Jonathan Kramer Theory

Media Theorist Jonathan Kramer says "the idea that postmodernism is less a surface style or historical period than an attitude. Kramer goes on to say 16"characteristics of postmodern music, by which I mean music that is understood in a postmodern manner, or that calls forth postmodern listening strategies, or that provides postmodern listening experiences, or that exhibits postmodern compositional practices."
According to Kramer (Kramer 2002, 16–17), postmodern music":
1. is not simply a repudiation of modernism or its continuation, but has aspects of both a break and an extension
2. is, on some level and in some way, ironic
3. does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present
4. challenges barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles
5. shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity
6. questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values
7. avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or serial or cast in a prescribed formal mold)
8. considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts
9. includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures
10. considers technology not only as a way to preserve and transmit music but also as deeply implicated in the production and essence of music
11. embraces contradictions
12. distrusts binary oppositions
13. includes fragmentations and discontinuities
14. encompasses pluralism and eclecticism
15. presents multiple meanings and multiple temporalities
16. locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in scores, performances, or composers

Destinys Child - Get On The Bus could be consider postmodern. The song features rapper/producer Timbaland and is lifted from the original motion picture soundtrack of Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1998). As with other Timbaland productions, the single features some unorthodox parts, including the sounds of birds (a similar technique was used in Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?")

I have considered how each Kramers ideas could be applied to this song.The fact that the genre is RnB but natural sounds of birds and monkeys can be heard in the background could mean it avoids totalizing forms.




Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?" also by Timberland used the same idea in which the sound of a baby gurggling can be heard.



Stockhausen Helicopter String Quartet. This was wrote specifically to fit with noise of helicopters. The sound of the wind is incoperated and recorded.



Alvin Lucier I Am Sitting In A Room.

Postmodern Essay

Discuss Two or More Media Texts That You Would Define a1

Postmodern Artist

Identify an artist who may be thought of as being postmodern. The theory can link to a song or songs, an album or a series of albums.

Bob Dylan.




Bob Dylan - born Robert Allen Zimmerman was born May 24 1941. He is an American singer-songwriter, musician, painter and poet. He has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Bob Dylan has taken small pieces of music from one song and adapts it to fit into his own song. Here are some examples:

Blowin in the wind partially derived its melody from the traditional slave song No More Auction Block.






A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall was based on the tune of the folk ballad Lord Randall.





Blowin' in the Wind and A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall marked an important new direction in modern songwriting, blending a stream-of-consciousness, imagist lyrical attack with a traditional folk form.

Mixed Up Confusion recorded during the Freewheelin' sessions with a backing band, was released as a single and then quickly withdrawn. In contrast to the mostly solo acoustic performances on the album, the single showed a willingness to experiment with a rockabilly sound. Cameron Crowe described it as "a fascinating look at a folk artist with his mind wandering towards Elvis Presley and Sun Records."



Dylan's March 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home was yet another stylistic leap,featuring his first recordings made with electric instruments. The first single Subterranean Homesick Blues, owed much to Chuck Berry's Too Much Monkey Business.





Current artist also try to mix the old with the new. Here is an example of a more recent hit in 2000 with one of Bob Dylan's songs:

Bob Dylan Maggie's Farm:



Rage Against The Machine Maggie's Farm:



Bob Dylans Albums:

Postmodernism & Music

Postmodernism is taking other forms of art to produce something new. The postmodern sensibility that anything can be considered cool in an ironic ‘I know it’s bad, but it’s so bad it’s good’ way. Work that is created based (entirely or in part) on older material. This incorporates sampling and will take you from the realms of hip hop culture transporting you finally in today’s modern fragmented musical landscape.

The Crazy Frog was an animated video of an annoying sound, which then came hugely popular to mobile downloads on websites such as napster.



The worst auditions on the X factor, none of them can sing but are so entertaining to watch it makes them good.



Music constantly develops, current artist also try to mix the old with the new. There are many examples of this in music today:

Candi Staton You Got The Love Original



The Source Ft Candi Station You Got the Love



Florence & The Machine You Got The Love



Radio 1 has a breakfast show in which mainstreamed music is played by the presenter Chris Moyles.



However in the evening on Radio 1 presenters such as annie mac and zane lowe who promote schemes such as 'in new music we trust'. So niche music is then played.




Technology today means there are a variety of ways in which people can listen to music whether it be their phones, ipod, DAB digital radio's, in car, internet, television, etc. Music is accesible to everyone. Myspace Music allows bands/ musicians to put their music online for anyone to listen to. Youtube can be used to upload music videos, which Esmee Denters took advantage of and is now a well known singer for "Outta Here."

Singing in her bedroom which she posted onto youtube.



Officical Outta Here Video



Some artists music is inspired from other artists here is an example:

Soft Cell Tainted Love



Rihnana Sos



Spotify and Grooveshark are legal websites in which people can sign up for free and listen to music, allowing them to add playlists such as favourite songs. iTunes charges a small amount to download music althought they do gift cards such as £25 in which for a present people can have however much it's worth amount of music. Limewire is an illegal site in which people download music for free. Newspapers often give away free CDs. It has been said that in 10 years music will be free to download for everyone. However, how is there going to be any profit for the artists & will the tradition of supporting the music you love exsist & will artists still survive?

Postmodernism & Pulp Fiction Intertextuality

Media reality is the new reality. We no longer have any sense of the difference between real things, images of them, or real experiences and simulations of them. Representations are re interpreted and played around with through pastiche and intertextual references. People will deliberately expose the text as constructed to tell the audience that the piece is not real and it never pretends to be real at any point, they don't try and hide the fact the media text is constructed. An example of this is in Quentin Tarantino's film 'Kill Bill' the mise en scene shows the audience that this is a film and not real life. There is a childs painting on the wall which is meant to be a "doodle" but indicates splattered blood. The cereal is called "kaboom" showing the audience a gun exposion may happen. The spraying blood is over exaggerated. The camera shot in which it shows a birds eye view, shows the audience it is a film set because the angle shows there is no room of the house.



Pulp Fiction (1994) directed by Quentin Tarantino tells the story of hitmen linked into different stories. The criticism for this film has been that because the film makes so many intertextual references it is so sly and knowing that it doesn't seem 'real' it feels/looks like a construction. Does this make Pulp Fiction postmodern?



Jules quoting from the Bible is reminiscent of Robert Mitchum's character quoting from the Bible in Night Of The Hunter (1955 Charles Laughton)



Mia's haircut styled after Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box (1928 G.W. Pabst)





Marilyn Monroe's skirt flying up over a subway grating in The Seven Year Itch (1955 Billy Wilder)





The weapons that Butch considers before saving Marcellus:
Hammer—The Toolbox Murders (1978)
Baseball bat—Walking Tall (1973)
Chainsaw—The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)



The moment where Butch is waiting at a crossroads in his car has his path crossed by Marcellus Wallace is a direct reference to the moment in Psycho (1960 Alfred Hitchcock) when Marion Crane sees her boss walk in front of her car after fleeing from him, having stolen $40,000.

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