Postmodernism rejects the idea of grand narratives and objective truth. It emphasizes fractured and dynamic identities shaped by culture, lifestyle, ethnicity, gender and other social factors. Postmodernism also highlights the blurring of boundaries between high and popular culture and questions traditional concepts of authority, morality and political systems through an emphasis on representation, simulation, intertextuality and irony.

1. Postmodernism
The useful
bits

2. Image
Rich
Culture.
End of
Grand
Narratives.
Fractured
Identity.
Intertextuality.

3. Representations
dominate
Style over
Substance
Simulacra;
everything is
a copy.
Image Rich
Hyperreality
Boundaries
between high
culture and
popular culture
no longer fixed.

4. Certainties
of
class, gend
er, place
fading
Emphasis
on lifestyle
means
identity is
dynamic
Fractured
Identity
Ethnicity, race, s
exuality age
recognised as
significant
Globalisation
and the
Internet.

5. Decline of
Traditional
Religion
Morality is
Personal
Marxism, C
apitalism
are flawed
Relative
Truth
End of
Grand
Narratives
Authority is
untrustworthy
Political
Cynicism
Science and
Technology
fallible.

6. Irony and
the
knowing
audience
Bricolage
Intertextuality
Pastiche
Play

7. Postmodernism at the V&A
http://vimeo.com/32207784
Koyaanisqatsi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz_R2y1oAzw
Moe talks about Postmodernism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdO9orWQ-Nk&feature=related
Wayne’s World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN_VgVEZD0k&feature=results_
video&playnext=1&list=PLCC0C06A86EB27083