So, what is Postmodernism?

After a long long semester, I suppose I should know by now. Question is, is this blog also supposed to come accompanied by an opinion? Who knows, we'll see as we go along.



Postmodernism takes the idea of not labeling people to the extreme. It sees that by focusing on one thing, one is always marginalizing the Other.



Other with a capital O.... we've seen a lot of this so-called Other throughout the semester. So, who is it?



It's the opressed, and the privelaged. It's the black AND the white. No matter what opinion you entail on any subject, the Other is that with which you disagree.



So, everyone who proponents to stop marginalizing people, Postmodernism says you can't. Sorry.



I guess Postmodernism champions, in a way, both the existence AND the nonexistence of marginalization. So, what type is ok and what isn't? Well, I'm pretty sure we can all figure that out for ourselves, but all of it will always exist.

So, that is that concept of binary opposites. For every black there is a white. For every opinion, a counter.

What else does it mean?
Someone told me that it means, everything is relative. But, relative to what is the main question that it hopes to solve I suppose.

For example, Brave New World citizens seeem perfectly happy. However, when we compare it to our world, relatively, it's awful. But relative to 1984, it's paradise. So is it awful or paradise? It's both, in relativity.

This is where Postmodernism attempts to bring in everyone else's viewpoint. If we look at someone's "odd" viewpoint from their angle, in relative to certain things, anything can seem positive.

Is murder ok if the circumstances allow it? Alone maybe not, but many people can see murder as justifiable relative to a wrongdoing in the past. An extreme example, but relative nonetheless. :-)

In theory, the relativity thing and "tolerance" is a good idea, but I notice it doesn't leave a lot of room for non-postmodern ideas. I suppose that's its fatal flaw.

Postmodernism condemns metanarratives, going back to this idea that it marginalizes Others to accept just one metamarrative, and instead calls for the coexistence of several smaller narratives.

But, as good as that all sounds, Postmodernism is effecitivly marginalizing metanarratives with no chance of reprive. Paradoxing its own principle. I suppose it depends on the metanarraitve.

Looking back on my collection of blogs, I think my experiences with Postmodernism have been documented realistically and informativly.

In the end, Postmodernism attempts to embrace the new and different. However, I would like to add that it has to be careful not to let go of traditions and the past.

Andrea