This kitten is cute.Chosen and postmodernism
So, I can see some reflexivity with the *wink* *wink* to the audience with the Hulk band aid and perhaps a bit of blurring the lines of genre with the classic western film, but I don’t see the text of Chosen as either a postmodern text or having significant postmodern elements.
I agree with Timbre and Baudrillard’s assessment of Chosen (very nice post by the way) in terms of hyperreality and the “how blurry is your reality” quiz. But is this an assessment of how postmodern your text is? Has anyone thought of a text that isn’t one of the 4 signs? Is a 1, not very postmodern?
I don’t see this theory as being similar to the other theories. Structuralism and Marxism (for example) are clear ways of looking at anything. I can look at any text with a structuralist or poststructuralist view because I can always study the context of the text or the text itself (theoretically).
To be postmodern, the text must include postmodern elements. I can look and may find postmodern elements in most texts, but it might not be there. There may be no postmodern elements. It must (according to Barry) do the stuff listed on page 79, right? Therefore the text, not my theoretic viewpoint determines, whether or not it is postmodern.
In literary terms Chosen isn’t fragmented with a discontinuous narrative, but on the contrary is a very straightforward narrative. The architectural idea of the text believing in “excess, in gaudiness, and in ‘bad taste’ mixtures of qualities” just doesn’t seem to fit our piece in tone or concept.
Even if I thought the piece was gaudy or in bad taste, what would make it postmodern is if those things were done with the intent of them being so. Right? All of the examples in the Barry text are of the creator being postmodern, and the theorist discovering this, not deciding it.
I am very aware that my post is annoying and am prepared for the next post-person to angrily prove me wrong, but you have to admit, that is a cute kitty.
2 comments:
Yes, the cat is cute...how very postmodern.
Jeff, I'm not the next post-person, but I actually sense a lot of the same frustration when trying to analyze something post-modern. It is a bit if a strange negotiation between properties of the text itself and the ideas of the critic. I'm fairly positive that that's why I wanted to analyze it in a Post-Colonialist sort of way.
One way that I do think that Chosen might be Postmodern is in its bits of intertextuality. It's not overwhelmingly intertextual, but there is the Hulk bandaid, and the blending of the genres that we've talked about seems a little postmodern. The very fact of its existence is slightly postmodern--this is a car commercial masquerading as a short film. Or is it a short film masquerading as a commercial?
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