The main differences between modernism and postmodernism can be summarized by the idea of skepticism. Postmodernism challenges the basic assumptions of the modern era used to guide the basic understanding of the human condition. The postmodern society is not ok with just accepting the “grand theories” of the modern time but instead tries to pursue more localized and contingent ideas.

Modernism comes along with a certain set of ideals and beliefs in the realm of society. First off, the modern society holds to a master narrative or singular idea in the aspects of history, culture, identity and origin. The postmodern society develops suspicions and grows to reject the ideas of master narratives and tries to create new counter ideas of origins.

Another main dividing issue between the two ideals is the idea of unity. Modernism holds to hierarchy and order and favors a more centralized control of power. Modernism wants to promote a sense of unified identity and a collective whole. Modernism looks on the idea of “the family” as a central unit for social order and wants to follow the middle class family model. The postmodern ideal breaks away from this. Postmodernism is led by a desire for fragmentation from the centralized control and promotes the philosophy of contrasting and conflicting idea and identities existing together. Alternatives to the accepted model for family units appear in postmodernism and the system of molds breaks down.

The idea of media and its influence can be analyzed between modernism and postmodernism ideals. For instance, the modern society holds faith in the “real” aspect of thing beyond the media representations and recognizes the authenticity of originality. Whereas in a postmodern society, virtual and hyper realities are seen as more powerful than the “real” and usually represent themselves as individualistic with no connection to the prior “original”. Media in the modern system is a very centralized one to many broadcast system where the media has all control in the distribution of propaganda. The postmodern system is much more interactive, giving the public more freedom to move in between the mediums of media to consume the information that they desire.  Also in modernism, the book and test is a sufficient bearer of the information and a library is the system for printed knowledge, whereas in postmodernism hypermedia transcends the physical limitations of print and the internet becomes the centralized hub of knowledge and information.

Finally in modernism there is a clear barrier between the ideas of organic and inorganic. There is always a clear difference between human and machine and there is no crossover between these ideas. Postmodernism blurs the dividing line and makes way for a cyborgian mixing of organic and inorganic beings.  Human, machine, and electronics all live and coexist and become to grow closer and closer to each other until the inevitable crossover occurs, which the postmodern society is fine with happening.

So in conclusion, modernism can be looked at as the established order with very strong, set ideas about society and the interactions that happen within it, whereas postmodernism tries to break down these conventions to allow for a more navigable society in which ideas and views can be distributed and received with maximum ease.

We have been talking a lot this unit about the idea of New Media and what is included in that idea. One of the main topics of conversation in this unit has been the idea of whether or not film is still considered as a main component in the idea of New Media, especially with the rising technologies of today such ad YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and many more. There any many ways in which film has drastically changed over the past years and most significantly in the recent years.

For a starting place, the concept of what we define as a film has definitely been altered over the years. Whereas back in the day film was only presented as a medium through the traditional methods of viewing a 1-2 hour film in a theatre, today there are many different methods of presenting what we define as film. And that statement itself constitutes an entirely different argument, the idea of what we define as a film in todays society. With the great advancements in technology and communication, it is much easier for a third party or small operating group to produce a product that could be deemed worthy of the title of film. With the popularity and usability of websites such as YouTube and Vimeo today it has never been easier for anyone to create and share films with the world. The popularity of these websites has changed the idea of what can be defined as a film. Nowadays we can consider a 40 minute video on YouTube with a decent level of production value and design to be a quality film. This has been mainly shaped by the changing society that we live in.

Nowadays people want everything coming at them to be faster, shorter, and more efficient. The average person today probably sees 1 or 2 movies every few months at an actual movie theatre and sees about 4 or 5 times that many on online websites. These websites, which have been shaped by the constant evolution and demand of society, cater to exactly what the people want, the ability to choose what they want, the absence of any kind of advertisement, and the ability to watch films whenever and wherever they want to. This has changed the medium of film altogether as film makers have realized the inevitability of the dying movie theatre scene and started to switch to more user friendly mediums.

Film is still a very prominent form of visual medium in todays society, but it has been drastically shaped by the culture we live in. I feel like the lines between television and film are becoming blurred as film is trying to be shorter, more readily available and more efficient, whereas television is starting to grow more towards film with increasing levels of production value, less advertisement, and increased amounts of story and drama. With the current evolutionary track that visual media is on, I can imagine the future as a dissolved difference between the ideas of television and film where the New Media is a combination of production value, accessibility, no advertisement, efficiency, speed, and quality, aka all of the aspects of film and television that society wants more of and will strip out everything that consumers dislike about the mediums.

Hillary Clinton is probably one of the most talked about women in society over the past 20 years. Ever since she first went into politics she has been praised, criticized, and a topic of controversy. Especially over the last couple years now that she has shown an interest in running for president. Hillary probably has more control over her image now than she ever has. Back in the day when she was the first lady she was the subject of mass scrutiny, as are most first ladies, as she was the first woman in the position to demonstrate a level of independence and separation from the president. She has always been very vocal and expressive about her strong opinion and beliefs about issues in the country. Now that she is running for president, her ability to shape her image is very clear. It is very easy to see that many issues that Hillary believed strongly one way about back in the 90s, she has completely changed her stance on in order to cater to a larger audience and gain more support. There are many anti Hillary campaigns on the internet where they put direct quotes from her side by side and they are pretty much exact opposite statements. Even with this level of anti Hillary propaganda and controversy that exists in society, she has still managed to covey a good image to democratic voters and gain much support. While the media does shape societies opinions about many popular figures, in todays society there are many ways in which the figures themselves can manipulate the popular media, especially now a days with the prevalence of the internet, in order to shape the opinions about them. Hillary Clinton especially has pulled on the issues of feminism and equal representation to boost her overall approval. Many Hillary Clinton supporters want to vote her into to office just based on the fact that she would be the first woman president, and Hillary knowing this uses that to her advantage even more. While the internet has allowed there to be more transparency in the lives and actions of presidential candidates and politicians in general, it is much easier for those people to manipulate the media online to push whatever agenda they are trying to on to the public. While I do not believe that people are only supporting Hillary and only want her in office because she is a woman, I do believe that he is very aware of her status and definitely uses the feminism card to gain more supporters and to boost the approval from her current supporters. The media is a very powerful tool in todays society, not only in elections but in how people are viewed by the public in general. In fairness I think Hillary Clinton would be stupid to not pull the feminism card in order to boost her support. I honestly do not think she would even be a prominent figure in the current race if she did not have so much support for being a woman.