There was a period of time in the postmodern world when a considerable number of works being published, broadcasted, or exhibited were demonstrations of humanities’ creative progression and development. A sense of awe and possibility permeated culture, and human beings were inspired to find new arts, new sciences, new voices; however, somewhere along the way the focus on aesthetics, originality, possibility, and intelligence blurred. It seems so anachronistic that, in a world where pluralism, an ability to engage in any culture, is more widely practiced than ever before thanks to technology, mainstream media has become so limited. Such limited depictions of contemporary culture reduce humanity’s ability to identify the constructed nature of their reality and to imagine possibilities outside of this system.
Advancements in technology have made it possible for astonishing inventions such as nearly limitless access to information via the internet, improvements in medical treatments, and a reduction in environmental impact; however, complications have arisen with the way humans interact with digital technology and media. For example, the evolution of visual effects in film and television are making it more difficult for audiences to decipher the images on the screen. In “Special Effects: Simulation in Cinema”, Temengua Trifonova, from the University at Buffalo, says “first, special effects distract the viewer from the supposedly most substantial aspect of the film, narrative; second, special effects present a danger to what is assumed to be the essential realism of film.”(Trifonova, n.p.) Ubiquitous depictions of gender and social roles are reamplified by visual media. Tracy E. Ore of St. Cloud University states that, “mass media oper...
... middle of paper ...
...d diversity as opposed to facilitating mindlessness and performativity.
Works Cited
Chung, Chin-Yi. "Hyperreality, the Question of Agency, and the Phenomenon of Reality
Television." Http://nobleworld.biz/. NEBULA: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship, Mar. 2007. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Henry, Jenkins. "Technological Utopianism." Technological Utopianism. Media in Technology,
n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Ore, Tracy E. "The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality: Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality." Teaching Sociology 29.1 (2001): 120. Print.
Peace, Mark. "The Construction of Reality in Television News." The Construction of Reality in
Television News. Aberystwyth University, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Temengua, Trifonova. "Kinema : : A Journal for Film and Audiovisual Media." Kinema : : A
Journal for Film and Audiovisual Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
Controversial artists such as Mike Parr and Stelarc place emphasis on shock-value and meaning rather than traditional skills and aesthetics, and use their own bodies as a medium, while working with new mediums and technology such as video, performance, sound, and robotics. As Postmodern art continues to push the boundaries of what is - and isn’t acceptable as art, the general public is left to wonder ‘what comes next?’.
Winant, Howard. 2000 "Race and race theory." Annual review of sociology ():-. Retrieved from http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/winant/Race_and_Race_Theory.html on Mar 17, 1980
Over the decades, art has been used as a weapon against the callousness of various social constructs - it has been used to challenge authority, to counter ideologies, to get a message across and to make a difference. In the same way, classical poetry and literature written by minds belonging to a different time, a different place and a different community have somehow found a way to transcend the boundaries set by time and space and have been carried through the ages to somehow seep into contemporary times and shape our society in ways we cannot fathom.
Lorber, J. (2003). The social construction of difference and inequality . Boston : McGraw Hill.
This essay asks to discuss some of the ways in which differences and inequalities persist over time, suggesting that they are not static, continuing to be made and remade by the actions of people and society. With Inequality being defined as ‘‘The unequal distribution of valued social resources within society or between societies including money, housing, power, health and education”. whilst Differences is defined as “contrasts between groupings of people such as those based on gender, class, age, sexuality and race, including things people value and the variations between them including their physical, behavioural, attitudes and preferences”. (Blakeley and Staples, 2014 p 25). However, it is noted not all differences will lead to inequalities,
For instance, relating to the employment, there were two obvious hierarchical differences between the black and the white, and women and men. According to Kimberle (2015), in the late 1970, the employment opportunities for black people and women were still in the straitened circumstance, furthermore, even if there were chances for them, “... the black job were men’s job, and the women’s job were only for whites.” (Kimberle Cranshaw 2015). In other words, there was no opportunity for the black women. In this case, the unjust discriminatory treatment for black women simply resulted from their intersected identities as a “black” and “woman” both were marginalized in the society. In regard to this, however, the important point is that people did not analyze the cause of this situation through considering it from the both racial and sexual sides simultaneously. People ignored the experience of the others, and categorized the black women based on their sex as a “woman”. In other words, people, especially who were in the privileged position, just neglected the subtle “differences” of others, and they stretched the rules to their own advantages. Relating to these “differences”, Audre Lorde (1984: 115) explains that “ But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals. As a result, those differences have been misnamed and misused in the
Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender, and sexual orientation. John Wiley & Sons.
African American women are considered the most disadvantaged group vulnerable to discrimination and harassment. Researchers have concluded that their racial and gender classification may explain their vulnerable position within society, despite the strides these women have made in education, employment, and progressing their families and communities (Chavous et al. 2004; Childs 2005; Hunter 1998; Settles 2006; Wilkins 2012). Most people agree that race and gender categories are explained as the biological differences between individuals in our society; however sociologists understand that race and gender categories are social constructions that are maintained on micro and macro levels. Historically, those in power who control the means of production within a society have imposed race, class, and gender meanings onto the minority population in order to maintain their dominant position and justify the unequal treatment of minority individuals by the divisions of race, class, and gender categories (Collins 2004; Nguyen & Anthony 2014; Settles 2006;).
Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Racial and ethnic inequality. Sociology: a brief introduction (13th ed., pp.
Louis P. Pojman and Robert Westmoreland, eds., Equality: Selected Readings (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 1997), 30.
... as well as a socially important idea. The theory art imitates life and life imitates art reveals important connections between literary structures and cultural beliefs. Media literature is mirroring important parts of American life and selling the images back with a product attached. However, the cultural and social myths that are being promoted are not always evident on the surface of the text. A new movement to read media literature critically has begun. As the emerging way to view texts is reading them deconstructively, we must promote other critical approaches that allow a more open translation of literature and provide balance to the political act of reading.
Since the country’s beginning, race, gender, and class have been very important factors in a person’s experience in the United States of America. The meaning of race, gender differences, and the separation of class have changed over United States history. For many Americans, their perceptions of class and race and the degree to which gender affect people’s lives, often depends on what their race, gender, and class are, too. There are differences between the reality of America, what is represented as American reality in media, and the perceived reality of America. Americans as well as those looking at America from an outside perspective may have questions and confusions regarding what the real connections are to race, class, and gender are in America. The paper tries to clarify and explore how these issues connect and play out in real life.
Kendal, Diana. "Sex and Gender." Sociology in Our Times 3.Ed. Joanna Cotton. Scarborough: Nelson Thomson, 2004. 339-367
In the 1950s, authors tended to follow common themes, these themes were summed up in an art called postmodernism. Postmodernism took place after the Cold War, themes changed drastically, and boundaries were broken down. Postmodern authors defined themselves by “avoiding traditional closure of themes or situations” (Postmodernism). Postmodernism tends to play with the mind, and give a new meaning to things, “Postmodern art often makes it a point of demonstrating in an obvious way the instability of meaning (Clayton)”. What makes postmodernism most unique is its unpredictable nature and “think o...
Postmodern literary criticism asserts that art, author, and audience can only be approached through a series of mediating contexts. "Novels, poems, and plays are neither timeless nor transcendent" (Jehlen 264). Even questions of canon must be considered within a such contexts. "Literature is not only a question of what we read but of who reads and who writes, and in what social circumstances...The canon itself is an historical event; it belongs to the history of the school" (Guillory 238,44).