Postmodernism

I had mixed feelings reading these articles about Postmodernism. At first, I was happy to see that I live in a time where cultures can be mixed and appreciated by all. I liked that we embrace traditions and practices that we might not even understand, but we try to dive into them nonetheless. I do recognize that in this practice, we may voluntarily or involuntarily misrepresent or disrespect certain cultures, and I believe that in that case there needs to be an amendment. On the other hand, all of these experiences and exposure prep us to be a generation that has an appreciation for learning new cultures, and in the best case scenario, treating them with the respect that they deserve. I know that will not be the case most times, but at least we now have the opportunity and freedom to do so. 

Going deeper into the article, I came across the idea that postmodern artist often misrepresents cultures as they strive to understand them. They were compared to explorers who "simply plunge into the unknown and then try to represent it." I think this goes back to my point above that there may be times that in the process of trying to embrace new and foreign things, we may create a muddy image that may even be offensive to others, but without explorers and bold artists who take these first steps then we would live in cultural isolation. The article referred to global companies like Coca-Cola who try to bridge the gap and use a universal language/understanding to spread their brand. This is another form of unity that can be embraced and represent the appreciation of other cultures. If they only cared to cater to one group then they automatically ostracize another. In an attempt to be inclusive, they show their respect. 

Jean Baudrillard proposed the idea of the death of the real. I agree with his logic. I see so much superficiality in the world today that I cannot tell what is real or fake any more. We know that there are secrets behind every door and finding a genuine corporation or organization is a task. After a while, we start to make our own version of reality and convince ourselves that it is real. That becomes our reality from then on, and some people spend their whole lives living in this altered version of reality. The media and the images on TV and movies feed into this reality and in some cases, help to shape it. What we see on TV is often taken to be a true depiction of what life should be like and then we strive to imitate it. This is dangerous for a number of reasons, but the main one is that most people never achieve the ideal image of what they think happiness or peace looks like. The only thing stopping them from true happiness is their idea of reality is set at a level that may be impossible to reach. We need to come back to the true roots of reality and embrace the life that is right in front of us.