Change of Eras - From Modernism to Postmodernism

Not too remote but four decades ago we had a singular outlook towards materialistic elements, human emotions, mental architecture, aesthetics and art forms. The two prime and most significant events in the 20th century were the two devastating World Wars that paved the way to many movements which later turned into theories and concepts. Whether it be the transition from the 1st wave to the 3rd wave of Feminism, from Deconstruction to Reconstruction, from Modernism to Postmodernism or from Classical to Fusion era, these two events were gateways of the alterations. Presently we are in the Postmodern era which can also be otherwise called as Fusion era. To a student of science, the term fusion is not alien and he will flash upon with the concepts of nuclear fusion to describe the term that is - The blending of two light nuclei to form a heavier nucleus. Sighting the aesthetical and philosophical meaning of the statement we can welcome it as the base avowal for today’s fusion world- Blending of two good things to bring out the best. Nothing but today’s Postmodern mind acts as alchemy to it. But what are the changes that this fusion and postmodernism has brought about? Referring to a study called as mapping postmodernism and synthesizing charts or lists in the works of Ihab Hassan, Donna Haraway, Frederic Jameson, David Harvey and Jean-Francois Lyotard some changeover from modernism and postmodernism can be presented as snapshots such as from Monopoly capital in modernism to Multinational Capital in postmodernism, Semi-autonomous culture to Commodified Culture in socioeconomics. Considering Poetics the changeovers are like from Emotions to Random Intensities, Character to Caricature, Plot to Labyrinth, Parody to Pastiche, Detective Model to Sci Fi Model, Individual Ideas to Free floating codes, Readerly attitude to Writerly attitude, Metaphor to Metanomy while considering Miscellaneous Figurations the evolution is from Biology to Immunology, TB to AIDS, Mind to Artificial Intelligence and Labour to Robotics. Coming into personalities just for a better knowing if we refer Carl Marx, Stravinsky, Freud as Modernists then Baudrillard, Cage, Lacan can be considered as Postmodernists in their places.

But with the advent of the 21st Century, Postmodernism seem to be placed as a theory towards completion of Modernism rather than a reaction against Modernism. This is evident from the blending of traditional and modern thoughts and ideas. In music the word Fusion leads others in terms of popularity which is nothing but a blending of classical and fast pace music. In poetics short simple poems are popular. The World needs new ideas and maximum output at a faster pace. The only reason is materialistically we need recognition and aesthetically we need peace. Though achieving neither of the above has been easier till date and perhaps this is the reason why the pace is going on increasing. At times devastating mistakes are also resulting due to the tremendous pace of working. The Global Economic depression bears testimony to this fact. Not only this according to the latest theory of Postmodernism that man is a slave of his/her own perspective and all are correct according to his/her own perception, unruly activities have increased enormously .The terrorism and terrorist activities and the political disorders prove this. Looking at the brighter side individual freedom has never been such before as in this era. There are too many opportunities in almost every field through which one can focus his/her talents. “Around The World in 80 Days” no longer seems to be a dream. Ideas no more go into waste; there are always some people to appreciate. The positives in this era are not meant to cover up the negatives and neither the negatives can but a competition always goes on.
The ending note as well as advice can be the words of Sophocles’s “If you don’t change yourself with the changing world, you will be thrown like an antique piece in the museum of History”.

Poetically speaking,

“Neither Shakespeare nor Newton
Falls heavy upon this era
Where emotions are trampled for honor-
Where recipient is more and less are the donors!!
Rays of hope knock every morning –
Yet falls out in a haste-
Where thinkers are called beggars,
And performers are treated as guests..
Where they are the fools who follow castes-
Where words come before trust!!
Where one may hail you as dust-
And the other as Prince!
The sound of Fusion rings-
In the cements and grasses-
Where Modernists fail to execute-
And Postmodernists Sing.”


By Sonnet Mondal