Explain why the idea of postmodern media might be considered controversial.

Postmodern media is a term used to describe a set of texts (media) that, because of certain qualities, remove then from the bracket of modern or traditional media. These aspects in such texts may be intertextual references (to other texts that may be deemed out of place), bricolage (this is the combination of ideas and stimuli that are drawn from a varied range of influences), hyper-reality (an overly exaggerated reflection of reality), simulacrum (similar to hyper-reality in the sense that it is a reflection of something else, yet typically represents something which is not inherently real to begin with) and finally self reflexivity, which is the act of the text referencing either the same text or associated stimuli (the most common example of this is a singular film referencing other films created by the same director.) These aspects arguably make up the basis of postmodern media, and because of this they serve a variety of purposes, directors and creators may use these tools to relay important points or even for comedic purpose, but at times this is considered controversial for a number of reasons by a variety of individuals and in some instances other professionals or theorists. Inglorious Basterds, directed by Quentin Tarantino is one such postmodernistic text. Inglorious Basterds features heavy amounts of bricolage from other texts and intertextual references from other eras, for instance, in the opening scene alone, the shot featuring monsieur La Padites farmhouse is almost identical to the opening shot in The Sound Of Music directed by Robert Wise 40 years earlier. When this is matched with a spaghetti western version of Beethovens famous Fur Elise and the opening title of once upon a

time in Nazi occupied France the audience may get the impression that they are watching some odd sort of fairytale film, rather than one of a serious temperament. This then, is where controversy may lie, when dealing with sensitive historical subjects such as the extermination of the Jews in WW2 and of course the Nazi regime as a whole, it could be considered in bad taste to create such a laid back film about such a place in history. In this respect, the postmodern aspects of the text could quite easily be considered controversial from a moral and ethical point of view. It was Frederic Jameson who proposed that postmodernism (and its included media) is depthless and because of this, does not speak to an audience. The sometimes abnormal or unconventional aspects that create postmodern media render it void of any meaning, according to Jameson. Jameson also argued that postmodern media has historical deafness attached to its texts, because, as he argues, the texts have do not have to exist within any sort of logical confines (references to other eras and prods that remind the viewer the text is superficial are all examples of a lack of logic) they have the ability to act without much regard for universal truths such as history. This, according to Jameson gives postmodern texts historical deafness and clearly this is a controversial quality for any text to have. This point is particularly potent in relation to postmodernistic texts such as Inglorious Basterds. The text itself is littered with very blatant historical inaccuracies, one of such being the completely reworked version of Hitlers death, in the text, Hitler dies from (more than) several gun wounds to the face and also a variety of explosions at the hands of one of the Basterds (the group of Jewish Nazi hunters featured in the film.) Because of such a pivotal point in history generally being considered a universal truth, it may very well be called historically deaf, and thus controversial. The ability to

misinform that this postmodernistic text has could have a variety of knock-on effects and in some ways glamorises a very gruesome part in the history of the world. Despite this being perhaps the most controversial part of the text, the films director, Tarantino, uses the shock value to relay some important social commentary on how inaccurate other real WW2 films are and how we, as an audience suffer from cognitive dissonance when dealing with stimuli that are outside of our previous experiences. This then is a very powerful tool for a postmodern text and its creators to use, and though somewhat controversial, this could be argued to be only as a means to get deeper connotations across to an audience. Controversial postmodern media is not limited to the realm of films; musical artists that would be considered postmodern are also subject to claims of being controversial. One such of these artists is Hip Hop artist MF DOOM. The artist more commonly referred to as DOOM is an individual who possesses around 6 different alter egos which are all portrayed in his music, DOOM himself is an alter ego and is derived in both appearance and characteristics from the Marvel villain Dr.Doom, The Phantom Of The Opera and even his own last name Dumile. Because DOOM has drawn inspiration (for one of his egos) from a comic book super villain, a historical French novel and of course his own surname, a clear blend of both high and low cultures is apparent, a bricolage if you will, reinforcing the point that DOOM is a postmodern artist. This fabricated and peculiar persona has, by some, been considered controversial for a number of reasons. DOOMs distinctive comic-book-style yet literate lyrical ability used when addressing dark social issues such as racism, crime, drug addiction and the abuse of women, has created grounds for criticism. Not only is the subject matter in his work controversial, but also the

way he delivers them in a particularly nonchalant way furthers the point. In this instance, this piece of postmodern media could be considered not only offensive, but also controversial. However, with reference to Levi Strauss theories of bricolage, the artist DOOM could be argued to have simply removed (deletion) the niceties or political correctness from his dark subject matter. Again, this not only makes his work more postmodern, but in some senses, justifies it. Referring back to the shock value (addition) employed in Inglorious Basterds, DOOM could be creating political statements that the things he writes and performs about are often hidden by the media or that society chooses not to see them in their true and brutal form. If this were to be the case, the work would still be controversial, but with depth because of this quality, countering the point made by Jameson that all postmodern media lacks depth and meaning. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of DOOM and his behaviours are the live performances that he doesnt take part in. DOOM has been notorious for, at live shows, sending out an imposter who will ultimately mime the entire performance. This is achieved (somewhat) successfully by DOOM not only hiding his appearance with a mask (so the audience can never truly tell what he should look like) but also by finding loopholes in his contracted shows, which allow his absence in a legal yet immoral sense. This is clearly controversial, yet the postmodern element arises when the copy of a copy is studied. For instance, DOOM is simply a non-existent alter ego of Daniel Dumile, therefore when another individual is a copy and impersonates something, which doesnt really exist; the idea of simulacrum comes to mind, for in fact, these impersonators are impersonating something which is ultimately, an impersonation. This could not only be argued to be morally controversial, for the effect it has on the paying attendants to such shows, but is also controversial

in a legal sense. Whether this action DOOM adopts is depthless supporting Jameson or is simply an addition to his existing and illusive persona is ultimately down to the audience. Though it could be argued to show from DOOMs perspective to be a critique of the music industry, the overly law heavy constriction of things like samply and treatment of artists at musical venues, this piece of postmodern media still stands controversial. There are obviously issues of subjectivity when discussing the intent behind the two pieces of postmodern media above. In the eyes of some theorists, all of such media is void of meaning and is done without any true motive, yet in others, such as Kirby Ferguson, all of these acts and texts are remixes of previous (and equally controversial) texts, which only remain current and thus controversial from being such reworks of the old. The future, due to ever increasing patent laws, political correctness and biased media making the surface, it may be that for postmodern media to survive it must remain more family friendly and less controversial, yet could this then still be called postmodern? As it stands in our current day and age it is very likely that controversy will arise from postmodern texts because of their unconventional nature, yet whether this is a negative or not thing is up for debate. The positive impacts that such media platforms could have due to the controversial nature of them may well have a great degree of impact, relaying important social or political commentary to audiences through shocking or unusual attitudes.