Hyperreality

L.O: To understand the pomo element

of hyperreality applied to media texts.
 Criticisms
Postmodernism refers to a cultural, intellectual, or
artistic state lacking a clear central hierarchy or
organizing principle (i.e. no rules)
It embodies extreme complexity, contradiction,
ambiguity, diversity in a way that is often
indistinguishable from a parody of itself. It has
given rise to charges of fraudulence, i.e.
lacking any value.
It is also sometimes used to describe tendencies
in a society that are held to be the opposite
to traditional systems of morality that stop
everything descending into chaos!!!

https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPRzm8
ibDQ8
He who hangs on to truth has lost
Jean Baudrillard
Critics say this is offensive and its a luxury to take this
playful stance on matters of truth.
Peoples of Tibet, Zimbabwe and the Middle East cannot
have such a frivolous disposition when their truth and
justice is contested daily.
However, Baudrillard is not attempting to deny political
reality but establish a philosophical position totalitarian
regimes are amongst the best at asserting ideologies as
truth.
Nevertheless, some believe the alternative to believing in
truth is relativism (whereby anything goes) and this
would lead to moral chaos and ethical anarchy. If truth is
absent how do we deal with matters of justice?
 Postmodern Media
In our media saturated world the distinction
between reality and the media representation
of it has become blurred or even invisible.

Media reality is the new reality.

Representations get remixed and played

around with through pastiche, parody and
intertextual references which deliberately
expose their constructed nature.
 Ideas in postmodern media
Postmodern media rejects the idea that any media text
is of any greater value than another. All judgements
of value are merely taste. Anything can be art,
anything can deserve to reach an audience.
Culture eats itself as there is no longer anything
new to produce or distribute.
The distinction between media and reality has
collapsed and we now live in a reality defined
by images and representations a state of
simulacrum. (See sheet on hyperreality)
All ideas of the truth are just competing claims and
what we believe to be the truth at any point is merely
the winning discourse.
 Hyperreality
Read the sheet on hyperreality.

Can you define hyperreality in your own

words?
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTr9SZTt
CHo&safe=active
 Soaps & Hyperreality

Tabloid newspapers treat characters as

if they were real.
Members of the public send birthday
cards to the characters.
Magazines and websites offer extra-
textual information about characters
and storylines.
 From Wednesday, 16 - Sunday, 20
September, The Boiler House on Brick
Lane will be transformed into the ultimate
Friends experience, giving fans the chance
to immerse themselves into the world
made famous by Ross, Rachel, Monica,
Chandler, Joey and Phoebe.
Comedy Centrals FriendsFest will
feature a full scale set of Monicas
apartment, home to some of the best-loved
scenes from the ever-popular series. From
the back window where the gang would
spy on the Ugly Naked Guy, to the kitchen
made famous by Rachels delicious meat
trifle, fans will have full access to explore
the apartment. Comedy Central website

You can even get a coffee in Central Perk!

Harry Potter studios & hyperreality

When you arrive at the studios you begin by watching

a clip of the film. The curtains then go back revealing
Diagon Alley which you can walk down.
You are able to buy Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans
and Butter Beer
Life imitating art- Sex and the City
tours of New York
Inviting us to experience a real place
through the frame of fiction.
 Hyperreality continued
L.O: To be able to write about the pomo
element of hyperreality applied to media texts.
 Read the Grazia article about
structured reality programmes
In what ways are these tv programmes
hyperreal and therefore postmodern?

The Only Way Is Essex

 Structured Reality
Structured reality is the evolution of reality TV such as Big Brother.
With structured reality the audience doesnt know whats real and
whats constructed.
This challenges the relationship between producer and audience. We
normally have a clear distinction between what is a real text and what
is fictional.
We are meant to think its all real yet we know some of it must be fake.
It is hyperreal because it is real these are real people yet not real at
the same time.
Some of the interactions and coincidences (like people bumping into
each other) are too obvious to be real.
Its reality is reinforced through other media texts. Gossip magazines
treat the storylines as real news.
The stars themselves also reinforce this reality by tweeting about
events.
https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB-UxjJzeBc&safe=active
 Where TV spills out into the real
world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPuddFy5lpg
 Can it ruin your life??
Heidi Montag Kirk
Norcross
 P: Structured reality programmes, such as The Only Way Is Essex,
can be seen to be postmodern because they exhibit hyperreality.
E: For example, some of the events and situations in the
programme are constructed as if they were real but the audience
must wonder if some of it is too much of a coincidence to be real.
For example, in TOWIE (Season 12, E1),Lauren and Chloe, who do
not like each other, bumped into each other at the beach which
seems unlikely.
E: This hyperreality blurs the boundary between what is real and
what is not real, leaving the audience to wonder where the dividing
line is. This challenges the producer/consumer relationship as it
engenders a more questioning stance from the audience.
L: Arguably this is where the appeal of structured reality
programmes lie. The question of whats real and whats not real
draws the audience into the storylines and provides topics of
conversation with friends. This highly constructed fantasy world
also provides a form of escapism for the audience. And this fantasy
world spills out of the confines of the programme as the
hyperreality is reinforced by other media texts, such as gossip
magazines, which treat the storylines as if they were real.
 Now
Write your own PEEL paragraph about
your own example of structured reality on
TV.
You can use one on my examples or find
your own.