Postmodern Adverts

Firstly the advert represents hyperreality because it shows a crisp, as to be what the viewer would perceive as perfectly sized and in theory the idyllic crisp. Although we know this is not possible because of the manufacturing process, the use of hyperreality makes us believe the crisps are in fact perfect and we must have these crisps. Also the use of self reflexivity whereby we are shown filming equipment it breaks the fourth wall and makes us realise that the advert is not real, this is a postmodern effect because it deliberately shows us it is an advert. Finally the advert is postmodern because it is weird and puts crisps and climbing walls together, which before had no link/relation. This advert is postmodern because it pays homage to the film, Untouchables and previously the Odessa Steps, by copying the baby falling down the steps/going down the slope falling to its fate. It also shows irony because in the other instances the baby is the major concern, and so it appears in the advert, until the man saves the cereal primarily- representing irony.

The Un-cool Playlist

1. The Killers, For Reasons Unknown, Sam's Town (Indie Rock)
2. Kasabian, Butcher Blues, Kasabian (Indie Rock)
3. Kasabian, LS.F (Lost Souls Forever), Kasabian (Indie Rock)
4. Ellie Goulding, Anything Could Happen, Now 83 (Indie Pop)
5. Electric Light Orcehstra, Hold on Tight, The very best of ELO (Symphonic Rock)
6. Badiel + Skinner, 3 Lions 98, MOTD Album (Unknown)
7. Mumford and Sons, I Will Wait, Babel (Folk)
8. Chilly Gonzales, Siren Song (Electro)
9. The Killers, Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll, Hot Fuss (Indie Rock)
10. The Beatles, Come Together, Abbey Road (Pop/Rock)
11. The Lumineers, Morning Song, The Lumineers (Indie Folk)
13. Arctic Monkeys, Only Ones Who Know, Favorite Worst Nightmare (Indie Rock)
14. The Wombats, If it's alright with you (Indie)
15. Editors, Blood, MOTD Album (Alternative Rock)
16. Big Pink, Hit The Ground (Indie Rock)
17. Imagine Dragons, Round and Round, Night Visions (Deluxe) (Indie/Electronic Rock)
18. The Stone Roses, Waterfall, MOTD Album (Alternative Rock)
19. Florence and the Machine, Drumming Song, Lungs (Indie Pop)
20. Arctic Monkeys, I bet that you look good on the dancefloor, Whatever people say I am,that's what I'm not (Indie Rock)

Why is the Un-cool Playlist Postmodern?

Firstly the playlist represents a hyper-reality because it is unlikely such a variety of songs would appear every time you wanted them to. Whilst a true shuffle would comprise of every artist before one is repreated, but this is not the case with my playlist, for example where The Killers appear 3 times. Therefore a shuffle represents hyper-reality because in theory we would want all our artists to be played equally, but this isn't always the case and a shuffle can do the opposite of what we want. Such as this sequence from Falling Down we don't always get what is advertised often leading to our frustration and in terms of our music, skipping songs or choosing them ourselves (such as making playlists).

Secondly Michael Smith's (2009) definition of Postmodernism "In terms of literature and media it is generally considered to be anything which makes little attempt to hide the fact that it is not real," can be related to the Un-cool playlist. This is because the shuffle feature creates something that can't be naturally created, because of our subconsciousness to choose our favourite songs again and again. Hereby the playlist is postmodern because shuffle creates a completely random playlist that couldn't be created by humans due to our personal tendencies and preferences.

Finally this can be seen as playlist due the theory of simulacra – simulations or copies that are replacing ‘real’ artefacts. The shear random nature of the playlist subsequently links to postmodernism as it is a simulation that is attempting to replace 'real' artifacts, those being the the playlists we like to create ourselves based on our own preferences. 

Modern Art vs Postmodern Art

Music Videos Without Music: We Can't Stop

Bricolage Definition

Bricolage is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts, to refer to the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work created by such a process. The term is borrowed from the French word bricolage, from the verb bricoler, the core meaning in French being, "fiddle, tinker" and, by extension, "to make creative and resourceful use of whatever materials are at hand (regardless of their original purpose)". In contemporary French the word is the equivalent of the English do it yourself, and is seen on large shed retail outlets throughout France. A person who engages in bricolage is a bricoleur.

Yet more Post Modernism Definitions..

"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."

By R. Lee from Media Studies 180 Hunter College, Sections 102, 103

Of course, intertextual references are often found in postmodern texts.
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Further Post Modernism Definitions

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

Another definition for Post Modernism

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).

Moe talks about postmodernism

Arguably the most basic and broken down definition of Post Modernism.