1. Postmodernism Lesson 3
Aims and Objectives
By the end of this lesson you will…..
Understand the theories of the following thinkers -
Baudrillard and Foucault
Be able to apply their ideas to your own ideas about
Postmodern Media

2. Notes
• Take notes from text in RED

3. Baudrillard
Part One: Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007)
Baudrillard was a controversial Philosopher
whose main ideas and concepts have been
used to understand the effect of living in a
Postmodern environment on our
perceptions of reality.
His most important book "Simulacra and
Simulations" became the basis of the Matrix
films
Simulations and Simulacra
Hyperreality

4. Baudrillard cont.
• The effect of Postmodernism on the Audience can be extensive and can alter
our perceptions of the media and reality as the media and reality merge.
REALITY

HIGHTEN AND EXAGGERATE
(SIMULATE)

SIMULACRA

HYPERREALITY

5. Simulations and Simulacra
• Media represent reality and
in doing so change it to make
it more visual and fun.
• However what happens when
we start to believe that this
"Simulation" is actual reality?

6. Activity: Chinese Drawings
• Using your whiteboards draw the image that
is passed to you - how different is the end
image from the original?

7. • Rate the following foods
– which would you prefer to consume ?
– which tastes more like an orange?

8. • The effect of living in Simulacra is a distorted
sense of reality or Hyperreality…..

9. Hyperreality
Key Term: Hyperreality
Was first described by the
Philosopher Jean Baudrillard were
he suggested that the media can
now create such idealistic
representations of reality that out
perform actual reality.
The audience is left feeling
depressed as they're own life
doesn't live up to artificial reality.

10. Baudrillard and Aspirational TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59OJ17raqWw
• How can we see the hyperreal world of TV
advertising as a simulation of Reality?
• What effects will this have on the public?

11. Baudrillard and the Media
• Baudrillard wrote an article
called "The Gulf War did not
take place" which was very
controversial.
• In it he suggests that the
Media set the agenda on the
narrative of war - the war we
saw on TV did not match real
events.
(they don’t show all truths therefore this limits knowledge/power)

12. News events = Haiti Earthquake
• How can we use Baudrillard's ideas to understand The
Haitian Earthquake?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZRJtAED8uo
newswipe haiti
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62QIIjOmJq0
newswipe season 2 ep 3
• Can you relate this to recent events such as North
Korea & Boston bombings? Similarities/differences?

13. Think of what is NOT on TV
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_
conflicts
• On going conflicts NOT on TV news agenda

14. Baudrillard and Hyper-sexuality
• Watch the following news links on the recent report into
Media representations of gender.
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8538000/85
38207.stm (the whole of society is hyper-sexualized’)
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8538000/85
38207.stm (children of both genders are over-exposed to
sexual imagery’)
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8538000/85
38207.stm (media blamed for sexualization of young girls’)

15. Dove evolution advert
• Hyperreal beauty
http://www.nextnature.net/2007/03/simulacra-for-dummies/
Simulacra for Dummies
• Anyone can explain Baudrillard with this move. After the
recent passing-away of this philosopher, it seems
appropriate to post this movie as an ultimate “Simulacra for
Dummies”. This movie is quite known and probably already
posted on this blog. But just in case, here it is once more:
the “Evolution” movie made by Dove. The construction of
reality.

16. • Using the concept of Hyperreality apply it to
the ongoing debates of sexual imagery and
children:
– Should the media represent hyper-sexual
representations?
– How can you apply Baudrillards ideas to virtual
worlds like Second Life and The Sims?

17. "Life doesn't imitate Art, it
imitates bad TV"
(Woody Allen)

18. Part Two: Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
• Foucault's ideas centred on
History, particularly around how
we know about the world around
us and each other. He wrote
extensively on the history of
sexuality and gender and was a
pioneer of "Queer Theory" he
main contributions include.
• Panopitcalisation
• Knowledge and Power
• He died from an AID's related
illness in 1984
•

19. Foucault and the Panopiticon
• Foucault's ideas explain why we are so obsessed with
Voyeurism in Postmodernity.
•
• The Panopiticon was an innovate prison design by English
philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1785. In it he designed a
prison in which all inmates could be constantly watched or
be under the threat of being watched.
•
• Foucault thought that this idea was interesting and started
to apply the idea to Society.

21. Panopticonilastion and Power
• Foucault suggested that the act of watching (voyeurism) was an act of
power and control on part of the viewer. We are never ourselves in social
situations until we are alone away from others controlling sight.
• Because of this people act differently and the act of watching becomes
an act of control.
• Recently Foucault's ideas have been used to understand Reality TV and
the Media.
• In the late 90's CCTV cameras were introduced to the UK and
Nottingham has the largest concentration of CCTV than any other city.

22. Noam Chomsky
• What you will find in this film is compelling evidence (based not on
delusions, but on facts) that American media is controlled by a
corporate elite who use it essentially for propaganda purposes in
order to, if I may lift a phrase from Chomsky, "control the public
mind."
• Once you realize how consolidated the corporate media really is,
and how they twist the facts in order to pump disinformation into
the homes of unsuspecting citizens, you'll never be able to look at
CNN the same way again.
• Main stream media is used to divert people away from hard-hitting
content (Example – people rather watch ‘Knocked up’ or ‘Juno’
(comedies) than ‘If these walls could talk’ (graphic drama).......both
films about unwanted pregnancy

23. Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky (1928 - )
Chomsky is a key media analyst working at
MIT, he wrote "Manufacture of Consent" in
which he suggests that the media is a key
part changing peoples opinion on new
technologies or political decisions.
How have the media gained
consent for CCTV since the
early 90's?
How controlled are you by CCTV? - Google
street view

24. Big Brother as Panopticon
• Since the late 90's reality TV has grown in popularity as
it turns the camera on the audience, some argue this is
lazy TV programming others that it reflects Chomsky's
"Manufacture of Consent" and Foucualt's Panopticon.
• Does "Big Brother" reflect our Postmodern voyeuristic
visual culture?

25. Big brother & panopticonism
Editing & Reality - Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother & Racism
To what extent is Big Brother a
Panopitcon?
How does watching Big Brother
feel?
To what extent does the voting
system put you in control?
How real or Hyperreal are the
contestants?
Why has it been cancelled?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI editing & reality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trcA4r41OL8 big brother and racism

26. Social Networking as Panopticon
• Recently the growing Popularity of
social networking has reflected how
dependant we are on observing
others and wanting to keep in touch.
• To what extent to you agree that
"Facebook" is a Panopticon?
• What is the most popular feature of
"Facebook"?
• What other features of the Internet
could be read as Panopitcal?

27. Baudrillard
The media presents a simulation of the world
that is artificial and hyperreal
Some audiences read the hyperreal
representation as reality - hyper-sexuality
The representation of reality is mediated
through the media - war reporting
Foucault
The media could be argued to "Manufacture
Consent" for CCTV
Reality TV reflects a voyeuristic Postmodern
society
Social Networking and the internet give us
greater control over voyeurism