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Post-modernism......

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Man I'm starving in here how can we even begin to talk about [Cow discussing post-modernism]

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something as important as post-modernism when I'm so hungry I could eat a cow

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wait a minute post-modernism has little to do with

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fine dining or fast food and more to do with unreliable narrators and testing [Man appears at fast food booth]

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limits it refers to a literary and artistic movement that began after World

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War Two was over and still continues to thrive today some 70 plus years later

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it's a movement with staying power that's for sure since it included the

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likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson, Beat Generation writer William

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S. Burroughs and satirical genius Joseph Heller not only were these post

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modernists reacting to modernism they were paving their own way in literary [Man paving a road]

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history pretty much everything that modernist held dear post modernists

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either questioned or through completely out the window [Joker appears at a window]

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for example modernist were fascinated by the up-and-coming psychological

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philosophical and political movements of their time post modernists tend to

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question everything and are marked by their paranoia and general distrust in [Man asking why is it snowing]

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well everything unlike the modernists post modernist scoff at the world around

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them instead of celebrating it, take war for example modernists embraced war and

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nationalism as an ideal they wrote stories set in war and relationships in war post [People working in factory]

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modernists weren't having it their war stories like Heller's catch-22 are

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scathing satirical looks at war modernists are also super focused on

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self-awareness in their writing and post modernists turned up their noses at this [Girl looking through binoculars]

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idea instead they determined that self was merely a human construct or an

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ideology and whereas modernist writers felt that self was autonomous from

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everything around it post modernists argue that self is inextricably intwined [Society and culture chains attach to self]

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with society and culture... postmodern authors like to write by

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using what's known as unreliable narrators this means that the person or

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people telling the story isn't necessarily to be trusted this calls for

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the reader to question everything they're being given by the narrator and

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determine for themselves what's real or true and what isn't it can make reading [Girl reading climate change book]

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kind of like a fun puzzle if you think about it post modernists aren't afraid

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to push the limit and experiment with their art and writing in this way [Scientists working and beaker explodes]

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they've been successful in altering people's prior conceptions about what is

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and isn't considered great literature nearly every great author you can think

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of from 1945 on can be considered part of the postmodern literary canon in some

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way or another but as with any movement there are some exceptional standouts

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Sylvia Plath was one such author born in Boston in 1932 Plath's short life was [Sylvia facts appear]

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marked by depression multiple suicide attempts and some seriously amazing

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writing about all of it she is well known for having advanced a type of

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writing known as confessional poetry any guesses on what that means people? As

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implied by its name confessional poetry is intensely personal deep and sometimes

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disturbing poetry... poets confessed on paper in verse where poets of the past [Man reading poem and begins crying]

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often distanced themselves more from their writing confessional poets sought

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to be aligned with the poem speaker they poured out their deepest secrets and

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darkest fears to whoever wanted to read them some of the major topics or themes

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in confessional poetry are mental illness, sexuality, personal trauma and

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Beyonce alright not Beyonce anyway, Plath's writing outlined her real-life struggles

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but tragically even after spending time in mental facilities for treatment [Plath in a padded room]

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Plath took her own life at only 30 years of age, she had some success during

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her lifetime with a writing but was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her work

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The Collected Poems time to check out one of Plaths wildly confessional poems

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this one simply called Daddy... can you imagine what it's about instead of

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guessing just read the poem now.....

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Okay this is a seriously intense poem was it what you

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were expecting with a title like daddy either way this is a deep piece of [Man angry at poem and head explodes]

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poetry and we're going to break it down into smaller more easily digestible

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bites first off who's the speaker of this poem...

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remember post modernist writers like to blur that line between author and

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speaker in poetry so as the speaker Plath herself writing

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about her own feelings toward her father the best answer is yes and no...Though there [Yes and No ticked]

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are several similarities between the daddy referenced in the poem and Plath's

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own dad but they aren't quite enough to assume that the speaker in Sylvia are

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one and the same person Plath created a speaker in her likeness but distanced [Plath looking at herself in a mirror]

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herself enough from the poem and she was able to use some poetic license

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departure from reality in poetry to make the poem more emotional and engaging to

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the reader the imagery in this poem is incredible because it's simple but packs [Man reading poem]

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a serious punch it's impossible to read daddy and not have certain images spring

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to mind the sheer amount of Holocaust imagery and illusion is staggering for [Families stood together in holocaust]

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instance Plath uses the term Luftwaffe the German Air Force Panzer Mana, Panzer

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is a German tank and Mein Kampf, the title of Adolf Hitler's autobiography

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all of these images have direct connotations to the atrocities and pain

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that came from World War two remember this poem was written during the

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relatively early postmodern days 1962 when the Second World War had just [soldiers carrying wounded man]

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recently ended and the evil of Hitler and his minions still permeated

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everyone's mind using specific references in this way was powerful and

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Plath knew it whether or not her relationships with her father and

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husband were as bad as the speaker makes them out in this poem isn't directly

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known but using war and Nazi imagery is enough to make anyone cringe while

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reading this poem by using compelling symbols and imagery in the way that she

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did Plath sets a dismal tone to the poem from the jump another interesting way

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that she plays up the tone in this poem is by her use of rhyme and meter [Rhyme and meter meaning appears]

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even though Plath doesn't subscribe to one formal rhyme scheme so postmodern of

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her there are rhymes throughout the poem

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typically we think of rhyming poetry to be for kids like Nursery Rhymes or dr.

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Seuss so when Plath uses singsong type rhymes

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and Daddy it kind of just makes it super creepy you can imagine that maybe Daddy [Father stood beside daughters bed]

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recited nursery rhymes to his daughter then she turned these pleasant little diddies

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into something scathing and evil yep that's a postmodern twist if I've [People dancing]

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ever seen one we've only skimmed the surface of Plaths life and awesome verse

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but because the era of postmodern literature is so big and still growing

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we're going to meet a completely different sort of writer from the same

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canon..... Kurt Vonnegut jr. was born in 1922 in Indianapolis to German parents after

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World War one people weren't all that stoked on the Germans so his parents

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refused to teach him the language or about the culture he started college at

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Cornell but dropped out and joined the army to serve in World War two during [Kurt in army clothing]

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the war Vonnegut was captured by the Germans when the Allied forces bombed

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the city of Dresden he hid in a meat locker in a slaughterhouse and the title [Kurt hiding in a slaughterhouse]

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of his best loved and most popular novel slaughterhouse-five a book about the

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horrors of war and also aliens and time travel post-modernism anyone? after

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returning from the war Vonnegut published his first novel in 1952 but it

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wasn't a huge success that didn't stop him slaughterhouse-five was Vonnegut [Slaughterhouse-five book appears]

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sixth published effort and the one that sent him skyrocketing into fame...Vonnegut

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is notorious among the big names of post-modernism for several reasons his

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personal experience in and feelings about the war shaped a lot of his [Kurt vandalizing wall]

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writing he wasn't afraid to try experimental literary techniques employ

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unreliable narrators and became known as an absolute king of irony and satire

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we're going to pause here and read one of Vonnegut short stories; Harrison

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Bergeron.... come right on back when you're finished

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all set? nice speaking of set Harrison Bergeron is set

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in the future 2081 and everybody was finally equal [Plane flys by carrying everybody equal banner]

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because Vonnegut opens the story in this way we know that the equality among

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humans is a major theme, instead of everyone achieving the American dream of

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becoming wealthy and equal people are equal because their innate talents like

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intelligence or good looks are being suppressed the lowest common denominator [Bag falls on man's head]

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is the marker for equality yikes smart people have to wear mental

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handicap radios to keep them from excelling in brainy pursuits beautiful

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people have to hide their faces so that no one is able to feel jealous of their [girl with bag over her face]

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looks sounds equal right? in conjunction with equality is the theme of

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competition in today's America we can't imagine life without some healthy [People arm-wrestling]

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competition nearly everyone has preferred sports teams is up for a round

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of apples-to-apples at family gathering and hurries to get to the best place in

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line at the grocery store or to get into a concert in Harrison Bergeron none of

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these things could even happen because someone would ultimately be a winner and [Football goes over goalposts]

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other people would be losers that's not equal what would happen if these healthy

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forms of competition were taken away from us where do we draw the line

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between healthy and unhealthy competition? these aren't questions with

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easy answers but we can't help but to ask them after reading Vonnegut's

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cautionary tale Vonnegut was also commenting on the

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practicality of rules and how they can be used to manipulate an entire [Car travelling on the freeway]

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population most people would agree that some rules are okay that's why we make

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laws and prohibit certain behaviors and why there are punishments if these laws

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are broken but once again we have to ask when do rules go too far? In Harrison

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Bergeron the rules have been taken to the extreme of people literally wearing [Man wearing necklace of rules in a bath]

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them around their necks sheesh by making everyone equal people

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really just became too tired and beaten down to care about anything but basic

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survival sure everyone might be in the same boat on the sea of equality but [Boat sailing on sea of equality]

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does that sound like a life you would like to live? not at all

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Vonnegut used satire to comment on the way most people views socialism the

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theory that goods should be collectively owned and distributed he seems to be

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poking fun at people who think socialism is a bad idea by creating a satorized

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future in which socialism has been taken to the utmost extreme and in case you

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were wondering Vonnegut was personally a proponent of socialism it all makes [Kurt with giant foam finger in a slaughterhouse]

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sense now... Harrison Bergeron is a great example of

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postmodern writing because it plays with some very controversial ideas in a

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light-hearted but straightforward way, it isn't a story bogged down with flowery

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language and descriptions instead it reads almost like a bit of news should [Newspaper appears]

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basic to the point just the facts ma'am or sir...

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in this case we don't have an unreliable narrator but there's so little

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information given that we still have to fill in a lot of the specifics on our

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own and that is totally postmodern... Plath and Vonnegut are only two of a huge list

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of postmodern writers when an era of writing spans more than seventy years [List of postmodern writers appears]

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there are going to be lots of folks included today writers are coming up

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with even more innovative ways to expand the postmodern canon can you imagine

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what the future holds if you're a post modernist you probably can and I'm [Magic eight ball shows you probably can]

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guessing it has a little something to do with the Internet, online dating and cats

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just a guess....

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