A Meta-Narrative Resurrection

As modern as it is to try to define postmodernism, like all other isms it does not lend itself to a singular defintion. The concept has several different ideas and applications, but one of the major premises is that the meta-narrative is dead. The idea that a single overarching principle governs the complete story of humanity is not absurd, as an existentialist might suggest, but completely devoid of any meaning, value, or truth. Perhaps postmodernists are actually at their most modern in ringing the death-toll of the meta-narrative, and indeed some suggest that the "death of the meta-narrative" is a meta-narrative in itself.

Whatever inconsistency that might suggest, postmodernists are consistent with their other beliefs for blasting meta-narratives. If it is impossible to know any kind of objective reality from our all too subjective experience, then meta-narratives are bunk, controlling, and devious. They are devices for subduing the masses. Marx's critique of religion applies to Marxism itself. So we are left to twiddle our subjective thumbs and entertain ourselves, write sad songs, happy songs, or do nothing until we die.

So what I find incredibly ironic about the early 21st century is that meta-narrative surrounds us, perhaps even more than before postmodernism ascended the belltower. The Matrix, for all of its cyperpunk and postmodern intimations, nevertheless developed into a narrative almost demanding religion in a world of ones and zeroes. As much as I am loathe to read something like The Gospel Reloaded, or anything that sweats to illuminate the Christian themes in the trilogy, one thing that is for certain that a meta-narrative is present as we watch Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity make their way to the human city of Zion to defend humanity once and for all.

Then came Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The film trilogy serves as the fantasy yin to The Matrix's yang and tells the tale of a fellowship of humans, hobbits, an elf, a dwarf, and a wizard as they take the Ring of Power to Mount Doom, in the heart of Sauron's Mordor. The fellowship braves hordes of orcs, a giant spider, and the dreaded ringwraiths to eliminate the ring and rid Middle-Earth of evil for good.

Following that came the adaptation of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in which director Andrew Adamson plunged into a meta-narrative that just short of explicitly aligns itself with the Biblical story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy pass through a wardrobe to discover the enchanting world of Narnia, where an evil queen rules but for the moment, because the great lion Aslan is on the move. And the film was a success. The first sequel, Prince Caspian is being filmed and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is in preproduction as well.

Where else? In literature, Brian Herbert has paired with science fiction bestseller Kevin J. Anderson to continue the stories of House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and the Butlerian Jihad of Frank Herbert's classic Dune world. For the past ten years J.K. Rowling has been entertaining children and adults alike with her Harry Potter series. In music, Sufjan Stevens ignored the postmodern bells and released an album full of reverences to an overarching narrative, and Illinois took home "Best of 2005" awards from Metacritic, Pitchfork, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, and The L.A. Times.

Whether meta-narratives are important or even desired in an increasingly postmodern society, they are here and here to stay. But the postmodern critique still stands, whether these narratives exist or not. The success of meta-narrative as of late perhaps give even more ammunition to the postmodernist who points out the grimness of reality. Our early 21st century enchantments are nothing more than illusions. We will never go through a magical wardrobe and we will never come out of our personal Matrix, and so we shouldn't waste our time daydreaming of Middle-Earth where something so gross as the final defeat of evil is purported to occur.

That is where postmodernism is crushed by the glory of the meta-narrative. We do not have to pass through a wardrobe to meet Aslan; Aslan comes through the wardrobe to meet us. We don't have to fight our way to Zion; the new Zion comes down to us. The existence of the Bible itself is a demonstration of God's willingness to make himself known to a fallen people that could not reach him. And unlike other narratives, we are not left feeling empty in our own world. After reading of the God who sent his Son to atone for a rebellion's sins and of King whose coronation ceremony was a crucifixion, when we ask "wouldn't it be so wonderful if such a thing could be true?" we can smile, for it certainly is.