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Generally, Postmodernity refers to the socio-political conditions of postwar/contemporary period ("new forms of social, political and economic arrangement; new mode of thinking" Connor) and postmodernism refers to the cultures produced under those conditions. Just as the two terms are controversial and variously defined, the relations between the two also vary from one cultural field (e.g. music industry and literature) to another (See examples of definitions).
II. General Characteristics of Postmodernism
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(Mcrobbie p. 2-5) "At that time there were two approaches
to postmodernism, each of which raised important questions for sociologists.
From architecture to fine art, from remakes of B movies to the cinema of
David Lynch, from Talking Heads to Laurie Anderson, what was becoming increasingly
apparent was indeed a concern with surface,
with meaning being paraded as an intentionally superficial phenomenon (what
Jameson labelled 'waning in affect' or depthlessness). Not
only was meaning in art or in culture all there, for all to see, stripped
of its old hidden elitist difficulty, but it also, again as Jameson pointed
out, seemed already familiar, like the faint memory of an old pop song,
a refrain, a chorus, a tune, a 'cover version' of an original which never
was. (e.g. Jameson)
The second way of looking at postmodernism back in the 1980s was to consider it as an anti-foundationalist form of anti-social theory--that is, a form of criticism which interrogated and exposed the (cruel) foundations upon which modern social thought had been based. This approach, which became more familiar in the late 1980s, suggested that there could no longer be one theory of society, no one 'big picture'. At best tehre were a number of snapshots of the same view, each aware of the limites of its own field of vision. Here, too, we detect a playfulness, a disrespect for the meta-narratives of history, a refusal to play the game of philosophy and a desire instead to enjoy a wilful breaking of the rules in favour of epithet, contingency, discontinuity. (e.g. Lyotard, Baudrillard)" |
(H. Bertens on postmodernisms from his "Introduction")
1)" a complex anti-modernist artistic strategies which emerged
in the 1950s and developd momentum in the course of the 1960's.
e.g. -for many of the American literary critics that bring the term postmodernism into circulation in the 1960's and early 1970's, postmodernism is the move away from narrative, from representation.. a move toward radical aesthetic autonomy, towards pure formalism e.g. photography--anti-representational, anti-narrative, deconstructionist photography" |
"two strands:
1) it embraced the enlarged condition of possibility apparently released by the fading of modernism--critical pluralist 2) attempts to go beyond modernism by revealing the inability within it --oppositional, exploratory" two extremes--
two attitudes
1960--the avant-garde attacj ib art-as-institution is broadered
and raised toa socio-political level.
Like poststructuralism, this postmodernism rejects the empirical
idea that language can represent reality, that the world is accessible
to us because its objects are mirrored in the language that we use.
2) the other moment. . . derives from Foucault and, to a lesser extent, Lacan. It belongs to the 1980s rather than the 1970s, although it is difficult to pinpoint its appearance. Like the early deconstructionist postmodernism, this later poststructuralist postmodernism assumes a reality of textuality and signs, of representations that do not represent. Here, however, the emphasis is on the workings of power, and the constitution of the subject. |
Positive
Subversive of mainstream systems; Empowering the margins |
Apolitical, complicitous, imperialistic |
Anti-foundationalism, Pluralism | Skepticism, Relativism |
Boundary-breaking | Overall commodification, lack of critical distance; |
Constructing subjectivity | Death of the subject |
Parody | Pastiche, kitsch |
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China |
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1911
1914 - 1919 |
1st World War |
Rep. of China
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1895-1945
Japanese occupation |
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1937-
1945 |
2nd World War
1945--the explosion of an atomic bomb over Hiroshima in Japan |
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the 50's |
1960 The U.S. GNP 33% of the world's, and Japan, 3% |
1949 KMT came to Taiwan
1950 Martial Law |
1955 American Army in Taiwan.
American Force Network Taiwan 美軍電台 (re-named International Community Radio Taipei in 1979--ICRT) |
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U.S. | U.S. |
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the
60's
70's and 80's--gradual return to conservatism |
Vietnam war (1965-1975?) |
1960
橫貫公路通車
1963 工業生產總額超過農業 1964 The first highway (北基) 1971 退出聯合國;釣魚台事件
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Popular Music 熱門音樂& Songs of Youth青春之歌 II. Literary movements
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1975 The Fall of Saigon | President Chiang Kai-shek died | ||||
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Twelve Major Constructions started. 12大建設 |
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Reagan administration |
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Taiwan became a supplier of computers. |
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"We Are the World" album | Taiwan:
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41.5% 41.47 |
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反盜錄演唱會 |
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Lo Ta-yu 羅大佑 establish
Music Factory in Hong Kong.
Tina Turner's & Stevie Wonder's concerts. |
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The unification of East and West Germany |
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II. Why do we want to study it here?
A