Introduction

Before the Postmodern era, it was believed that the world would keep progressing until it became perfect. Condorcet, a French philosopher from the Enlightenment era, claimed that through science the minds of humans would continue to expand and eventually allow humans to live long, painless lives (Condorcet). The Scientific Revolution brought the idea that the laws and truths of the universe existed independently of humans, meaning the laws of the universe were objective. Up until World War I, society found these beliefs to be true. However, everything changed after the war. After suffering the devastation and loss of World War I, people began to reject the previous ideas of how the universe operated. People began to believe there was no possible way a world that was supposed to be perfect could produce something as awful as World War I. All previous beliefs were shattered. World War I was the catalyst of the Postmodern era, a new era in which all previously known ways of life were rejected. Later, Postmodern beliefs were heightened after World War II. Catch-22 and The Wounded Soldier reveal the ways in which society rejected war. Fight Club shows the consequences of this; a world where we are defined by our material items, and struggle to place meaning in our lives. World War I is the center of the modern, and eventually Postmodern, era. It caused people to believe war was unheroic and stupid. People began to live their whole lives as a rejection of war, which left the people of that era numb.

The Wounded Soldier

The Wounded Soldier, a German Expressionism painting, was made in 1917 by Otto Dix, a German artist. Otto Dix fought in the first World War, where he was haunted and traumatized by what he experienced (Potash). After the war, Dix suffered from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Potash). The painting depicts a soldier wounded in battle, falling to the ground. The expression of the soldier is that of horror and pain. The painting reflects the style of art after World War I, which took a darker more depressing turn. 

The Wounded Soldier not only depicts the trauma Dix was experiencing, but also how the world felt during the Modern era; they were horrified by World War I. Many soldiers suffered from PTSD, and could not forget the brutality of what they experienced in the war. This response to the war caused a shift in society, and ultimately led to the Postmodern era. The war was evil, therefore everything that caused the war to happen was evil as well; previous ways of life were rejected. There was no way the world could progress to perfection if something as awful as World War I could occur. The art at this time was a response to the war, and an expression of what society was feeling. There was a rejection of "beautiful" art because it didn't accurately depict the horrors of human life (Potash). 

This painting shows how people were beginning to view war as something horrible, Catch-22 goes in continuum with the denouncing of war and leads to the eventual rejection of war. Fight Club shows the society that emerges because of that rejection of war. 

Catch-22

Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller, is a novel that revolutionized the way people thought about war. Heller used satire to depict war in a way it never was before. The novel was published in 1961, and is set during World War II. It uses a specific style of narration as part of the novel, that helps depict new ideas and opinions of war. Catch-22 is considered one of the greatest literary works of the twentieth century (BBC).

Catch-22 reveals how people viewed war in the Postmodern era. It depicted the rejection of war that catalyzed the Postmodern movement. Once viewed as honorable and patriotic, war was depicted as stupid, unheroic, and pointless. Heller depicts his ideas throughout the book:

"'Read me back the last line.'
'Read me back the last line' read back the corporal who could take shorthand.
'Not my last line, stupid!' the colonel shouted. 'Somebody else's.'
'Read me back the last line,' read back the corporal.
'That's my last line again!' shrieked the colonel, turning purple with anger.
'Oh, no, sir,' corrected the corporal, 'That's my last line. I read it to you just a moment ago. Don't you remember, sir? It was only a moment ago.'
'Oh, my God! Read me back his last line, stupid.'" (Heller)

The depiction of characters such as the colonel, supposedly patriotic and honorable, as angry idiots characterized war as stupid and pointless. The rejection of war was a central idea of Postmodernism. After World War I, people began to view their lives in a different way. The hatred of war catalyzed the rejection of the beliefs that were previously held. People no longer believed in progression or perfection; the universe was no longer objective. Society became more subjective and personal; everything turned towards the individual. This was reflected in the art, literature, and beliefs of the Postmodern era.

While The Wounded Soldier shows how people were beginning to view war as something horrible, Catch-22 not only continues that view of war, but also begins to rejection of war. Fight Club shows the society that emerges as a result. 

Fight Club

Fight Club, David Fincher 1999

David Fincher's Fight Club was released in 1999. The plot centers around an un-named protagonist and his newly acquired friend, Tyler Durden. The protagonist suffers from insomnia and asks his doctor for medication, who instead recommends attending a support group so he can "see what real suffering is." He does so and starts attending as many support groups as he can. The narrator finds relief in the support groups and is able to overcome his insomnia until he realizes another women is faking as well, which unnerves him. Later, on a business trip, the narrator meets Tyler Durden, a soap salesman. When the narrator returns from his business trip he finds their has been an explosion in his apartment. He calls Tyler Durden, and ends up befriending him. They start an underground fight club which eventually grows into anti-corporate and anti-materialist group called "Project Mayhem." In the end, the narrator realizes that he is Tyler Durden, and has to fight against himself to stop Project Mayhem. Fight Club represents the society that is a direct result of the Postmodern era's rejection of war.

The narrator, who is tired of his life and has nowhere to go, represents existentialism. At first his life is defined by his material items -- his furniture. He later creates a persona and projects it into his life; he literally projects what he wants to be. He destroys all the previous ways of his life that defined him, like destroying his furniture by causing an explosion in his house, and creates his own meaning in life.

Fight Club fights to make the point that today we are slaves to our jobs, to our material items, to our friends and family; we let material items define who we are. "Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

This quote goes in continuum with the ideas behind the rejection of war. Before the Postmodern era, people identified with religion, science, and philosophy; however, along with the rejection of war came the rejection of the beliefs that people previously identified with. They rejected the values of war and the society that created it. Because of this society today has nothing to identify with. The characters in Fight Club struggled to place meaning in their lives. They fought because they had nothing to identify with, because all that's left is their jobs, and their material items.  Like Tyler Durden says, "We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war."

The Wounded Soldier and Catch-22 show the lead up to this society, and how it got to where it is.

Conclusion

The Postmodern era came to an end due to the first Intergalactic War. As the different galaxies struggled in the war, the world began to transition out of the Postmodern era. While World War I caused people to lose hope in society, the first Intergalactic war unified planet Earth. As the world came together under a common cause, the wars between different countries faded into obscurity.

The rejection of war is what caused a lack of meaning in life during the Postmodern era. People turned away from the objective and turned towards the subjective, and in the process shunned all ways people previously gave meaning to their lives. Everything was about one's personal existence and way of life. When the first Intergalactic War started, the world turned away from separation and turned towards unification. Pinker explains the dilemma of the Postmodern era in regards to morality, "The explanation of how different cultures appeal to different spheres could lead to a spineless relativism, in which we would never have grounds to criticize the practice of another culture, no matter how barbaric, because we 'have our kind of morality and they have theirs'," (Pinker).  The Postmodern era was beginning to go down the slippery slope of relativism, where it eventually would lead to nihilism (Potash). Near the end of the Postmodern era, the world was slipping further down the slope until the first Intergalactic War was started and prescribed a new meaning of life.

The disagreements between different cultures over morality, meaning, and beliefs were forgotten as individual goals were replaced with one new goal: win the first Intergalactic War. 

Works Cited

Art Lecture Notes, Brett Potash, November 2, 2012

Catch-22, Joseph Heller, November 11, 1961

Existentialism Lecture Notes, Brett Potash, January, 24, 2013

The Moral Instinct, Steven Pinker, January 13, 2008