Post Modernism & Deustchland 83: Blog Task

1) Read the section on Strinati's five ways to define postmodernity. What examples are provided of the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society (media-isation)?

The example provided in the first way to define postmodernism is Sacha Baron Cohen's characters Borat and Bruno. For the second way to define postmodernism, the example given is Big Brother as it celebrates people who are famous, for the reason of being famous, without any interesting qualities or talents. The examples given for the 3rd way to define postmodernism is music as pop music is seen to sample music from a higher tier/calibre, e.g. classical music. The 4th way to define postmodernism is "Confusions over time & space," and the example given for this is mass media being effectly instant as we are able to view TV channels from accross the world and send messages to the other half of the world in mere seconds. Finally, in the "Decline of Meta-Narratives," the example given is the fall of the Soviet Union to portray the idea that a meta narrative may not be the way forward.

2) What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83?

This relates to Deutschland 83 due to the fact that Politics was such a huge focal point, with the conflict between the Western and Eastern  side of Germany, as well as the United Stated  of America and The Cold War. This meant that people would have been heavily reliant on media representations in order to give them opinions and a viewpoint on the current affiars. Historical Deafness heavily relates to this due to the fact that some people may be blind to the affairs of that historical period, meaning that they will rely on what the media had to say instead of looking at unbiased reports and research.

3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?
Examples of people used to portray "Style over Substance" are Jedward and Paris Hylton. A theory provided is Cultural Depthness where Jameson argues that real meaning is lost and that all we have to judge is representations and metaphorical covers, rather than the actual book.

4) What examples from music are provided for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture? Can this be applied to Deutschland 83?

Pop Music and Classical Music due to the fact that pop music, low art, has commonly sampled that of classical music, which is considered high art, blurring the lines between the two. This can be applied to Deutschland 83 in the scene where Martin is in the supermarket and sees the shelves stack fully with food and drinks, but particularly the music being played as it was American pop music, which in this case can be seen as high art, compared to the German clothes that Martin is wearing, which are heavily associated with sports, as he is wearing brands like Adidas and Puma. This can perhaps bee seen as low art/culture, breaking down the distinction between high culture and low. 

5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?

Bricolage is when different references are made, causing new meanings to be made. An example of this in Deutschland 83 is when Martin is playing chess with Schweppenstette due to the fact that Chess can be considered quite a sophisticated game that intelligent people would commonly play, therefore merging the high art of Chess with the low culture lifestyle of the East German family is an example of bricolage which helps to create a new meaning for the board game as well as how intelligent the people of East Germany are, to a point where they can play such a high class and demanding game like Chess.

6) How can the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 be linked to postmodernism? Read 'The decline of meta-narratives' and 'Media texts and the postmodern' to help answer this.

Audiences love to see archived footage of the speeches and love the 80s culture of tech and music. The 'grand-narrative' of the show are the events around Able Archer but the show does focus on the fall of communism and the USSR. Meta-narratives were therefore less applicable to the world as communism was falling. Postmodernism doesn't look to one single truth to explain the world, therefore Deutschland '83 is more postmodern.
7) Read the analysis of media concepts and postmodern approaches on page 3 of the factsheet. Choose three of the concepts and write an example from Deutschland 83. Clue: genre, representation, ideology and audience would all be good options for this task.

The representation of the main character from someone from East Germany as a spy. Normally he would be the antagonist in a traditional Cold War series but as the protagonist it subverts the expectations.The main character Martin/Moritz is a spy that is seen as the enemy to the rest of the world, but is trying to protect the East from attacks. So, from this he is seen with god intentions, but when he has to harm the general's relative the party, the bad intentions are seen as evil normally but he has to do it to save his cover, so once again is seen with good intentions. There is no clear cut binary opposition, it is subjective.The idea that different groups of the audience respond differently is evident. The UK and US had a positive outlook on the show but the German native audience didn't like it as much. Audiences are active when it comes to decision making and the performance of a media text.

8) Now look at page 4 of the factsheet. How does Deutschland 83 demonstrate aspects of the postmodern in its construction and ideological positioning?

The entire show is based on real events but the narrative of the show is fictional. The mise-en-scene in the scenes are used to make the show feel as authentic as possible to strengthen the narrative. The characters are fictional in a sense, therefore the hyper-real narrative gives the show the postmodernist aspects.

9) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why?

The spy scene is probably one of the best examples. The training sequence has that James Bond feel where there is a two minute montage spanning several weeks watching his skills develop but also the cinematography is liked we are watching him and that we are spying on him. The intertextaulity mixed with the mise-en-scene which reinforces the realism of the 80s makes this scene a great example of postmodernism
10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers

The show is based around the popular culture of the 80s. This type of show would usually be watched by the masses, the consumers and not the producers. The aspects of intertextaulity is something that people enjoy a lot down to the tech to the costumes and sounds. The bricolage aspects of authenticity with the archived footage and the documents of the East German targeted strikes gives the audiences pleasure that the detail was looked into in depth. The Pastiche of the mise-en-scene such as the cars, costumes, music and TV Set gives audiences the pleasure of nostalgia.