WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN AESTHETICS? ANALYSE THE WORK OF AN ARTIST/WRITER IN ANY MEDIUM. HOW IS THIS WORK POSTMODERN?

Authors Avatar

2) WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN AESTHETICS? ANALYSE THE WORK OF AN ARTIST/WRITER IN ANY MEDIUM. HOW IS THIS WORK POSTMODERN?

Through an examination of postmodernism theory it can evidently be seen that it is fundamentally an aesthetic that has derived through the cultural movement of modernism. Through the differences between the movements, however, the characteristics of postmodern aesthetics, such as fragmentation of the individual subject, impossibility for originality, pastiche, self reflexivity, appropriation and bricolage, can be clearly distinguished. Through an examination of Baz Luhrmann’s film’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Moulin Rouge’ in relation to such aesthetics it will be clearly seen how these works are undeniably postmodern.

Postmodernism is a cultural movement which is seen to have evidently emerged in the 1960’s. Many theorists believed that modernism had reached its full capability and that there was nothing else that could be achieved and therefore the notion of postmodernism is seen by many as marking the space of an era after modernism. Many postmodern theorists have based their work through the ideas the modernist movement brought forth: Modernism lurks in its sequel, haunts it. The very fact that a phenomenon is called ‘postmodernism’- that it differs from modernism by nothing more than a prefix- pays tribute to the power of modernism’s cultural force field and suggests that postmodernism might be no more (or less) than an aftermath or hiatus” (Gitlin, 1989).
As modernism clearly has importance within the cultural movement of the postmodern, and as postmodernism seems intrinsically linked to its predecessor it is therefore imperative to detail the characteristics of the cultural movement that is modernism.

Modernism is often seen as intrinsically linked with western thought and values and focused on the idea of a global view of the world, which was based on the idea of the purity of all mediums and the possibility for universal communication. As modernism is primarily a western notion it is again evident that it is linked with the postmodern which has also been theorized through western beliefs and ideas. Modernism is a cultural movement based on the idea of a scientific world view, the belief in production, progress and the enlightenment idea. The connection is evident between modernism and postmodernism as its successor is fundamentally linked through theory to the previous movement. Charles Jencks evidently brings forth modernism’s stance and advocates its importance within the movement of Postmodernism when he says: “Postmodernism is fundamentally the eclectic mixture of any tradition with that of the immediate past: it is both the continuation of modernism and its transcendence” (1987, 14). A detailing of the cultural movement that is modernism is thus imperative to the understanding of the nature of postmodernism as the continuance of the former, especially according to Jencks, is undoubtedly connected to the postmodern.

As a movement from which postmodernism is seen to have emerged from, modernism has primarily been based on the idea that there is an expression of the belief of unity and essential meaning. Modernism’s fundamental characteristics are the belief in master narratives of history such as progress through the forces of technology and science and the belief in totalizing explanations of history, culture and science which was presented as the only forms of truth and knowledge. Modernism promoted a strong sense of the unified self and advocated a deep faith in the foundation of individuality.

Modernism produced the idea of a clear distinction between high and low culture in art forms which enforced the distinguished culture as authoritative and consequently produced a serious purpose, intention and a universal meaning that they believe is produced through texts. Theorists, in particular Habermas, advocated the idea of modernism as a period that focused on the enlightenment project, science and the golden age of reason. In the C18th, Modernism advocated a greater faith in the future known as the doctrine of progress and in the C19th advocated the quest for perfection and the belief in technological progress through the condition of industrialism (Potts, 2003). Modernism has been a movement formed by Western beliefs and shaped through the inescapability of progress and indestructibility of science.

Join now!

Elements driving the shift from modernism towards the postmodern movement were the breakdown of belief in meta-narratives through the idea that there is no universal agreement of truth, with truth being seen as a cultural construction by postmodernists and an increasing polarization between subjects on issues of morality, truth and culture. Modernism was typically concerned with the idea of stability and the attempt to construct disorder into the notion of order, an idea which bases itself on the belief in the existence of totality. Lyotard theorizes this notion of totality, for example science as the principal form of knowledge, as ...

This is a preview of the whole essay