“Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation.” Discuss this idea with reference to media texts that you have studied.

How do postmodern texts blur the line between reality and representation?

Representation:  to re-present a reality 

So much of what is being ‘represented’ is not real (therefore it’s hyperreal) or it’s not ‘traditionally’ represented.  It’s very easy to get ‘lost’.

• constructed worlds in film texts
• style of acting – not quite real
• seemingly familiar technology

Texts could be considered more interactive and therefore blur roles.

• breaking the fourth wall
• chapters
• self reflexivity
• flashforward (prolepsis) & flashback (analepsis)

Other traditional theories including genre, narrative & representation are challenged in postmodern texts (gender stereotypes, non-linear narratives, hybridisation).

• Genre: so much hybridisation and challenge of generic conventions
• Narrative: change of time and space (modern day editing)
• Baudrillard – hyperreality
• Levi Strauss – bricolage
• Modern films: micro narratives (which manipulate time and space as they are not linear)
• Audience theory - the notion of a 'hyper-spectator'