Postmodernism artist | Blog Post #2

Olivia Rodrigo

How the artist uses postmodernism

Olivia Rodrigo made headlines last year with her hit debut song “Driver’s License” and debut album “SOUR”. With her skyrocketing fame and recognition in the music industry. The number of fans and streams, chartings of her songs as well as the awards she has received as a rookie, notably 3 Grammy Awards. She has been getting a lot of attention for the songs which she has written. Due to that, many people have noticed small similarities between her songs and songs from other artists.

One of the most noticeable uses of postmodernism in Olivia’s work is the sampling of “New Year's Day” by Taylor Swift for her song “1 step forward, 3 steps back”. Co-writers Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff were given credit in the song when it was first released. Besides that, she has been accused of “copying” on many other occasions, not only in her songs but also in her music videos.

“The main reason I’m so sceptical of the “copycat” argument, however, is that even if Rodrigo has made her influences very clear, there’s not really anything wrong with that. All art is built out of other art, and what makes it original is the way an artist remixes and recombines the things that have inspired them. That’s all Olivia Rodrigo is up to, and while she’s being criticized because she’s a hot star of the moment, it’s a criticism that shouldn’t really hold water, no matter which artist is being accused. There’s a fine line between “plagiarism” and “paying homage,” but most good artists (including Rodrigo) know exactly how to stay on the right side of it.” (St.James, 2021)

Olivia has also referenced many pop culture products and stars in her song “deja vu”:

“Watching reruns of Glee”

“I'll bet that she knows Billy Joel 'Cause you played her "Uptown Girl" “

“Play her piano, but she doesn't know (oh, oh) That I was the one who taught you Billy Joel (oh)”

Why they are influential to you?

Olivia Rodrigo is an artist that I knew before her music debut. A person that I essentially grew up with, watching through the small screen. Being similar in age, a lot of the songs and the stories told through her album are very relatable to me which is why they have such an influence on me. Practically her songs “Jealousy Jealousy” and “Brutal”. I didn’t really think that someone who was in the spotlight from an early age and seems to have a “perfect” life goes through similar experiences to me. This is why I really love her work and listen to her album on repeat.

How their work is differentiated from other similar artists

Olivia isn’t the first artist to write their own songs and most of their songs are about breakups, betrayal, heartbreak, etc. But Olivia’s work is different enough to make her one of the most streamed artists in the world.

What is different from her work is the overall brand image that she and her team has built. With all of the 2000s aesthetic in her theme as well as the relatability to teenage girls in her song lyrics. Rodrigo has been able to attract millions of listeners despite being “new” to the industry.

Postmodernism in Media | Blog Post #1

My favourite post-modernism media text

WandaVision (2021)

WandaVision is the first Disney+ Marvel series to be released following the launch of Disney+. Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019). It follows Wanda Maximoff and Vision as they live an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, New Jersey. Until their reality starts moving through different decades of sitcom homages and television tropes. The couple suspects that things are not as they seem.

There are many reasons why this is one of my favourite series, not only my favourite post-modernism media texts. Besides being its own show dedicated to exploring the story of Wanda and Vision, it is a unique way of storytelling and cinematography. The many references to popular and iconic sitcoms throughout the decades. The visuals to props, music, editing styles, costumes and even the acting styles are an adaptation of what you would find in the sitcoms of those decades.

Below are a few examples of post-modernism in WandaVision.

Intros

The intros to most of the episodes are a homage to iconic sitcoms from the episodes decade.

Episode 1 – Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience

Based on the iconic black and white sitcom, I Love Lucy.

I Love Lucy follows the story of husband and wife, Ricky and Lucy Ricardo, showing their day-to-day exploits and interactions as a couple.

Episode 2 – Don’t Touch That Dial

Features an animated intro that is clearly based on the 60s sitcom, Bewitched. The intro has a similar art style, fonts, and core themes as the witch-themed show.

Episode 3 – Now In Colour

Inspired by the family sitcom classic, The Brady Bunch, episode 3’s intro follows Wanda and Vision as they prepare for the birth of their child – or rather, children.

Episode 5 – On a Very Special Episode

The intro starts off with a black and white drawing of the WandaVision family that is then filled in with the touch of a paintbrush. The same can be seen in the opening theme for Family Ties as a paintbrush is used to fill in a photo of the Keaton family.

Next, we see some baby photos of Wanda, Vision, Tommy, and Billy – a concept taken that can also be seen in the intro for Growing Pains.

Finally, the opening ends with a family picnic at the park – the exact same ending seen in Full Houses’ iconic intro.

Episode 6 – All-New Halloween Spooktacular!

Malcolm in the Middle is far more recent and popular than most of the shows that the intros draw inspiration from. Malcolm in the Middle stars Franke Munez as a kid named Malcolm who grew up in a dysfunctional family. It’s the perfect introduction to the chaos that will ensue now that Tommy and Billy are

pre-teens – especially now that their “uncle” Pietro is in town. Episode 7 – Breaking the Fourth Wall

The intro of episode 7 is parodying the Office’s iconic theme song, with the two sounding identical. Any fan of the Scranton sitcom would also recognize the visual comparisons between the two just as easily.

The episode itself also takes inspiration from other shows like Modern Family, which is all about the emotional distress of juggling raising a family and maintaining your sanity simultaneously.

Song – Agatha All Along

The song parodies shows like The Addams Family and The Munsters with its cheery melody playing over spooky aesthetics, revealing all of the times Agatha has messed with Wanda since the start of the show.

Commercials

Another element of tv is the commercial breaks in between the show. Which is something that the filmmakers of WandaVision also added to make it seem more like a TV show on cable. The commercials progressively change their style like in the episodes. The commercials could seem random for some viewers, however, to avid Marvel fans, it is a self-reference to other MCU products that include events that affect Wanda's life. Including references to:

• "Stark Industries", the missile that almost killed Wanda and Pietro.

• "Strucker", "Hydra", Baron Wolfgang von Strucker was one of the leaders of HYDRA, the man who experimented on Wanda and Pietro.

• "Hydra soak", the Hydra experiment unlocked Wanda's power. "Find the goddess within!" referring to Wanda finding unlocking the power of the Scarlet Witch.

• "When you made a mess you didn't mean to". Lagos is where Wanda accidentally killed civilians and caused the Civil War between the Avengers.

• The yoghurt, "magic yoghurt", "snack for survivors" is about Wanda killing Vision and now she's dealing with survivor's guilt by using magic.

My least favourite post-modernism media text

I'm not someone that would hate movie adaptations or live-action remakes of iconic animations. However, it is different for the following media text.

Fate: The Winx Saga (2021)

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics' Consensus:

"Flat, flimsy, and forgettable, Fate: The Winx Saga is a fantastical flop that fails to capture the magic of its source material."

Despite not watching it myself, this goes down as my least favourite postmodernism media text due to many reasons. The first of which is the unnecessary live-action of a beloved cartoon series “Winx Club”. The filmmakers took everything magical about the original and made it completely opposite to what it was intended to be. From the darker concept to fit the new target age to the mediocre storytelling and the unnecessary change of race of some of the most beloved characters.

“Winx Club” was enjoyed worldwide not only because of the story but also because of the inclusion and diversity of the characters’ races. This comes into my second reason for disliking this show is its whitewashing of the Asian character, Musa. As someone who grew up overseas, having an Asian figure portrayed in cartoons was very special and touching. And yet the filmmakers thought it would be okay to whitewash some of the characters and have diversity by making one of the characters black and one plus sized to have inclusion and better body diversity.

“In the cartoon, Musa and Flora are coded as East Asian and Hispanic/Latina, respectively, yet Netflix cast two white women to play them in the live-action adaptation. Although in Flora’s case, the show claims she isn’t whitewashed, there’s simply a new character named Terra (Eliot Salt) — who just so happens to have the same powers and personality as Flora. Ostensibly, their inclusion is to incorporate better body diversity — an important and worthwhile change as this is a prominent failing of the cartoon — but someone really should tell Netflix that plus-size Latina women exist.” (Healy, 2022)

Checking out the trailer of the second season of Fate: The Winx Saga, it’s clear that there have been changes made to the visual aesthetics of the series, bringing some colour to it and making it more “like'' the original. Fans also comment that the producers were improving the series by listening to the feedback from season one. However, it still doesn't cover up the fact that it’s a completely different story from the original. Only 10% to 20% of the original story. Some might argue that this is catered for the older age group, the people that grew up with “Winx Club'' and that it’s changed to fit the new age group. The live-action is a different story for viewers to enjoy. However, I argue that the story didn’t need a live-action version in the first place with so many expectations about the series, the reality is really disappointing for me and the majority of “Winx Club” fans.

Is it possible to make a product that is not post-modern in 2022?

I believe that it is still possible to make non-post-modern products in 2022. However, it could be hard to make a product that is so original, that is unlike anything released before. With so many products in the industry, there might be unintentional similarities and post-modern elements within the product. It is not impossible but including post-modern elements would make the media product more interesting so non-post-modern products can be not achieved. So many filmmakers might opt to produce post-modern products.

How is postmodernism incorporated into your media product/products in the future or ones you have done already?

In my future products, I plan to reference iconic scenes in existing media products to add meaning to my media text. Re-enacting the scenes to show the viewers the similarities and differences between my story compared to the media product that I reference.

For example, I plan to reference iconic 2000 teen films in my future project. Iconic scenes from Clueless, Mean Girls, The Princess Diaries, Legally Blonde, High School Musical, etc. To show the binary opposites of the life portrayed in the films above and the life portrayed in my story. Subtly adding references and paying homages to iconic films would not be noticeable to viewers that are not familiar with the media products however, for those who know where the scene was inspired by, it would make them have a different perspective, and narrative on the story.

UPDATE:

At the beginning of the year, I had a different idea for my project. A teen romance type of movie, a rom-com. But I changed my mind and wanted to develop my older initial idea as I had more ideas on how I wanted the story to lay out. I'd say that my new project plays around with time and space a lot. Fragmented narration, some elements of referencing that I did not notice until I was doing my mood board and realised that a lot of my inspiration came from my favourite existing media. The referencing does not really add any other perspectives, it's just a coincidence that those scenes were indirectly inspired by them.

I hate blogger

I feel like Blogger hasn't updated their software since the 2010s. And while the format of displaying the posts is great, the formatting of each of the posts is messy. And so I created a second blog to prevent myself from going insane :)).

I've tested out a lot of other websites/blog builders and so I have several other blogs. Each with its own twists since each builder is different and has its own pros and cons.

Blogger: https://hiimvyyy.blogspot.com/

Wix: https://hiimvyyy.wixsite.com/media-studies-blog

(Pros: Looks good, allows a lot of decorating. The builder is easy to use and the text formatting and post formatting are great. Can upload videos for free. Does not have ads on the final blog.

Cons: Can't display all of the posts and their contents in consecutive order - have to click into each post - Update: It can! Can't change how the publishing date is displayed (it can only be displayed in the MMMDD format - Update 2: I guess in 2023 the we can display it in the MMMDDYYYY format :v)

Award: Most aesthetic)

Wordpress: https://hiimvyyy.wordpress.com/

(Pros: Looks good, allows a lot of decorating and customisation. The builder is easy to use and the text formatting and post formatting are great. The website builder preview kind of looks messy though. Can display all of the posts and their contents in consecutive order - don't have to click on each post)

Cons: Can't upload videos for free. Has ads on the final blog.

Award: Most professional looking)

Weebly: https://vysalevelmediastudiesblog.weebly.com/

(Pros: Looks good, allows a lot of decorating. The builder is easy to use and the text formatting and post formatting are great (the best out of all the website builders). Can display all of the posts and their contents in consecutive order - don't have to click on each post) Cons: Can't upload videos for free. Award: Most post customisation) UPDATE: WIX is the best blog builder, I really did not need to venture to Wordpress and Weebly :)).