I’ve recently seen some pretty good TV. And although the shows I list here are all quite different, there is something that binds them together. They are dark and violent as well as funny and smart. Apple TV’s Severence (2022/24) Slow Horses (2022/23) and Bad Sisters (2023), along with BBC’s Such Brave Girls (2023) and Amazon’s Deadloch (2023) do not shy away from the worst aspects of what we are – vicious killing machines, let’s face it. But they also manage to inject some of the best things about being human: humour, humility and acceptance of our individual and collective failures and flaws. And a particular kind of intelligence that we should cherish too. This doesn’t mean other critters don’t have intelligence or humour – those chimps seem to do a lot of laughing. Although my mother tells me the laughing chimps are usually grimacing with a warning… which may tell us something about the humour!
While considering what I might write about during my MA, I looked into what comes after postmodernism. If I remember correctly, the general consensus seemed to be that we may still be living through post-modernism, although postpostmodernism was posited. One of my kids sent me Jregs (2020) ‘postpostmodernity’ video which is a pretty depressing short commentary on a violent never-ending End. Teenagers seem to think it’s super funny though.
Google search delivered Metamodernism, a term given traction by Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker. In an online magazine, Notes from Metamodernism, Luke Turner (2015) writes,
Ours is a generation raised in the ‘80s and ‘90s, on a diet of The Simpsons and South Park, for whom postmodern irony and cynicism is a default setting, something ingrained in us. However, despite, or rather because of this, a yearning for meaning—for sincere and constructive progression and expression—has come to shape today’s dominant cultural mode.
I am definitely more at ease with a dollop of cynicism and don’t much believe in what passes for sincerity on social media. Remember, my ‘vicious killing machine’ comment. A friend of my ex’s referred to our lovely sweet adorable little puppy in that way – and the phrase has stayed with me ever since. The ex agreed with his friend’s assessment when Poppy the puppy nearly ripped his thumb off. To be fair to Poppy, he did try to take a ball from her clamped jaws for some reason. Poppy is now an old lady and I’ve been using the phrase ever since. And the so-called sincerity on social media makes Poppy’s accidental thumb faux-pax seem like a fun-filled party with some gentle fairies in comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I have made a conscious decision to opt for small numbers but genuine social media engagement and I value the relationships I have built over the years very much. However, I do not trust the ‘aren’t we all such wonderful friends here’ mentality one little bit.
The combination of humour and violence in those TV shows prompted me to look up metamodernism again. And I have found that beyond a collective yearning for sincerity, there is an acceptance of complexity which feels really crucial (I get so frustrated with the continued fetishisation and promotion of simplicity as the only valid strategy in the visual arts – a hangover from modernism). Other words that leap out of my reading are ‘holistic, synthesis, “pattern-of-patterns” (Gregg, 2020), meme, emergence, collective, and embodiment.
I also notice on Wikipedia that Bo Burnham’s Inside (2020) which is remarkable, and Everything Everywhere all at Once (Kwan and Scheinert, 2022) which I flippin LOVED are considered prime examples of metamodernism. And I think the TV shows I mentioned at the start are probably pretty good examples too, although sweeter programmes such as Bless this Mess (Merriweather and Bell, 2019/20) probably are too.
So, it looks like I might need to revisit those early notes. Do let me know if you have any reading suggestions 🙏 (That emoji may be the metamodern way to sign off btw!)
Refs
Henriques, G. (2020) What Is Metamodernism? | Psychology Today, Psychology today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/theory-knowledge/202004/what-is-metamodernism (Accessed: 15 December 2023).
Notes on Metamodernism’ (2015). Available at: https://www.metamodernism.com/ (Accessed: 15 December 2023).
postpostmodernism (2020). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fav-SS0L78Q (Accessed: 15 December 2023).
Turner, L. (2015) ‘Metamodernism: A Brief Introduction – Notes on Metamodernism’. Available at: https://www.metamodernism.com/2015/01/12/metamodernism-a-brief-introduction/ (Accessed: 15 December 2023).