Whats the deal with postmodernism?

Question

what is it exactly? i know from what ive read before that there is no easy answer for this, but can anyone try to explain what postmodernism is in the easiest way possible?

is it like, making better of what is now?

i read a qoute somewhere that tried to depict postmodernism:

"its the play itself that matters, not the meaning of the play"

mabye you can touch upon that quote or something?

i just need the basics (if any) on what it is because i have a project on it, and i kind of need to understand what it is before i can move on.

Answer 1

the guy above me seemed to hit it all, but basically post-modernism was in response to modernism (just like every artistic, literary, or any other movement is).  It is esssentially saying that, even though there may be an absolute truth out there, there is no way of knowing it, and so it is developed in the individual's own set of truths.  We live in our own confinements, and try to see the whole universe through our narrow scope.  The image that is often associated with it is the whole fish in a bowl thing.  He makes his own truths from what he can see from his little bowl, but he will never know what is outside of his view which might expand his understanding of the world, so he keeps living with what he knows to be his truth.

Answer 2

See, "Modernism" happened roughly 1870-1945.  (I hate putting exact dates on it; people did NOT wake up on Feb. 1, 1400 and say "wow it's the Renaissance".)  And what happened after WWII is "post-modernism" because, lacking historical perspective, we don't know what to call it yet.  Maybe "it sucksism".

Anyway, since we lack historical perspective, we can't draw absolute conclusions, but a few things seem to be true:

1)  There's a great anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism.  We go so far as to say "there is no such thing as truth" and we rely on rhetoric instead.  Our popular songs boast about how ignorant we are.  Ask an artist a legitimate question about his/her work and you'll hear nothing more than "my work speaks for itself."  Nobody has to have an idea in their heads.

2)  At least four styles of art are considered acceptable: (a) "process", where the artist sets up a process and lets the result come as it may: Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, or John Cage's "Music of Changes" (b) material art, where the material itself is the focus: raw fabrics, or minimalism (c) commercial art, where the artist has one idea and does endless variations on it--like Thomas Kinkade or Mariah Carey (d) "world fusion" where ingredients of different cultures are brought together harmoniously in a way in which they comment on one another, such as fusion cuisine or world music.

And the economics of the arts include four ways in which an artist can make a living: (1) "shock"--look up Jacques Ellul and consider Howard Stern (2) grant-writing--read Tom Wolfe's "The Painted Word" (3) niche marketing--facilitated by the internet and digital distribution (4) mass production, including Kinkade, Carey, Rowlings, etc.--anyone who creates mainstream, inoffensive stuff and sells multiple copies.

Answer 3

it's a philosophical theory with douche-like features of constructivism and such.

it's all about equality and c**p

"the postmodern condition is typified by the rejection of metanarratives" or something like that. Have a look at what Lyotard said (that's a bad recollection of his quote). He's the one that first used the term.

Meta narratives are the BIG stories like religion and communism, and postmodernist don't like them cause they lead to wr.

But for the basics have a look at what lyotard said and find some summaries on foucault, derrida and edward said.

Good luck, it's a complicated theory.