Jay-Z Postmodern

Jay-Z: Postmodern Artist on Prezi

Jonathan Kramer Theory

3. does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present

Samples Duran Duran's track from 1986 'Notorious' and transforms it by changing the genre and style.

13. includes fragmentations and discontinuities

The music has areas of purely vocals, as well as sections of ambient dub and keyboard/piano. There are several silent sections, most noticably at 2:25

Postmodernism Elements in Kick Ass

Postmodernism: Kick Ass on Prezi

Creativity

AS

I feel with AS, technology such as Photoshop did enhance my potential for creativity as without it I would have been restricted as to what I could achieve. For example, use of fonts, colours, images, editing tools all helped to create my final product and make it what it was. Research and planning helped a lot, as without it I would not have learned many of the conventions and styles of existing magazines, and not been able to make a product that will fit in within the market. It also helped me to aim my magazine at a specific audience, which meant I could have an idea in mind whilst designing in order to make it appeal specifically to a target group. Inspiration from other texts helped me creatively to produce my own ideas based on things I had seen, and try to emulate and redesign certain elements. Restrictions were placed on me in the sense of professionalism, as all existing magazines tend to use high quality expensive cameras for clear and sharp images - whereas I used the school equipment. This did not hinder creativity though, as I was still able to edit the images in photoshop by modifying their contrast and colour, as well as cutting them out.

A2

Similarly to AS, technology enhanced my creativity a lot in A2. For example, I was able to use software such as Sony Vegas in order to edit my video, aswell as Photoshop for my digipak and poster. These helped me to design my products to look exactly how I wanted using features such as slow motion and colour correction. I used inspiration from other texts for all of my products - which supports Bentley's theory of 'the making of the new and the rearranging of the old'.

Postmodernism and Music

The postmodern sensibility that anything can be considered cool in an ironic ‘I know it’s bad, but it’s so bad it’s good’ way:

Work that is created based (entirely or in part) on older material. This incorporates samplingand will take you from the realms of hip hop culture transporting you finally in today's modern fragmented musical landscape. You will have to listen to some of the artists to fullyappreciate them and their work.

Audiences that are both niche and mainstream. E.g.: Radio 1, 1xtra, BBC6, XFM

 

 

The ways in which people engage and listen to music e.g.:  iPod,  DAB, mobile phones etc

 

 

The legal issues surrounding sampling. (Led Zeppelin  borrowed  heavily from old bluesmenand it took years for the songwriters to be credited and paid royalties. The same group tooka hard-line stance initially to be sampled by hip hop groups.)

 

 

The state of the music industry incorporating any recent developments that change how weaccess/ interact with music e.g.: Spotify, X Factor, iTunes, illegal downloading, free cds withnewspapers etc

In what ways can Inglourious Basterds be considered postmodern?

Inglourious Basterds can be considered postmodern mainly due to a number of intertextual references throughout the film that incorporate texts from different genres and particularly vary in age in order to create a film that combines different forms of media in a way which can then appeal to media-literate audiences. Another element that makes it postmodern is the frequent use of hyperreality within the film, which constructs a fantasy for the audience to engage in – with at several points it being made clear the film is not real, however allowing for it to be enjoyed.

A film that has been compared to Inglorious Basterds in some elements is ‘Where Eagles Dare’ a 1968 war film by Brian Hutton. This is due mainly to the way death is conveyed in both films, particularly of Nazi’s. They share a ruthless, emotionless style of killing the Nazi’s with high numbers of deaths shown in both – with the ways in which they die varying creatively and sometimes shown as graphic. This an example of hyperreality, as the deaths are shown in a way that are not what is expected from real life – yet do not pretend to be real. This is something that creates the argument ‘is Inglorious Basterds a war film at all?’ as stereotypical war films such as Saving Private Ryan aim to be as realistic as possible, whereas Inglorious Basterds blurs the line between what is real and what is virtual in a way which makes it different to most. For example, the Nazi’s wear completely neat and pristine uniforms even during battle – rarely looking unwashed or dishevelled whereas in a real life situation we know this would not be the case as it is not what we associate with war. However, based on Fiske’s theory, it can be argued our perception of war is only based on war films to an extent, and that the stereotypical image that is portrayed such as in Saving Private Ryan is being challenged by Tarantino. Another non-conventional element is the lack of emotion and fear, which is something usually played on a lot in war films, in order to create a sense of realism. Therefore suggesting Inglorious Basterds does not attempt to create something that is meant to be seen as real, and instead is a film that acknowledges it is a film. It does have elements of a stereotypical war film, mainly in the storyline and plot. For example, the way it is about fighting the Nazi’s, the way the main characters are – similar to The Dirty Dozen and also the way it is set in World War II. However, the way it breaks conventions is in the way it is not historically correct as the war did not go according to the film so therefore it could be considered a film based on war rather than a war film.

Tarantino incorporated elements of his own stylistic elements into the film, such as the yellow subtitles and text in the film, which are seen in films such as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill etc. This incorporates intertextuality by linking to the other films, however as Tarantino’s films are usually postmodern and more fantasy than reality this can make it appear that this film is to be of similar style. It also breaks the convention of a white font, meaning it does not conform to the stereotypical war film again. The film appears to be influenced by Western genre style, with camera shots and soundtrack being reminiscent of films such as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Again, another reference to media from the past 40-50 years which helps to build the idea of it being a postmodern film as it is a combination of texts from genres and times – supporting Jenck’s theory of postmodernism.  The spaghetti western soundtrack used is from a completely different genre however does not seem out of place when used as the camera shots and style support it.

Inglorious Basterds also uses and fairly obviously copies scenes from other texts in order to incorporate intertextuality and use elements that can be recognised by the audience. An example of this is at the end of chapter 1, with the shot where Hands Landa stands at the doorway of the house being very similar to a famous scene from the 1956 Western ‘The Searchers’ – again showing Western genre influence within the film. Another example is the reference to Battleship Potemkin in the black and white short film ‘Nations Pride’ which is shown in the cinema during the film. The eyeball shot is replicated and reused which shows intertextuality from a different time period and genre – taking influence from multiple texts.  This supports Levi Strauss’ theory of Bricolage, with Inglorious Basterds using several genres and styles throughout with the use of addition, deletion, substitution and transposition. The subtitles in yellow are ‘substituted’ for those of the conventional white, whilst scenes from other texts such as The Searchers are ‘added’ into the film. Scenes of transposition include the opening scene, with the setting very similar to that of The Sound of Music, by interchanging the style to fit with something from the past which can be recognized as intertextuality.

Elements of parody within the film add to it being considered postmodern, as the humour is not conventional with films of this genre – again questioning whether it is a real war film or not. The Basterds along with the British have heavily stereotypical accents throughout, which provide humour to scenes where humour would not be expected. Archie Hicox for example, has a very stereotypical posh British accent, which as well as helping the audience easily identify characters also provides humour. In the bar tavern scene, he is held at gunpoint and says the line ‘Now, about this pickle we find ourselves in’. Similarly, a soundtrack element such as the Blaxploitation music that is played is almost another style of parody, using music from a completely unrelated genre that is from the past. This again uses theory of postmodernism as it breaks the boundaries between the past and present and allows them to combine in order to create a media product.  This is similar to the work of Reni Magritte – juxtaposing texts by using them in an unusual context, which creates work considered to be postmodern.

Binary opposites are used within the film, supporting Kramer’s theory of postmodernism. The Basterds are seen as the stereotypical good guys as they represent the Allies, whilst the Nazi’s are shown to be bad and evil – with scenes including them having a tense nature, such as the Tavern and House scene. They play on historical fact, such as the propaganda used during the war by the Nazi’s showing the Jews to be rat like which is continued within the film. The Basterds however are shown to use brutality, with scenes showing them scalping the Nazi’s – something which is unusual for a war film as the allies are usually shown to be more honourable and not as brutal. The Nazi’s are usually portrayed in this way, however are not as much in this film and are less so than the Allies, breaking the convention.

Hyperreality is used in the way historical events are changed for the purpose of the film – such as Hitler being killed by the Americans. It is also displayed at the very beginning of the film, where the opening title reads ‘Once upon a time, in Nazi-occupied France’ likening it to a fairy-tale when in reality it is a war  film, a juxtaposition that creates a sense of fantasy and blurs the line between that and reality. This is considered postmodern as right from the start, it states clearly that is a film and does not pretend to be real.

Creating a CD Cover

1. Generate a name for your band by using WikiPedia's random page selector tool, and using the first article title on whichever page pops up. No matter how weird or lame that band name sounds.
2. Generate an album title by cutting and pasting the last four words of the final quote on whichever page appears when you click on the quotationspage's random quote selector tool. No matter what those four words turn out to be.
3. Finally, visit Flickr's Most Interesting page -- a random selection of some of the interesting things discovered on Flickr within the last 7 days -- and download the third picture on that page. (Even better: Click on this link to get a Flickr photo that's licensed under Creative Commons.) Again -- no cheating! You must use the photo, no matter how you feel about it.
4. Using Photoshop (or whatever method you prefer), put all of these elements together and create your very own CD cover, then upload it to the CD memepool
My version:

This cover is almost entirely random, with the only element I got to choose being the text. For this reason, I think the cover lacks any creativity at all - and instead is created by chance. As I could not choose the artist name, album title or image I could not have been creative at all as I did not have to think about any of it.