Modernism ( ) & Post-Modernism(1945-today)

Transcription

1 Modernism ( ) & Post-Modernism(1945-today) Whatever you thought you knew about everyone, throw it out the window and start over with what each person knows about himself.

2 Modernism 1901: Queen Victoria Dies 1903: Orville & Wilbur Wright first successful flight 1909: Manufacturing of plastics begins 1914: Panama Canal opens 1914: World War I Changed everything we knew about war and the cruelty of humans to each other People thought it couldn t get worse 1915: First Transcontinental phone call 1919: World War I ends

3 Modernism 1925: First Talkie sound motion picture 1929: US Stock Market Crash Great Depression 1930 s: Hitler begins campaign to take over much of Europe 1939: Great Britain and France declare war on Germany 1941: Germany invades Russia & Japan bombs Pearl Harbor 1944: D-day invasion of France 1945: End of war in Europe Atomic bomb dropped on Japan First computer built Microwave oven invented

4 1947: Transistor Invented : Korean War 1952: First Hydrogen Bomb 1953: Discovery of DNA 1960: The Pill introduced 1962: US engages in Vietnam War 1964: Civil Rights Act passed 1969: First Human to the Moon 1972: Bloody Sunday Massacre Catholic protestors killed by British troops 1973: US out of Vietnam 1978: Test Tube Baby born 1981: AIDS first diagnosed Post-Modernism

5 Post-Modernism 1986: meltdown at Chernobyl nuclear plant 1989: Berlin wall destroyed 1991: end of USSR 1991: First Gulf War 1993: World Wide Web established 1997: First cloned sheep Dolly 2001: Sept. 11 th Terrorist Attacks 2001: American & British led Afghanistan war begins 2003: Second Gulf War begins

6 Modernism Every age considers itself modern Our modern age is must less rigid in its rejection of previous schools/modes of thought We are less about WHAT we think and more about HOW we think We acknowledge that knowledge and understanding are never definitive

7 Modernism Focus on literature is its CONTEXT rather than its form Things are not defined by the formula they fit, but rather by the content they contain How lit/art is viewed &interpreted rather than what mold it fits into Acknowledges reality and truth but only in terms of individual/subjective experiences

8 Modernism highlighted shifting, changing forms of reality early art had been a product of skill and craft Is a mish-mash of all earlier literary movements People are no longer isolated and the world became a much smaller place Technology, gender roles, relationships, and education began to define reality based on new definitions as opposed to previous and standard schools of thought

9 Post-Modernism Criticized universal truths & assumptions Denied things like human nature and human experience Scientific Discovery changes everything! Reflects the Enlightenment s faith in progress and rational solution Interesting combination of importance on individualism and quest for progress and rational solutions to the world s problems There are NO universal truths

10 Post-Modernism Recognizes writer s & reader s own prejudices and influences on reactions There is no true reality only perceived reality Text should reflect its own theme Completely rejected the idea of objectivity

11 Theories, Movements, & isms Positivism Scientific method could define everything including human society Like Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory Schrödinger's Cat Darwinism Evolution and Natural selection Marxism Economic needs dictate ALL aspects of society Capital vs labor Materialism defined human history Psychoanalysis Freudian idea that sexual desire and gender roles define everything we do as human beings

12 Existentialism Phenomenology study of things as they appear Study of the structures of subjective experience and consciousness Everything should be studied/examined within its context There are NO preexisting truths, values, or general laws Interpreted as thrown into a sea to drown or cast out and allowed to shape its own destiny Attempt to recover clear vision