Baudrillard

 

Simulacra and Simulation (Simulacres et Simulation in French) is a philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard that discusses the interaction between reality, symbols and society.

“ The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth--it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.[1] ”

Simulacra and Simulation is most known for its discussion of images, signs, and how they relate to the present day. Baudrillard claims that modern society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that the human experience is of a simulation of reality rather than reality itself. The simulacra that Baudrillard refers to are signs of culture and media that create the perceived reality; Baudrillard believed that society has become so reliant on simulacra that it has lost contact with the real world on which the simulacra are based.

Applying Theory

Postmodernism theories and texts from raybloggs

Some more Post-Modern adverts

Post-Modern Adverts

EE - Orange Wednesdays with Kevin Bacon (and Kevin Bacon, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Bacon....)

This advert combines the roles of the actor Kevin Bacon from several different films including Apollo 13 and Footloose, treating the characters as individual people, giving them the term 'bacons'. This generalisation and acceptance that the characters themselves are different beings, creates a hyper-real world, as we see the characters as one collective actor. The use of these characters, films and jokes surrounding the plotlines of the films make for an advert filled with intertextual references, paying homage to characters who aren't even featured such as 'Animal House Bacon'. Their trip to the cinema is presented in a hyper-real way also, as, we would never expect to see an astronaut sitting, raised above the seat eating popcorn, yet the rest of the audience acts as if nothing strange is happening.




Fox's Caffe Biscuits, presented by Vinnie the Panda

Not only is there a talking animated panda within the video, but he is also eating biscuits, it can be said this is weird for the sake of weird. The hyper-reality is that the world of the commercial accepts talking panda's and their plausibility. The Italian American twang featured in many gangster films such as The Godfather and the HBO series 'The Sopranos', implies the threat of violence, leaning on the stereotype of the accent, brought about by these texts. It can be argued that Fiske's theory of representation, means the accent is only seemingly threatening because of what we have witnessed in other texts.  Personally, I also think this has some relation to Kung Fu Panda, and although not drawing from it directly, the concept of a talking, eating panda links the two texts. 






Vodafone featuring Yoda

The main source of postmodernism within this advert is the use of the iconic character, Yoda. Taken from the Star Wars franchise, the 'jedi master' uses the same language, movement and power as he does within the original films; aka one MASSIVE intertextual reference. There isn't a clear link between Vodafone and Yoda, making the advert 'weirder' than necessary, a debatable feature of the postmodern style. Although as an audience we are aware of Yoda as a character, the 'world' within the advert can be seen as hyper-real; a place where it is normal for 'Yoda' to start talking to you as a real person, not as a film character. 

Inception and why it's Postmodern

Bricolage Bricolage Bricolage

2014 Death of Uncool Playlist

1. Mystery Jets // Miracle (Indie Rock)
2. Queen // Dragon Attack (Rock)
3. Queen // Fat Bottomed Girls (Rock)
4. Neon Trees // Our War (Alternative Rock)
5. Florence + the Machine // Breath of Life (Indie/ Indie Rock/ Soul) 
6. Mystery Jets // Flash a Hungry Smile (Indie Rock)
7. The Black Keys // Ten Cent Pistol (Indie Rock)
8. Frederic Chopin // Nocturne #2 in E Flat (Classical)
9. Noah and the Whale // L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N (Indie Folk)
10. Panic! at the Disco // Sarah Smiles (Pop Punk)
11. The Lumineers // Hoy Hey (Folk Rock)
12. The Wombats // Backfire at the Disco (Indie Rock)
13. The Vaccines // All in Vain (Indie Rock)
14. Paramore // Ignorance (Alternative Rock)
15. Everything Everything // Cough Cough (Art Rock/ Indie Rock/ Indie Pop)
16. Givers // In My Eyes (Indie Pop)
17. Foo Fighters // These Days (Alternative Rock)
18. Vampire Weekend // Diane Young (Indie Rock)
19. Foster The People // Call It What You Want (Indie Pop/ Indietronica/ Alternative Dance)
20. M83 // Midnight City (Synthpop/ Indie Rock/ French Rock)

Genre's courtesy of Wikipedia, of all places.

Is this post-modern? Or is this just fantasy?

• We've created a new playlist, from various genres, this whole playlist is one big intertextual reference
• It doesn't conform to one genre, because it features Indie Rock, Classical, Pop Punk and others
• It has acknowledged itself as a playlist, it's function is to be listened to 
• In some ways, the fact the music was on my iPod and these songs have made it onto the playlist, it's paying homage to the bands and artists work 
• It's recycling culture, creating something new to experience for everyone, diversifying the environment the songs were intended to listen to when being made.

Everything is a Remix

Grace Jones by Jean Paul Goude

Initial Photo and design

Finished design

Finished product 

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REMIXED

Post-Modernism Explained

"Postmodernism is cultural movement that came after modernism, also it follows our shift from being a industrial society to that of an information society, through globalization of capital. Markers of the postmodern culture include opposing hierarchy, diversifying and recycling culture, questioning scientific reasoning, and embracing paradox. Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding modernism"

"Postmodern style is often characterized by eclecticism, digression, collage, pastiche, and irony. Postmodern theorists see postmodern art as a conflation or reversal of well-established modernist systems, such as the roles of artist versus audience, seriousness versus play, or high culture versus kitsch."

Post-Modernism Explained

Label given to Cultural forms since the 1960s that display the following qualities:

Self reflexivity: this involves the seemingly paradoxical combination of self-consciousness and some sort of historical grounding

Irony: Post modernism uses irony as a primary mode of expression, but it also abuses, installs, and subverts conventions and usually negotiates contradictions through irony

Boundaries: Post modernism challenges the boundaries between genres, art forms, theory and art, high art and the mass media

Constructs: Post modernism is actively involved in examining the constructs society creates including, but not exclusively, the following:

• Nation: Post modernism examines the construction of nations/nationality and questions such constructions
• Gender: Post modernism reassesses gender, the construction of gender, and the role of gender in cultural formations
• Race: Post modernism questions and reassesses constructs of race
• Sexuality: Post modernism questions and reassesses constructs of sexuality

Post-Modernism Explained

Postmodern texts deliberately play with meaning. They are designed to be read by a literate (ie experienced in other texts) audience and will exhibit many traits of intertextuality. Many texts openly acknowledge that, given the diversity in today's audiences, they can have no preferred reading (check out your Reception Theory) and present a whole range of oppositional readings simultaneously. Many of the sophisticated visual puns used by advertising can be described as postmodern. Postmodern texts will employ a range of referential techniques such as bricolage, and will use images and ideas in a way that is entirely alien to their original function (eg using footage of Nazi war crimes in a pop video).

Post-Modernism Explained