Postmodernism Analysis

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The idea of critique is an opportunity to challenge prejudice and authority, all the while questioning the world’s understandings of the taken for granted, or common sense views. Critique results in the creation of alternative ways of thinking, doing and living (Briggs, 2014 Topic 1.1 Slides). These alternative ways of thinking, doing and living are prominent to the world we live in, and allows us to function well as a society, and individually. We live in an age labeled as a media world, with our modern day being defined and greatly influenced by information and media saturation. There is a large impact of society today due to such a large focus on media saturation, resulting in a constant concern surrounding a lifestyle of aesthetics, appearance,…show more content…
This ever growing concern and focus on aesthetics led O’Shaughnessy and Stadler to define our modern day with the term ‘postmodernism’. In exploring the dynamic of such a term in day to day living, it was considered that postmodernism is “very knowing and self reflexive” (O’Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2012). O’Shaughnessy describes postmodernism “to be built on knowledge of the world, knowledge of media products, and knowledge of countless theories and critiques of society, modernity and the media”. Critique can take many forms such as a sound or reasoned argument, satire, irony, or parody, and abstract art and philosophical speculation, and is practiced in order to free oneself from ignorance, prejudice, presupposition and habits of though, hoping to achieve an improvement in ourselves, our world and our social…show more content…
Advertising aimed to create a culture that was becoming increasingly homogenized globally, making sure that branded products are not recognized as the ubiquitous goods they really are, and remain to be viewed as lifestyles and grand ideas (Klein, 2000). This leads us to the idea that there are limits to critique in the context of advertising in postmodern day, with these limits being the co-option of critique by advertising and consumerism (Briggs, 2014 Topic 3.1 Slides). Klein moves on to say that “critical perspectives are embraced by corporations as a way of selling to more ‘savvy’ consumers, creating niche markets” this appeals to the contemporary audiences ‘savviness’ due to their familiarity with media culture, through their stylised and exaggerated
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