The Impact of Internet on Art

1. What Jaron Lanier means when he says that, ‘Authors, journalists and artists give freely without paying the fruits of their intellect and imaginations to the hive mind’ is that these people do not gain from their contribution to the internet. This is because their uploaded works can be accessed freely and easily by the internet users.

2. According to Lanier and other authors, the internet is changing the way we read, write, seek, and process information. We do not read everything but only those fragments that interests us. We only read what we want to know or seek only what we need to know, contrary to what used to happen in the past. Alternatively, our writing has also changed. We are more inclined to sensationalism and hyperboles within our writing with an intention of capturing the attention of our readers. Furthermore, internet has changed the way our brains process information.

3. The writers who are examining web induced changes in thought and cultures lend weight to their arguments by claiming that internet has made people to read scholarly material in the same way they read magazines or newspapers. These writers also claim that the internet has created a society of people who would rather read a summary of a movie or a play than watching the entire play or that movie. They also argue out that the online research has enabled scholars to make a quick search for specific information to support a thesis instead of reading through a lot of material in the traditional sense.

4. Cyber balkanization is when an individual designs feeds and alerts from their favorite websites to get news and information from the likeminded people. Cyber balkanization is dangerous because it leads to extremism whereby an individual becomes hostile to the people whose views are contrary to his own. Some people would go to the extent of avoiding ideas that are contrary to their own.

5. Deconstructionists approach the literary text by first considering books not to be the works of single persons. Consequently, these books are scanned and digitized into big continuous texts, which are then reduced to snippets of pages to be used into other new works. This would mean that authors of those books would be denied recognition and accountability.

6. According to Neal Gabler, the great new art of the 21^st century is celebrity because it competes and supersedes the traditional form of entertainment like the movies, books, plays and TV shows. Celebrity plays the role that played by the traditional forms of entertainment like sensitization and distraction. However, Neal Gabler does not approve of the celebrity taking over art. He argues how impossible it is to think of “Jersey Shore” who is a celebrity as a form of Art.

7. According to Kakutani, recycling and cut and paste aesthetics has led to a lazy imitation, cheap, lazy re-dos of movies and TV shows of the past. He criticizes the recycling of the old games like Tomb Raider, Resident evil and Mortal Kombat into movies. Characters have been recycled from a host of classic books like ‘The picture of Dorian Grey’, ‘Dracula’, and ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ to be incorporated into the movie ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.’ This is what makes Kakutani believe that, creativity is dying in people.

8. When Lanier says that by killing old media we face a situation in which culture is effectively eating its own seed stocks, what he means is that the old media is what created our current culture. Since we rely on the old media for our cultural progress, killing it will mean its stagnation or decay. 

Music Video Analysis

Music Video Analysis

      The pop culture is a complex combination of attitudes and ideas that synthesises a variety of factors, such as race, class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality, to end up in a highly demanded consumer product. Pop culture as a phenomenon has been studied for a relatively short period of time, however, it is impressive how it transforms the culture to make it consumer oriented. Very often, the popular culture overtakes and repackages already existing image and reconstructs it into something different, yet impossible to understand without knowing the original. Pop culture can be regarded as a phenomenon developed in the context of postmodernism. Therefore, different forms of contemporary art acquire the features of postmodernism, and music industry is not an exception. The music video to be discussed is “We Made You” by Eminem and if analysed through the lenses of postmodernism, the video can be called a genuinely postmodern piece of work as it has all sorts of relevant features.

First of all, this music video demonstrates the typical genre characteristics, but it is done in a very unusual light. Thus, Eminem, known as the artist who is normally portrayed individually rapping somewhere in the streets, is placed into satirical settings and surrounded by    satirical props and characters. The piece basically subverts the typical representing genre characteristics and mocks them making everything look ridiculous.

There can be traced very strong relationship between the visuals and the lyrics in this music video. In fact, most of the lyrics is followed by the illustrating video content. For example, when Eminem mentions such popular characters as Jessica Simpson or Amy Winehouse, the spectator is given satirical versions of them. Also, the specific passages from the lyrics are followed by visuals, such as the lines about Lindsay Lohan with her partner Samantha that are followed by the scenes of their satirical parodies kissing in a truck. It is important to note that the music is very closely connected to video editing as the specific shots are cut to the beat. At the same time, when the vocals sing in the hook  ‘you’re a rock star’, there can be seen a heart restating ‘rock star’ line, and this element is repeated throughout the video.

The pop culture is very much reflected in the demands that the record labels set for their artists. For example, most labels want to see numerous close ups of the artist. Correspondingly, the artist is encouraged to develop their own visual style that would feature the motifs that will recur across their work. Therefore, Eminem is  portrayed through the close- and mid close-up’s in a variety  of iconic personages depicted in satirical manner. This very music video is permeated by a visual style of the phrase ‘rock star’.

Another integral characteristic of postmodernism often observed in the music videos typical of pop culture is a reference to the idea of looking. There may be used the screen-within screen technique or  telescopes, or most frequently, the voyeuristic reception of the female body.  The method can also be found in “We Made You” music video through the manner of representation of a screen-within-screen featuring Jessica Simpson representation.        

Finally, a large variety of intertextual references presented in the video significantly contribute to making this video postmodernist. Specifically, there can be found the references to many celebrities, such as  Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian, 50 Cent, Elvis, Dr Dre, John Mayer, Amy Winehouse, and others. What is more, there can be found the references to “Star Trek”, “Transformers”, and “Guitar Hero”. These are the famous personalities, well-known TV shows or movies, and popular games that make up the elements of pop culture of 2009, the year of release of this music video.

To conclude, a music video to the song “We Made You” by Eminem is a well-executed example of a typical postmodern music video. Among the main characteristic features of postmodernism that are often seen in the elements of the pop culture there are narcissism, intertextuality, pastiche, parody, nostalgia, and others. “We Made You” by Eminem includes a plenty of popular intertextual references, some of which can be regarded as a parody since the portrayed  characters are the satirical replicas of themselves in real life. Nostalgia is also implied, for example, in the appearance of Elvis character. Overall, the analysis of this music video demonstrates that “We Made You”  is a typical example of postmodernism in pop culture as it has most of the key elements that distinguish postmodern from other movements. 

Article Analysis: You Say You Want a Devolution.

Article Analysis: You Say You Want a Devolution.

The notion that modern society has lost its ambition or ability to create new ideas and concepts as indicated by Anderson Kurt (2011) is true. In confirming the sentiments voiced by the writer through his article “You Say You Want a Devolution,” much of what appears new in the prevailing era borrow its originality from historical aspects, especially those developed within the last 20 years. Cases given of technology appear to sway from the suggested norm of mimicking, but the larger outlook of the prevailing postmodern society mirrors society. On one part, the aforementioned fact points to human society (particularly the present) lack a sense of ingenuity or a need to develop new ideas aimed at ensuring aspects of development and sustainability. On the other hand, it could signal an inherent notion of contentment with prevailing developments, hence the choice to conform to the prevailing status quo of growth and ingenuity. Overall, the suggested practice points to a lack of originality (authenticity) and identify within the prevailing era, which could negate envisioned goals of continued development and sustainability of human societies.

       Kurt Anderson is a renowned journalist, writer (columnist), and novelist. He has produced various literary works that highlight issues and trends in culture and socio-politics, and entertainment. He has had an illustrious career as both a journalist and writer, especially while working with Vanity Fair magazine where he has written various articles including “You Say You Want a Devolution” that is discussed in this paper. The article posits that there has not been any significant change in customs and practices of modern society within the last 20 years (Anderson, 2011). The author quotes various examples ranging from technology, fashion, entertainment, and socio-political domains to affirm that the last 20 years have witnessed a stagnation in ideas and innovation capabilities. Aspects that include nostalgic gaze (depicting strong association with historical things), amateur stylists (pointing to poor workmanship among today’s inventors), and loss of appetite (indicating the larger lack of appreciation for new or unique things) are used to describe the character or non-innovative nature of modern society (Anderson, 2011). The article concludes by mentioning that prevailing society is confined to recycling ideas whose originality can be traced to earlier periods in history.

       A look at prevailing trends in society confirms the sentiments raised by Kurt Anderson (2011) in his Vanity Fair Magazine article. Modern society also lacks a sense of identity within the scope of prevailing challenges facing the prevailing era. From the onset, a noted challenge in the ability to mitigate prevailing social problems that include incivility, strife, and poverty, among others, could be an indication that modern society may be using old methods to tackle evolved issues. The mimicking behavior also encompasses aspects within sociopolitical and culture, which would explain why issues such as segregation based practices and other unethical norms that were a preserve of the 80’s and before persist within the present society. Modern society lacks a sense of originality that comes through innovativeness. Innovations that are claimed by the prevailing society are largely improvements of aspects that were created earlier in history. Using technology as an example, it is evident that aspects such as social media exist and rely primarily in the internet, which was created more than 20 years ago.

In conclusion, there may be benefits to the practices alluded by Kurt Anderson. For instance, suggested dependence or mimicking of history limits the room for error (if it worked before…it can still work now). However, the general results of depending on history as the solution to prevailing demands and challenges are complacency and the demise of innovativeness, which can be correlated to the persistence of societal problems. In line with Kurt Anderson’s sentiments, there is need for prevailing societies to develop their own identity and authentic outlook.

Work Cited

Anderson, Kurt. (December 2011). You Say You Want a Devolution. Vanity Fair Magazine. Retrieved January 27, 2017.

http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2012/01/prisoners-of-style-201201