History Main / Postmodernism

** Oh shit!

->''It's [=PoMo=]! ''({{beat}})'' ...Post modern. ''(beat)'' ...[[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible Weird for the sake of weird]].''

** ''{{Harvester}}'', by the nature of its plot, takes this idea to the extreme.

* ''{{Killer7}}'' does this by removing your freedom of movement in a way that can be interpreted as done to point out the linearity and straightforwardness of the game, and how you can't control your fate. Because of a problematic control scheme, and the linearity itself and extreme MindScrew in storyline, welcoming was mixed at best.

* The second verse of The Ramones' "Judy is a Punk" begins with "second verse, same as the first", and indeed ''it is''. Verse three begins with "third verse, different from the first" and, again, ''it is''.

* This same meta-knowledge is the driving gag behind [[DCComics DC's]] ''AmbushBug''.
** Who happens to be insane, so all that stuff could just be in his head.
* {{Deadpool}} is also aware he is in a comic.

* Anytime you see a '''Meta Example''', it's Post Modern. Especially if it's on the Post Modern page. Whoa. [[MindScrew Trippy.]] Further complicating matters is that if you deny that your Post Modern statement is itself Post Modern, you've simply made it even more Post Modern. In particular this makes it very tricky to parody as any sufficiently involved parody of Post Modernism is, in itself, a Post Modern comment on itself. [[StupidSexyFlanders No]] PoMo.[[hottip:+:[[FootnoteFever "Not that I'm postmodern or anything."]]

* ''Viva la Muerte'' (1971), a surreal western similar to ''ElTopo''.

* Most Quentin Tarantino films, including ''PulpFiction'' and ''KillBill.''

* ''{{Ararat}}'', a film about making an ostensibly historically accurate film about the Armenian Genocide, is PostModern in and of itself. The film adds on to it with dramatic scenes broken by suddenly panning back to see the Director and Film crew, or by having an Art Professor storm onto a set and argue with the lead actor about how he's playing the artist she's spent her career on, with the actor arguing back while still in character -- while reminding you from this that even ''this'' is two actors playing roles).

* ''[[OneOverZero 1/0.]]''

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

* At the beginning of Paul Auster's ''City of Glass'', the main character receives a call from someone looking for a private detective named... Paul Auster. The main character later meets the character named Auster, but it is left unclear whether Auster is [[MediumAwareness aware]] that he is the author.

* ''Literature/TheNewYorkTrilogy'' by Paul Auster is a post-modern trilogy of mystery novels.

* {{Otherland}} by TadWilliams. So very much.

* Robert Rankin uses this '''a lot'''.

!!Examples:

!Examples:

!!Examples

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''ItsGarryShandlingsShow'' had Garry and his friends aware that they were in a SitCom, often talking directly to members of the audience, and manipulating the story to his own ends.

* In several episodes of ''QuantumLeap'', the main characters figure out what their objective for the episode is by eliminating the possibilities that would be "too easy" for a forty-five-minute drama series. Also notable is that Sam interprets his situation as God himself intervening in the Quantum Leap project.

** 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), "The Real Ghostbusters" and "Changing Channels" in season five, and "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 [[JaredPadalecki Jared]] and [[JensenAckles Jensen]], who in turn are meant to be playing Sam and Dean... ItMakesSenseInContext.
* ''NorthernExposure'' did this to the point that, in one episode, the characters all gathered in the town square to discuss the problem of their motivations for a particular scene. Hardly an episode went by without at least one character breaking the fourth wall or referencing their "characterhood".

* ''Film/SevenPsychopaths'' is about a screenwriter writing a script for a movie called [[TitleDrop Seven Pschopaths]] and ends up meeting said psychopaths. At one point the writer says he wants his movie to be a set up for a revenge story in the first half and then have the characters go off into the desert and talk the meaning of life for the second half. He says this as he and his friends are driving out into the desert to escape one of the psychopaths.

* ''PrincessTutu'' is a post-modern ballet, so every episode has uses classical piece for themes and several episodes have plots that reference famous ballets, with ''SwanLake'' being the most prominent. Also, one of the characters is a prince that escaped from a fairytale, and it's later revealed that [[spoiler:the writer of that fairytale is now controlling the town the show takes place in]]. Once the characters learn about that, they start BreakingTheFourthWall and manipulating the medium of fairytales to their advantage.

* ''FunnyGames'': A [[{{Gorn}} Torture Porn]] / [[SlasherMovie Slasher]] film with NoFourthWall, and DangerouslyGenreSavvy killers who know they're in a A [[{{Gorn}} Torture Porn]] / [[SlasherMovie Slasher]] film and [[NoFourthWall break the fourth wall]] to [[TakeThat attack]] the fandom of [[{{Gorn}} Torture Porn]] / [[SlasherMovie Slasher]] films, showing how the suffering of their victims is [[YouBastard is the audience's fault.]] because [[{{Gorn}} Torture Porn]] / [[SlasherMovie Slasher]] films are entertainment to them. They also [[spoiler: change the outcome of the plot by using a remote control to rewind to seconds before the victims successfully fight back, and [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this by saying "you shouldn't have done that, you're not aloud to break the rules" meaning that the victims can never win a [[{{Gorn}} Torture Porn]] / [[SlasherMovie Slasher]] film because that's [[TheBadGuyWins "the rules"]] of the genre.]]. Long story short, if you enjoyed it, them you didn't understand it.

* Everything about ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. From the horrifying deconstruction of the mecha genre, to the mind-raping drawn-in-crayon apocalypse that ended the series, to the metafictional live-action sequences of the film...
** Not everything. Original Drafts recovered from the Series were far more coherent, and certain supplemental materials try to focus on that part instead of the actual reality that was shown. The Manga is also fairly low on Mindscrew in relation to the Anime, along with the Remake.

* ''WebAnimation/BarbieLifeInTheDreamhouse'' explores some trappings of being a doll, such as never showing physical aging signs, and having hair that never grows back when cut. The series also openly acknowledges the likelihood that {{Barbie}} is too perfect for her own good. For example, she admits having trouble keeping track of all the jobs Mattel has given her over the years. Also, as a pseudo-reality show, Barbie and the gang frequently comment to the viewers. They initially limit themselves to ConfessionCam sequences, but they gradually become more aware that the viewers possibly watch ''everything'' they do.

* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieLifeInTheDreamhouse'' explores some trappings of being a doll, such as never showing physical aging signs, and having hair that never grows back when cut. The series also openly acknowledges the likelihood that {{Barbie}} is too perfect for her own good. For example, she admits having trouble keeping track of all the jobs Mattel has given her over the years. Also, as a pseudo-reality show, Barbie and the gang frequently comment to the viewers. They initially limit themselves to ConfessionCam sequences, but they gradually become more aware that the viewers possibly watch ''everything'' they do.

* The above are only following in the footsteps of the original masters of PostModernism in animation: ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', the most famous example arguably being "DuckAmuck".

* Speaking of ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', it lives on {{Deconstruction}} and PostModernism. For a series about a girl who wants to be a prince, one wouldn't expect the catchphrase to be "absolute destiny apocalypse." Classical piano music coexists with children singing what sounds like Music/{{Megadeth}} in Japanese. A group of shadow girls acts as a GreekChorus to [[PaintingTheMedium explain the plot]] to drum music OnceAnEpisode (or go off on [[CloudCuckooLander tangents about UFOs]]), but eventually they interact with the cast -- and when they do, it's a WhamEpisode. ''Utena'' is a deconstruction of the ShoujoGenre as a whole, in much the same way as ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]]'' is for ShonenGenre.

* ''Film/TwentyHourHourPartyPeople''. Constant references to 'Things that, technically, didn't actually happen', many moments of fourth wall breaking, a scene that 'will probably be cut and will appear on the DVD Extras', and a scene highlighting all the cameos from the real musicians. In one of his asides to the camera, Steve Coogan's Tony Wilson describes himself as "being postmodern, before it was fashionable." The thing is, all these pomo tricks are true to Wilson's actual character and ideals.

** For example, even if you were in a space station orbiting Mars, JustForFun/CandleJack will get y

* Marshall [=McLuhan=], Canadian philosopher, sociologist, and the father of media studies, may well have been a living TropeCodifier for PostModernism. Aside from coining the phrase "The Global Village", he also had a lot of really ''out there'' theories. He stated that "The Medium is the message, and therefore the content is the audience". He believed that light bulbs were an information medium, and proclaimed "I refuse to appear on television, except on television" meaning that, if interviewed, he'd never set foot in a TV Studio himself, but rather talk through a TV screen. One can only imagine what he'd think of TVTropes... We know [[NewMediaAreEvil exactly what he thought of the internet.]] Remember, the term "global village" was an insult.

* In ''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]].

* For being such a cute little MagicalGirl show on the surface, ''PrincessTutu'' can be pretty post modern at times. The show is about ballet, so every episode has a classical piece as a "theme" and several episodes have plots that reference famous ballets, and the whole story is at times like a twisted retelling of ''SwanLake''. Also, one of the characters is a prince that escaped from a fairytale, and it's later revealed that [[spoiler:the writer of that fairytale is now controlling the town the show takes place in]]. Once the characters learn about that, they start BreakingTheFourthWall and manipulating the medium of fairytales to their advantage.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. Not only does the art design of the Witch's Barriers evoke references to classical art and fiction, especially ''{{Faust}}'', but the main synopsis, and several of the episodes, such as episodes 9 and 12, brings back memories of familiar anime series such as ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', ''{{Bokurano}}'', and ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. Even the ending, [[spoiler:in which Madoka rewrites the Magical Girl system to become more like the typical MG series of old, and, in a way, allowing shows such as ''Manga/SailorMoon'' to exist, essentially, a {{Reconstruction}} of the genre after the {{Deconstruction}} that was the previous episodes]] feels very postmodern.