Postmodernism re-write
Postmodernism does not have a set definition. There are many
different interpretations of it by different people. Many theorists have
described what they think postmodernism is.
The term ‘postmodern’ was first stated around the 1870’s and
was then used in 1921 and 1925 to describe new forms of art and music. However
it mainly gained popularity during the twentieth century. Postmodernism was initially created as a
response to modernism and was therefore known as the era that followed
modernism. An overall view of postmodernism is that it is an overreaching term
for sceptical interpretations of culture, literature, art or philosophy,
economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. An example of
postmodernism being used in our society can clearly be seen in music videos of
both previous years and in today’s age. Not only have music videos been
considered to be postmodern, the lyrics and songs which accompany them have
also become postmodern. Madonna is one
example of a postmodern artist.
Madonna first came around in the 1980’s after signing with
Sign Records, and soon began to create a number of songs which topped the
charts. She soon became renowned for pushing the boundaries of lyrical content
in mainstream pop music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture
on MTV. One main music video that could clearly be classed as postmodern was ‘Like
a Prayer’ which was released in 1989. The video, a lot of catholic symbols were
represented, as well as stigmata, and burning of the cross. It also challenges
stereotypical religious beliefs that Jesus was a white male, as in the video,
the character that is representing Jesus is a black male. This contradicted
what many people believed Jesus to look like, and therefore caused upset
amongst audiences. Not only this, but the obvious references in the video to
Jesus and the catholic religion. So much so that the Vatican also acknowledged
the video and condemned it.
The video can be seen as postmodern due to the amount of
religious references and questions it creates for an audience. Religion is a
sensitive topic for many, and to contradict religious beliefs in the way in
which Madonna does would clearly be seen as a revolt against modernism in terms
of religion and the fact that everyone tends to only preach what they know. In
the lyrics, Madonna states that “life is a mystery” and “everyone should stand
alone” which may demonstrate that Madonna disagrees in the Bible and there is
still a lot to question about how life itself began, and that by standing
alone, no one should follow one another or rely on what they have been told
(such as being informed of Jesus and believing he exists). Her use of sexual
innuendo in the line “I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there” was put
into the song by Madonna herself to purposely provoke her audience. This being a very postmodern as getting an
audience interested or confused by what they see or hear is a typical aspect of
postmodernism.
Many years later after ‘Like a Prayer’, postmodernism continues. In the twenty first century, Lady Gaga is a
clear example of postmodernism in music and music videos. Her music video to
her song ‘Judas’ seems to almost be an updated postmodern version of ‘Like a
Prayer’. However the video is clearly
different in terms of the postmodernism shown. In Gaga’s video, there are more
sexual scenes shown in the video rather than in the lyrics in the song.
Instead, the lyrics are more unclear and could be interpreted with many
different meanings. Some of the lyrics include “ fame hooker, prostitute wench,
vomits her mind” and “wear an ear condom next time”. These are very postmodern
lyrics in the fact that they are not words that an audience would expect to
hear. Due to the lyrics being something unusual and not usually used within pop
music, Lady Gaga has demonstrated another form of postmodernism. Her music video does have a narrative, however
it is not clear to understand, and certain scenes seem to be of no relevance at
all to the video, such as Gaga being submerged in water.
These two videos both have aspects of the hyper reality
theory which was thought of by James Baudrillard. Hyper reality is described as
“an image or simulation, or an aggregate of images and simulations, that either
distorts the reality it purports to depict or does not in fact depict anything
with a real existence at all, but which nonetheless comes to constitute reality”.
The videos use hyper reality as reality in terms of religion in both these
videos is distorted. For example Madonna’s video twists reality in the fact
that most people believe Jesus was a white male, however in the video he is
portrayed as a black male. In Lady Gaga’s video, reality is completely distorted
as audiences have no real sense of what is going on, and therefore the reality
of the video cannot be made sense of.
Overall, it is clear to see that postmodernism has continued
to widen and develop within the music industry in both music videos and song
lyrics. Claims were made that, mainly due to television (MTV being a major
player) we now live in a ‘three minute culture’
or that we are part of an over visual society, being a ‘society of the
spectacle’- due to the nature of television and the internet. It is now also known that three minutes is the
average attention span of a person, which is proof that music videos seem to be
what audiences would mainly focus on. The boundaries and possibilities of music
videos have widened immensely due to postmodernism. I believe that postmodernism
is almost used as a simple excuse for artists and directors to produce whatever
they wish and place whatever meaning they wish to what they create, and
therefore enables them to challenge audience’s views on many things, such as
religion and sexuality.
