[begin transmission 3/3]
------- Finally...Postmodern Art -------
So, with Modern art being indeterminate in what is the true essence of art, we move into the 1950s - 1990s. It is here that Postmodernism began to gain traction, continuing with the more cynical and strange elements that the preceding Modernism had introduced into the art world, and adding a few new trends of it's own. One of these trends is, in a sense, a continuation of the reductionist developments of Modernism. That is, the targeting of stylistic or medium integrity; as such techniques along the likes of collage (using pieces of other things to make a new thing), décollage (removing pieces of one thing to make a new thing), and bricolage (using different mediums in one piece) began to take prominence. The HSBC HQ building in Hong Kong (designed by Norman Foster) is, in my estimation, the coolest example of this development. Just look at it: the building seems more akin to a battleship rather than a proper skyscraper. The steel modules showcased in its construction were made by ship builders in Glasgow; part of the steel frame on the front of the building resemble twin ladders reaching up to the bridge of a ship; there even appears to be a set of twin anti-aircraft guns at the very top for godsakes! I also adore the fact that they're aimed at the competition's (the Bank of China) building.
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| HSBC HQ, Hong Kong designed by Norman Foster. |
Another trend that caught on in Postmodernist art is the usage of ironic, self-referential content. The aforementioned Erased de Kooning Drawing can be an example of this development, but so can Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q. This Duchamp readymade features a postcard depicting da Vinci's Mona Lisa, only with a beard and moustache penciled in. On the performance art side of things, we have Niki de Saint Phalle reproducing the classic Venus de Milo...and promptly filling it full of lead with a .22 caliber rifle. Concealed bags of red and black paint in the reproduction led to the illusion of bloodshed from Venus. It is crucial to recognize that, in pursuing this ironic, self-referential content theme, artists engaged in destruction. This is quite a distinct development from the Modernist project of analyzing and reducing art to come to it's fundamental truth. At least that process still required some sort of novel addition to the canvas, some degree of technical skill, and art was still seen as something to value. In Postmodernist works, the name of the game appears to be taking an existing work or artistic theme and subtracting from it, making it less in some manner, be it through physical violation or esteem degradation through mockery. No clearer is that last sentiment made than by Piero Manzoni's Artist's Shit.
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| L.H.O.O.Q. by Marcel Duchamp |
...This brought me pause when I first learned about it. But essentially Manzoni canned 90 tins of his own feces. Each tin contains 30g of "Freshly preserved produced and tinned" fecal matter. Perhaps even more contemptible is the fact that one of these tins managed to fetch at auction a little over $300k in 2016. Suffice to say, by Manzoni's time, art had lost all reverence and could be reduced to literal shit.
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| Artist's Shit by Piero Manzoni. |
I think that it's these two developments, the violation of stylistic integrity (which invited more varied mediums for art to manifest) and the inclusion of ironic, self-referential content (which lead to an artistic attitude of irreverence and destruction) that formed an ethos of 'shock, disgust, or confuse' among Postmodern artists. Although Pop Team Epic keeps the shock and disgust (along with the preoccupation with bodily waste, thankfully) to a minimum, it still clearly embodies the violation of stylistic integrity and inclusion of ironic, self-referential content.
------- Let's Pop! -------
Of the number of stylistic integrity violations that occur within season one's 12 episode run, the ones that immediately come to mind would have to be the JAPON MiGNON, Bobunemimimmi, and Pop Team 8-Bit segments. These segments each showcase different animation styles: fluid/crisp 2D animation, choppy/haphazard hand-drawn 2D animation, and pixel art animation respectively. Aside from these 'traditional' 2D styles of animation, there are also quite a few live-action sections such as the stop motion music video UchoPeople segments, or the legendary performance art segment of 'Hellshake Yano". Now then, one could consider that none of these styles are violations of the medium in and of themselves; afterall, they're all still forms of animation nonetheless. Though that might be true, it is important to keep in mind the grander context of the show. Your typical PTE episode features around 10-15 segments each episode (double that if you count the alternate voice acting reel as unique segments); it is nearly guaranteed that you'll encounter at the minimum three unique art styles and mediums over the course of twenty minutes. Thus, an episode is much more akin to a video form of bricolage, utilizing mixed media in a single work. This is not something typical of your run-of-the-mill anime that obviously tends to stick to the 2D and drawn animation style, adhering to a single medium.
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| JAPON MiGNON |
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| Bobunemimimmi |
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| UchoPeople |
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| Hellshake Yano |
Distinguishing it further from traditional anime, as stated before, an episode of PTE easily features 10+ segments, and most of these last mere seconds. This is due in part to the nature of the source material: PTE was originally a yonkoma manga (four panel comic, arranged vertically). While there are several anime that are based off of yonkoma, none of them (at least, to my knowledge) strictly adhere to such a shortly segmented presentation. All twelve episodes of season one comprise of these short segments, every last one. This very fact is what enables PTE to use and abuse non-sequitur humor quite effectively, much to the delight or annoyance of its audience. Love it or hate it, it is one of the myriad of ways that the series goes on to flout the standard dramatic form of anime or even plot-involved media in general. You'd be very hard-pressed to find the clear intro, rise, climax, fall, and dénouement in any unitary PTE segment or episode. However, I hesitate in saying that this holds true for the season as a whole, as the very final episode ties back to the first, shoehorning what could be construed as a coherent, overarching plot in the process. Though, yet again, this is another method by which PTE subverts expectations, by releasing a discordant line-up of chaotic, independent episodes only to decide at the 11th hour to suddenly start forming any sense of continuity and direction.
Full disclosure: I'm not keen on contemporary pop culture. I don't keep current on whatever movie, television program, song, book, or video game happens to be in vogue at the moment. I find that it's simply too much to stay on top of and only half of it is of any personal interest to me anyway. But I'd be awfully remiss if I didn't fail to mention the several hundreds of pop culture references PTE manages to make in it's first season. Here's a short sample list of what I could personally identify:
- Nods to Rurouni Kenshin, Pokemon, Skyrim, Super Marios Bros. in episode 01.
- References to Street Fighter, Fantasy Zone, Gradius, and Akira in episode 03.
- Both the films Cool Runnings and Top Gun are referenced, and a cover of Earth, Wind & Fire's Let's Groove is included in episode 04.
- The AMAZING ode to classic Japanese yakuza films of the 1970s, in episode 08.
- References to The Shining and Ju-on in episode 11.
It is also worthy to note that a large portion of the references are things that only Japanese audiences would catch, so even a Westerner keener than I when it comes to pop culture would in all likelihood fail to catch a substantial amount of references. The reason why I am mentioning the abundance of pop culture references in PTE is because it is in line with the Postmodernist trend of being self-referential. While most of these references are indeed meant to pay homage to previous great works, some of them are used satirically to great effect; and as we all know satire invites some form of commentary. The most obvious and probably my favorite example of this is the running gag of the Hoshiiro Girl Drop anime series. Essentially, PTE went satirical right out of the gate; the first episode disguises itself as a light-hearted idol/comedy/romance anime called Hoshiiro Girl Drop, complete with a proper OP segment. At the title card Popuko tears into the screen and the episode begins in earnest. However, at the conclusion of every episode a preview segment for Hoshiiro Girl Drop occurs, endearingly imploring the audience to "Fall in love again next week!".
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| Hoshiiro Girldrop |
"Hoshiiro Girl Drop Final Episode 'Sosogu and Daichi: A Precious Promise'"
...not quite sure whether I'm to sigh dreamily or roll my eyes at that one.
Again though, this is testament to an element of PTE's genius; it's making you feel conflicted because it's convincing and familiar on first glance but you know that it is satire and overdone on another level. Moreover, the fact that the plot was essentially told through next episode previews speaks to just how overdone these literary elements are. The creation of something new through destruction, the destruction being a form of mockery of tried-and-true, established formulas of the past: this is a quintessential attitude of the Postmodern artist. Some could argue that the result is 'low brow', or that it is in a sense, a cop-out because as we all know, it's generally much easier to destroy than it is to create. It's one of the reasons why every other person is a critic and few are creators. So Postmodern art is generally an invalid, talentless, tasteless product. While I will agree with this, there truly are some hacks that tout their work as 'art' but in reality aren't interested in sincere artistic enterprise, one should be careful not to overgeneralize, unless one wishes to miss out on extracting value from the work that contains significance, that does hold some degree of artistic merit, unorthodox as it may appear. Now, separating the chaff from the wheat, why that's a difficult process to navigate simply because of the misdirection and highly subjective nature of interpretation. As several of my favorite textbooks used to say, that 'is an exercise left for the reader.'.
We're sort of losing the script here. As a reminder, the Postmodern tradition really is a continuation of the reductionist trend of Modernism, which sought to determine what is the essence of art via systemic elimination of elements. Likewise, PTE explores the same idea through the elimination stylistic continuity, traditional plot structure, and the reverent status of other works and the anime medium itself, via satire/self-reference/irony. In my mind, this is why the series is so polarizing: it isn't exactly clear what the hell it is.
"My sweet, simple 2B. Either you're far too easily impressed or you're giving this shitpost of a show way too much credit. It isn't really anything special. Satire, self-reference, breaking the fourth wall has been around forever, and there are numerous films, series, books, etc that poke fun at other things in a cynical manner." That's true, in recent history there has been. But prior to the 1950s, it really wasn't prevalent; Postmodernism popularized it. In the decades since then, media has gotten much more saturated with breaking the fourth wall, parody, self-reference, etc. It only seems ordinary to most of us by now because we were born and steeped in this kind of artistic and cultural environment. So ingrained are these practices that even these once-pioneering themes and methodologies are becoming overdone and passé themselves. Remember how surprising it was when, in Metal Gear Solid (The Twin Snakes), Psycho Mantis could read off of the player's memory card and comment on your affinity towards Super Smash Bros. Melee? Over time, breaking the fourth wall has become a much more common occurrence; it isn't very difficult at all to think up of an example. Why, Doki Doki Literature Club, VA-11 HALL-A, and even NieR: Automata are fairly recent titles that come readily to mind.
And with that last idea, it is with a strange mixture of eager anticipation, horrified disgust, and a semi-open mind that I await to see what new elements will crop up in the art and cultural sphere. What new methodologies and themes will we be able to burn-out our aesthetic appetites on? It seems nearly impossible to imagine, as it appears everything has been already done before. However, if history does indeed follow a cyclical pattern I think it won't be too long before we find ourselves in a similar position as our predecessors of over a century ago.
[end transmission 3/3]