The New Cultural Expression: FUSIONAL

The Classical, Baroque, Romantic, Modern, and Post Modern movements have all defined an era in which they reacted and developed from the previous ones. Could we now be in a transition into another era, a new paradigm of influence? Are we on the threshold of a new knowledge that embraces the technologies that have fused society together? The new term that would identify this is still up for grabs. But what does this mean for society and culture?

First one must examine the era at which we have come out of, The Post Modern Era. Post Modern philosophy is skeptical towards the "Modern" objective truth, rejects the global cultural construction, and has influenced architecture, literature, music, visual arts, sociology, interpretations of law, business and linguistics. Some critical theorist authors such as Thomas S. Kuhn, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Foucault have exemplified representations of ironic self-awareness through their writings, however, what (if any) relevance does this philosophy have today in 2010? Most undergraduate students who are studying postmodern fiction (films like Bladerunner and novels like White Noise) were born after they were first published. The consensus is that postmodernism is old, out-dated, irrelevant and simply cannot be applied to today's culture. Let's face it, music and visual arts have changed, literature has also changed, technology and communications media has advanced tremendously in recent years, even more so than Jean Baudrillard (post modernist) could have imagined. The advent of mobile smart phones, email, and internet have fused everyone into a gigantic web of convenience and allowed for users to speed down the information highway.

Whereas Post Modernism had once relied more on the author, today we have become our own authors and it is evident everywhere you look. There is an explosion of music that is being created at home, the bedroom pop artist, with his/her own music software (such as pro tools) and synthesizers. Writers are emerging from all angles typing away on internet blogs and other social forums. Devices such as the Ipad are revolutionizing the way we read magazines, journals, even comic books. Cinema has now become 75% digital special effects and most young film makers have discarded the notion of attending film school by merely buying a digital camera and an editing program such as Final Cut Pro to create films for YouTube. Social Networking sites have allowed us to reconnect with the past, engage in electronic friendships, and promote anything the user desires. Television has become minimalist with the advent of Reality T.V. that looks eerily similar to home movies. Some game shows even involve the viewers at home to text in votes which ultimately controls the direction of the show. Even sitcoms have changed to a more edgy, camera jerky, home video feel (i.e. The Office). People are becoming their own employer (Ebay, Etsy) their own broker (Etrade). Even politicians, such as the newly elected President of the United States Barack Obama, have benefited from some of the largest campaign contributions from individuals via the internet. Computers and the internet are so incorporated into the fabric of our daily lives, it would be impossible now to imagine life without them. Our lives have become a melting pot of technology, fused into our own reality.

Is this the death of Post Modernism (as suggested by author Alan Kirby)? Has digital technology really embedded itself into our existence like codes in a computer program? Are we well on our way to transcending our own bodies and becoming lost in a computer generated world? One could argue that Kirby’s notion of technology creating laziness and ignorance is flawed; in fact, technology has made the culture of today stronger, smarter, quicker and less dependent on others. Has the internet age brought us closer together even though we may be miles apart? Make no mistake that technology is now so finely integrated and fused into our culture, like never before, that it would be misleading to assert any other hypothesis. Fusionalism...you heard it here first.