What it Postmodernism?
In my view, Postmodernism is a complicated term. It is sometimes referred to as beliefs about beliefs. Honestly I have had a hard time comprehending this term myself. Lyotard mentions that postmodernism "has to do with skepticism about grand narratives." According to Jameson, "it must involve a way of mapping the new and confusing contours of our late capitalistic times." This goes on to show how many different view there are of postmodernism. This is no one concept that directly defines what it actually is due to it being a huge belief. So people tend to have their own perception of what they believe it stands for. So there is no one dominant worldview of postmodernism. People just tend to have different attitudes on this same culture. This may be due to how "others" have an influence on an ordinary being. We are influenced by our surrounding and that affects our decision making and what we tend to believe in. "Other" I think is referred to as the whole entire world and individuals who have an impact on us. The other is everyone except you. They influence how you interpret things. This goes on to show how narratives play a huge role in ones life also. So postmodernism’s emphasis on difference has allowed the others to express their own stories in their own voices. Lyotard also mentions how “we are forced to recognize that our world resists grand narratives as muc has individuals and groups create them.” This is because our world has so many views now days. He even mentions how out world “is a carnival of colorful and contradictory worldviews.” This just goes on to show hoe people are less likely to believe something due to the fact of how many other stories exist about that one particular thing. It is becoming hard to have only one belief and even impossible to determine the source where it came from. We are influenced by the “others” and tend to believe in what we hear.
January 28, 2010 at 6:50 PM
First off, great blog! I agree with you that postmodernism is a difficult term to define. Everyone has a different perception of postmodernism because they have different beliefs. These beliefs are shaped by the grand narratives that have influenced each and every one of us. Depending on what we have been exposed to, our perception of postmodernism is mainly based on those narratives. You’ve also said that the “other” also has a huge impact on our beliefs. I also agree with you on this. We tend to have one way of thinking until we’ve been exposed to this “other” in such a significant way that it changes our view of the world. When this “other” highly contradicts our own beliefs, we deconstruct both views until we find the truth. Most of the time we find that our beliefs do not have an objective truth; instead, they are man-made notions that are believed to be true. Once we have realized this, we no longer truly believe what we are told. Great blog! I think you touched on many key points. :)
January 29, 2010 at 6:32 AM
This is response to your blog and comment. I do believe that Postmodernism is your right in a way lies. Like Mr. Dominguez said to me that no one’s work is original because you somewhere in time where influenced to get that idea by someone else’s work. However, even though I do think that there are lies i think Postmodernism actually tries to acknowledge ideas like this. It says that say this work is a lie it isn't original and thats the truth its being honest. Like Maus it is truth because it recognizes that it is not all true and how it was produced.
I totally agree with you though about Postmodernism being just a munch of beliefs about beliefs. I also think its just a time period that was marked because it can be marked. It seems like any where we are in history we are moving forward and progressing and if that’s what Postmodernism is all about, then there’s evidence of it all throughout history.
January 29, 2010 at 6:44 AM
This is response to Elizabeth’s blog for some reason I cant comment on her screen. So Ravneet if you could copy and paste this to her that would be super sweet. Anyways Elizabeth i think that you did a really good job. You made me see its kind of like there are always to worlds. For example your life and world that’s your reality but there's always someone else’s that is totally different then yours. Their world is still real to them but can be different to you. People seeing things in different ways, for example a person can think the sky is blue but someone else could think the sky is purple. You can never know what someone else is seeing or thinking there is many different views. (sorry i keep using the word different, however its the only word that absolutely and completely describes it.) I might be going a little away from your blog because I think your talking about how different cultures have different realities. But then I started thinking about how every person has a different reality. You really got me thinking about this.