In a world where business leaders cheer for dinosaur attacks, childhood memories turn into life lessons, and pop songs sound like pure nonsense, postmodernism loves to break the rules. Carlos Greaves’s funny fake news article, Naomi Shihab Nye’s thoughtful poem, and Ylvis’s strange song all twist reality and play with language. These works mix genres, play with meaning, and ask us to think twice about how we understand stories. With strange events, references to other texts, and a focus on how stories are told, they show us what happens when narratives stop following the rules and start asking big questions in weird ways.
Comment 1: Magical Realism & Dark Humor
In “SURE, THE VELOCIRAPTORS…” by Carlos Greaves, dinosaurs are brought into an office setting like they’re just another part of the workday. It’s funny and ridiculous, but also a little disturbing. For example, when Ludlow says that some employees have had their limbs ripped off and thrown “like a juggler tossing bowling pins,” it turns something violent into something almost playful. This is a good example of dark humor. It makes us laugh, but also feel uncomfortable. It reminds me of Shrek, when Lord Farquaad says, “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.” In both cases, leaders care more about their goals than people’s safety. These stories make fun of those in power and show how easy it is to ignore real danger when it’s hidden behind jokes or business talk. That’s the postmodern twist - using humor to point out something serious.
Comment 2: Intertextuality & Self-Awareness in “Making a Fist”
In Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Making a Fist,” a young girl is afraid she might be dying. Her mother tells her, “You know you’re alive when you can make a fist.” That simple line turns into a powerful message about staying strong. The poem turns a personal memory into something many people can relate to. It also reminds me of Moana, where the main character finds her strength by listening to her culture and trusting herself. Both stories use their backgrounds, Arab-American and Polynesian, to show how traditions and family help people keep going, even when things are hard. The poem also makes us think about how memory works. When the speaker says, “Years later I smile,” it shows how we often change our memories over time. They aren’t just facts, they become stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the past. That self-awareness is part of what makes the poem feel real and thoughtful, even though it’s short and simple.
Comment 3: Language and Nonsense in “What Does the Fox Say?”
Ylvis’s song “What Does the Fox Say?” starts like a real nature video, listing animal sounds, but then it suddenly switches to total nonsense, sounds like “Gering-ding-ding” and “Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow.” The video also looks strange, with people in animal costumes dancing in a cartoon-like forest. It’s all funny and weird, but also clever. The song pretends to be serious while giving us sounds that mean nothing. It plays with our need to find meaning, even when there isn’t any. That’s a big part of postmodernism, pointing out how language can fall apart and stop making sense. Sometimes we look for deep answers, like “What does the fox say?” but maybe the answer is that there is no answer. The song makes us laugh, but also shows how strange and empty words can be when they’re not connected to anything real.
From office memos with raptors, to quiet poems about making fists, to songs filled with silly sounds, postmodernism shows us how stories can break down and still be powerful. It teaches us that heroes can be fake, memories can change, and language doesn’t always say what we think it does. Maybe we don’t need to solve every mystery or find perfect meaning. Maybe the fun comes from the questions themselves, the weird, open spaces where things don’t quite make sense, and where we start to notice how much control we really have over the stories we tell.
Works Cited
Greaves, Carlos. “Sure, the Velociraptors Are Still on the Loose, but That’s No Reason Not to Reopen Jurassic Park.” McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, 12 May 2025, https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/sure-the-velociraptors-are-still-on-the-loose-but-thats-no-reason-not-to-reopen-jurassic-park. Accessed 12 May 2025.
Jurassic Park. Directed by Steven Spielberg, performances by Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, and Laura Dern, Universal Pictures, 1993. Jurassic Park – “Your scientists were so preoccupied…” [Image]. Uploaded image from film scene. Accessed 12 May 2025.
Moana. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, Walt Disney Pictures, 2016.
Nye, Naomi Shihab. “Making a Fist.” The Words Under the Words: Selected Poems, Eighth Mountain Press, 1995, pp. 1–2.
Pigeonification. “Shrek (2001) – Some of You May Die, but It’s a Sacrifice I Am Willing to Make.” YouTube, uploaded by Pigeonification, 12 Aug. 2014, https://youtu.be/hiKuxfcSrEU?si=u5uSinwrdkTfQ6qm.
Ylvis. “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?).” YouTube, uploaded by TVNorge, 3 Sept. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE.
Your breakdown of how postmodernism shows up in completely different places is very creative. I liked your comparison between Greave’s dinosaur office and Lord Farquad. The compassion is scarily accurate. Your take on Making a Fist was also great, especially how you tied it into Moana to give the poem further depth. Your Ylvis section was spot on. “The Fox” is so chaotic but the way you explained it was very smart.
My favorite source you used was "What Does the Fox Say" because its such a weird and interesting song, but that makes it perfect for a post modern source to use to connect it with the 2 other sources. My favorite meme you used was the Lord Farquaad because it sums up the Jurassic Park story perfectly with black humor.
I really love how this post pulls together such different examples to show how weird, funny, and even a little unsettling it can be when stories stop playing by the usual rules. All three pieces mess with how we expect stories to work, what they “should” say or how they “should” be told. This article really highlights the coolest part of postmodernism; stories don’t have to make perfect sense to mean something. Sometimes the confusion is the point.
I really liked your point about how “What Does the Fox Say?” forces us to listen to our instinct to search for meaning even when there might be none. This stuck with me since the song starts out sounding like it’s going to teach us something but quickly turns weird. It made me think, is the song kind of mocking the way we consume information? Like, maybe it’s not just nonsense for humor’s sake, but also a hit at how media often pretends to be informative while actually offering nothing. Do you think that’s a part of postmodernism, making more chaos and confusion than actually needed?