Thursday, 22 April 2010
US postmodern TV ‘classics’: 24 / Miami Vice / The Sopranos
For each of the three episodes from the three programmes you will watch, you need to be able to answer the questions below
1)What version of postmodernism are you applying to label this programme as a postmodern text? What textual evidence can you offer to support your approach?
2)In what ways can this programme be seen as a postmodern one and in what ways does it seem like ‘ordinary’ TV?
3)In what ways are traditional text-reader relations being challenged in this programme? What textual evidence can you gather to support your argument?
4)In term of the production, distribution (both legal and illegal) and consumption can it be said that institutions and audiences are operating differently in a postmodern world?
1)What version of postmodernism are you applying to label this programme as a postmodern text? What textual evidence can you offer to support your approach?
2)In what ways can this programme be seen as a postmodern one and in what ways does it seem like ‘ordinary’ TV?
3)In what ways are traditional text-reader relations being challenged in this programme? What textual evidence can you gather to support your argument?
4)In term of the production, distribution (both legal and illegal) and consumption can it be said that institutions and audiences are operating differently in a postmodern world?
Friday, 19 March 2010
Work to do
A2 Media Studies
In the period of WO’B’s absence, you should complete the work stipulated on this sheet.
You need to remember that the end of the academic year is close and that this is now the time you need to start preparing for the summer exam. The work set here is done with the sole purpose of helping you to start to prepare for the summer exam.
Task 1 – In what ways are the texts postmodern?
Using Youtube, watch clips from the texts we have studied and note down in what ways that text can be considered postmodern – you should separate your notes to address historical period, style, theoretical approach – you do not necessarily have to have as answer for all 3 dimensions. In some cases, you may well need to do some research to help you with this – make google your starting place.
Texts studied:
The Office
Life on Mars Pulp Fiction Scream
Jedward @ National TV Awards
SingStar The Wire World of Warcraft
Second Life X-Factor Britain’s Got Talent
Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother
The Truman Show Eastenders Live The Brits Live
Rock and Chips
Blade Runner Halo 3 Grand Theft Auto 4
Youtube (the collection clips exercise) Chat Roulette (n ews articles) Date Movie Batman
Task 2 – Essay questions
For each essay question, you should spend one hour writing it. Answers should be hand written. You should do some internet research beforehand on the relevant texts to help you with th essay.
1. “Postmodern culture is all empty pastiche and lacks in substance”. Discuss this view.
In this question, you should structure your answer around Pulp Fiction, Scream, The Truman Show, Balde Runner and Date Movie only. This question invites a debate – you need to discuss the reasons why the statement is and isn’t true for each of the films. You need to use specific examples from each of the films and consider very carefully the concepts of cultural capital and cultural competence.
2. How has television responded to the opportunities and threats of life in a postmodern, media-saturated society?
With this question you need to be mindful of how the TV industry in Britain has changed drastically over the last 20 years – in a mluti-channel TV environment and in a media-saturated society, TV channels have to compete fiercely for our attention – this is now along way removed from the ‘golden age’ of British TV in the 1970s and 1980s. In this answer, you should focus your answer on reality TV and ‘event’ TV and think laterally about the threats to TV from our consumption of other media – think carefully about how much time you spend watching TV versus being on Facebook, or MSN or playing video games.
3. In what ways can video games be seen as a postmodern form of media?
Your answer needs to centre around the change in text-reader relations and draw from examples from SingStar, Halo 3, GTA 4 and the COD games. You should also discuss the high levels of intertextuality prevalent in many video games – many video games ‘borrow’ liberally from the look of films and TV programmes – refer to the case study material on GTA 4, use Youtube to observe the similarities between the start of the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and the game ‘Medal of Honor: Frontline’ or the similarities between the battle sequence in the film ‘Stalingrad’ and the game ‘COD: Finest Hour’. This could also lead to a consideration of the reverse direction – games which have been made into films – such as Resident Evil and Hitman.
4. “In a world where we are bombarded by media messages, where there is so much to look at, as a result, media texts are losing their power to influence us”. Discuss this view.
This question is asking you to weigh up hoe much or how little the media does or doesn’t affect us. You should use the ‘GTA in the dock’ extract as a starting point for thinking about the media does or doesn’t influence us and give arnge of specific examples from the texts we have studied and consider nhow they have or haven’t affected you. For example, did watching ‘The Wire’ make you into a drug dealer or did it just leave you feeling confused? You should focus on four texts to bases your response around. By the need of the answer, make sure you have firmly addressed the issue in the question.
ALL 4 ESSAYS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED IN THE FIRST LESSON AFTER EASTER
In the period of WO’B’s absence, you should complete the work stipulated on this sheet.
You need to remember that the end of the academic year is close and that this is now the time you need to start preparing for the summer exam. The work set here is done with the sole purpose of helping you to start to prepare for the summer exam.
Task 1 – In what ways are the texts postmodern?
Using Youtube, watch clips from the texts we have studied and note down in what ways that text can be considered postmodern – you should separate your notes to address historical period, style, theoretical approach – you do not necessarily have to have as answer for all 3 dimensions. In some cases, you may well need to do some research to help you with this – make google your starting place.
Texts studied:
The Office
Life on Mars Pulp Fiction Scream
Jedward @ National TV Awards
SingStar The Wire World of Warcraft
Second Life X-Factor Britain’s Got Talent
Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother
The Truman Show Eastenders Live The Brits Live
Rock and Chips
Blade Runner Halo 3 Grand Theft Auto 4
Youtube (the collection clips exercise) Chat Roulette (n ews articles) Date Movie Batman
Task 2 – Essay questions
For each essay question, you should spend one hour writing it. Answers should be hand written. You should do some internet research beforehand on the relevant texts to help you with th essay.
1. “Postmodern culture is all empty pastiche and lacks in substance”. Discuss this view.
In this question, you should structure your answer around Pulp Fiction, Scream, The Truman Show, Balde Runner and Date Movie only. This question invites a debate – you need to discuss the reasons why the statement is and isn’t true for each of the films. You need to use specific examples from each of the films and consider very carefully the concepts of cultural capital and cultural competence.
2. How has television responded to the opportunities and threats of life in a postmodern, media-saturated society?
With this question you need to be mindful of how the TV industry in Britain has changed drastically over the last 20 years – in a mluti-channel TV environment and in a media-saturated society, TV channels have to compete fiercely for our attention – this is now along way removed from the ‘golden age’ of British TV in the 1970s and 1980s. In this answer, you should focus your answer on reality TV and ‘event’ TV and think laterally about the threats to TV from our consumption of other media – think carefully about how much time you spend watching TV versus being on Facebook, or MSN or playing video games.
3. In what ways can video games be seen as a postmodern form of media?
Your answer needs to centre around the change in text-reader relations and draw from examples from SingStar, Halo 3, GTA 4 and the COD games. You should also discuss the high levels of intertextuality prevalent in many video games – many video games ‘borrow’ liberally from the look of films and TV programmes – refer to the case study material on GTA 4, use Youtube to observe the similarities between the start of the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and the game ‘Medal of Honor: Frontline’ or the similarities between the battle sequence in the film ‘Stalingrad’ and the game ‘COD: Finest Hour’. This could also lead to a consideration of the reverse direction – games which have been made into films – such as Resident Evil and Hitman.
4. “In a world where we are bombarded by media messages, where there is so much to look at, as a result, media texts are losing their power to influence us”. Discuss this view.
This question is asking you to weigh up hoe much or how little the media does or doesn’t affect us. You should use the ‘GTA in the dock’ extract as a starting point for thinking about the media does or doesn’t influence us and give arnge of specific examples from the texts we have studied and consider nhow they have or haven’t affected you. For example, did watching ‘The Wire’ make you into a drug dealer or did it just leave you feeling confused? You should focus on four texts to bases your response around. By the need of the answer, make sure you have firmly addressed the issue in the question.
ALL 4 ESSAYS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED IN THE FIRST LESSON AFTER EASTER
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Call of Duty and the prompt questions
A2 Media Studies
Postmodern Media
Postmodern Media
The different versions of postmodernism
Historical period
Style
Theoretical approach
Historical period
From the 1960s until now
From the age of the jet engine to the age of the fibre optic cable
Technological developments have made the world a smaller place
The arrival of Marshall McLuhan’s ‘global village’
The utopia of the global village has become the utopia / dystopia of the media-saturated society – like broadband, it’s ‘always on’
Style
Identifying features in cultural artefacts
Intertextuality – referencing to other texts
Bricolage – combination or fusion of different generic elements
Homage – copying other texts ‘out of respect’ (Henry Hill, GoodFellas)
Parody – copying for laughs e.g. Scream, Date Movie
Pastiche – copying because of a lack of originality e.g. Pulp Fiction
Theoretical approach
Decline of grand narratives
Collapse of communism & the fall of the Berlin Wall
The end of history
The end of Marxism
Collapse of time and space
Partially evidenced by Pulp Fiction, GTA 4, Big Brother, Britain’s Got Talent – not one story but many
Video games
In what ways can it be said that video gaming is a post-modern medium?
In what ways can the COD games be identified as postmodern?
Call of Duty: Finest Hour & Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Conventional text-reader relations
• Once upon a time in a land far, far away…there was no such things as video games, the internet, MSN, mobile phones, Facebook, Youtube, email – no web 2.0. no web 1.0.
• In this pre-historic land before the dawn of the Age of New Media, we simply had media – TV, film, newspapers, magazines, radio.
• It was / is theoreised that essentially these media were consumed passively – we sat and watched / read or listened – audiences were merely receivers of information – they were not producers or distributors
• With the arrival of the new media listed above, all of this changed forever. Audiences are not just consumers but also producers too – web 2.0
• In a medium such as video games, the aydience / the player is completely central to the progress of the narrative – film, TV, radio , magazines, newspapers are not so obviously dependent on the consumer to determine where and how the story ends.
• This bringing to the centre of the action of the role of the consumer / user / player marks the end of conventional text-reader relations and the beginning of something new.
COD: FH & COD: MW2
Some notable video game academics (Anderson, Grossman) view violent video games as dangerous murder simulators. They see the audience as a helpless body ripe for exploitation – underpinning this approach is the conventional approach to text-reader relations.
Discussion points
• When playing video games are audiences active or passive?
• Do these games offer us realistic representations of war or not?
• After reading the reading materials, decide whether COD games can offer us the truth about war or is this not possible?
• Considering the rise in online gaming with serices like X-Box Live and PlayStation Network, how are industries and audiences behaving differently in this post-modern world?
Essay question
Do the COD games reflect reality and therefore help us to learn about the world or do they construct reality and in doing so shape players’ opinions that the world is a dangerous place and the use of violence is the best means to solve problems?
Consider how games do / don’t affect people
Consider how well or not COD reflect real world events suchas WW2 and the current war in Afgahnistan
Postmodern Media
Postmodern Media
The different versions of postmodernism
Historical period
Style
Theoretical approach
Historical period
From the 1960s until now
From the age of the jet engine to the age of the fibre optic cable
Technological developments have made the world a smaller place
The arrival of Marshall McLuhan’s ‘global village’
The utopia of the global village has become the utopia / dystopia of the media-saturated society – like broadband, it’s ‘always on’
Style
Identifying features in cultural artefacts
Intertextuality – referencing to other texts
Bricolage – combination or fusion of different generic elements
Homage – copying other texts ‘out of respect’ (Henry Hill, GoodFellas)
Parody – copying for laughs e.g. Scream, Date Movie
Pastiche – copying because of a lack of originality e.g. Pulp Fiction
Theoretical approach
Decline of grand narratives
Collapse of communism & the fall of the Berlin Wall
The end of history
The end of Marxism
Collapse of time and space
Partially evidenced by Pulp Fiction, GTA 4, Big Brother, Britain’s Got Talent – not one story but many
Video games
In what ways can it be said that video gaming is a post-modern medium?
In what ways can the COD games be identified as postmodern?
Call of Duty: Finest Hour & Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Conventional text-reader relations
• Once upon a time in a land far, far away…there was no such things as video games, the internet, MSN, mobile phones, Facebook, Youtube, email – no web 2.0. no web 1.0.
• In this pre-historic land before the dawn of the Age of New Media, we simply had media – TV, film, newspapers, magazines, radio.
• It was / is theoreised that essentially these media were consumed passively – we sat and watched / read or listened – audiences were merely receivers of information – they were not producers or distributors
• With the arrival of the new media listed above, all of this changed forever. Audiences are not just consumers but also producers too – web 2.0
• In a medium such as video games, the aydience / the player is completely central to the progress of the narrative – film, TV, radio , magazines, newspapers are not so obviously dependent on the consumer to determine where and how the story ends.
• This bringing to the centre of the action of the role of the consumer / user / player marks the end of conventional text-reader relations and the beginning of something new.
COD: FH & COD: MW2
Some notable video game academics (Anderson, Grossman) view violent video games as dangerous murder simulators. They see the audience as a helpless body ripe for exploitation – underpinning this approach is the conventional approach to text-reader relations.
Discussion points
• When playing video games are audiences active or passive?
• Do these games offer us realistic representations of war or not?
• After reading the reading materials, decide whether COD games can offer us the truth about war or is this not possible?
• Considering the rise in online gaming with serices like X-Box Live and PlayStation Network, how are industries and audiences behaving differently in this post-modern world?
Essay question
Do the COD games reflect reality and therefore help us to learn about the world or do they construct reality and in doing so shape players’ opinions that the world is a dangerous place and the use of violence is the best means to solve problems?
Consider how games do / don’t affect people
Consider how well or not COD reflect real world events suchas WW2 and the current war in Afgahnistan
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Dictionary definition of postmoddernism
from wikipedia
Postmodernism literally means 'after modernism'. While "modern" itself refers to something "related to the present", the movements modernism and postmodernism are understood as cultural projects or as a set of perspectives. It is used in critical theory to refer to a point of departure for works of literature, drama, architecture, cinema, journalism and design, as well as in marketing and business and in the interpretation of history, law, culture and religion in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
In one of the seminal works on the topic, philosopher and literary critic Fredric Jameson describes postmodernism as the "dominant cultural logic of late capitalism", that is, as the cultural practices that are organically bound to postmodernism's historical economic correspondent ("late capitalism", a period sometimes called financial capitalism, postindustrialism, consumer capitalism, globalization). In this understanding, the period of postmodernism's dominance begins early in the Cold War and continues through to the present.[1]
Postmodernism can also be understood as a reaction to modernism. Following the devastation of fascism, World War II, and the Shoah, many intellectuals and artists in Europe became distrustful of the whole modernist political, economic, and aesthetic project.[2] Whereas modernism was often associated with identity, unity, authority, and certainty, postmodernism is often associated with difference, separation, textuality, skepticism.
Postmodernism literally means 'after modernism'. While "modern" itself refers to something "related to the present", the movements modernism and postmodernism are understood as cultural projects or as a set of perspectives. It is used in critical theory to refer to a point of departure for works of literature, drama, architecture, cinema, journalism and design, as well as in marketing and business and in the interpretation of history, law, culture and religion in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
In one of the seminal works on the topic, philosopher and literary critic Fredric Jameson describes postmodernism as the "dominant cultural logic of late capitalism", that is, as the cultural practices that are organically bound to postmodernism's historical economic correspondent ("late capitalism", a period sometimes called financial capitalism, postindustrialism, consumer capitalism, globalization). In this understanding, the period of postmodernism's dominance begins early in the Cold War and continues through to the present.[1]
Postmodernism can also be understood as a reaction to modernism. Following the devastation of fascism, World War II, and the Shoah, many intellectuals and artists in Europe became distrustful of the whole modernist political, economic, and aesthetic project.[2] Whereas modernism was often associated with identity, unity, authority, and certainty, postmodernism is often associated with difference, separation, textuality, skepticism.
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