my understanding of postmodernism

I have been asking myself what postmodernism is and finally when I read through Dino Felluga's  "Introductory Guide to Critical Theory" ; I was able to patch/consolidate random ideas, notions, tenets of this buzz word cum milieu. I tried to read a couple of academic books from Hutcheon, Foucault and Barth yet it's just too hard to comprehend ideas when you need to consult the dictionary every second or two while reading their books. And as Banuk suggested reading forums, blogs and other online sites for a more comprehensible version of their philosophy will definitely help. And it did. Fortunately I came upon Felluga's site where-in all other general introductions to critical theories, not just postmodernism, were explained in bullets  and with very good examples.

Before this reading I had some concrete answers (yet to be verified) if someone asks me what postmodernism is. Postmodernism posits subjectivity (as the cartoon implies). There is no more one single Truth but only truths. It is characterized by a return to the classic but with a twist.

The last statement is definitely nuts. Now I seem to recognize that postmodernism is indeed literally "after" modernism by definition. However it is still arguable if it came directly from modernism or if it was a reaction to it. By the way, when we say modernity and postmodernity, we refer to the time and the society. When we use postmodernism we associate it with the arts and other representations. A time frame allows us to trace how we came into/upon postmodernism. The best analogy I could think of is fashion. I think we agree that fashion is composed (but not limited to) of "fads". These fads have their hiatus before they disappear as just another fad. Postmodernism embodies the recycling of ideas (fads) that were once espoused by previous movements. It is not as new concept since we have our versions of "neo": neo-classicism, neo-romanticism, neo-colonialism etc. Romantics reacted to the rigidity of classicists. Modernists reacted to the predictability of realists. This goes to show that the proceeding era is somehow always a reaction to the preceding era. These reactions were either due to discontent and disagreement such as the story of American modernists in Paris. 

Felluga's best method was to start with a brief and comprehensible summary of past movements and events towards a culmination of postmodernist theory. The sequence is as follows: Oral tradition, Renaissance, Reformation, Romanticism, Victorian , Moderni(ty)/ism, Postmoderni(ty)/ism. 

Oral Tradition: no laws, communal living, barter system, no authorship

Renaissance: start of scientific revolution, transition to a new perspective

Reformation: enlightenment, reason, self, classicism, science as truth

Romanticism: spontaneity, nature, free flow, masses, emotion, body

Victorian: middle class, domesticity, novel, utilitarianism, realism

Modernism: experimentation, radicalism, ambiguity, self reflexivity, alternatives, elitism

Yet postmodernism is hard to pin down in this context alone. It's like the term that cannot be defined and is better off when described through its characteristics. I will give it a try...

Postmodernism is extreme modernism. It is characterized by parody, irony, self reflexivity (one notch higher than that modernism), and disorientation.

These are the generalities. In detailed observation, we have (indeed) this innate urge to make fun of everything. We have the penchant to hark back to "old school" and mimic its forms, attributes, meanings as in parody. There is the incorporation of playfulness as we see shirts of "Tito Vic and Joey", Manilyn Reynes fan etc... This is the element of retro, which can be seen by using the past in totally different perspectives. The trend of parody in movies has never been so infamous as the likes of Not Another Teen Movie and  Scary Movies spoofed teen flicks and slasher films respectively. 

Modernism maybe the hiatus of experimentation as all the "isms" evolved during this time: impressionism, expressionism, cubism, dadaism, existentialism etc. They were at some point accused of being elitists since they avoided anything mediocre, normal, and commonplace. The intellectuals and artists have never been so absorbed in their own cliques. Postmodernism may also be experimental but not elitist as they sought to combine low and high elements of society in their artwork. Andy Warhol's campbell soup is a good example (though he can be seen as postmodern and modern) yet he was already in transition from incorporating Marcel Duchamp's modernist technique,"readymades", to being viewed as a postmodern artist. 

Disorientation is symptomatic in postmodernity as we invent new ways of presenting and translating ideas through truths that disorients the audience such as those in The Others, Sixth Sense, Vanilla Sky, Phonebooth etc. According to Felluga our pre-occupation has changed into paranoia of technology. Our fears are mirrored in pop culture as movies such as The Matrix, Minority Report, and Aeon Flux present paranoia and terror over what advanced technology e.g surveillance, cloning etc has done/ or will do to us.

The rejection of metanarratives led by Lyotard supports the idea that postmodernism believes in plurality. In all aspects of society either art, literature, history, and philosophy there are only truths, narratives, and histories. There is no one, monolithic, and totalizing interpretation of society as posited by metanarratives such as Marxism, Freudian theory, Christian religion, Enlightenment theory and other periodizations of history.

And lastly if you're wondering about the picture above; it's Frank O. Gehry's creation of the Nationale-Nederlanden in Prague Czech Republic. This is the ultimate example of postmodern architecture as it plays with structural forms creating a humorous illusion of a male and female dancing. (they have their hands held) They call it Fred and Ginger.

(i just had to let it out. thanks dino felluga) (critique by Jameson is yet to be included)