Capping off 2022 and anticipating an already jam-packed metamodern 2023
Happy Winter, Metamodernism Enthusiasts!
Same newsletter, different platform: You may have noticed a change in some of the details of our newsletter. Indeed, we have migrated from Revue, our original platform, to Substack. (After Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the company decided to shut down Revue, which it had acquired about a year ago. So we’ve adopted Substack as our new home.) In order to ensure that future issues come directly to your inbox, you may want to whitelist our new sender email address: whatismetamodern@substack.com
Also, speaking of Elon, who knows what will become of good old Twitter? We’ll keep posting stuff there as long as it remains, but we’ve also set up on Mastodon. If you are exploring that platform, find us there at @whatismetamodern@zirk.us
New article on the spectacularly metamodern first two seasons of Hulu’s The Great.
By Linda Ceriello
Excerpt: The Great, a 2020-21 production (Tony McNamara, Hulu), metamodernizes the storied myth-history of 18th century German-Prussian teenager Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst’s transition into her new identity as Catherine II, aka Catherine the Great. It begins as she moves to Russia to marry her cousin, Czar Peter III, and makes hilarity out of one of the more murderously awkward marriages in Russian and European history. How is this show so much fun? [keep reading here…]
https://whatismetamodern.com/television/the-great-metamodernism/
Metamodernism in Classical Music?
Here at What is Metamodern? we’ve written a fair amount about indie, popular, and rock music, but we’ve not felt quite knowledgeable enough to discuss the possibility of metamodernism in contemporary classical music. Luckily for us, we recently met London-based composer and music essayist Zygmund De Somogyi. In “Here’s to the Dreamers,” an article guest written for What Is Metamodern?, Zyggy explains what’s exciting about new works by British composers Jennifer Walshe and Robin Haigh.
By Zygmund De Somogyi
Excerpt: ...It felt as if there was a sudden revelation of “everything I’ve been feeling suddenly makes sense now. … Many of metamodernism’s core markers – elements of ironic sincerity (or ironesty), pastiche, the performatist narrative double-frame (Eshelman, 2008), and the focus on hyper-self-reflexivity (a term coined by the editors of this website!) and engaging with our felt experience – are themes that I feel many of us young composers experiment with and explore, whether or not we understand them in that way. [full article here…]
https://whatismetamodern.com/music/jennifer-walshe-robin-haigh-metamodern-composer/
Our semi-usual list of recommended metamodern Film and TV + Best of 2022
It was a banner year for great metamodern programming – so much so that we have an even-bigger-than-usual backlog of stuff we’re eager to write about. In the meantime, we offer this list of Metamodern Films and TV shows from last year that won or were nominated for major awards at the Golden Globes (we’re focusing on the GGs only because listing all the Emmys and SAGs and so forth is just waaaay too much) each followed by pithy yet inadequate micro reviews (we’re busy, OK?).
Everything Everywhere All at Once - (This one we did manage to properly review!) Best film nominee; Michelle Yeoh: Best Actress WINNER; Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert: best screenplay nominee. Aggressively chaotic meditation
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On - best animated picture nominee. meta-cuteness overload
The Great - Best TV series nominee; best actress nominee: Elle Fanning; best actor nominee: Nicolas Hoult. Overtly revisionist episteme’ roulette
Better Call Saul - Best TV series nominee; Bob Odenkirk: best actor nominee. Metamodern anti-heroism with loads of heart
Hacks - Best TV series nominee; Jean Smart: best actress nominee. Modern old-schooler schooled by metamodern Gen Z while pulling gems of life wisdom out of her butt
Only Murders in the Building - Best TV series nominee; Selena Gomez best actress nominee; Steve Martin: best actor in a TV series; Martin Short: best actor in a TV series. Life (and death) as podcast!
White Lotus - Best limited series WINNER; Jennifer Coolidge: best supporting actress - WINNER; F Murray Abraham: best supporting actor nomination. Oh the friggin’ humanity
Fleishman Is in Trouble - Claire Danes: best supporting actress nominee. Actually everyone’s in trouble and the only way out is through
Severance - John Turturro: best supporting actor nominee. Creepy sincere dystopian feels
Barry - Bill Hader: best actor nominee; Henry Winkler: best supporting actor nominee. Still more metamodern anti-heroism with loads of heart
Atlanta - Donald Glover: best actor in a TV series nominee. Your friends are serious funnies
The Bear -Jeremy Allen White: best actor in a TV series WINNER. We want to think that JAW’s performance in The Bear (if not the series itself) is metamodern, but if we’re honest, that’s mainly based on nostalgia: loving and missing his character and performance in the arguably metamodern show, Shameless. If anyone out there has strong feelings about this one being metamodern, please help us decide!
Event Announcements
We’re thrilled to announce two upcoming international conferences on metamodernism. Like our Seattle MM Summit back in September, these will be hybrid events, open to the public. So you can partake by traveling to them or check them out from the comfort of your home on Zoom.
Melbourne Metamodernism Conference at La Trobe University, February 2-3, 2022 Australia time (probably Feb 1-2 in most of our readers' hemispheres) WiM’s editors will be presenting. Linda Ceriello will give a keynote address, “A Bodhisattva Move: Popular Mysticism’s Influence on the Metamodern Turn” and Greg Dember will present a paper, “Metamodern Oscillation Revisited.” This one is free for online attendees, and requires no registration.
• Click here for the program (All times/dates are AUSTRALIAN)
• Here for Day 1 Zoom Link
• Here for Day 2 Zoom Link
Glocal Metamodernisms Conference at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, April 27-28, 2023. More details will be forthcoming on this one. Current information can be found here.
Publication Announcement
WiM editor Linda recently published a long-form review essay. It does double duty: It reviews the 2017 van den Akker, Vermeulen and Gibbons edited volume of essays on metamodernism and it describes major usages of metamodern theory in the field of religious studies. The Metamodern Bend: Theorizations for Religious Studies and a Review of Metamodernism: Historicity, Affect, and Depth After Postmodernism
Technically, the essay is behind the usual, pesky, academic paywall, however anyone can read it here! (If no go, send us an email and we’ll get you a PDF.)