Blog 4: Simulara and Simulations

Postmodernism is the interpretation of others with different claims to authority, as Andy pointed out in the lecture. They seek to find the truth or their own version of the truth, for they believe that truth and the true value of a subject are arguable. The idea of postmodernism is something most of us probably don't think about, but it is everywhere we look in television, radio and in newspapers. If we look at the intertextuality of newspapers and magazines you will quickly find this postmodernist idea. One prime example is the satirical magazine 'Private Eye', which parodies the recent headlines for political effect. The editor of which, Ian Hislop, is a panellist on the news quiz 'Have I got News For You'. We also see elements of pastiche in shows you would not intially realise, like The Simpsons and Family Guy, for example the Clockwork Orange scene in The Simpsons that we saw in the lecture. Postmodernism is all around us though we don't always realise it, we subconsciously take it in and even become postmodernist because of shows like Have I got News for You. We start to question the truth we hear, we question the politicians and the press. Sometimes we are very successful at arguing and uncovering the truth, take the Watergate Scandal; concealed to the public by the American government, it took two Washington Post reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, to discover the truth. They argued what the truth was and saw the reality that was concealed by the authority figures - image over reality.