Postmodernism is quintessentially the rejection of modernist beliefs. Postmodernism tackles the notion of absolute truth claims and shows a scepticism of all things considered as art, believing that anything can indeed be considered as art. Postmodernists believe that irrational thought is key because perception is the answer to all; referencing Roland Barthes thesis of the author being dead. Ultimately this further entails the idea that definitive truth claims cannot be feasible, as each person has a different perception as to what the truth is. Postmodernism is primarily expressed in text through the use of pastiche, bricolage, inter-textual referencing, simulacra, incredulity towards meta-narratives, hyper- and relativism to which could all be considered as the typical conventions of Postmodernist texts.. It is pertinent to note that Postmodernism is often presented in text with a certain degree of playfulness, as this would in itself oppose certain modernist traits.
Modernism on the other hand very much believes in specificity and categorisation of all things considered art or other mediated forms. Modernists often dispel postmodernism as it is suggested that it is an ironic if not hypocritical belief because in order to decipher as to whether a text can be postmodernist it will need to be categorised; a notion strongly opposed by postmodernists. As aforementioned Roland Barthes thesis of the author being dead, would be considered irrelevant to modernists because art is specific and therefore the 'author' holds the greater power.
The best way to define postmodernism
is to look at a case study and analyse exactly what attributes result in the
text being considered postmodern. One particularly postmodern medium is video games
so this essay will focus on this genre, specifically Call of Duty: Black Ops
III and how this could be considered postmodern. Being a video game it is
inevitable that simulation or Baudrillard's theory of simulacra is relative to
this case study. However the very fact that this particular instalment of the
popular franchise is set in 2065 some 49 years in the future and thus simulates
a war torn Singapore and Zurich, the latter being particularly intriguing
considering Switzerland's reputation for being a 'neutral' country the game throws real world conventions and
expectations entirely out of the proverbial window and creates a future world
based entirely on assumptions and potential and this causes the player to buy
into the scenarios created because they know no difference because the game is
set in the future, whereas previous Call of Duty's have focused on either past
or present events and so the storyline became predictable. Roland Barthes proposed the thesis of the
author being dead and this most definitely relative to this game notably
because of its genre as a whole. Being a first person shooter, although a
generic storyline is evident, the way in which the ending is reached is
entirely dependent on the players actions during each respective mission during
the campaign. Furthermore the player has the ability to select their own
weapons for each respective mission and decide to oppose the generic pre-sets
therefore it suggests that no matter the creators intended outcomes ultimately
the impotence is placed on the player. Being a military based game there are
numerous inter-textual references to new technologies, software's and indeed
organizations to further appeal to the players immersion into the game because
this helps to suggest a world outside of the game. These include the use of;
CIA, DNI (Direct Neural Interface), NRC (The tyrannical enemy), 54 Immortals
(Singapore Criminal Organization). As it is a first person shooter, COD would
be considered an immersive medium and so the boundary between text and audience
is significantly blurred. What is particularly unique about COD is the online
set-up with players able to almost create their own armies to fight against
others, a particularly postmodern trait because it could relate to the
rejection of meta-narratives because although the end occurs after one of the
teams accumulates a certain amount of kills for example, the way in which this
is achieved and indubitably the time in which this is achieved is entirely dependent
on the player and so the player becomes immersed.
Conclusively therefore it
is possible to determine a text such as a video game like Call of Duty: Black
Ops III as being postmodern through evidence of postmodern theories such as
simulacra, the ‘author is dead’, intertextual references and immersion as has
been aforementioned.
