Introductory lecture

Modernism introductory lecture

So as year two begins at university, so do the journalism lectures. The first lecture of Semester 1 focused around the subject of modernism in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Modernism was based around a concept that everything was in relation to everything else and there was no definite answer. For example, according to modernists time can only be described as relative as there is no certain answer to when time began or will end. This theory was controversial at the time as it opened up a whole new way of thinking which had never been explored before and rejects the ideas that were presented during the Enlightenment and Renaissance periods.  Around this time there were key figures such as Sigmund Freud who paved the way for a new understanding of the world from a psychoanalytical perspective. In addition, composers such as Wagner and Nietzsche created a new genre of operatic music which would revolutionise operatic styles forever.

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who specialised in psychoanalysis and his 1899 book, The Interpretation of Dreams which highlighted how dreams are a strong medium for gaining access to our true thoughts and emotions. He believed that every human being alive had a subconscious where they were not in control of their individual thoughts and behaviour. Throughout our lives, we experience events such as dreaming in which we attempt to gain access to. These events are a sign of repression and as humans we attempt to block painful or traumatic memories and experiences. The next lecture in History and Context of Journalism focuses on Freud and his psychoanalytic theories so I will be able to write a blog based around his theories.

Wilheim Richard Wagner
22 May 1813  – 13 February 1883

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a 19^th century German composer who used erotic and sexual music in his operas in order to create emotion and expression. This is particularly highlighted in his opera Tristan und Isolde where the harmonies and tone of the music express sexual pleasures and fantasies followed by tragedy and death. The composition of his music was considered to be revolutionary during the century as music prior to this time was expressed happiness and love. Wagner’s operas had such a profound effect on audiences at this time that a theatre was constructed in Germany, named the Bayreuth Festspielhaus which stages his most famous operas for a period of time each year. The theatre is still open today and Wagner fans are prepared to wait years on a waiting list just to purchase tickets to see a performance.

Friedrich Nietzsche
October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900

Another figure of the 19^th century which influenced the modernist movement was Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche was a composer who also studied theology and how mankind had evolved from being primitive creatures living in caves to civilised beings within a constantly changing society. He believed that mankind was destroying itself as it was keeping weaker people alive through the use of medicine contradicting Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution that the fittest in society will survive while the weak die. As evolution had been halted by the introduction of medicine mankind had to find a new method by which society could advance. Nietzsche’s answer to this was for mankind to evolve through new technology and high education and breed a new generation of people that were superior (super people), while disabled and seriously ill people in society had to be killed. This process came to be known as ergonic breeding. Following on from his theories of ergonic breeding, Nietzsche became mentally unstable and spent his final years in silence staring at a blank wall.

Following on from the lecture, we watched a screening of the 1941 American film, Citizen Kane. The film follows the life of a character named Charles Foster Kane who is based upon the American newspaper tycoon, William Randolph Hearst.  In the film, Kane is a young aspiring journalist who aspires to create his own newspaper empire and gain wealth and power. As the years pass he marries and divorces twice and his final divorce from his wife, Susan Alexander leads him to a life of misery where finally he dies a lonely old man in a mansion. I have posted a Youtube link to a video of a scene near the end of the film where Kane realises that all the fame and fortune he had of being a journalist and editor was for nothing as he is lonely and unhappy. He gets angry and destroys objects that remind him of the past as they are of no use to him now.  The film really gave me an insight into what life is like as a journalist and how power and wealth can have devastating consequences if you are not careful.

Link for the Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3hfQ2IOc8s&feature=player_detailpage