Postmodernism in Art and Humor as Its Feature

Postmodernism is a vague notion that is widely used but not completely understood by everybody. Even a French philosopher Michel Foucault, being sometimes classed as a postmodernism itself, admitted that he did not know any postmodernist philosophers (Britannica). However, postmodern art is less debatable due to the fact that it follows another artistic tradition to which it refers. In a word, postmodernist art becomes a reaction to the modernist conventions, and there are many different ways how artists manage to translate it. Nevertheless, there is often a common trait – humor that is claimed to be the essential element of postmodernism that, however, does not end up a satire.

To begin with, it is vital to describe the basic features of postmodern art. As Lyotard states, postmodernism is “an incredulity towards metanarratives” (Crowther 5). This definition seems as vague as the essence of the phenomenon. Postmodernism in art is a movement criticizing modernist rationality and aims to find the one truth. In other words, it is disenchantment in all the promises of modernism that is articulated with cynicism, irony, and constant citation of the previous experience. The postmodernist world does not create anything new, but it reflects over the old symbols in a less severe way.

As for the examples, the first one to mention could be Jeff Koons and his famous “balloon” dogs. The sculptures seem to be the essence of postmodernist art: they raise the question of the meaning of art as many do not believe Koons’ works belong to it – it is more some kind of a joke. Though aesthetically, in a classic way, his art may seem too low-brow, its elements refer to industrial production, which is another postmodernist trait. To say nothing about the fact that Koon demonstrated his ability to own the market, applying quite a familiar symbol in a new form (Eyre 29). Therefore, though Koons’ art may be hard to comprehend, it represents its own meaning of postmodernism: familiar yet absurd.

Secondly, one could name Quentin Tarantino as one of the most prominent represents of postmodernism in cinema. His iconic work, “Pulp Fiction,” is an example of the latter: Tarantino creates its aesthetic through intertextuality and past imitation (Carew 72). The characters of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, for instance, appear to be a reflection of the figures well-learned by the American audience: gangsters and mafia. They end up as metacharacters as one may think they already know them from many other works. The nonlinear narrative is another way of how Tarantino protests against the modernist logical progression: the first scene is also the final one. Hence, the director manages to reflect the postmodernist art era on the screen.

Thirdly, the examples mentioned above are well-studied, and it could be interesting to examine a less popular illustration. The contemporary musician Doja Cat’s single and music video “Mooo!” seems quite appropriate for this aim. The video was uploaded to YouTube a year ago and had more than 75 million views (Doja Cat). There, the narrator of the story told in the song self-ironically proves that she is a cow in a typical R&B manner. The lyrics combine lines from different songs that may be much older and that are familiar to many: “Milkshake” by Kelis or even “Old MacDonald Had A Farm” written at the beginning of the XX century. As Doja Cat explains herself, this video is her way to humorously criticize artists who overdramatize their art and talk about it as nothing could be more important (Genious). In a word, this meme music could only be created as a reaction to massive cultural heritage, and that is postmodernism.

Speaking of the role of humor in postmodernism, as Di Martino sees it that irony is the central mode of consciousness of postmodernism and one of the main forms of expression” postmodernism (590). Being centered on the old cultural phenomena, postmodernism cannot help butstayg serious and rereflectn them in a non-humorous way. Meanwhile, the irony is not always understood by the audience: they may not be mature enough or do not have the needed cultural experience. However, that is, again, the irony of postmodernism does not always aim to talk to a particular audience.

One may pose the question of whether or not postmodernism art is a form of satire. Indeed, it may be claimed that criticism in a humorous form is satire. Nevertheless, there is a difference: postmodern art resists didacticism while satire, questioning and undermining its targets, exudes certainty. They both heavily rely on the absurd; however, satire is based on moral grounds that postmodernism lacks or does not always pay attention to. Postmodern artists feel the world is de facto absurd and must be survived. The impulse in satire, though, is to change people’s behavior through the application of humor and ridicule.

To conclude, postmodernism in art is a way to express a reflection over the modernist heritage of thoughtful and purposeful gestures. Constant citation of the previous pieces allows postmodernism to communicate new ideas in a light, humorous way. Artists from Jeff Koons and Quentin Tarantino to Doja Cat articulate their ideas over the modernist era in production, cinema, art itself. Though the irony is the essential element of this reflection, it does not mean that it must be easily understood or that it sees the experience of the past in a satirical way – postmodernism is not that serious.