Blog #2: Modernism & Postmodernism Character

While several of the characters in the works we have studied so far were enlightening, the judge from "The Obsolete Man" best depicted the difference between modernism and postmodernism. The reason that he shows it best is because he displays contradictory beliefs; he actually displays the behavior of both a modernist and a postmodernist!
At the beginning of the video, he showed the personality of an extreme modernist: just like all of the other judges of the "state," he believed in one thing. In fact, the state believed that their ideas were the only true ones, so that they actually killed those who believed otherwise!
Still, though he says his beliefs include the thought that he, an individual, is not as important as the state, he later shows panic in the face of death. In fact, he even shows a completely opposite view of what he displayed in the trial, when he says, "In the name of God, let me out!" While this isn't completely a postmodernist view, it does show a difference in his beliefs: displaying that no human can know for sure the facts on any situation.
Rod Serling used this character to display both a modernist and postmodernist point of view. He started out by displaying the character as a modernist. Later, he showed slight postmodernism by giving the character a contradictory set of behavior.