Postmodernism & Deutschland 83: blog task

1) Read the section on Strinati's five ways to define postmodernity. What examples are provided of the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society (media-isation)?

• the example of the characters Bruno and Borat create  more of a reality for film audiences than their creator Sacha Baron Cohen.
• The X Factor contestants perform cover versions of cover versions of songs. for example John and Edward both covered the cover of queens "we will rock you" through the five version 

2)What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83?

• jameson suggest that heavy "mediazation" results in societies loss in a sense historical context- more historical representations are presented through the media 
• This applies to Deutschland 83 as audiences dont really know what it was really like for a spy soldier in  Germany during the cold war , they only know form what the show presents - which is not all historically correct.

3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?

• more people are more concerned over the brand of an item instead of the quality and often the label becomes more valuable than the product itself which means more people are willing to pay higher prices just for a brand rather than a product itself.
• TV reality shows like big brother often make celebrities famous from no initial talent just purely for the fact that they either look good or audiences like them.
• the theory of gratifications by blumler and Katz heavily ties down to this as the idea of diversion and things being made purely for audience pleasure strongly suggests that the idea of "style over substance" is a lot more valid in today society.
• also jameson and  Baudrillard both argue that the culture as being one where meaning is lost and all that is left is surface representation eg. looks and persona

4) What examples from music are provided for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture? Can this be applied to Deutschland 83?

• music such as pop music,thought of as low art, that sometimes sample in classical music  is an example of high art. pop music which is very mainstream and popular is the example of popular culture but the addition of classical music distinguishes the popular culture with the art.
• the specific scene of the supermarket that martin walks into with the perfectly colour coded and stacked shelves could be seen as example of art and popular with the pastiche of Andy Warhol's pop art legacy and the fact that all the products are all perfectly stacked implies how people look for aesthetic over the actual product

5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?

• A bricolage is a combination of different media forms such images, text etc.. which all come together to form one media text 
• the combination of raegans speech in the first scene embedded into the show is an example of bricolage 

6) How can the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 be linked to postmodernism?

• Deutschland 83 allows the audiences to view historical archive footage that is embedded into the show and the meta narrative of the  able archer aswell as the fall of  the soviet unions version of communism in 1989.
• the fact the show is set in the 80's there were many intertextual references to 80's nostalgia from the costume to the branding of items aswell as the technology 

7) Read the analysis of media concepts and postmodern approaches on page 3 of the factsheet. Choose three of the concepts and write an example from Deutschland 83. Clue: genre, representation, ideology and audience would all be good options for this task.

• genre- the mix of spy and period genres are a postmodern approach to a conventional show
• audience 1- the representation of a black american general is also a postmodern approach- diversity
• media language- the use of the split screen, wipe and game show like section during the east vs west product comparison. 

8) Now look at page 4 of the factsheet. How does Deutschland 83 demonstrate aspects of the postmodern in its construction and ideological positioning?

• the fact that the narrative is largely fiction but is based on real events- the fact its a period drama means the costume matches the era it was set in , aswell as language(eg.. martin learning the different words in east vs west)

9) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why?

• the supermarket scene is an example of postmodernism due to the pop art like shelves that could be a positive imitation of Andy Warhol's work which is often known as pastiche. 

10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers?

• the postmodern elements in the show allow a new and unique form of entertainment in the TV show for audiences to enjoy as they allow learning , like in D83 with the old archive footage, aswell as nostalgia and forms of art , pop art, to be appreciated in the show and "payed homage to"