History Main / Postmodernism

Not to be confused with {{Irony}}, ''per se'', although both terms have been frequently [[IsntItIronic misused as such]] since TheNineties. Interestingly, the DeathOfTheAuthor is a {{Criticism Trope|s}} that both groups can [[EnemyMine often agree on]]. Modernists can claim it's possible to come to a {{canon}}ical conclusion about the text regardless of the author's [[WordOfGod changing opinions]], whereas postmodernists can claim that ''[[ShrugOfGod "there is nothing outside the text"]]'' and that [[LostInTransmission their opinion of]] what the ''author was trying to say'' is equally likely to be true as [[FanonDiscontinuity their opinion of]] what the work itself states. [[MindScrew Confused?]]. A.K.A. [=PoMo=]. Compare UsefulNotes/{{Dada}}. See also AffectionateParody and SurrealHumor. May sometimes border onto TrueArtIsIncomprehensible territory. Related heavily to MediumAwareness, BreakingTheFourthWall, NoFourthWall, SugarWiki/FictionIdentityPostulate (which states that all fictions are equally fictional). Compare RecursiveCanon, HeavyMeta, FootnoteFever.

* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': References to other Jump series and characters (and the Jump staff) come up very often, from simply spoofing the names, like [[Manga/OnePiece "One Park"]] and [[Manga/{{Naruto}} "Belt"]] (pronounced "Beruto" in Japanese), to just blatant shout-outs (see: the [[MundaneMadeAwesome sukiyaki episode]] where a [[Manga/DeathNote shinigami]] pops up at the end and [[strike:Zura]] [[strike:Katsura]] [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Katsuo]] during the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoWii OwEe]] arc). Also, the characters are fully aware of their being fictional -- to the point where Gintoki and Shinpachi call out events that would get the anime cancelled and where Gintoki insists that people (even characters ''within the show'') buy the [=DVDs=] from Sunrise.

* After World War I, several artists decided art should have no meaning whatsoever, (because according to them, nothing meant anything any more), so UsefulNotes/{{Dada}} developed and is forever remembered as one of the more ridiculous art movements- when it's not the most depressing. Though Dada is technically part of Modernism.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': The origin of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] version of the Flash, Barry Allen, has him name himself after his favorite comic book character upon gaining his powers, which just so happened to be the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Flash, Jay Garrick. This was some 30 years before ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', and as such, the Silver Age comics and Golden Age comics existed in different universes.

* The entire ''Anime/PrettyCure'' Franchise, especially in its early years, goes a different route from other series by having the characters go along with the craziness instead of having the tropes be deconstructed.

* The entire ''Anime/PrettyCure'' Franchise goes a different route from other series by having the characters go along with the craziness instead of having the tropes be deconstructed.

* ''ComicBook/Rorschach2020'' is diagetically a DistantSequel to ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' but is also an assessment of [[Characters/WatchmenRorschach Walter Kovacs, a.k.a. "Rorschach"]] -- one of the most morally complicated [[AntiHero anti-heroes]] in the medium -- and the strange legacy he left behind in-universe and out. The book [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall repeatedly grazes against]] and occassionally [[NoFourthWall blends into the fourth wall]] many times, dissecting what exactly makes him such [[AntiRoleModel a compellingly flawed character]], why some [[MisaimedFandom mistake him as being a role model despite how utterly messed-up he is]], reflecting on the past ideologies that led to his creation, and what his popularity ended up morally contributing to the world. To boot, the entire plot is kickstarted by [[LegacyCharacter a crazed Rorschach impersonator]]... who is quickly discovered to be [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed a blatant analogue]] to Creator/SteveDitko, the real-life creator whom Creator/AlanMoore based a significant portion of Rorschach's philosophy on in the original ''Watchmen'' story.

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' flirts with postmodernism in its early seasons and directly embodies it later. The series is fond of self-referential humor and recognition of the artifice inherent in techniques involved in showriting and the real-world impacts fiction can have on its viewers. Season 5 operates on a device which blurs the reality and unreality of BoJack's surroundings, culminating in an episode where BoJack is unable to separate his real life from a film he is acting in. The last two seasons as a whole explore the consequences of systemized abusive behavior and explores the concept of the "television anti-hero" through a deconstructionist lense. In general, the show uses many postmodern techniques, such as experimental episodes which use an abundance of multiple means of medium and animation styles, quirky self-referential musical numbers, and a variety of pop-culture references, often featuring many caricaturized parodies of real-life celebrities, who are often played by the celebrity themselves.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' flirts with postmodernism in its early seasons and directly embodies it later. The series is fond of self-referential humor and recognition of the artifice inherent in techniques involved in showriting and the real-world impacts fiction can have on its viewers. Season 5 operates on a device which blurs the reality and unreality of Bojack's surroundings, culminating in an episode where Bojack is unable to separate his real life from a film he is acting in. The last two seasons as a whole explore the consequences of systemized abusive behavior and explores the concept of the "television anti-hero" through a deconstructionist lense. In general, the show uses many postmodern techniques, such as experimental episodes which use an abundance of multiple means of medium and animation styles, quirky self-referential musical numbers, and a variety of pop-culture references, often featuring many caricaturized parodies of real-life celebrities, who are often played by the celebrity themselves.

* Music/TheKillers' "Spaceman", discussing the state of what is real with anti-realism. Taken even further by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc16Y9fiCvQ the music video]], and then that goes further with the ending of the video showing the soundstage on which it was contained and filmed.

* In ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, one of the BigBad's plans is to send his [[{{Mooks}} minions]] to our world and attempt to kill Creator/StephenKing in order to prevent the last few books in the series from being written, thus ensuring that the BigDamnHeroes will never stop him from [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroying the universe]]. Metaphysically speaking, stopping the last books from being written ''[[FridgeBrilliance would seem to qualify]]'' as destroying the universe, but it's not ''that'' [=PoMo=]. The katet's story happens no matter what happens to King. Killing him just means one of the two remaining lynchpins holding up the universe snaps in two, with [[EarthShatteringKaboom appropriate results.]] In other words, he's not the [[DeusExMachina god of the machine]], he's the MacGuffin.

* ''Film/Scream1996'' started a massive wave of self-referential, teen-focused horror films that ran through the [[TheNineties late '90s]]. By the time the [[Film/Scream4 fourth installment]] comes along the characters realize that the rules the first movie subverted are now being subverted ''again'' and "the unexpected is the new cliché". By the time the [[Film/Scream2022 fifth installment]] comes along the new characters realize they are in a SoftReboot and try to plan accordingly. By the time the [[Film/Scream6 sixth installment]] comes along the surviving new characters realize they are in a franchise and again try to plan accordingly.

Postmodernism, as a major force in criticism and academia, has also attracted a number of critics of its own. Conservatives have lambasted postmodernism for its moral relativism, while orthodox Marxists have attacked it for its lack of a grand narrative, de-emphasis of class consciousness, and acceptance of capitalism, even if postmodernism seems ambivalent toward it.

* Postmodernism is also an art movement in music. Postmodernist music is often defined as a reaction against Modernism and its overt atonality. Like postmodernist literature, postmodernist music often likes to blur the boundary between tonality and atonality (dissonance), high art (classical) and low art (pop, rock music), between performer, composer and listener (chance music, conceptual music, etc...), and between musical forms.

** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190324051505/http://salient.org.nz/2009/10/tv-tropes-will-ruin-your-life/ This article]] blames Postmodernism as one of the reasons why JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife, since the style of this wiki references fictions one after the other, and dissolves the boundaries between fiction and RealLife. Besides the [[Administrivia/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability lack of notability]], the relentless [[ThisTropeNameReferencesItself self-referencing]] of [[WikiWalk massively]] [[Administrivia/AllBlueEntry interlinked]] [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife trope definitions]] with {{pothole}}s {{parody}}ing the purpose of every article and [[MemeticMutation turning trope names]] into FanSpeak (along with the [[TheInternet medium of hypertext]] and the concept of a wiki itself) is also a [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible very postmodern concept]].

* Nigel Tomm's film adaptation of ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye'', which is [[spoiler:75 minutes of a blank blue screen]]. TrueArtIsIncomprehensible, indeed.

Postmodernism is also a popular school of thought in the social sciences and humanities, largely revolving around the idea that a cogent argument doesn't necessarily have to make points that are actually true, while arguments that may "''technically''" be true in some sense are not necessarily either convincing or valuable. In academic disciplines, the biggest impact that Postmodernism introduced was to sever the idea of history, society, or existence, being linear and progressive (i.e. the world is going to get better and better) and that led to the popularity of AlternateHistory and ForWantOfANail not only in speculative fiction but also in serious works of non-fiction where people showed that a lot of things people saw in history wasn't inevitable but in large part accidental or came down to pure dumb luck. Postmodernist theorists by extended research also pointed out how the idea of society going somewhere was NewerThanTheyThink, based on EntertaininglyWrong assumptions that have become DatedHistory (a strain that is called Historicism or New Historicism). Contingency and agency became watchwords in post-modernist inspired works. Post-modernist inspired accounts insist that life is in large sense a RandomEventsPlot and much of what we consider the "pursuit of knowledge" is a narrative that distracts us from realizing that, drawing inspiration from UsefulNotes/{{Existentialism}}.[[note]]But differing in that existentialists insist on agency to choose and engage actively with one's ideas and views -- i.e., if "the pursuit of knowledge" is not inherent in society, then it is up to humans to actively make a society that promotes knowledge knowing fully well the limitations of that choice. Postmodernism generally doesn't advocate engagement, which has led the kind of people who care about such things to accuse it of promoting nihilism.[[/note]]

* ''Film/Scream1996'' started a massive wave of self-referential, teen-focused horror films that ran through the [[TheNineties late '90s]]. By the time the [[Film/Scream4 fourth installment]] comes along the characters realize that the rules the first movie subverted are now being subverted ''again'' and "the unexpected is the new cliché". By the time the [[Film/Scream5 fifth installment]] comes along the new characters realize they are in a SoftReboot and try to plan accordingly. By the time the [[Film/Scream6 sixth installment]] comes along the surviving new characters realize they are in a franchise and again try to plan accordingly.

* [[Series/SlingsAndArrows Darren Nichols]].

* ''Film/Scream1996'' started a massive wave of self-referential, teen-focused horror films that ran through the [[TheNineties late '90s]]. By the time the fourth instalment comes along, the characters now realise that the rules the first movie subverted are now being subverted ''again'' and "the unexpected is the new cliche".

* At a seemingly random moment during the story, the action in ''Videogame/EarthBound'' is interrupted by a dialogue box asking the player in no uncertain terms to input their real, full name. Due to the way it's worded and the fact that it comes out of nowhere, players tend to, instead of inputting something stupid like they usually would, comply fully. It isn't brought up again until the final boss fight, [[spoiler:where the BigBad EldritchAbomination Giygas can only be defeated via [[ThePowerOfFriendship a party member praying for help from every ally they met on their journey]]. It works for a while, but then you start to get chilling messages about "your prayers being devoured by the darkness." That is, until one final prayer is heard by the most powerful ally the party has: you, the player, addressed by name]]. They did it again in ''Videogame/MOTHER3''. [[spoiler:After the apocalypse, all the characters specifically tell YOU that they're okay.]] The MOTHER series in general has a habit of making jokes that only make sense in the context of a JRPG.

[[caption-width-right:330:This is not a pipe.[[note]][[RecursiveReality It's a central nervous system's perception of a retina's interpretation in electrical impulses of a photonic projection of a digital recording of a scan of a photograph of a painted representation of Magritte's perception of a pipe.]] Or if that’s too much of a mouthful, it’s not a pipe, just a picture of one.[[/note]]]]

* The "Not Officially Sabrina Online Construction Set" (or NOSOCS), a parody freely editable by anyone of the FurryComic ''WebComic/SabrinaOnline'', postmodern to begin with, took a turn for the ridiculously postmodern during 2008, and actually managed to be fairly consistently clever.

Postmodernism, as a major force in criticism and academia, has also attracted a number of critics. Conservatives have lambasted postmodernism for its moral relativism, while Marxists have attacked it for its lack of a grand narrative, de-emphasis of class consciousness, and acceptance of capitalism, even if postmodernism seems ambivalent toward it.

** Website/{{Wikipedia}} lists Music/DavidBowie, Music/TalkingHeads, and Music/FrankZappa as examples of postmodern popular music acts; given that all three of them have fulfilled all of the above-mentioned traits of postmodern music and then some, it's not an inaccurate label for the three of them. Talking Heads is an especially standout example, given how their music so thoroughly dissected and reinvented popular music that they sound unlike anything that's come before or since.

* In a fourth season ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode, "[[Recap/SupernaturalS04E18TheMonsterAtTheEndOfThisBook The Monster at the End of This Book]]", Sam and Dead discover that someone has used visions of their lives as the inspiration for a series of horror novels. The books have the same titles as past episodes, and the writer's current manuscript is about what is happening to them right then.
** The title being a reference to [[Literature/TheMonsterAtTheEndOfThisBook a very postmodern]] ''Series/SesameStreet'' (!) book.

** Supernatural seems to enjoy having at least once postmodern-esque episode per season, at least since season four. There's "The Monster at the End of This Book" in season four (after which Chuck, the author, becomes a recurring character), "[[Recap/SupernaturalS05E08ChangingChannels Changing Channels]]" and "[[Recap/SupernaturalS05E09TheRealGhostbusters The Real Ghostbusters]]" in season five, and "[[Recap/SupernaturalS06E15TheFrenchMistake The French Mistake]]" in season six. The last one takes "The Monster at the End of This Book" to new levels of meta: it features a ShowWithinAShow -- the show being ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', and Sam and Dean have to pretend to be [[Creator/JaredPadalecki Jared]] and [[Creator/JensenAckles Jensen]], who in turn are meant to be playing Sam and Dean... ItMakesSenseInContext.

* ''LightNovel/StudentCouncilsDiscretion'' also loves making references to other shows (specially LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya) and breaking the FourthWall. The first two minutes of the series is a NoFourthWall discussion on how they should make the anime.

* The ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' anime starts with Haruhi directing a show about her purposes - to try to advance her purposes - which reveals more about the show than is first apparent. Many episodes end with Kyon and Haruhi arguing about which episode comes next, and Kyon complaining about how the AnachronicOrder makes the plot hard to follow. It should also be noted that the title character is also the Executive Director of the show.

* In the ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' anime Gustav St. Germain and his assistant Carol have conversations about [[EnsembleCast which character]] is the main protagonist and why the series doesn't have a conclusive ending. The anime tells the story in a completely non-chronological order and invites the audience to put all the pieces together, in contrast to the books, which are slightly more linear.