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Postmodernism



Brian wrote:
>>> Tarantino is part of a movement which has been going on for about
twenty years 
>>> now in the arts called "post-modernism."  What the end result of it
has been 
>>> that style and surface values are valued far over artistic meaning. 
New Wave, 
>>> sometimes dismissed as "haircut music," was one of the earliest
examples.
>>> ...there's no meaning behind it, only style.

	Actually, postmodernism attempts to create greater meaning by way of
ambiguity and density.  One of its major tenets is that an author's
interpretation of the "meaning" [misreading] of his own work is no more
correct than his audience's "misreading" (i.e. Jack, the artist, looks at
his painting and sees trees.  Judy looks at his painting and sees a
house.  Both interpretations are equally valid, according to
postmodernism).  This absence of clear-cutness leads some people to
disregard postmodern art as "meaningless", an opinion which postmodernism
would not see as incorrect, but rather as a perfectly acceptable
"misreading".  

	With that in mind, what could be more postmodern than the original
"Tommy"?  Or even The Who itself?  Their shows were full of "performance
art", and they were pioneers of autodestructive art in music.  Townshend
himself seems to be continually "misreading" the smashing of his guitar-

"I suppose the instrument smashing thing was all to do with my
frustrations." 
- Townshend, interview in the "Live at Leeds" liner notes

"I smash guitars because I like them."
- something I read somewhere

	A look at The Who - they certainly didn't dress like mods.  They didn't
write mod songs (for very long).  There was nothing "mod" about them [see
www.theboiler.com for more information on modernism].  One of the most
intriguing aspects of the "Quadrophenia" album is that it is the story of
a mod, and yet the album itself is almost entirely devoid of modernism,
if not full of postmodernism.

- kyle  
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