptance of sexual themes and explicit imagery in popular or mainstream culture (3rd Order) Hyper realism  - particularly highly realistic, to the point of being more real than real Simulation - imitation of a situation or process Simulacra  - an image or representation of someone or something Fake news  - false stories that appear on the news, internet or in other media, usually to influence politics or opinions Simulacra and Simulation is a philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard Human experience - simulation of reality rather than reality itself An individual in a postmodern world is an entity influenced by media, technological experience, and the hyper real “We live, not inside reality, but inside our representations of it.” Hyper reality makes co...

This week’s lecture was on Ouroborus or story loops. Definitions Ouroborus - a circular symbol of a snake or dragon devouring its own tail, standing for infinity Meta  - talks about its own category Metafiction - fiction about fiction Metanarratives  - philosophies mentioned before Metafiction - fiction which is self-consciously reflects upon its own nature, modes of production etc. Mise en abyme  - “placing into infinity” or “placing into the abyss” Intertextuality - the shaping of a text’s meaning by another text The 4th wall - a performance convention in which an invisible, imagined wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this “wall”, the actors act as if they cannot.  Metafiction was coined in 1970 as experimental texts that broke with the tradition of literary realism Mise en abyme is commonly used to describe standing between two mirrors to create infinite images. It is used in deconstruction to describe...

Todays lecture was on a theory called the Derrida virus. Research Jaques Derrida - philosopher Nikos A Salingaros- The Derrida Virus, 2003 Christopher Butler - Postmodernism: A very short introduction Judith Butler - Gender is performative Definitions Ideology  - a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture Binary Opinions - one thing OR another (eg. M/F, X/Y, Straight/Gay, White/Black Normativity - phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good or desirable or permissible, and others as bad or undesirable or impermissible Binary Opposition - A pair of mutually-exclusive signifiers in a paradigm set representing categories which are logically opposed and which together define a complete universe of discourse.  Deconstruction  - a method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language which emphasises the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality o...

This lecture was based around the debate of who owns a piece of work that has been released to the public. Publications to research Roland Barthes Cassette boy - youtuber - chops together politicians and news segments. Definitions The Canon - cultural products generally accepted as ‘superior’ or more significant than other examples in the same field.  DWEMs - Dead White European Males - unfairly dominate the “high” arts - “male, pale and stale” Sweding - recreation of feature films on a low budget - obsurdety Authors and critics give fixed meanings and ideas Audience tells culture what it means by imprinting and do-creating the work. “The Birth of the Reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author” Opens popular participation and democratic determinations of cultural value.  Consumers recombine new materials created by author CGI reproductions of celebrities - death of Author of self. Clauses in Wills about not being able to use likenes...

Today we were looking at how multiple things can come together to form new, greater and more complicated works.  Publications to research Roots of modernism by Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe The European Enlightenment - the scientific revolution by Richard Hooker - www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT  Memories of my Life (1908) by Francis Galton The Condition of Postmodernity by David Harvey Key Ideas Meta-narratives  - large-scale theories and philosophies of the world (eg. religion, science, history and art) Teleology - describes the inevitable 'coming-to-be' of something - guarantee of progression towards development or definitive form. Religion - because of its emphasis on transcendence Art - perceived evolution from art movement to art movement and associated notion of the 'avant-garde' Science - discoveries are seen as unlocking the secrets of existence and revealing it finally History -  perceived progression from epoch to epoch, with each ag...

Today's lecture was furthering the investigation into the development and understanding of postmodernism and what this meant to the establishment. Publications to research Introducing Postmodernism (1995) by Richard Appiganesi and Chris Garret Ornament and Crime (1908) by Alfred Loos Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009) Key Ideas of Postmodernism Ahistorical - lacking historical perspective or context Irreducible - not be able to be reduced or simplified Objective -  not influenced by personal feelings or opinions, in considering or representing ideas Transparent -  easy to understand, perceive or detect; allowing light to pass through so that objects/layers behind can be clearly seen Universal -  communicates effectively to everyone despite culture, age or location Definitive -  for general use and typically of standard design, not special or commemorative. A certain statement or piece.  Fixed -  predetermined and not able to be c...

Today was our first perspectives lecture with Phil. Below are my notes from the lecture. Post modernism is a mood rather than a discipline which attempts to find new and more truthful versions of the world. Publications to research Federic Jameson - "The Cultural Turn" Stuart Sim - "The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism" Dick Hebdige - "Hiding in the light" "Postmodernism for Beginners" Marshall Bearman - "All that is solid melts into the air" http://www.academia.edu/4863266/The_ironic_response_to_nostalgia_in_the_postmodern_condition Key ideas of Postmodernism Skeptical - the idea that clear knowledge of what Postmodernism is is impossible Relative - the idea that one's experience and representation of postmodernism depends on the individual's own experiences, culture and history.  Disputed - the idea that there are many different ways that postmodernism can be interpreted and presented, and tha...