POST-MODERNISM

In several respects, the twentieth century is regarded as a period of scientific and technological
revolution. The rise of innovative ideas, advancements and rapid growth in many technological fields
have cast doubt on terms like ignorance and impossibility. In the world of academia, this movement
sparked new and/or radical ideas. In dealing with the authenticity of many historical records, the rise of
post-modernism and its adherents in historical circles has created quite a stir. Critical analysis of the
subject of modernism and post-modernism simply boils down around the questions: What is modern?
How is modernism being defined?
Modernism and Postmodernism are both two significant design eras. In modern science,
modernism is described as a form of cultural consciousness expressed through the artistic practices of
symbolism and expressionism. In a socio-historical sense, it refers to the era of modernism in the
developmental history of culture from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. On the other
hand, postmodernism is broadly defined as a socio-cultural and literary philosophy, and a change in
viewpoint that has appeared in a number of fields such as but not limited to; social sciences, art,
architecture, literature, fashion, communications, and technology. The postmodern shift in perspective
is widely acknowledged to have begun in the late 1950s and is likely to continue to this day.
Postmodernism can be linked to the power shift and dehumanization during the post-World War II, as
well as the onslaught of consumer capitalism. The term Postmodernism itself obviously suggest a link to
Modernism. Modernism was an earlier aesthetic movement that gained popularity in the early
twentieth century. Postmodernism has been described as both a continuation and a departure from the
Modernist position.

Many of the characteristics of Modernism are present in Postmodernism. The strict distinctions
between high and low art are rejected by both beliefs. Postmodernism takes things a step further by
consciously combining low and high art, the past and future, or one genre with another. Postmodernism's
use of lighthearted parody, which was often used by Modernism, is exemplified by such juxtapositions of
disparate elements. Pastiche, or the copying of another's style, was used in both of these beliefs. Parody
and pastiche help to illustrate the self-reflexivity of Modernist and Postmodernist works, reminding the
reader that the work is not “real” but fictional. Modernist and Postmodernist works are often scattered,
making it difficult to express a clear message. That is to say, these works are purposefully vague, allowing
for various interpretations. In these works, the person or subject is often decentered, lacking a central
purpose or aim in life, and dehumanized, losing individual characteristics and being merely a
representative of an era or culture. Many ideas from the modernist period are incorporated into
postmodernism. Modernism and postmodernism are also concerned with social study, style, ideology,
cultural context, human experience, politics, and the ongoing transformation or revamping of the "New."
The use of psychology and philosophy themes, such as history, subjectivity, philosophies, theoretically
diverse aesthetics, and culture, is an interesting feature of Modernism and Postmodernism.

Meanwhile, postmodernism differs from modernism in reasons that it is more politically

resistant, absent, and deconstructive in nature. In contrast to Modernism, which is more on the
romantic, concerned, and symbolic side. During the industrial era, technology was oriented toward
producing products in response to societal demands. However, in the postmodernist era, technologies
are rising the societal demands. Individuals do not direct markets, rather, markets influence individuals.
Individuals in modernist culture were classified by their ability to think, whereas postmodernist
individualists are defined by their ability to consume. The postmodern is a mode that results in a
disconnection from the cultural world and shows a nostalgia for the past, as well as our unwillingness to
look squarely at the actual world of either the present or the past, which remains "forever out of
control." Of course, there are significant similarities between this sense of human disconnectedness and
Derrida's deconstructive notion that linguistic meaning is also forever out of control, or indefinitely
postponed. On the other side of the spectrum, postmodernism explores its existence through the idea
of hyper-reality or simulacra. The first one, opposes structuralism, while on the other, it calls for the
abolition of all forms of uniformity. Postmodernism has declared war on non-western cultures and
communities by announcing that there is no reality or morality in postmodernism, that everything is
meaningless, and that life itself is a meaningless issue.

In literature, postmodernism reacted against the Enlightenment ideas inherent in modernist

literature by relying heavily on fragmentation, deconstruction, playfulness, and dubious narrators,
among other things. Postmodern authors, in contrast to the modernist search for meaning in a chaotic
world, eschew the possibility of meaning, sometimes in a playful manner, and the postmodern novel is
often a parody of this quest. Postmodern authors, who mistrust totalizing processes and self-awareness,
choose chance over craft and use metafiction to undermine the author's "univocation”. Pastiche, the
combining of various cultural components, including subjects and genres not previously considered
suitable for literature is often used to attack the distinction between high and low culture. Postmodern
literature may be thought of as a catch-all word for postwar literary trends. As articulated in some of the
most popular writings, the acknowledgement of the complex nature of fact and experience, the role of
time and memory in human interpretation, the self and the world as historical constructions, and the
problematic nature of language underpins postmodern literature. The articulation of postmodern ideas
through the cinematic medium is defined as "postmodern film," which involves disrupting mainstream
norms of narrative structure and characterization, as well as destroying or playing with the audience's
"suspension of disbelief," to create a work that expresses itself through less-recognizable internal logic.
Jane Campion's Two Friends, in which the story of two schoolgirls is told in episodic parts in reverse
order, and Karel Reisz's The French Lieutenant's Woman, in which the story being told on the screen is
reflected in the private lives of the actors performing it, which the audience also sees, are two such
examples.

Despite its often stretched and dismissive arguments, postmodernism has had a significant
impact on late twentieth-century thought. It has, to varying degrees, revolutionized all fields of
intellectual inquiry. The impact of postmodern critique on literature, architecture, and the arts has been
profound. However, a thorough examination of postmodernist theory reveals that it is a fictitious
ideology. It is an attempt to build a deconstructed, history-free, foundationless society with no sense of
direction. It is an attempt to create a world devoid of structure and truth. Hence, it is safe to assume
that it is indeed, an abstract concept.