Lyotard defines postmodernism, in short, as "incredulity towards meta-narrative". This means that postmodernists are generally skeptical of large, overarching 'truth claims'. For example, science, religion and Freud's psychodynamic approach to psychology. Lyotard proposed that in order for the world to progress, small micronarratives would be far more beneficial.
In postmodern films, TV and other media texts, this skepticism of metanarrative is shown through a negative portrayal of metanarrative. Often, parody imitations of the metanarrative are used to undermine its credibility.
From this, Lyotard characterizes postmodernism through fragmentation. This is a technique seen frequently in postmodern media. There are many ways this can be done, for example, through intertextual referencing (making references to popular culture) or an unconventional narrative structure. For example, through flashbacks or jumping backwards and forwards in time.
Lyotard's postmodern theory has been largely criticised for being contradictory. The theory states that there should be no metanarratives. Yet, in this way, the theory is essentially proposing a grand, overarching theory that should apply to everything. It is another truth claim.
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