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.

Historical Background• 1945 – WWII ended

– America is the most powerful nation on earth– Patriotism flourished and pride in defeating the bad

guys (Axis Powers)– Rationing ended and a baby boom ensued– United Nations bon to prevent future wars– 1947 (Jackie Robinson first black in MLB)

• 1949 - NATO founded in response to Soviet threat – Communism flourishes behind the “iron curtain”

• 1950-1955 – Turman sent troops into South Korea to fend off Communist North Korea

• 1954 – Segregation “ended”• 1952 – First Hydrogen Bomb

– Nuclear Age begins and launches the Cold War

• 1953 – DNA discovered

• 1957 –Sputnik launched

• 1960’s– JFK elected

• promised man on the moon by the end of the decade

• 1962 - Involved US in Vietnam Conflict, began withdrawal before his assassination Nov. 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald

– Lyndon B Johnson • halted withdrawal and increased presence in Vietnam

• Instituted government programs in his “War on Poverty” –Medicare, welfare, food stamps,etc…

– Protests of Vietnam (Kent State & Woodstock ‘69)

– Civil Rights Movement• Civil Rights Acts of 1963 & 1964

• 1968 MLK, Jr. Assassinated

• Nixon Elected (‘68)

– Ended Vietnam involvement in 1973

– Watergate Scandal overshadowed achievements

• 1st Man on the Moon (‘69)

• 1970s

– Gerald Ford takes over after Nixon’s resignation in ’74

– Civil Rights Movement continues

– Feminism takes center stage

– ‘78 Jimmy Carter - ridiculous inflation and Iran hostage crisis

– Test tube baby born (‘78)

• 1980s– Reagan elected

• Began to turn economy around

• Inspired incredible patriotism

• ‘89 - “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” – collapse of the USSR

– ‘81 AIDS changes everything about “free love”

• 1990s– ‘91 Internet (World Wide Web) established

– George H. Bush• ‘91 Desert Storm – Iraq invaded Kuwait

– Bill Clinton• .coms – economic boom (unstable)

– 1995 – OJ Trial

– 1996: First cloned sheep – “Dolly”

• 2000s– 2001 - Sept. 11th Terrorist Attacks &

American/British led Afghanistan war begins

– 2003-11? - Second Gulf War

– 2004 – Facebook launched

– 2005 Hurricane Katrina

– 2008 – Obama elected President

– 2010 – Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) passed

– 2013 – Boston Marathon terrorist attack

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

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”

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

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