Chapter 8: Postmodernism, indie media & Popular culture

In this blog post, I intend to examine postmodernism, indie media & Popular culture based on a discussion made with my fellow classmates. You can find the summary of the chapter here:
www.bpatricha.tumblr.com

and a further research in our Lebanese society here:

www.crazylittlethingcalledart.wordpress.com

In this chapter, the author explains that our world is not postmodern yet it’s an ongoing tension between modernity and postmodernism. Postmodernism broke through after the war and it is the phase of technology and information. The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard had mentioned that with the rise of technology, images became more real than reality. Postmodernists manipulate the truth, thus we are no longer able to differentiate between reality and our visual reading of the subject.
One of the examples of postmodern works in the book, was the World park in China which is modeled after the most famous monuments in the world such as Taj mahal, the Pyramids of Egypt, Eiffel tour… 

The point of this park is to let Chinese people see the outside world without even leaving China. Throughout our discussion, one of my classmates suggested that postmodernism was not used in a positive manner in this situation, as the World park for her, seemed like a Wake up call to Chinese culture. She believes that this park is telling the Chinese population that they are still primitive and no matter what they do, there are greater things in the world. Another theory suggests that this park imprisons its visitors and is a message to Chinese citizens to stay in China and to not be open to the outer world.

There are similar example of this all around the world, such as the Dubai land which is under construction and it's a huge space representing a small world.

 

Another example is Las Vegas and its hotels which some of them are architecturally built to look like a famous monument such as Eiffel Tour & the Pyramids. For people who have never traveled and saw the original monuments, while visiting Las Vegas they will believe they are true! Postmodernism is a recreation of the original to an extent where we don't know which is real anymore.

Las Vegas Eiffel Tour Hotel (recreation of the real Eiffel Tour)

The Eiffel Tour - Paris

The Luxor Las Vegas hotel - Recreation of the Pyramids

The actual pyramids - Egypt

Reflexivity and postmodern identity:

In this paragraph, the author talks about the works of Cindy Sherman who is a photographer who took photographs using herself as a model.

The series of photos looked like still images from movies, yet they are not. They are not even a self-portrait since she was disguised in costumes and the set was designed to look like a typical Hollywood set of that time. Her photos do not produce a real moment or star, yet they evoke a particular moment or genre which was famous back in the days.

The change of identity became very famous among pop culture artists such as Madonna who appropriated different looks and styles that changed her visual identity. In postmodernism, the body can be easily changed and remodeled.

The world of images today incorporated a lot of parodies and remakes. People don’t actually care about which is the original since we can do an identical replica with today’s technology. Some of the remakes were done in The Simpsons who also incorporated ironic remakes throughout their show. In on the episodes they made a parody about the horror movie Psycho where Homer’s eye lied on the floor of the bathroom and reenacted some of the scenes.

In conclusion, this chapter focuses on the different views of postmodernism and modernism and how they have changed over the years. Due to technological advances and other forms of media, the world we live in today is changing. It is difficult to determine what exactly postmodernism is, whether it be a style, a time period, or a set of ideologies and politics.

Cafe Abinasr Ads: Then and now

We are so accustomed to the presence of ads and brands in our lives that the marketing society keeps on trying to reinvent their marketing strategies and the way they promote their products. The other day on TV, there was a commercial for Cafe Abinasr which featured a song we've all heard. All Lebanese people know this song, I've been hearing it in each of their ads ever since i was a kid. So i decided to conduct a research, and i found out that Cafe AbiNasr has been using this song for almost 50 years now, conserving their identity. All of their ads in the past few decades have this song, and that's why we feel like it's imprinted in our heads.
I'm going to compare an old ad of theirs and a new one.

The first video is Cafe Abi Nasr's ad from 1979: as we can see, the commercial is like story telling. It starts with music, then lyrics for their famous song. The video shows how Lebanese people lived in the 70's, showing the best aspects of life. Beach, fun and Lebanese Dabkeh dance; integrating coffee in our daily activities. The advertising aims to present an image of a desired product (the coffee), and people to be envied (they are happy and enjoying their time) to tell us that we can be like those perfect people, happy, enjoying Cafe abi nasr. The ad ends with the phrase " Renew your energy, drink Coffee Abi Nasr".

The following videos are newer ads for Cafe Abinasr in the years 2008-2010.
In these videos, the lyrics are not used, but in other they still were used. That's why when we hear the tune, we mumble along the words. Their recent ads usually end with "there are things that never change" to show that cafe abinasr is still the best from 1956 (when it was established) til now. All their recent ads work around the idea of using old footage or and old object (such as the radio) and showing them in a recent context to show the evolution and continuity of Cafe Abinasr.



Cafe Abi Nasr TVC 2008
Cafe AbiNasr TVC



Cafe Abi Nasr's website also serves their visual identity, with a brown background (symbolizing coffee) and an earthy color palette. In the middle stands a picture of perfect coffee beans and coffee grinder, animated with a constant illumination as if it's shining.

Having the same tune for decades helps preserve the identity of the company and makes us all share the same idea about it which means it must be a good product for it to survive this long. Also the traditional image of the coffee on their website and the traditional colors make us realize it's a brand that has been for ages.

Lebanese kissing scenes: a curse or a blessing?

Media became so integrated in our life that we do not separate if anymore from our daily life. People became so attached to the visual and audiovisual screenings that they became a part of them. Media became a way of interconnecting audiences and ideas. Lebanon for instance, has been producing a lot of its own Tv series and recently, started making international movies. But what separates us from the West's movies, is our taboo towards kissing scenes.

Based on the report below conducted by Zaven on FutureTv, the first kiss ever on Lebanese TV was in 1963 between the great actors Wahid Jalal and Wafaa' Tarabay. It was a quick kiss but it stirred controversy in the society, thus the Lebanese supervision had to put a censorship on kissing scenes and make a law against it in TV shows. A few years later, the law became flexible, and the 2nd kiss was recorded. It was the first on screen french kiss in the Lebanese history and the longest. It was between the married actors Fouad Naim and Nidal Ashkar and it lasted 50 seconds.
The 3rd most famous kiss was in 1979 between Antoine kerbej and Nabila Karam in a series that mocks the Ottoman rule and how the ruler himself can be seduced by a beautiful woman. Later in the 90's, Melhem barakat and the dancer Dani Bostros shared a kiss on stage which was filmed and later used for promoting the play itself on TV.

 

Longest kiss - Fouad Naim & Nidal Ashkar

Nabila Karam & Antoine Kerbaj in "Barbar agha"

After the 90's, people forgot about kissing and TV shows became conservative. Meanwhile, Lebanese audience focused more on foreign movies and were very accepting of their kissing scenes. Around 2006 the actress Karmen Lebbos tried to break the ice and re-initiate an on screen kiss with the actor Bassem Moughaniye in a show called "zahrat elkharif" (meaning autumn's flower). The story was about a woman (herself) and a younger man falling in love and out taking the obstacles they faced in society because of the age difference.

Karmen Lebbos & Bassem Mghaniye

There was a lot of controversy around her role and her kissing scenes. But she insisted on moving forward, in the following years she had another on screen kiss with the actor Youssef elkhal in another TV series with a similar story. Her bold act stirred a huge controversy in Lebanon and in the Arab world. A lot of negative responses and comments were provided and most Lebanese viewers refused to watch Lebanese actors kiss yet gladly enjoyed watching long kissing scenes in foreign movies. It is believed that on screen kiss is not actually a crime, yet it's deemed a crime because Lebanese society collectively judged it and criticized it. It is because of the Mass response from the audience that the Lebanese on screen kiss was forbidden.

I was able to find a post on the "Lebaneses memes" page on facebook that asked the following question:

"Why do the lebanese very normally accept to watch a kiss in an american movie but violently refuse the same scene in a lebanese movie?" (click to view post)

126 person answered, each with a different point of view. Some of the most common answers were:
- Because usually the kiss is out of context. They just put it there.
- Because Lebanese people pretend to be open but they are narrow minded.
- Because kissing in public is already a taboo in Lebanon, while outside it's normal to kiss on the streets.
- Because they look fake.
- Because we shouldn't take bad habits from the West such as Public display of affection.

One of the common answers from the post

As we can see, Lebanese viewers have different points of view towards Lebanese kissing scenes most of which are negative. This is creating an obstacle for Lebanese actors to break the Taboo and challenge themselves and their acting skills.

Seeing a dream through reality

This article is supposed to be about abstraction in reality through its time. A way of letting loose of our imagination, transforming reality into a dream and vice versa. Below, you'll find a series of surreal photographs of the Lebanese photographer Lara Zankoul.

Lara is a young artist, trying to evade reality through her imagination. Most of her photos are mysterious and conceptual. A way to create a new world and to escape the everyday life.
At first glance, you'd think that these photos are manipulated. But allow me to correct you. The pictures are all real. Real props, real locations & real settings.
The following pictures are a proof of my statement.

Lara creating a swan out of foam and feathers.

The huge teacup, in the process of painting.

The Water series photos were created in this special built room.

With technology and recent innovations, manipulating images and concepts has never been easier. But the fact that this artist used real props and avoided photo manipulation, shows us that we can make anything happen!

On the left is a series of the surreal photographer Federica Giordano who used Photoshop to compose her photos meanwhile on the right are Lara's photos with real props.

 

 

Lara had a dream, a vision, and she worked to make it come to life. Although we know these pictures are a composition of props, yet we can't but get carried away into another world, another dimension where people have horse heads and swans are watching over us while we're asleep. Mini scale doors made the model look gigantic, yet the big teacup made her look tiny. It's all about what the eye sees, and how the brain interprets the vision.
Looking at these pictures 20 years ago, you would believe they're real. Looking at them today, would make us believe they're digitally manipulated because of technology and photo manipulation softwares. Thus, the time frame plays a big role in the context of an art piece.

For more information about Lara's photography, visit her website:
http://larazankoul.com

Lebanese drivers and their quotes.

One of the things Lebanese people are famous for is their arabic calligraphy and the way they exhibit it on the streets.
Driving on the roads in Lebanon, the first thing to catch your sight are the big yellow trucks with their Arabic quotes.
When i asked an old driver about them, he told me how this trend began.
A couple of decades ago, truck drivers used to put a blue eye amulet known as the Nazar. The Nazar is believed to protect them against the evil eye which causes misfortune and injury for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike.

The Nazar amulet.

After a while, drivers started drawing the Nazar on their trucks as a greater power for protection. They then added phrases like " 3ayn al hasoud tebla bel 3ama" which meant "may the evil eye goes blind".

Later on, drivers started writing religious quotes on their trucks, seeking god's protection. Some of the examples included "allah ybarek" meaning "God bless".
We could also see trucks with drawings on them like the Cedar tree (symbolizing Lebanon), or a scorpion silhouette or a tiger (symbolizing strength).

 One of the trucks with blue eyes (nazar) drawing and the cedars, and a phrase of "God bless"

Another truck, same phrase, and eye, and Mercedes logo.

Nowadays, even cars and tow trucks are being designed with such phrases and calligraphy-bumper stickers. Tow trucks are using the phrase "ma3ak 7atta elmot" which means "by your side til death" or "sra3 w la yhemmak, ne7na men lemmak" meaning "go fast, no worries, we'll catch you".
On the other hand, cars and buses are using some funky quotes like "abou layla" meaning "layla's father", or phrases like "be careful im using whatsapp, Facebook and BBM".

" The rooster is here, hide your chickens"

" I'd rather die than be humiliated by a woman"

"5 in your eyes" is a lebanese quote which is usually said to someone jealous.

"Be careful, i'm chatting on whatsapp and might log in to facebook."

Tow truck: " Go fast, no worries, Alloush will catch you".

As we can see, what started as a symbol for protection against the evil eye, ended up as a design for Lebanese drivers and a way to share a laugh on the road.

Be a man, drop your weapon.

We are living in a Lebanese society, surrounded by terrorists attacks, daily political arguments and a government that does not provide us with proper security. Lebanese people are forced to take their own safety precautions. They believe weapons will defend us and thus prove their masculinity.

A perfect example to my theory is the ad below. It is a Lebanese anti-weapon campaign; simple indexical piece, daring and well presented. It depicts the myth of masculinity & weapons.

At first glance, we would see a twisted bullet with a phrase beneath it. Then, we would notice that this bullet looks like a man's genitals.

The sentence beneath it is written in Arabic slang language and says: " That's not what being a man is all about, drop your weapon."

The ad's point is to represent a picture of a bullet, shaped like a man's sexual organ unerected. Based on our culture, we believe a man's masculinity is in his sexual strength, presenting such ad strips him away from his manhood.

In Lebanon, some men do not own guns, which means gun use is by choice.

A combination of cultural, social, and political factors makes it acceptable for a man to own a gun for defense. It is believed that manhood is measured by the ability to instill fear in others. If we look at our government, it is powerful because of its armaments and soldiers that are always ready in case of an incoming threat. When Lebanese people see their leaders equate power with militarization, it makes them believe that weapons will provide them with masculinity and strength. In fact, Lebanon's security is explosive, forcing each man to protect himself, and his family, with all means possible, even if he had to use weapons.

I conducted my own survey, going around asking some men of all ages, if they are with or against gun use. For those who are with, i asked them why?
Here are my results :







As we can see, most people own a gun for self protection or to protect their family calling themselves "Man of the house".

In addition to that, media plays a big role in promoting gun use. Gun ads usually portray a stiff muscular man (a symbol for masculinity) holding a gun, as a way to say that real men are killers.

As sad as it all is, believing that weapons are a sign of masculinity and security puts us in a more dangerous society; where crimes and shootings increase, and where kids grow up to the thought of embracing war instead of striving for peace.

Example of typical muscular model
promoting a weapon.

A Weapon ad for Trijicon company
with the phrase "take control".