Study Task 2: Parody & Pastiche

Sources

• Hutcheon, L. (1987) The Politics of Postmodernism: Parody and History in Cultural Critique, No. 5, Modernity and Modernism, Postmodernity and Postmodernism, University of Minnesota Press.
• Jameson, F. (1984) Postmodernism: Or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, pp.17-25.

Jameson defines postmodernism as an era of mess and confusion which is lacking of a Grand-narrative when being compared to the modern era. Cultures from the past were recycled and simplified so that it is acceptable for the mass audience. Jameson is a proponent of the idea that postmodernism is not idiosyncratic, hence lacking of substance. According to him, it reflects the effortlessness and its effect on creativity which leads to a cul-de-sac for originality. The superficial understanding of avant-garde culture creates a dystopian society with historical deafness, and hence the problem of 'random cannibalisation of styles' (Jameson, 1984) prevalent in creative works. Postmodernism is arts of pastiche. Pastiche itself is a 'blank parody'; 'without any of parody's ulterior motives, amputated of satiric impulse, devoid of laughter and of any conviction that alongside the abnormal tongue you abnormally borrowed, some linguistic normality still exists.' (Jameson, 1984)



Hutcheon (1987) has a different insight on postmodernism which criticises Jameson's theory of postmodernism. She thinks that they are 'art marked primarily by an internalised investigation of the nature, the limits, and the possibilities of language of the language or discourse of art.' In other words, postmodern art is an application of art forms and its theory from the past, carefully crafted in order to 'abuse, install and then subvert convention in parodic ways'. This relates closely to Hutcheon's (1987) definition of parody: 'the formal analogue to the dialogue of past and present that silently but unavoidably goes on at a social level.' Despite all the criticism, Hutcheon acknowledged Jameson's take that postmodernism lacks 'genuine historicity'. The double-coded nature of postmodernism has resulted on the popular perception that postmodernism marks the fall of the avant-garde movements from the modern era. Hutcheon dismissed the negative connotation by arguing that avant-garde have undergone a paradigm shift to parodic postmodernism in which artists place more value on revealing 'the close connections between the social production and reception of art and our ideologically and historically conditioned ways of perceiving and acting.' (Hutcheon, 1987) This is pertinent to the present day situation where animated comedies, such as South Park, Family Guy and American Dad!, make use of narrative and symbolism as a powerful propaganda tool to influence the public's perception on socio-political issues.