Postmodernism is dead, finally killed off after years of sickness as a result of mortal injuries sustained on 11th September 2001.
Ideas don’t just die, of course. Intellectual fashions come and go but even at their nadir, there remain traces, legacies and adherents who keep the faith. So postmodernists still exist and postmodernism’s influence can still be felt. Nevertheless, philosophically speaking, postmodernism is a spent force.
To justify this diagnosis, it is important to distinguish between postmodernism as an artistic, cultural and social phenomenon and postmodernism as a philosophical position. In the arts, as Lois McNay puts it in the latest issue of the Philosophers’ Magazine, postmodernism is characterised by a “rejection of a consistent, coherent aesthetic in favour of a playful, eclectic style which draws on many different sources.” This strand of postmodernism is alive and well; its influence can be seen on mainstream films and television programmes. The use of surreal fantasy sequences in the otherwise conventional comedy series Ally McBeal is an example of how postmodernism’s influence has eroded the barriers between hitherto distinct genres. James Brown’s new magazine Jack is also stereotypically postmodern, mixing high and low-brow with an eclectic aesthetic that draws on escapist adventure stories, National Geographic and women’s glossies.
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