Theoretical background to metamodernism as the new form of modern culture

Abstract

The purpose of the article is concerned with the systematization and generalization of the previous knowledge and theoretical achievements in the field of metamodernism as a cultural phenomenon of the 21st century. The interaction of metamodernism with such cultural trends as modernism, postmodernism, and post-postmodernism is determined. The general postulates manifesting the emergence of the new philosophical, aesthetical and cultural trend is defined. After the majority of scholars of postmodernism had emphasized its decline, it became imperative to coin a new terminological name for it to precisely describe the new order in art. Thus, the term “metamodernism” became widely spread as the name of the form of modern culture that had followed the postmodern and therefore needs detailed study and description, which constitutes the vitality of the research. This article aims to research the functions and the assignments as well as to analyze the constituents of metamodernism and the functioning specificity thereof. The methodology consists of the use of general and specific techniques, in particular analysis which makes it possible to research the modern stage of the metamodernist discourse, synthesis due to which manifestation of the new cultural trend is systematized, the descriptive method and abstraction of the preconditions of cognition, such as perception, imagination, understanding, and specifications which make it possible to describe the peculiarities and the interaction of the cultural trends under research with each other, partial prognostication which makes it possible to define the prospects of further research. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the article has systematized understanding of the metamodern as a cultural trend of the 21st century that followed postmodernism and is being actively used to describe the nowadays’ structure of feelings oscillating between the typical modernist coherence and the exclusively postmodernist aloofness. It has also described the functioning conditions thereof due to the emergence of the virtual space. Conclusions. Metamodernism is considered to have emerged and developed due to the emergence of virtual reality since it exists primarily in the virtual space of our lives, which has become available only since the emergence of social networking websites. Simultaneously with writing the manifesto and sketching the boundaries of the new cultural paradigm of 2011, the social network Facebook became open for registration. The network almost lightning-fast gained momentum and popularity, becoming the center of cultural, political, and social life for many users from the whole world, which evidences the spread of the metamodern exactly due to the virtual space.