Theories on Postmodernism Review of Related Theories
even agree as to what modernism is, much less Postmodernism Powell, 1998:19.
It means that the project of enlightenment as a value had lost its credibility. The project is about “fostering of this belief that a break with tradition, blind habit, and
slavish obedience to religious precepts and prohibitions, coupled with the application of reason and logic by disinterested individual, can bring about a
solution to the problems of society” Barry, 2002:85. Some of the philosopher such us Derrida believe that the enlightenment is uncompleted project. They try to
get rid the value of the enlightenment. In his view “the ideals of reason, clarity, truth, and progress, and as they were thereby detached from the quest for justice,
he identi fied them as ‘young conservatives’” Barry, 2002:86.
For Lyotard, the project of enlightenment tries to totalize explanations of things like Christianity or the myth of scientific progress. As explained in Peter
Barry’s book, for Lyotard postmodernism is simply Incredulity
towards metanarratives” 2002:86. He believes that metanarratives of “progress and human perfectability, then, are no longer
tenable, and the best we can hope for is a series of ‘mininarratives’, which are provisional, contingent, temporary, and relative and which provide a
basis for actions of specific group in particular local circumstances Barry, 2002:87.
A series of mini narratives such as myths, legends and tales “legitimize
themselves-make themselves believable-just in telling. And at the same time they legitimize the society in which they are told” Powell, 1998:34. It means that
the myth, the chanter, the audience, all form a kind of social bond-asocial group that legitimizes itself through the chanting of the myth. The myth
requires no authorization or legitimization other than itself. The myth defines what has the right to be said and done in the culture Powel,
1998:35. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
That is why postmodernism reject the grand narratives and change it into mininarratives.
To understand this idea, the term modernism should be understood. According to Powell “Modernism is a blanket term for an explosion of new styles
and trends in the arts in the half of 20
th
century” Powell, 1998:20. Modernism is term that is related to “the Age of Enlightenment, also known as the Age of
Reason. Probably the main value of the age, besides reason was the idea of progr
ess” Powell, 1998:20. It means that modernism is a new idea for humanity based on reason and logic. At the 18
th
century, people become optimistic that by using the universal values of
science, reason, and logic,
they could get rid of all the myths and holy ideas that kept humanity from progressing. They felt this would be eventually free humanity from
misery, religion, superstition, all irrational behavior, and unfounded belief. Humanity would use thus progress to state
freedom, happiness, and progress
Powell, 1998:20-21 Postmodernism as a new term after modernism has another idea, proposing that
“the nature of knowledge cannot survive unchanged within this context of general transformation. The status of knowledge is altered as societies enter what is
known as the postmodern age” Sarup, 1993:118. Fredric Jameson in his essay states
that “postmodernism emerged as the reaction against the established forms of high modernism. The key point to the
spirit of postmodernism is the reaction against anything modernly organized” Jameson in Kaplan 1988:18.
According to Lyota rd in Jim Powell’s book, he states that postmodernism
“has to do with skepticism about Grand narratives; and it is about heterogeneity” Powell, 1998:149. That is one of the most characteristic of postmodernism. In
Glenn Ward’s book, he mentions that postmodernism is about Knowingness. Knowingness in postmodernism “insists on ‘self-conscious, self-contradictory,
self- undermining statement’. Since few people trust their convictions or believe
the world can change for better, irony is the only option” Ward, 2010: 9. It means that the only way to find out better change is only from the irony. Irony in
the postmodernism is “therefore not just cynical, not just a way of making fun of the world. It demonstrates a knowingness about how reality is ideologically
constructed” Nicol, 2002:13.