Postmodern Question Example

 Postmodernism is the era that we live in right now, according to most theorists. There are many different ideas supporting this as there is the change in authority from god, to man, to noone, the hyper reality, simulacra and meaning implosion that comes with media and features of postmodernism texts classified through forms of copies such as parodies, homage, bricolage, satire, intertextuality, and more. In this essay I will be discussing media texts and how they are postmodern.

She-Hulk is a heavy example of postmodern text. It uses a lot of the features of a postmodern text such as loss of reality, self reflexivity (the most prominent in the series) and parody and much more. The concept of these superheroes fitting into society itself could already be considered a loss of reality, especially when a character like Hulk or She-Hulk is quite obviously so fictional, that the producers need to create their character on screen through post-production editing and CGI. The concept of superpowers and big green humans bringing justice to the world is a big example of how superhero movies condone this loss of reality, or hyper reality that most audiences enjoy as to distract themselves from the reality they live in (Uses and Gratification - distraction). The really prominent self reflexivity in this text isn't the first we've seen from Marvel, as it was already used in another one of their film series, Deadpool. She-Hulk is seen breaking the fourth wall multiple times throughout the series, usually to make a remark about something that just happened in the plot, like an audience would, making comments such as "no way this is how the series goes, right?" or regarding her own thoughts when she was facing an internal conflict of decisions, all the way to jumping out of the netflix thumbnail selection and into the real world, to debate with the producers of the show. This self-reflexivity just supports the loss of reality presented throughout the show even more. There is also a parody of one of Marvel's Presidents, Kevin Feige, through the representation of a robot known as K.E.V.I.N. This robot is a parody of what people in the community and production crew thinks of Feige, being authoritarian and cliche. 

Describe a text, or texts, which are essentially postmodernism

Jean Baudrillard is a theorist that has publicised his ideas regarding postmodernism and its effects on the audiences. Some of his main ideas include Hyper Reality, Simulacra as well as Meaning Implosion. What I will be discussing in this point, will be Hyper Reality and its relation to Heightened Reality in different media texts. One text I believe to be postmodern would be Keeping up with the Kardashians. It has been debunked time and time again just how much of the show is scripted, having the stars act out different plotlines, certain reactions, etc, simply to be recorded on the camera which is clearly in the room with them, to satisfy audiences’ craving for exaggerated reality shows. One scene in the show depicts Kim’s daughter proposing an idea for a prank, that certainly isn’t the way a child would think of a prank, however scripted to be believable enough that a lot of the audience would believe it to be real. The idea of Hyper Reality, which is used in this show, is that audiences would not be able to say definitively whether or not the actions are real or aren’t. This is different from Heightened reality, used in a different media texts, such as David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet. This documentary presents a powerful first-hand account of humanity’s impact on nature and a message of hope for future generations. This show is very much an informational and factual documentary, however in this postmodern world, it does use a few features that some may see to be ‘lies’ or ‘deception’. Heightened Reality is nowhere near as extreme as Hyper Reality, as Heightened Reality only uses these postmodern features to give a certain effect, but not to deceive the audience into believing that their depictions using these features are true, thus allowing audiences to tell when something is used to give an effect and are able to distinguish between reality and simulation, rather than that with Hyper Reality. A Life on Our Planet regularly uses music in scenes of the outdoors, such as forests, jungles, etc. Of course, in reality, there is no tense background music playing as we trek through a forest, thus perhaps making audiences feel disappointed with the reality. However, we are able to distinguish this simulation from reality, as the way it is depicted does not force the idea on us that the music in the forest is reality. It is a representation of the feeling you get as you trek through the forest, but not an actual part of it. Another Heightened Reality feature that is used in this documentary would be the clips used for wildlife, which often times is comprised of different clips from different times and places put together, to keep the screen interesting. The show doesn’t state that it is the same clip or shot, but we come to this conclusion with how well in post production it is put together, as to chronologically continue the story our eyes tell us.

its spelled Baudrillard, I need definitions, where is your second example, no critiques, no effects on the audience