Postmodernism is a cultural philosophy and style that emerged in the late 20th century as a response to modernism (see here). The term came into popular usage in the 1970s in reference to artworks typified by self-consciousness and anti-authoritarianism. Postmodernism generally rejects the notion of certainty and fixed truth, so that the subjective experiences of each individual member of an artwork’s audience becomes pivotal in making sense of a work.
Postmodernism in literature and film
Postmodernism is not restricted to the visual arts. Authors such as William Burroughs, Douglas Copeland, Umberto Eco, Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon, Hunter S. Thompson and Kurt Vonnegut are among those to have brought postmodernism to literature, while it is evident too in the films of, for example, Ridley Scott (especially Blade Runner), Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar and David Lynch.
Given that postmodernism is characterized by a multiplicity of meanings, often contradictory, it is unsurprising that the movement itself is a tricky one to pin down. ‘Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity towards metanarratives’, observed the French philosopher and literary theorist, Jean-François Lyotard. Nonetheless, there are certain characteristics that many postmodern works share. For instance, postmodernism often melds high and low culture and plunders different styles and media, as well as embracing technological innovation. In addition, postmodernism often shamelessly seeks to shock its audience – sometimes by creating works that are funny or ridiculous, or by being overtly political, sexual or otherwise controversial. It is also a philosophy rooted in self-awareness.
The Pop Artists (see here) may be regarded as at the forefront of postmodernism in their self-conscious eclecticism, but postmodernism has spread across genres, finding expression in, for example, conceptual art. Artists including the aforementioned Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Chris Ofili have become global stars of the postmodern age.
Influential even as some find it infuriating, postmodernism has been succinctly summed up by the Filipino writer Miguel Syjuco as follows: ‘Postmodernism was a reaction to modernism. Where modernism was about objectivity, postmodernism was about subjectivity. Where modernism sought a singular truth, postmodernism sought the multiplicity of truths.’