Introduction

      Subjectivity is one of the main theme of the Postmodernism era. The subjectivity illustrates that everything is subjective and does not has one universal standard. I realized that this theme can be presented by three work pieces: Fountain by Duchamp, How to tell a good story by O'Brien and the HSBC ad campaign "Your Point of View." 

      The ready-made Fountain that made by the artist Duchamp is first considered as an ugly work piece because many people did not admit it as an art piece considering its ugliness and inappropriate appearance; however,the Fountain's art value is not expected to be judged by one universal aesthetic standard, instead it reflects the artist's alternative understanding of art. How to tell a true story examines the complex relationship between the war experience and storytelling. O’Brien’s story shows that a storyteller can shape the listeners’ experiences and opinions. O’Brien’ s story distorts our understanding of beauty and ugliness, and he states that there is no completely true story because every story is told by different ways. The HSBC ads are a group of pictures reflect the subjectivity in a way that every  group of pictures has either the same picture but different title or the same title but different pictures. 

      Those three work pieces above can carry out the main theme of Postmodernism: subjectivity.

The Fountain by Duchamp

                          
      "Of all the works in this series of ready-mades, Fountain is perhaps the best known because the symbolic meaning of the toilet takes the conceptual challenge posed by the ready-mades to their most visceral extreme." (Fountain) Fountain is a 1917 work attributed to Marcel Duchamp. It also has been considered as the first piece of so-called "conceptual art." The work was a porcelain urinal, which was signed "R.Mutt" and titled Fountain. Fountain was rejected by the committee, even though the rules stated that all works would be accepted from artists who paid the fee. 

      The Fountain was so controversial because the Fountain was originally manufactured to be a urinal, and it was considered, by society, to be too ugly and inappropriate for the standards of art at that time, and they therefore declined the work; however, Duchamp believes that an artist does not need to create a piece himself to have it be considered as an art piece. Even though many people still do not admit that Fountain is art, the work is regarded by some art historians and theorists of the avant-garde. Duchamp has been compared to Leonardo da Vinci, as a profound philosopher-artist. He told a New York newspaper that, "People took modern art very seriously when it first reached America because they believed we took ourselves very seriously. A great deal of modern art is meant to be amusing." (Rogue Urinals)

      As we can see, in the postmodern era, art is already not a standard that should be agreed by everyone; instead it is a subjective concept that does not follow certain rules. The definition of art is relative to everyone. The question "how is it art" is more like an opinion, not a question that has one answer Each artist can have his or her own opinions about either the art pieces or the concepts. Artists can give their art works a unique art value or put their own perceptions into their works.

"Fountain(Duchamp)"Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, 13/May/2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)


"Rogue Urinals" The Economist,13/May/2013,http://www.economist.com/node/15766467

How to tell a true war story by O' Brien

                  
      How to tell a true war story is a chapter of O'Brien' s book The Things They Carried. How to Tell a True War Story is told half from O'Brien's role as a soldier and half from his role as a storyteller.

      O'Brien starts the story by saying that it is true. In the chapter, O'Brien insists that a true war story is not moral and tells us not to believe a story that seems moral because a story that seems moral is might changed by the storyteller. （How to tell a true war story) O’Brien’ s narrative shows that a storyteller has the power to shape his or her listeners' experiences and opinions, such as O'Brien tells Curt Lemon's death as a love story. “His storytelling functions as a salve that allows him to deal with the complexity of the war experience, so much even as to turn the story of Curt Lemon from a war story to a love story. "（An Analysis of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried）A true war story is not about courage and heroism but about the misplaced anger and the inability of soldiers to deal with their feelings about a horrible experience. Sometimes a true war story cannot be believed because some of the most unbearable parts are true, but some of the normal parts are not. 

      Sometimes, a true war story is impossible to tell. Therefore, the facticity of a war story is subjective. How the story is told depends on different people and different ways of storytelling. Storytellers shape the original story into their own version and call it also a true story. 

O'Brien, Tim, "How to tell a true war story", 13 May 2013, PDF file

Cobras, "An Analysis of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried",13 May 2013, http://cobras.hubpages.com/hub/An-Analysis-of-Tim-OBriens-How-to-Tell-a-True-War-Story-Orange-Sunshine

HSBC ads

      In 2008, HSBC introduced an interesting and creative ad campaign "Your Point of View" illustrating how there are different perspectives on any subject. HSBC states that its brand value is "Perceptive, Progressive, Responsive, Respectful and Fair". HSBC’s advertising certainly reflects one brand value “Perceptive.” （Different Points of Value)

      Nowadays, all the bank’s advertisements illustrate how the bank demonstrates diverse cultures and customs of people around the world; however “every individual has their own priorities and values, and that these form the basis of many important decisions.” (Your Point of View at HSBC) Through its ad campaign, HSBC challenges people to find their own values and discover what motivates them in their daily lives. 

      The HSBC ad has a very clear link to the idea of postmodernism. A same problem may cause two opposite reaction from two people. The ad is telling us that any subject is relative and can lead to multiple perceptions depends on any people who has different life style or experiences. 

HSBC,"Different Points of Value",The Financial Brand,July 6 2009,http://thefinancialbrand.com/6361/hsbc-brand/

"Your Point of View at HSBC", The Inspiration Room, 29 Dec 2007,http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2007/altruism-or-consumerism-your-point-of-view-at-hsbc/