A Postmodern Example

Postmodernism subsists on a formation of constructs which dichotomise its own existence, with its notions producing both a lack of reality and authenticity through the constant denial of originality and its basis on reproduction. Therefore, in correlation with this notion, my chosen artefact is that of retrospective t-shirts which depict band names and band images to portray the ideal of individuality. However, as commented in the Glossary of Postmodern Terms, ‘…postmodern culture is characterized by a loss of the ability to act as an individual’. Thus, to display an image of a band on a t-shirt in order to express self-autonomy instead becomes a self-reflection on the loss of identity. Therefore, the above image of Paris Hilton wearing a commodified band t-shirt only heightens the concept of a loss of identity, as by her wearing the shirt, she is using fashion as a signal for copitalist gain. This concept was also addressed in the Glossary in relation to postmodernism’s creation of a loss of critical distance. It was noted that ‘…the wearing of one’s politics [on a T-shirt] becomes a fashion statement that involves both the purchasing of a commodity and the participation in an image-culture’. Therefore it can be said that postmodernism has rendered the literal physical portrayal of identity to become smothered in the corporate selling of commodities, with the t-shirt morphing into a sign of consumerism rather than selfhood. As stated by academic Andy Brown in his text Rethinking the Subcultural Commodity; the Case of the Heavy Metal T-shirt Culture(s), ‘the…t-shirt is a commercially manufactured and distributed item…that is also high in subcultural value’ (p.63). Thus, t-shirts have become a form of Jean Baudrillard’s sign-value, with the image, not the identity, being sold as a commodity which in turn destroys the icon’s authenticity.