Sunday, August 31, 2008

Modernism vs Post-Modernism

Modernism and Post-Modernism are two very different ways in thinking. I find it interesting how extreme they are, how blurry the middle is, and how many people would fall into the middle of the two extremes. On one end you have a very strict way of thinking and is very machine like, there is only one absolute truth and nothing else. Then on the other end you have the exact opposite where there is no universal truth, and everyone is able to think the way they want.

From the works we have read thus far, the Chancellor in, The Obsolete Man, shows me a very clear picture of what a modernist person would be like. The chancellor believes that the only right is the government rules, and anyone who does not follow by these rules cannot fit into the society, and is ruled obsolete. The chancellor and other government officials in the show all acted if they are zombies. Zombies seem to be a great comparison to modernism. They are creatures who are being controlled to think and act one way, just like the Chancellor has been brainwashed to think that only the governments way is right. Wordsworth was the Post-Modernist character in this show in that he didn't follow in what the government thought was right, but read books and created his own thoughts, and believed in God, not just the government. At the end of the movie the Chancellor says, "In the name of God, let me out." At this point he is now also considered obsolete to their governments society because he is believing in God, not just their totalitarian government.




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