POSTMODERNISM

YOU

A2 Media Studies
OCR Unit G325: Critical Perspectives in Media Question 2 Post-modern
Media
This guide is aimed at students sitting the OCR exam Paper G325 for A2
Media Studies. In this section we focus on revising for question 2, focusing
on the topic area post-modern media.
Candidates choose one question from a choice of two per topic area. No
extra marks are available to candidates who attempt both questions.
Question 2 is worth 50% of the marks for Unit 325 and students should
spend approximately one hour writing a formal essay style response.
Front of Exam Paper
OCR Advanced GCE MEDIA STUDIES
Unit G325: Critical Perspectives in Media
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Answer both parts of question 1
from section A and one question from section B.
INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES
The number of marks for each question is given in brackets [ ] at the end of
each question or part of question.
The total number of marks for this paper is 100
Section B: Contemporary Media Issues
Answer one question from section B
In this section you need to write about your knowledge and understanding
of Post- Modern Media. You should answer only one question.
Sample Question Two Postmodern Media
Choice of two
10 Discuss two or more media texts that you would define as
postmodern and explain why you would give them this label. Cover
at least two media in your answer. [50]
11 Consider the ways in which post-modern media challenge
conventional relations between audience and text. Refer to at least
two media forms in your answer. [50]
Exam Tip: You should only answer one of these questions. They are
numbered 10 and 11 because they come from a list of 12 questions
covering six topic areas. You should only attempt the questions in the
topic area for which you have been prepared. Whichever question you
choose is worth 50% of you examination and 25% of your A2 grade.
Unlike questions 1(a) and 1(b) you are not expected to evaluate your
own productions in relation to the question. However, you may wish
to comment on your experiences as a media producer to supplement
wider case studies and examples.

Revision task
Choose one of the above questions. Create a quick mind map of topics
areas that would be useful to cover when answering it. In particular, you
may wish to think of key texts e.g. films, television shows, music videos
and recordings, computers games, web sites, social networking as well as
Art and advertising.
Using the seven-section structure below select five topics that you could
talk about when answering these questions.
Section 1 - introduction address question and define key terms
Section 2 __________________________________________________
Section 3___________________________________________________
Section 4___________________________________________________
Section 5___________________________________________________
Section 6___________________________________________________
Section 7 conclusion summarise your five main points
Please note these are sections as opposed to paragraphs because this
is a much longer exam response than either question 1(a) or 1(b). You may
choose to break each section down into a number of shorter paragraphs.
Take the topic area you are focusing on in section 2. How could you break
this down into 2 or shorter paragraphs? Perhaps you would offer different
interpretations of the text arguing for and against its inclusion under the
umbrella term post-modern media.
Topic of section two
________________________________________________
Paragraph
1_______________________________________________________
Paragraph
2_______________________________________________________

Post-modern Media
Generic Mark Scheme for Contemporary Media Issues
Explanation/ analysis/argument (20 marks) Use of examples (20 marks)
Use of terminology (10 marks)
Explanation/ analysis/argument (16-20 marks)
Candidates adapt their learning to the specific requirements of the question
in excellent fashion. The answer offers a clear, articulate balance of media
theories, knowledge of texts and industries and personal engagement with
issues and debates.
Use of examples (16-20 marks)
Examples of texts, industries and theories are clearly connected together in
the answer, with a coherent argument developed in response to the
question.
Use of terminology (8-10 marks)
Throughout the answer, material presented is informed by contemporary
media theory and the command of the appropriate theoretical language is
excellent.
Complex issues have been expressed clearly and fluently using a style of
writing appropriate to the complex subject matter. Sentences and paragraphs,
consistently relevant, have been well structured, using appropriate technical
terminology. There may be few, if any, errors of spelling, punctuation and
grammar
Focus on writing skills Comparative vocabulary however, on the one
hand, one the other hand, likewise, similarly, conversely, by the same token,
but, never-the-less, although, in contrast.
Paragraphs should be four to five sentences plus and should be connected
by one thought, idea, point of view or topic.
Topic sentences useful at beginning of a paragraph, tell the reader what
the topic is and in an exam should refer back to the question e.g. One of the
ways in which Social Networking can be considered an example of postmodern media is that it blurs the boundaries between the real and the
simulated.
Give examples in English youll have used quotations, in Media Studies
you need concrete factual evidence to support you claims. PEE Point
Evidence Explain.

Revision task
The mark-scheme rewards you for accurate and precise use of theoretical
terms. However, that means you need to understand them very thoroughly.
Try matching the theoretical terms with their appropriate definitions.
1. Post-modern

A To copy something in a humorous

and tongue in cheek way.

2. Post-modernity

B A culture and society in which

individual and collective identity is
constructed in material acts of
economic exchange e.g. shopping

3. Parody

C The semiotic landscape of a

society dominated by consumer
culture and information technology

4. Pastiche

D A copy without an original

5. Hyper-reality

E A historical period in Western

culture after the Second World in
which society became dominated by
information technology

6. Consumer culture

F The knowledge and information that

informs peoples cultural consumption
in a post-modern society

7. Simulacrum

G The basic units of semiotic

analysis.

8. Cultural capital

H To copy something without humour,

irony or anything else that
communicates difference

9. Signifier and the signified

I The dominant way of thinking about

society and culture enforced by the
ruling class.

10. Multi-accentuality

J A system of belief or ideas.

11. Ideology

K The collapse of the distinction

between the real and simulated.

12. Hegemony

L The way in which meaning changes

according to context and over-time.

Focus on the mark scheme

In addition to the generic mark-scheme, which is used to mark all six
topic areas potentially covered in this unit, the exam board also use
descriptors of content that is indicative of top band answer.
Questions 10 and 11 - Indicative Content
Candidates might consider texts from computer / video games, postmodern
cinema, interactive media, reality TV, music video, advertising, parody and
pastiche in media texts or a range of other applications of postmodern media
theory. A high level response will be characterised by detailed reference to the
text and application of definitions of postmodernity.
Selecting your texts for discussion
In your exam response you may only wish to discuss two media format in
detail e.g. cinema and music video. However, it is useful to make reference to
a wider range of texts when discussing generic issues of authorship and the
relationship between the producers and consumers of post-modern media. In
particular, in your introduction it can be useful to make reference to a wider
range of texts that cited in the mark scheme. For example, you may wish to
make mention of Post-Modern Fine Art forms and the relationship between
Modernist and Post-Modern cultural forms.
Using the list below select three texts in each category you would feel
confident with. Remember to be specific e.g. dont just say post-modern
Art, say Damien Hirst.
Interactive Media
Internet, Social networking, Twitter, YouTube etc.
Cinema
Django Unchained, Drive, The Lego Movie
Television Black Mirror 15 Million Merits, Be Right Back
Music Video
Your Own Music Artist
Advertising
Marmite, Cadburys, viral marketing, niche marketing, PETA

Revision Task

Choose five media types from the previous task and select a specific
example you are confident with e.g. cinema/ Django Unchained. Consider
which theoretical perspectives would be most useful when discussing them
and why.
Use this grid to check off to match the example to the theoretical perspective. Try
to link each example to at least three theoretical perspectives.
Once you have completed the grid check if you are missing out any of the
theoretical perspectives covered. Revisit the definitions in the preceding task and
think is there any way you can work these terms into your answer.
1

1. Postmodern
2.Postmodernit
y
3. Parody
4. Pastiche
5. Hyper reality
6. Consumer
culture
7. Simulacrum
8. Cultural
capital
9. Signifier and
the signified
10.Multi
accentuality
11. Ideology
12. Hegemony

What it says in the specification

Post-modern Media
Candidates might explore combinations of:
How post-modern media relate to genre and narrative across two media,
computer / video games and new forms of representation, post-modern
cinema, interactive media, reality TV, music video, advertising, post-modern
audience theories, aspects of globalisation, parody and pastiche in media
texts or a range of other applications of post-modern media theory.
The topic areas require understanding of contemporary media texts,
industries, audiences and debates. Candidates must choose one of the
following topic areas, in advance of the examination and, through specific
case studies, texts, debates and research of the candidates choice, prepare
to demonstrate understanding of the contemporary issue. This understanding
must combine knowledge of at least two media and a range of texts,
industries, audiences and debates, but these are to be selected by the
centre / candidate.
The assessment of the response will be generic, allowing for the broadest
possible range of responses within the topic area chosen. Each topic is
accompanied by four prompt questions, and candidates must be prepared to
answer an exam question that relates to one or more of these four prompts.
There should be emphasis on the historical, the contemporary and the future
in relation to the chosen topic, with most attention on the present. Centres are
thus advised to ensure that study materials for this unit are up to date and
relevant.
Exam tip: although students will have studied a range of different
texts/media in class they would be well-advised to consider their own
experiences as media consumers in relation to the theoretical
perspectives outlined. In particular, students may have valuable
experience as the consumer of computer games and the users of social
networking that would be extremely useful if framed appropriately.
Revision task:
Make a list of five media texts with which your are familiar that have not been
covered in your course that fit with the concept of Post-modern Media e.g.
film, TV, internet, music, computer games, social networking, advertising, art,
etc.
1
2
3
4
5

The Four Prompt Questions

1.
2.
3.
4.

What are the different versions of post-modernism (historical period,

style, theoretical approach)?
What are the arguments for and against understanding some forms of
media as post-modern?
How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional text-reader
relations and the concept of representation?
In what ways do media audiences and industries operate differently in
a post- modern world?

The four prompt questions do not appear in the exam but give an
indication of the way in which questions will be phrased and theoretical
perspectives covered. In the proceeding section we offer some
suggestions as to how students may answer these questions.
Focusing on Question 1
What are the different versions of post-modernism (historical period, style,
theoretical approach)?
Defining postmodernism Postmodernism can be defined as the collapse of
distinction between the real and simulated and the blurring of boundaries
between the physical world and its signification in society and culture.
In a simplistic sense we could argue that early mans use of smoke signals was a
form of post-modernism. The relationship between what is being signified and what is
actually meant is in this sense arbitrary i.e. only understood because of a common
consensus on what symbols means not because there is any connection to the form
or pattern and meaning.
In a more contemporary context post-modernism can be seen in the way in which
media texts play with their own status and conventions. In this sense, they
acknowledge the arbitrary nature of the meaning that is being communicated.
Another key convention is that of intertextuality: the way in which post-modern texts
have the tendency to borrow, re-work and parody the conventions of other texts
While the term post-modern tends to be used as an adjective to define the aesthetic
or ideological qualities of cultural phenomenon, Postmodernity is a proper noun
used to refer to a specific historical period in which society became dominated by
information technology and consumer culture.
Generally speaking it is used to describe the period in Western society after the end
of the Second World War up until the present day. However, there is clear
distinction between the rate at which Britain and America embraced Postmodernity.
Arguably America was much more advanced compared to Europe for much of the
latter part of the 20th Century.
Today that division is perhaps less, with the sophistication of British culture in the
21st Century often outstripping that of our American contemporaries, particularly in
terms of foreign travel and engagement with creative digital technology as media
producers. With rise of the Tiger economies and consumer spending in Asia,
however, it will be fascinating to see the way in which postmodernity develops
globally.

Revision Task discuss the following films and post your answers on
your blog.
Nicolas Winding-Refn Drive (2011)
How does Winding-Refn play with audience expectation of cinema and what
makes a good film in Drive?
To what extent does Drive embody post-modern ideas about the death of
narratives?
Quentin Tarantino Django Unchained (2012)
How does Django Unchained challenge the conventions of the Western Film
genre?
Why does Tarantino choose to ignore historical accuracy and realism in the
film?
Does this disregard for authenticity affect the audiences enjoyment of the
film?
Phil Lord, Chris Miller The Lego Movie (2014)
How does The Lego Movie blur the boundaries between the real and
simulated?
How does The Lego Movie depict consumer lifestyle?
To what extent does The Lego Movie embody post-modern ideas about
identity and the self?

Focusing on question 2
What are the arguments for and against understanding some forms of
media as post- modern?
Arguments for
The principal argument for understanding media forms as post-modern is that
there is no pre- postmodern moment in culture i.e. all forms of communication
rely upon the suspension of disbelief and having faith in meanings that are
arbitrary. This could be said to apply to early forms of speech or the cave
paintings created by primitive man. Moreover, issues of intertextuality and
parodic qualities often deemed characteristic of post-modernism has a place
in European culture in the form of the carnival, which goes back to the Middle
Ages.
If we trace the development of modern media to the invention of the telephone
and the proliferation of cinema in the 20th century then it is easy to see the
way in which these technologies further blurred the boundaries between what
is real and what is simulated. Nobody questions the meaning of conversation
because it takes places on the telephone: its truthfulness is taken for granted.
Likewise the representation of society and culture on the silver screen has
framed and shaped the way in which audiences think about society and
culture. In both instances the everyday use of media technologies that blur the
boundaries between the real and the simulated compound the post-modern
experience.
While the early part of the 20th Century was characterised by significant
development in media technology, the accelerated speed with which
information technology permeated society and culture in the West in the
second half of the century emphasised this post-modern sensibility. In addition
to this, the advance of consumer culture and decline of heavy industry
throughout this period has seen Britains become a more post-modern
economy in which workers engage in creative and information based
employment.
The 21st Century has, of course, been characterised by the proliferation of the
Internet and the convergence of media technologies on the PC, laptop and
pocket computer. Social networking has further emphasised the way in which
society is dislocated from traditional geographic bound notions of community.
In particular, the success of web 2 has seen user generated content dominate
media consumption, blurring the boundaries further between media producers
and consumers.

Focusing on question 2
What are the arguments for and against understanding some forms of
media as post- modern?
Arguments against
Many of the arguments against understanding media forms as post-modern
run parallel to those arguments that support that viewpoint. Indeed, the very
notion that there is no pre-postmodern moment in culture (i.e. all forms of
communication rely upon the suspension of disbelief and having faith in
meanings that are arbitrary) suggests that post-modernism is an inaccurate
term. In this respect, it could be argued that those inter-textual and parodic
qualities that are seen as definitional of the post-modern text would be better
served by the pre-Enlightenment term carnivalesque.
Before we can discount the possibility that a text might be considered postmodern, however, it is necessary to understand a little bit more about where
the term comes from. In this direction the history of Art is useful starting point.
In this sense, when we refer to post-modernism we are quite literally referring
to work that came after Modernism. Modernism in Art is typified by the
paintings of Mondriane or Picasso, whose works experimented with form and
structure. Unlike the preceding Romantic era, Modernism was not concerned
with authentic emotional expression but rather experimentation and innovation
in terms of form. One of the arguments against understanding a media texts
as post-modern is that it more accurately fits within definitions of Romantic or
Modernist cultural forms.
While contemporary media texts may well embody post-modern cultural
practice by dint of their reliance upon digital technology, in many instances
they explicitly embody very different aesthetic rationales. The music of Van
Morrison, for example, may well be a post-modern product but at text level it is
very romantic in its projection of emotion as aesthetic experience. In this
sense, post-modernism could be viewed as a conceptual framework that is
thrust upon media texts for whom it is not central to the way in which they
communicate.
The final argument against post-modernism as a way of understanding
contemporary media texts is that the proliferation of digital technology has
actually reinforced key aspects of community. Facebook, Bebo and MySpace
all encourage people to interact with one another and in many instances are
very geographically specific in their usage connected to colleges, for
example, or workspaces. In this sense, while contemporary society is more
globalised, in many instance our media consumption is very localised and
inward looking.
Task
Now attempt this question using your own examples.

Post-modernism and Popular Music

Arguably there is no pre-post-modern moment in popular music. Records are
often considered the ultimate example of the simulacrum (copies without
original) because they tend not to be recordings of an actual performance but
a composition composed of multi-tracks recorded and mixed in the studio.
That said, popular music operates within both romantic and modernist
aesthetic rationales; in addition to this, some popular music is explicitly postmodern. Arguably the most important performers simultaneously embody all
three aesthetic sensibilities. For example, the Sex Pistols were represented
the political alienation of the working class (romanticist), challenged existing
musical structure (modernist) and played with their own status as performers
(post-modernist). Using the grid below consider where you would put some of
the bands or artists with whom you are familiar. To help you each block
contains some suggestions.
Aesthetic form
Popular Music Performer
Romanticism
Expression of self, truth to materials, Artist vision, Awe and wonder of nature
Emotion as aesthetic experience, Rejection of rationalism, Elevation of folk
art, Terror and the sublime
Van Morrison, Mumford and Sons, Radiohead, Artic Monkeys, Joni Mitchell,
Eric Clapton, Bob Marley
Modernist
Experimentation with form, Innovation, Technical advancement, Avant-garde
Challenging Irony, sarcasm obliqueness, Self-conscious, Minimalist
Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Philip Glass, Moby, Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers
Post-modern
Collapse of distinction between real and simulated. Not necessarily made by
artist. Plays with status of artwork as art. Plays with status of artist.
Embraces consumer culture. Embraces popular culture. Is often a polished
product.
Madonna, Dizzy Rascal, Lady Ga Ga, David Bowie, Michael Jackson
Task
Select three Music videos and explain why they can be described as
Postmodern.

Focusing on question 3
How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional text-reader relations
and the concept of representation?
Post-modern media texts challenge traditional text reader relations in that they
allow for creativity on the past of the audience. In this sense the audience is
viewed as active rather than passive: the meaning of the text is constructed by
the reader. From a theoretical perspective this concept can be framed by the
work of Roland Barthes and his essay Death of the Author in which he argues
that the reader of a text is also its writer i.e. they impose the meaning.
Arguably all texts are post-modern in the way that Barthes is talking about as the
meaning of words, images and sounds is open to multiple interpretations and in
this sense we revert to Saussures work on the sign- system and the notion that
the relationship between the signifier and signified is arbitrary.
Where post- modern texts differ is that they explicitly embrace this ambiguity of
meaning and explore the creative and arbitrary ways in which audiences engage
with cultural artefacts. Examples of this include intertextuality, irony, parody and
pastiche.
Intertextuality is a key feature of post-modern text/reader relations. It supposes a
degree of prior knowledge on the part of the audience i.e. that they will have read
certain book, seen certain plays or watched certain films before they encounter
the new text. J.M Coetzees novel Foe (1986), for example, reworks elements of
Daniel Defoe Robison Crusoe (1719). By the same token both Mike Myers
Waynes World (1992) and The Simpson have borrowed the ending of Mike
Nicholls 1967 film The Graduate. Intertextuality draws upon elementd of what
Bourdieu would define as cultural capital: the knowledge individuals acquire
through their informal and formal education.
Of course, one of the key ways in which post-modern media texts utilise the prior
knowledge of the audience is in the form of parody. Films like Scary Movie (2000)
and Airplane (1980) self-conscious play with the audiences familiarity with a
specific genre: horror and disaster in the case of these two films. Parody is, in this
sense, as Frederic Jameson suggests, very different to pastiche. While parody
tends is tongue in cheek, knowing and ironic, pastiche copies without necessarily
acknowledging that there is an original text with which the audience might be
familiar. The cover version in popular music is an excellent example of this,
particularly when the new version remains faithful to the original. Homage is in
this sense slightly different: this tends to be version of text that is faithful to the
original out of respect and reverence.
In addition to this, web 2 and the affordability of creative technologies is blurring
the traditional boundaries between the producer and consumer of a text. While
active audiences may have once engaged in ironic or oppositional readings of
texts that challenged preferred meaning, that same audience can now engage by
producing their own versions of the text, be that in the form of a remix, mash-up,
YouTube spoof or tribute. In short, post-modern texts blur the boundaries
between the producer and the consumer of the text.

Issues of Representation
One of the big problems in deconstructing post-modern texts is the issue of
representation and the notion that the way in which individuals are
represented is politically loaded. In particular, the ironic sensibility of postmodern texts sometimes undermines traditionally serious issues of age, race,
class, national identity, ability and disability. And, in this sense the postmodern text can defy scrutiny.
Context is perhaps everything. For example, while if might be acceptable for a
black African American to use the term nigger, the same term would be
deemed problematic if used in another context. Comedy is perhaps,
unsurprisingly, the area in which post-modern texts push the vanguard of the
genre. The BBC television sitcom Goodness Gracious Me is a good example
of a text that walks this fine line in its ironic critique of British Indian
community. Taken out of context, its humour could seem racist; however, this
would be to miss the point that the show is produced by second generation
British Indians who are in fact poking fun at their own community and using
humour to neutralise cultural prejudice.
The inherently carnivalesque sensibility of British popular music, likewise,
throws up some very interesting examples of the ways in which post-modern
texts are difficult to analyse. There is, for example, a lineage of male
performers who explicitly flout the conventions of normative masculinity: Mick
Jagger, David Bowie, mark Bolan, Adam Ant, Jarvis Cocker etc. However, to
over-analyse this is to miss the point: these representations not about
sexuality per se but rather part of the topsy turvey world of the carnival that
popular music embodies.
Task
Attempt Question 3: How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional
text-reader relations and the concept of representation?

Theoretical perspectives
Although the mark-scheme does not reward students who name drop
theorists out of context it is impossible to fully understand post-modern
cultural theory without addressing some of the seminal figures.
Ferdinand de Saussure - The Signifier and the Signified
Saussure argues that all signs are double entities made up of the signifier and
the signified. The signifier is the linguistic coding of a concrete object, abstract
emotion or physical act. The signified is that to which the signifier refers to.
The two things are inseparable; however, the relationship is arbitrary:
meaning that there is no causal reason why the two are so related. The
fluctuation of meaning in the relationship between sound and meaning across
different languages is testimony to this fact.
Mikhail Bakhtin and the Carnivalesque
The Carnivalesque: social and aesthetic formations, which disrupt the
normative behaviours and socio- cultural hierarchies of everyday existence.
Central to this is the idea that normal life is suspended during the carnival.
Roland Barthes and the Death of the Author
Influenced by Saussures semiotics Barthes argues that the meaning of a text
is inscribed by the audience who essentially re-write it. Barthes argues that in
effect the reader becomes an author, rendering the providential creator of the
text as good as dead: hence the title the Death of the Author.
Pierre Bourdieu - Distinction
Social class is constructed by cultural taste; cultural taste is produced by
education. Social class facilitates access to education and so cultural order
replicates itself. In the process of education, the individual acquires cultural
capital, which gives the individual the ability to identify culturally noble activity.
Culture evolves through the nomination of new cultural activity as noble by
individuals who are highly educated in the process of naming.
Fredric Jameson Postmodernism and Parody
Jameson argues that the distinction between the real and the simulated
becomes very blurred in postmodern society. He uses the terms parody and
pastiche to explain the way people use and borrow existing cultural artefacts.
Pastiche is basic mimicry, while parody is more knowing and ironic.
Task Add these terms to your postmodern dictionary on your blog

Focusing on question 4
In what ways do media audiences and industries operate differently in a
post-modern world?
Answering this question requires a clear understanding of the distinction
between the use of the term post-modern as an adjective to describe the way
in which a text makes meaning (i.e. intertextuality, playing with its own status
etc) and the use of the term Postmodernity to define a particular period in
Western cultural history. As previously discussed, Postmodernity refers to the
period after the Second World War in which Western societies embraced
information technology and consumer culture. In addition to this, the term is
synonymous also with social change and a less restricted attitude towards
issues of sex, class, gender and the family.
To understand the ways in which audiences and industries operate differently
in a post-modern world, therefore, it is important to understand the
implications of the proliferation of consumer cultural and information
technology. In this direction the work of French theorist Jean Baudillard is
particularly useful. Baudrillard views post-modern society fairly negatively. In
particular, he suggests that individuals are alienated from each other because
their interaction is mediated through mass communication industries i.e. the
media. In addition to this, he suggests that identity is negotiated in relation to
consumer behaviour and that in the purchase of material goods we reflexively
construct our sense of self.
It is this connection between the proliferation of communication and consumer
technology that is central to the way in which audiences and industries
operate in a post-modern world. One way of thinking about this is the different
ways in which audiences engaged with cinema in the first and second half of
the 20th Century. In the first half of the Century, in an age before television, it
can be argued that cinema was a popular form of entertainment that people
engaged with more passively. Consumers were less discriminating as films
were a popular form of everyday distraction: hence the number of B-movies
and short features made during the age of the Hollywood Studio system. In
the second half of the 20th Century, with cinema now competing with
television, visiting a film theatre became a less common event and
consequently consumers became more particular: choosing films connected
to their own project of identity construction.
Of course in the latter part of the 20th Century, the media industry became
much more sophisticated in the way that it marketed its products. Advertising
in particular has become less instructional (Buy this washing powder it will
make you whites whiter than white etc) and more about ambience and
lifestyle. Consumers didnt want to know what a product did but how it would
make them feel and most importantly what it would say about them in terms of
lifestyle. Of course, in recent years, consumer fatigue has set in and
prospective customers are less likely to be impressed by slick marketing but
prefer the authenticity of gorilla campaigns and viral marketing.

Perhaps the key way in which the relationship between audiences and the
industry has changed the most over past fifteen years is with the deregulation
of broadcast media at the end of the 1990s and the proliferation of the
Internet. This has seen a shift away from broadcasting to a wide demographic
and a move towards narrow casting for a defined community of consumers. In
particular, the success of niche market products like the BAUER magazine
title Kerrang, for example, can be attributed to the complex relationship
between media consumption and the construction of personal identity. As Dick
Hebdige pointed out in the 1970s, subcultural groupings are central to the
behaviour of media consumers.
Arguably one of the most interesting developments in the past five years has
been the success of user- generated, web-2 content on the Internet. Ever
since the Artic Monkeys broke into the mainstream on the back of MySpace,
sites like YouTube and Facebook have challenged the traditional relationship
between consumers and the industry. In particular, audiences have become
more creative, whether that is in uploading photos to Facebook or posting
home videos on YouTube. Increasingly, it would seem we are making are own
entertainment, blurring the boundaries between traditional consumers and
producers of media text and compounded also by the affordability of media
technology. If one thing has remained consistent throughout the evolution of
post-modern society then that thing is our narcissistic fascination with
ourselves. From consumer goods to Facebook profile pictures, it would seem
that everybody in a post-modern society is fixated the reflexive construction of
commoditised and objectified versions of themselves.

Post-modernism and Consumer Culture

Jean Baudrillard Hyper- reality and the Consumer Society
The proliferation of information technology alienates man from real lived social
existence, forcing him to enter a new media induced reality known as hyperreality: hyper-reality is characterised by the collapse of the distinction between
the real and the simulated and the predominance of the simulacrum.
Focus on Jean Baudrillard
Baudrillard once said that Disneyland only exists to make Americans believe
that the rest of America is real. What did he mean by this?

Baudrillard has suggested that the whole of modern life is commoditised in

ways that are characteristic of the shopping mall and the modern airport: why
do you think he said this?

Baudrillard feels that in a post-modern society human desire and aspiration is

restricted to the desire to possess what other people possess. Do you think he
is correct?