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Keep Going! This portion is due Wednesday. Be sure to include live links.
As you Listen/View each iconic work of Postmodernism, consider these points:
Intertextuality/Pastiche - Look at how the work draws from established literary traditions and tropes, "samples" them - mocks them in both a literal and figurative sense.
Metafiction/Poioumena - Find the different ways the artist/author turns the camera back onto hirself, becoming part of the narrative zhe tells. At what point does zhe blur the lines between artist and audience, between creator and consumer?
Fabulism/Magical Realism - Recognize where the artist/author creates an ecosystem that is uncomfortably uncanny, magical, yet utterly photo-realistic.
Minimalism v. Maximalism - Find examples of the stripped down aesthetic of Postmodernist art and literature, then compare it to the sometimes baroque overindulgence of 21st century societies.
Any other element from your KF - you know the drill!
Radiohead "Pyramid Song" (9 pts possible)
Tenacious D "Tribute" (8 pts possible)
CN: Expletive use (but bleeped)
The Prodigy "Breathe" (7 pts possible)
Gorillaz "Humility" (10 pts possible)
Beyoncé (Cowboy Carter) "Blackbiird" (7 pts possible)
Ramona Falls "I Say Fever" (5 pts possible)
OutKast" Hey Ya" (7 pts possible)
CN: Expletive use (but bleeped)
Gotye "Somebody I Used to Know" (6 pts possible)
CN: Nude male torso
Tool "Schism" (10 pts possible)
CN: Graphic animated imagery (body horror)
Ylvis "What Does the Fox Say" (7 pts possible)
Diplo/Morgan Wallen "Heartless" (6 pts possible)
Here's Ima Nerd's Model Response
Funniest comment I've read: Billie Eilish: Where do we all go when we dream? Little Kids: That's deep and weird. Tool: Hold my EAR.
IMA NERD
COMMENT #3 - Postmodernist Music/Video
Model Response
Ramona Falls, “I Say Fever”
Here are the lyrics to the song:
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Beyond the absolute weirdness of the video, what jumps out to me are the patterns in the lyrics. On the surface they appear to be a chaotic mess, but maybe that's the point? Like lots of math rock, there is an underlying pattern.
The woman in this song needs adoration so badly, she purchases what looks like a love potion. But, the love potion reduces everybody to animals.
This is "Human and Animal," part of Chimera Serie by Aurore Lephilipponnat
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The jumbled, fragmented imagery in the surface, the blurred motion, the jumpy shifts from scene to scene, the paper cut-out characters from 19th century lithographs, distort time. The Postmodernist temporal distortion ironically makes linear time unnecessary. Instead, it becomes cyclical. The through-line is the number five, our "code to decipher."
According to our favorite archetype guy CG Jung in his book, Synchronicity, archetypes are the math of human existence. They are the underlying equation that manifests in the symbols of our stories. The number five, repeated often in "I Say Fever," is a representation of that algebra. Archetypally, 5 symbolizes the human being for a bunch of reasons beyond the dead Swiss dude's theories. Human beings typically have five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, and five appendages (if the head is included). It is also the number of systems in the human body.
We use our five senses to understand the world and our place in it. That's why Biblical symbologists see the number as a an image of God's grace ("The Meaning of Numbers in the Bible").
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, there is also a long history connecting the number five to womanhood. The Babylonians worshiped the moon goddess Ishtar and associated
her with five phases of the moon: new, crescent, gibbous, full, waning ("Number Symbolism").
This is due to a few factors, most notably a woman's menstrual cycle's connection to the lunar cycle. It links our senses and bodily functions to the cycles of nature. This makes the song lyrics about waiting five years seem awfully sinister, like waiting for a girl to reach menstrual maturity.
The visuals of the young woman inhaling the fumes of the potion, then having others inhale the fumes reminds us of the fundamental sensory experiences that tie us to one another and the animal world.
However, it also smacks of Eve convincing Adam to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil:
"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die..."
Is that the story behind this? Woman's original sin?
It reveals this song to be a Postmodernist commentary on the Cultural Hegemony that persists in British society, just like American society: the idea that women are somehow carriers of sin. It emanates from women like miasma.
This reminds me of another Postmodernist music video about original sin, although it's not British (she's Icelandic).
Here is Björk's "Human Behaviour" (1993)
Whadaya think?
To Post:
1. Use your digital alias & class period to post on this site.
2. Identify video/song you intend write about. Comment on one or more of the Postmodernist elements above. Identify yourself by your alias, identify the text or detail you intend to discuss, then offer your comment.
3. Add your reaction to the work, including applications of the messages to your own experience (do not be too specific if it is a personal anecdote - again, privacy) and other works that this reminds you of (use hyperlinks here), and how they compare/contrast.
4. Include in your reactions:
embedded videos
headings & subheadings
GIFs/images
Respond to one of these works in the Nerdy comments. Once you finish this...
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XenonXplorer 4th pd
COMMENT 3 - POSTMODERNIST ESSAY
Gorillaz, "Humility"
I’ve always been a huge fan of the Gorillaz. Back when i heard this song when it was first released, I interpreted it as a person who has been struggling with loneliness, but has decided that he still wants to connect with others and get his life together, since he says, "I don't want this isolation," "I want you in the picture, that's why I'm calling you," and "reset myself and get back on track". Which ties in with the title “Humility”, since admitting that you want and need help to change takes humility. Here is a LINK to the song.
LORE
The band is made up of four fictional…
Weird Music Video, Deep Meaning.
Just like the title says, very odd music video, but with a deeper meaning than most realize. Seeing past all of…everything that we see as we watch “Somebody I Used to Know” by Gotye, the true aftermath is revealed as the woman (Kimbra) becomes someone else different than the man (Gotye) LITERALLY used to know (pun intended). Here’s the link to the video!
In Gotye’s representation of the song, he becomes part of the background, or the narrative in this case, for the woman that he used to love (I mean know…haha) which is a great example of Metafiction. This blurs the line between the artist and the audience, especially because he made a song…
Hikaruinthe9thcircle 3rd pd
COMMENT #2 - POSTMODERNIST MUSIC VIDEO
GORILLAZ, “Humility”
Summary
Initial thoughts were on the introduction of the music video, “Why is there a random animated character?”, “Is it a representation of someone?”, “Why is the band's name Gorillaz?”. Overall the beat and tone of the song are very mellow and laid back, with some funky beats in the background. The main detail is the main animated character roller skating around what could appear as Los Angeles, with a human man appearing frequently alongside him playing a guitar. In the background, there is plenty of playful yet utterly random aspects. (Like dude, then graffiti-covered mannequins were pretty creepy, to be honest, but they are funny).
HERES THE LINK:…
This… Now THIS is a music video. Fun, vibrant, catchy, lots and lots of movement and interesting things to look at, it’s got everything you could ever want! “Humility” mainly follows 2-D, the lead vocalist, keyboardist, and frontman of the band Gorillaz, as he roller skates around Venice Beach. He is an animated character in the video, along with Noodle, Ace, and Russel, which contrasts the rest of the video that features real-life setting and people. Even Jack Black is in it! Now, just to explain a little more, Gorillaz is a virtual band created by two guys from London, musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. The band consists of four fictional members: 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel…
Comment 3- Postmodernist Music Video
Surfndestroy- 4th
“Schism” by tool
Here is the lyrics: “Schism”
Summary:
The song “Schism” by tool creates a visual on the deconstruction of communication turning into disconnection. The visuals in the music video create multiple different ideas in my mind that contradict each other. Due to the ample amount of oddities in the video, I can see multiple postmodern characteristics including fragmentation and a sense of Intertextuality.
Fragmentation:
The music video shows fragmentation not only through the visuals but also in the composition of the music. Both forms of fragmentation notably work towards “moving literary works more toward collage-style forms'' with visuals involving “temporal distortion, and significant jumps in character and place.” The cinematic piece…