Postmodernism - The Blurring and Breaking of Barriers

Postmodernism began in the 1970s and still continues today. It involves the breaking/blurring of barriers between fiction and reality, genres and style, human and machine and space with time. Rather than using reality, postmodernism has led us into thinking about hyper-reality: a mediated version of reality.

Parody

Work that is used to mock and imitate original work with the intention of generating humour and irony.

Parody made in Toy Story 2 (left) from the film Jurassic Park (right) - "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" with a dinosaur running after a vehicle.

Parody made by Weird Al Yankovic (music video 'Fat' left) of Michael Jackson's 'Bad' (right).

Parody found in Superhero Movie (left) of a shot found in the first Spider-Man movie (right)

Pastiche/Homage

An artistic work in a style that imitates (not mock) that of: another work, artist or period. Very similar to homage. Homage - Respectful imitation

Weird Al Yankovic's 'Bob' (left) imitating Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues (right). Weird Al goes one step further and uses palindromes.

Bricolage

The mixing of styles and genres

Shawn of the Dead is a mix between horror and romantic comedy (rom com).

Intertextuality is often associated with postmodernism. Intertextuality is when a text is shaped using other existing ones, often allowing readers to relate to the other texts involved.