2. CONTENTS
Brief biography
Main theories – outline their main arguments as they pertain to
media
Quotes and quotable – exam useable quotes
Terminology/ language – specific terms they employ
Criticism – what do other people have to say about their
theories? Possible problems?
Apply to media text – deconstruct a text using one of their
idea (if possible one of your case studies)
General research for next lesson- wiki, you tube, slide share,
google, web search, textbooks etc
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Name: Jean Baudrillard
Nationality: French
Born: 27th July 1929 - Reims,
France
Died: 6th March 2007 (aged 77) -
Paris, France
Era: 20th / 21st -century philosophy
Region: Western Philosophy
School: Western Marxism, Post-
Marxism, Post-Structuralism
Main interests: Mass Media ·Post
modernity
Notable ideas: Hyper reality,
Sign value, Simulacra
Baudrillard was born in Reims, north
eastern France, on 27 July 1929. His
grandparents were peasants and his
parents were civil servants. During his high
school studies at the Reims Lycée, he
came into contact with pataphysics
(media theory dedicated to studying what
lies beyond the realm of metaphysics),
which is said to be crucial for
understanding Baudrillard's later thought.
He became the first of his family to attend
university when he moved to Paris to
attend Sorbonne University. There he
studied German language and literature,
which led him to begin teaching the
subject at several different lycées, both
Parisian and provincial, from 1960 until
1966.While teaching, Baudrillard began to
publish reviews of literature and translated
the works of such authors as Peter Weiss,
Bertolt Brecht, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels,
and Wilhelm Emil Mühlmann.
4. MAIN THEORIES
Jean Baudrillard - "the high priest of postmodernism." Baudrillard's key ideas
include two that are often used in discussing postmodernism in the arts:
- simulation
- hyper reality
The hyperreal is "more real than real": something fake and artificial comes to be
more definitive of the real than reality itself. Examples include:
- high fashion (which is more beautiful than beauty),
- the news ("sound bites" determine outcomes of political contests)
- Disneyland
A "simulation" is a copy or imitation that substitutes for reality. Again, the TV speech
of a political candidate, something staged entirely to be seen on TV, is a good
example.
A cynical person might say that for example weddings now exists for many people
in order for videos and photos to be made - having a "beautiful wedding" means
that it looks good in the photos and videos.
Baudrillard often writes in an exaggerated or hyperbolic style.
5. SIMULACRA AND SIMULATION
Simulation 4 Step Process of
destabilizing and replacing
reality…
1. Faithful – The image
reflects a profound reality
(Portrait)
2. Perversion – The image
masks and denatures of
profound reality (icon)
3. Pretense – The image
makes the absence of a
profound reality (Disney
Land)
4. Pure – The image has no
relation to any reality: it is
its own pure simulation.
6.
7. HYPER REALITY
Baudrillard suggested that the media can now
create such idealistic representations of reality that
our perform actual reality. – The audience is left
depresses as they’re own life doesn’t live up to the
artificial reality.
8. QUOTES AND QUOTABLE
“We live in a world where there is more and more
information, and less and less meaning.”
“Simulation is no longer a referential being or a
substance. It is the generation by models of a real
without origin or reality: a hyper reality”
“The secret of theory is that truth does not exist.”
9. TERMINOLOGY/LANGUAGE
Simulation – is the active process of replacement of the real
Simulacrum – a representational image that deceives; the product
of simulation usurping reality (simply; a copy without an original)
examples being: God, Disney Land.
Hyperreality - In semiotics and postmodernism, hyperreality is an
inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of
reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern
societies.
Postmodernism - a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts,
architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from
modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier
styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media,
and a general distrust of theories.
10. APPLY TO MEDIA TEXT
The Anomaly (2014)
A former soldier is taken captive and awakens in the back of a
van where he learns that he only has a few moments to figure
out how he got there.
The Anomaly is postmodern due to relating it to hyper reality. This
is because the film is based upon illusions upon illusions with
extreme technologies used. The themes of taking control of
human minds and exaggerations such as societies views are seen
within the film.
Intertextual References – the film references and recreates other
well known action scenes.
12. CONTENTS
Brief biography
Main theories – outline their main arguments as they pertain to
media
Quotes and quotable – exam useable quotes
Terminology/ language – specific terms they employ
Criticism – what do other people have to say about their
theories? Possible problems?
Apply to media text – deconstruct a text using one of their
idea (if possible one of your case studies)
General research for next lesson- wiki, you tube, slide share,
google, web search, textbooks etc
13. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Fredric Jameson was born on 14th April
1934 and is an American literary critic and
Marxist political theorist. He is best known
for his analysis of contemporary cultural
trends. Jameson was born in Cleveland.
After graduating in 1954 from Haverford
College, he briefly travelled to Europe,
where he learned of new developments in
continental philosophy, including the rise
of structuralism. He returned to America
the following year to pursue a doctoral
degree at Yale University, where he
studied under Erich Auerbach.
He once described postmodernism as the
spatialization of culture under the
pressure of organized capitalism.
Jameson is currently William A. Lane
Professor in The Program in Literature
and Romance Studies at Duke University.
In 2012, the Modern Language
Association gave Jameson its sixth Award
for Lifetime Scholarly Achievement.
Name: Fredric Jameson
Nationality: American
Born: 14th April 1934 (ages 83)
Era: 20th / 21st -century philosophy
Region: American literary critic
and Marxist political theorist.
School: Western Marxism, Post-
Marxism, Post-Structuralism
Main interests: Postmodernism,
Modernism, science fiction,
Utopia, narrative, structuralism
Notable ideas: Hyper reality,
Sign value, Simulacra
17. QUOTES AND QUOTABLE
“If it is, in reality, capitalism that is the motor force
behind the destructive forms of globalization, then it
must be in their capacity to neutralize or transform this
particular mode of exploitation that one can best test
these various forms of resistance to the West.”
“In most of the European countries - France stands out
in its resistance to this particular form of American
cultural imperialism - the national film industries were
forced onto the defensive after the war by such binding
agreements.”
18. CRITICISM
Postmodern challenges the entire enterprise of education and truth.
Postmodernism is a poor analytic tool. Whatever one gains with post-modernism,
you take away from modernity. For instance, turning all
governments including democracies into equal parts tyranny doesn't
exactly help fight for freedom or less oppression. In addition, the norm
to respect human dignity is different than the norm to take off your coat
if you are going in doors--there are fundamentally different. While I
think geneaology might be able to handle this difference--the other
tools fight against this.
Postmodern focus on language trades-off with real world focus on
actual oppression (not just the violence of language, but real
violence). You can spend too much time on issues of language or the
essentialism of labels and forget to make the world a better place.
Postmodernism is too idealistic. We as humans need structure (ie laws
and guiding mission statements). The idea that magically getting rid of
those structures would be beneficial to everyone isn't true.
19. Postmodernism is grounded on hyperbole and
overgeneralization--which is what it critiques modernism
for. It can ultimately become the fundamentalism it tries
to critique.
Post-modernism results in hyper-individualism, without
much in common. The problems with this are described
in Bowling Alone.
Most of postmodernisms advantages can be captured
by modern values and modern analytic tools. You can
examine power, ideology, and history without turning
truth claims into mush.
Postmodernism results in ultimate relativism. I've pointed
to the problems of ethical relativism and relativism more
broadly a number of times. Here is one of those articles:
A critique of relativistic theories of ethics
Assumptions & Caveats: To be fair, post-modernism is a
rather broad field. You would have to attack those folks
around Heidegger, Nietzsche, Baudrillard, those
postmodernist who talk about the nature of language,
as well as a field-by-field analysis of the use of specific
post-modern theories.
