Post modernity does not only exist in art and film. Post modernity is a way of life. My sister has claimed many a time that the way I think is very 'postmodern'. But what is it? Why is the term so hard to put your finger on? My degree actually focused on post modernity as a major part of one of my modules. I still find it difficult to define.
Mostly postmodernism is used to describe art, film, and architecture. In this way I have inherently postmodern taste. Among my favourite movies are;
1.) Memento, where the story starts at the conclusion and scene by scene takes it back to the beginning.
One of my current favourite pieces of 'art' is an instillation in the Tate Modern. You walk into a dark room with an entire wall that is a screen. The screen is split into about 20 images. In each image there is a different musician from a movie - each screen is going on at the same time - sometimes people are playing trumpets, sometimes they're singing, at one point every single person is playing a different kind of drum. The musicians in each screen do not relate to one another, yet at the same time they compliment each other greatly. Sometimes they clash. It is immensely difficult to describe, but when you're watching it, it evokes immense emotions. (well, for me anyway.)
The Urban Dictionary calls it;
"The idea that there is no objective meaning, only subjective meaning, the meaning one brings to a thing, irrespective of the intent of the author, or of reality."
Many definitions of postmodernism include the word 'rejection' - the idea that it is a response to modernity, or to previous generation’s idea of art and culture. It is perhaps a reaction to structured life. The world has opened up to everybody through television, the internet, in ways people may not have imagined it would. We have more opportunities then before, and people are less happy to be defined, the structures of film and art are fuzzy and unstructured.
"It is the breaking of traditional frames of genre, structure and stylistic unity.. it values the play and juxtaposition of ideas from different contexts"
Due to the globalisation of cultures, there are different influences in our lives that may not have been there before. We are more concerned with a short film clip somebody has created in
Why am I going on about this?
This postmodern way of living does not exist only in the cultural aspects of our lives. Perhaps the reason I can't find a job is due to my high expectations. Perhaps it is because I want a piece out of every pie and that just isn't possible? Because we know about what is out there, because we know what is possible, we can not be satisfied? Does our job actually define us like it used to? If so, how does one get the job to define us? And since we are so against being put in a box and 'defined’ how on earth do you figure that one out? Who are we and what are we meant to be doing???
Being of typical postmodern mind, these are just my thoughts at this moment in time. Perhaps tomorrow I will blame something else for my lack of .. fulfillment (for want of a better word). The lethal mixture of TCK-ness and postmodern ideology make it difficult to be decisive about my life, about what I want, about what I should be doing. I sometimes just want to give up trying and just be normal. But there is still the 8 year old inside of me that expects me to be the best I can be, to satisfy the cravings of abnormality and individualism; to make some kind of name for myself in this massive world that is just at the edge of my fingertips.
9 comments:
Hello, Rachel!
This work is very good. thank you
have a good weekend
I wonder if the 'TCK-ness' and the postmodernity are related. I mean, because we grew up without a sense of one home or culture, and we adopted bits and pieces of other places almost randomly, maybe that predisposes us to a disjointed, random way of life as adults.
Just a random thought.
The interesting thing about postmodernism as you have laid it out here is that the same characteristics that describe it are the ones that cause the feelings of not belonging. The desire to be outside the boundaries or to not be defined by labels will contribute to the sense of not knowing where to identify oneself. Identifying something gives it definition. A sense of identity becomes missing because we reject the norms. And whether we like it or not, life does have absolutes and lines and boxes.
Being TCK is a label, but is also used to resist conformity. The idea that we can live our life on a purely subjective level, not "put in a box" and not defined, leaves many people wandering through their life with a sense of going nowhere. Feeling as though one belongs means there must be a structure to belong to. It's seems difficult to live "irrespective of reality" and feel as though one belongs, at the same time.
I hope this made sense.
Interesting thought processes, Rachel.
I'm afraid this is a bit cerebral for me today. But I am interested in your thoughts, for sure. One thought that struck me when I was reading it - I wonder if the fact that we know everything that is happening everywhere instantaneously creates a bit of this problem. Too many choices?? I remember when you guys came to the US one time to visit and your mom stood in the cereal aisle and was overwhelmed with the number of choices. I feel the same way in the toothpaste aisle. And you can inadvertently make the wrong choice so easily by looking at one thing and picking up another - wrong flavor, sugar-free, fat-free when you meant to get something else. Oh, I know I'm not making sense, but ---
BTW, I don't know Beckums personally, but have seen their names many times over the years of being involved in missions education.
To extend the grocery aisle analogy a little bit, not really sure what I'm saying... I'm no longer overwhelmed by the choices in stores here because I've chosen a brand, and a style within that brand, and I look for that one familiar thing on the shelf and ignore the rest. Even though that one thing was chosen somewhat randomly in the beginning. But sometimes I get bored, and I look for something new. And what I choose to pick up then is also somewhat random.
I think I'm rambling, but there could be some kind of insight here into something. If you find it. I leave this to your subjective interpretation.
By the way, absolutes and lines and boxes... maybe.
ok. it's like you're teasing me to go on about brand patriotism. that's a whole other post....... :)
hehehe. I wouldn't call it brand patriotism. Just a decision that was made once, worked, and now I no longer have to think about it.
I once heard this cute little way to remember the difference between Modern and Postmodern (in terms of literary movements at least), and I've shared it with my students:
If humpty dumpty sat on the wall and then had a great fall, modernists would mourn over his loss, cry over his poor broken body; postmodernists, on the other hand, would sit in the middle of the pile of shells and celebrate.
I like that one!
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