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Capilano University

The Ubiquitous Nature of “Post-truth” in
the Twenty-first Century

Emma Djwa
Micheal Thoma PhD, Greg Coyes
December 10th 2018
MOPA 409-01

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North American society has taken on the form of post-truth. Oxford dictionary’s twentysixteen word of the year, “post-truth” is the idea that facts are subservient to arguments and
persuasive speak. (“post-truth”) Through social media and pervasive content, society is
becoming less focused on the truth within stories, the argument or persuasion is more important.
Though cinema that tells superficial stories is essential to distraction and escapism, filmmakers
must be cognizant of the impact of cinema. If society is unclear what is truthful and what is not,
then films must be careful not to propagate lies.
To discuss post-truth, this essay will first discuss what the twenty-first century has
become in terms of reality, and truth telling. Several theorists have declared a distinct distance
between reality and what we are experiencing and seeing. Four theorists are particularly relevant
to the perspective of the world taken in this paper: Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, James
Ball, and Jean Baudrillard.
A chapter labeled Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception, in the dialectical
book Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947) by Theodor W. Adorno, and Max Horkheimer, discusses
the ever present lack of reality in society. Adorno and Horkheimer presciently describe today’s
reality, positing that people function on a fear of being ostracized, and consequently can do
nothing but follow the status quo. (56) Horkheimer and Adorno say that media is responsible for
re-affirming beliefs, which is similar to the idea of “confirmation bias” by James Ball () that
James Ball posited in his book Post Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World (2017.) Ball
defines confirmation bias as “look[ing] for and retain[ing] information that confirms our beliefs
and [struggling] to accept information that goes against them.
Jean Baudrillard is another theorist that suggests a gap between reality and the world we
live in. Baudrillard believes that images are becoming more and more prevalent and less and less

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meaningful.” (388) Society is visually over saturated with images. Baudrillard continues to
suggest the images we see are separating us farther and farther from reality. This is known as
“The precession of simulacra.” Images start as a reflection of reality, then they mask reality, then
they lose any relation to reality, then finally, they become their own simulation, independent of
reality. (389) Meaning, images are unconnected to reality, and to the truth. The world is
becoming less and less genuine, and movies play a huge role in this, Horkheimer and Adorno say
that “the familiar experience of the moviegoer…perceives the street outside as a continuation of
the film he has just left” (56) Movies are pervasive and believable to the point of influencing
reality.
In everyday perception, facts are becoming convoluted and confusing. Post-truth is
popular in politics and everyday society. First coined in the mid-nineties by playwright Steve
Tesich, post-truth (as defined by the Oxford dictionary) is “relating to or denoting circumstances
in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and
personal belief.” (“post-truth”) Steve Tesich promoted this idea during George W. Bush’s
presidency, in the wake of the Gulf War. Tesich notes a day and statement to remember when
President Bush spoke on May 27, 1991, saying of moral ambiguity "that's the real world, not
black and white. Very few moral absolutes." (Tesich) He continues on to categorize people to be
“prototypes of a people that totalitarian monsters could only drool about in their dreams. All the
dictators up to now have had to work hard at suppressing the truth. We, by our actions, are saying
that this is no longer necessary, that we have acquired a spiritual mechanism that can denude
truth of any significance. In a very fundamental way we, as a free people, have freely decided
that we want to live in some post-truth world.” (Tesich) This acquiescence has continued to the
present day.

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The idea of many different versions of truth is supported by the Rashomon Effect. “The
Rashomon Effect” (Anderson 2016) is the idea of several truths happening simultaneously, with
no clarity as to the singular, honest truth. (Anderson 2016) The idea was spurred by the 1950 film
Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa. In the film, the body of a noble samurai is found, but the story of
his death is unclear. Told from several different perspectives, Kurosawa leaves the truth up to
interpretation, and avoids direct clarity. Because of the many different news outlets and social
media influences, the Rashomon concept has meaning in the twenty-first century. James Ball’s
book shows that fake news trend faster then real news, and the aforementioned confirmation bias
allows us to stay confined in our own circles of truth. (140) If most people get their news from
social media, then they are subject to many different versions of the truth. The Rashomon effect
is present in our daily media consumption.
Post-truth would not be present without strong support. A large proponent of post-truth is
fake news. Fake news, as mentioned before, is key in the Rashomon Effect, and frequently trends
and spreads quicker then real news. (Ball) Fake news is prolific enough that Collins dictionary
heralded it as their world of the year in 2017. (“Fake News”) Defined as “false, often sensational,
information disseminated under the guise of news reporting” (“Fake News”) fake news is ever
present in society.
Traditional news outlets are inadvertently a strong proponent of post-truth. James Ball, in
Post Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World (2016) discusses the effect traditional news
source has had in spreading fake news, and post-truth. News outlets have started to allow
unsubstantiated stories the same weight as referenced and researched news reports. “The price
that’s paid is the audience’s trust: if newspapers don’t differentiate the stories that they’ve put
time and reporting resources into from those they run based on a single tweet, why should

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readers put more credence to one than another?” (Ball, 93) Ball references several news stories
that were forced to be rewritten within hours, such as “Sorry folks, they WERE his real hands:
Footage Emerges Disproving Bizarre Theory Trump's Bodyguard had Fake Arms so he Could
Hold a Gun Under His Coat” (Summers 2017) The article posted by the Dailymail in the UK
tells the speculative story of whether or not one of President Donald Trump’s bodyguard was
wearing a prosthetic hand during the president’s inauguration. Twelve hours later, the updated
conclusion made it clear that the hand was not prosthetic. The conclusion was drawn from
footage of the inauguration. Footage that was available at the time of the inauguration, as the
entire inauguration was broadcasted live. This article is a clear example of the ever changing
news. It is difficult for people to trust what information they are given, as information is ever
changing in this post-truth landscape. Trust in media has faced a significant decline since two
thousand and three. According to a poll done by Gallup news and referenced by James Ball, trust
in media has dropped from fifty-three percent in two thousand and three, to thirty-two percent in
2016. (Swifter) There is a distinct lack of trust in traditional media, and it has ben dropping every
year. “What’s true barely matters, if it’s entertaining.” (Ball 93)
The ubiquitous nature of fake news is propelled forward by ever present social media.
James Ball discusses Alistair Reid’s theory of the “misinformation ecosystem.” The idea that
incorrect information is propagated in revolving circles spread between friends and loved ones.
“It’s the amplifying effect of social media and our loved ones… that makes fake news dangerous,
Reid warns, and it’s these factors that are the most difficult to quantify” (140) It is not possible to
quantify this intangible connection that keeps us intrigued and focused in on our own bubbles of
information. This once again connects to the idea of confirmation bias. According to Ball, people
are more likely to share and repost stories and information that confirms information they already

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believe. This has an innocuous presentation, it makes sense to fill one’s Facebook wall with one’s
own beliefs, but it goes deeper then that. People will not share stories that counter their own
viewpoint, for fear of backlash from others in their social media circles that maintain similar
viewpoints. This fear keeps each person in their own little “filter bubble.” (Ball 153) Isolated
away from countering viewpoints and a more balanced perspective. This concept bears eerie
similarities to the prescient views of Max Horkheimer and Theordor W. Adorno in their
aforementioned book “Dialectic of Enlightenment.” (1947) Adorno and Horkheimer write of the
way people fear being ostracized and consequently follow the status quo. If people fear stepping
out of their own comfort then they will stay constrained within their filter bubble, unaware of
challenging information. This dissemination of information through other people in our own
social media networks is what Ball considers the weaponizing of bullshit. The bullshit circulating
is made powerful by the trust we have in the people around us. (Ball 158) Fake and real news is
indistinguishable when equally doled out from reliable sources like friends and family.
The twenty-first century. An age of post-truth, the Rashomon effect, and a distinct
separation between reality, and what we perceive. Many of the effects on society and people are
subconscious. As Ball discusses, it is incredibly difficult to quantify the circuitous sharing of fake
news. (Ball 140) so where does cinema come in?
Cinema has the power to perpetrate or question commonly held beliefs. Horkheimer and
Adorno suggest that cinema and advertising are influential in the way people understand the
world and how to interact. (56) Several theorists have put emphasis on the power of cinema to
influence society. Both Laura Mulvey and Bell Hooks work to change society through shifting
cinema.

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Focused on the debunking of gender politics within cinema, Laura Mulvey draws clear
connections between the way our society functions and the way gender politics are portrayed on
screen. In an intertwined mess “the fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of
fascination already at work within the individual subject and the social formations that have
moulded him” (Mulvey 264) The pleasure of looking experienced by viewers is possible because
of the desires already present within the viewers themselves. Mulvey’s posits her beliefs as
“adding a further layer demanded by the ideology of the patriarchal order as it worked out in it’s
favourite cinematic form - illusionistic narrative form” (Mulvey 273) Mulvey suggesting that in
order to affect societal change, we need to adjust our gender politics in media.
Another theorist that sees clear importance in cinema is Bell Hooks. In her opening
statement of the chapter Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance in her book Black Looks: Race
and Representation (1992) Hooks speaks of mass culture (including cinema) as the
contemporary location that both “publicly declares and perpetuates the idea that there is pleasure
to be found in the acknowledgement and enjoyment of racial difference” (Hooks 308) An
argument different then Mulvey’s, but still centred around the idea of affecting change in cinema
to effect change in reality. Hook’s chapter continues to systematically take apart several films
that dismiss and mistreat black culture and black life. She is arguing to adjust films in order to
orchestrate positive change in the real world.
Both these theorists are arguing to the importance and influence of film. If the strongest
perpetrators of post truth are ubiquitous and intangible, then cinema has the chance to positively
affect the truth telling in society. Both Laura Mulvey and Bell Hooks show that there is a
correlation between what is on the screen and what is happening in society. If films are created to
relay truths like gender equality and proper representation, then society is given a chance to rise

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above the existing societal condition. There is value in escapist cinema, allowing people a break
from reality to experience catharsis. Yet filmmakers must be careful not to create cinema that
propagates the untruths of society. Essentially, cinema must not be made to misrepresent stories
or cultures. Bell Hooks speaks of several films that propagate untruths, referencing the
representation of black culture in films such as Heart Condition (1990) and Without You I Am
Nothing. (1990) These films serve only to reinforce archaic and uncomfortable ways within
society. Hooks states that Heart Condition makes “black culture [a] backdrop” (Hooks 314) and
Without You I Am Nothing, eventually reduces black people to a metaphor (Hooks 317) instead of
human beings.
Moving forward, filmmakers have the choice to support or challenge the existing
condition. Laura Mulvey and Bell Hooks show that adjusting cinematic content is a clear path to
adjusting society. The Rashomon Effect and fake news are instrumental in post-truth. The
evidence is clearly stockpiled to suggest that the truth has become incredibly difficult to reveal.
In a world of post-truth, cinema is an incredibly powerful medium with the ability to propagate
whatever the filmmakers may wish. If society can not differentiate truth and untruth, then cinema
must be careful not to propagate further lies.

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Works Cited

Adorno, Theodor W. and Max Horkheimer. “Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception.” Media and Cultural Studies Keyworks. Ed. Durham, Meenakshi Gigi and
Douglas M Keller. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print.
Anderson, Robert. “Rashomon Effect and Communication.” Canadian Journal of
Communication 41.2 (2016): 249-269. Web. 7 Dec. 2018.
Ball, James. Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World. London: Biteback Publishing Ltd,
2017. Print.
Baudrillard, Jean. “The Precession of Simulacra.” Media and Cultural Studies Keyworks. Ed.
Durham, Meenakshi Gigi and Douglas M Keller. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Print.
“Fake News.” Collins Dictionary. HaperCollins Publishers, 2017. Web. 7 Dec 2018.
Heart Condition. Dir. James D. Parriott. Perf. Bob Hoskins, Denzel Washington. New Line
Cinema., 1990. Film.
Keyworks. Ed. Durham, Meenakshi Gigi and Douglas M Keller. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell,
2012. Print.
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Media and Cultural Studies Keyworks.
Ed. Durham, Meenakshi Gigi and Douglas M Keller. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Print.
Tesich, Steve. “A Government of Lies.” thefreelibrary.com. Farlex Inc, 2018. Web. 8 Dec. 2018.
Hooks, Bell. “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance.” Media and Cultural Studies“post-truth”
Oxford Dictionary. 2016. Web. 10 Dec. 2018
Rashomon. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Perf. Kyo, Machiko, and Toshiro Mifune. Daiei Film., 1950.
Film.
Summer, Chris. “Sorry folks, they WERE his real hands: Footage emerges disproving bizarre
theory Trump's bodyguard had fake arms so he could hold a gun under his coat.”
dailymail.co.uk. Metro Media Group, 25 Jan 2017. Web. 7 Dec. 2018.
Swift, Art. “Americans’ Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low.” news.Gallup.com. Gallup Inc,
14 Sept 2016. Web. 7 Dec 2018.

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Without You I’m Nothing. Dir. John S. Boskovich. Perf. Sandra Bernhard. New Line Cinema.,
1990. Film.