Half Term Homework Task 3 - Definitions

Theoretical Terms 

1. Post-modern - C The semiotic landscape of a society dominated 

by consumer culture and information technology 

2. Post-modernity - E A historical period in Western culture after the

Second World in which society became dominated 

by information technology 

3. Parody - A To copy something in a humorous and tongue in 

cheek way.  

  

4. Pastiche - D A copy without an original 

5. Hyper-reality - K The collapse of the distinction between the real 

and simulated. 

6. Consumer culture - B A culture and society in which individual and 

collective identity is constructed in material acts of 

economic exchange e.g. shopping 

7. Simulacrum - H To copy something without humour, irony or 

anything else that communicates difference 

  

8. Cultural capital - F The knowledge and information that informs 

people’s cultural consumption in a post-modern 

society 

9. Signifier and the signified - G The basic units of semiotic analysis. 

10. Multi-accentuality -  L The way in which meaning changes according to 

context and over-time. 

11. Ideology - J A system of belief or ideas. 

12. Hegemony - I The dominant way of thinking about society and 

culture enforced by the ruling class.

Half term Homework Task 2: Warm Bodies

‘Warm Bodies’ is a post-modern text in my opinion as it incorporates various genres, styles and themes, creating a pastiche. The film is classed as part of the horror genre however, the storyline is about a young zombie who still has some feelings called ‘R’ who saves a young lady from a swarm of zombies and as a result they fall in love, curing all the zombies and bringing them back to life, so therefore it incorporates aspects of the genres; romance and comedy also, and can be argued it is a bricolage. The film is hyperreal due to the representation of the world and the existence of zombies, and in a sense represents the living as ‘zombies’ as they are stuck in a routine and by introducing a relationship with R, Julie begins to rectify this. Sub-consciously the film does not include much technology, such as no television which plays a big part in our everyday lives, therefore this film could show how the relationships between people are without technology, and from flashback R relives of the airport he now resides in before everyone around him became zombies, it showed all of them on some form of technology such as mobile phones and iPads. This is hence a possible reason why Julie found herself attracted to a zombie, as there was little of a media representation, only word of mouth speculation. And that we have to make connections on the basic human level and cannot judge people for their simple physical affectations.

Half Term Homework Task 1

Half Term Homework piece 1: Reading Comprehension

Objective:

To develop your Independent learning & Academic skills

To prepare an introductory grounding in the concept of Post Modernism

Read through the chapter on Post Modernism from the OCR Handbook attached 

1. What does Post Modernism suggest about the value of high art (eg opera) and popular culture (eg TV)
2. What does Post Modernism suggest about the ideas of truth or reality - how is this linked to the Media?
3. Who were the 2 big thinkers and what concept do their theories share?
4. Give an example of 3 'Grand-narratives' or 'Meta-narratives' (2 will need you be your own not listed in the chapter)
5. What is significant about Disneyland and simulacrum?
6. How is our understanding of the events of 9/11 hyper-real?
7. What is significant about the Matrix as an example of Baudrillards ideas of simulation & hyper-reality?
8. Why are Post-modern elements of The Mighty Boosh ?
9. Why are Post-modern elements of Extras ?
10. Why is Grand Theft Auto Post-modern?
11. Why is the Cadburys Gorilla ad Post-modern?
12. What does FLOW and IMMERSION mean?

1)      Post Modernism suggests that the value of high art and popular culture is completelty rejected.

2)       Post Modernism suggests that the ideas of truth or reality are competing claims of the truth, and therefore the ‘truth’ at the time is just the opinion or ‘discourse’ that is winning at that time. The media relates to the ideas of truth as it provides us with them, by showing representations and images that are debatable to whether they are true representations or not, meaning we cannot tell what is true anymore due to fabrication by the media.

3)      The two big thinkers in post modernism are Jean Francois Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard, who both offered different versions of post-modernity, however, both of their theories share the concept that the idea of truth needs to be analysed or ‘deconstructed’ so that we can challenge dominant ideas people deem to be the truth.

4)      -  The Book of Genesis in The Bible seeks to explain the role of God in the creation of the Universe and God's plan for humankind. Many religions have similar creation myths, which try and make sense of the order of things and the ultimate ‘purpose' of human life.

5)      Disneyland is a real place and yet can be seen as a fictional representational world, in other words in relation to simulacrum, Disneyland uses the idea that everything is flawless and no wrong can happen, however this conflicts because the real world is not perfect, making Disneyland a simulation.

6)      Our understanding of the 9/11 attacks is hyper real due to the fact the majority of the footage in which we have seen has been through technological means, such as footage from which was filmed on members of the public’s camera phones, or camcorders and then used in various different television documentaries in order to electronically construct our understanding of the event, making it hyperrealised through the media and creating the uncertainty of what the truth really was.

7)       The Matrix is primarily an interpretation of Baudrillard’s theory of postmodern simulation controlling the world, as in the Matrix they are living in a simulated world. This becomes apparent when Neo is seen reading Baudrillard’s book in the film, therefore denoting to us that the directors drew inspiration from his notion.

8)      In the Mighty Boosh, there is an array of elements in which conform to postmodernism, such as conventions, genre traits, parody and intertextual references, therefore it is near impossible to class it as one singular style. Also, due to the mixture of styles and themes. The Mighty Boosh contains Bricolage.

9)      Extras implements many post-modern elements, for instance, the programme uses ‘decontextualisation’ as due to the fact some celebrities guest star as themselves, it is questionable as to whether they are portraying themselves truthfully or a simulated version of themselves. Plus, the use of pastiche in the television show puts across how the television industry works and parody in which is used towards the conventions of genre.

10)    Grand Theft Auto is post-modern due to the fact the gamer is essentially creating their own simulated story or world by making different decisions within the game. And therefore, enables the gamer to experience a state of hyperreality.

11)   The Cadbury’s Gorilla advert is post-modern as instead of conforming to the normal form of advertisements. And it uses a sub-conscious message that chocolate appeals to us as if we had a primal instinct even though we are supposed to be eating healthier options.  

12)   Immersion refers to how a gamer invests imagination in the game is drawn into the simulated gameworld, whereas flow refers to the state the gamer is in whilst playing the game, both of these terms help us to understand how video games can be post-modern.