Metamodernism and the Internet: The Participatory Culture of Digital Environments

Abstract

This article proposes that the theory of metamodernism should be distanced from previous theories of postmodernism because they are hindering our ability to perceive important aspects of 21st-century culture as drivers of metamodernism. Most impactful of these is the proliferation of the internet, the logic of which constitutes the underpinnings of metamodernity, as illustrated by analysing Game of Thrones as a metamodernist work in relation to online discourse. Scholars have previously focused on the ethos of metamodernism at the expense of studying its underlying structures like the logic of algorithms. While metamodernist works themselves often value content over form, academic analysis should strive for a more comprehensive view of its subject.