In the chapter about Posts the authors state “There seems to be a certain sense of style shared by many of the things labeled “postmodern” a sense of disjunction or deliberate confusion, irony, playfulness, reflexivity, a kind of cool detachment, a deliberated foregrounding of constructedness, a suspicion concerning neat or easy conclusions.” (Theory Toolbox pg.140) What do you take away from this? Why does the idea of postmodern come with “a suspicion concerning neat or easy conclusions”? What is an example of postmodern that you used personally to help clarify this idea while you were reading and what sense of style do you think your example showed?
ENGL 299 | Intro to English Studies
Dr. Myra Seaman | Spring 2017
This quote makes me think of postmodernism as something that groups people, styles, and ideas together that may not seem like they belong together but are all intentionally trying to represent some far-fetched meaning. I think idea of postmodern coming with “a suspicion concerning neat or easy conclusions” means that everything that is considered “postmodern” is about challenging the eras before it and what the people of those times deemed right or correct. Postmodernism does not accept the ideas that have been verified by others, but questions those ideas instead. For example, I think of people like Andy Warhol mentioned on page 140. He challenged the stereotype of what art is. Artists like Warhol made a point that art does not have to be detailed scenes captured on a canvas, it can be a bunch of Campbell’s soup cans. A colorful Marilyn Monroe can mean just as much to someone as a portrait of a figure screaming does to someone else. Postmodernism evokes thought by challenging the norms of what came before it.
From this statement on postmodernism that the toolbox offers on page 140, I believe that postmodernism is used as a way to connect the a newer generation with some of the thought provoking questions of the past. I agree with Lauren’s comparison between Warhol’s “Marilyn Monroe” painting and Munch’s “The Scream”; these portraits could evoke the similar emotions from an observer, depending on who is observing the art and in what context. I think this view of postmodernism connects to parts of the authors’ commentary on poststructuralism in “The Theory Toolbox” stating, “In other words, it is when you don’t know or can’t figure out the underlying structures of meaning that the existence of these structures becomes most apparent” (148). Postmodernism itself is a fragment in the line of various literary and cultural traditions that have occurred over time and showcases ideas for discussion and analysis in a new away that engages the new generation of society. I liked the example of “Seinfeld” that the authors use like on page 142, while reading this section I kept thinking of “the office” and William Carlos William’s “The Red Wheelbarrow”.