of Berlin in the 1970’s but to reflect the social and political tensions present in Britain at this
time
From here, I will go on to explore the postmodern elements of the Trilogy and of Bowie’s
sense of self in particular. I will be focusing upon the drastic shifts in discourse during the
1970’s amongst perhaps the most de-politicized of generations and how this enabled the
influence of popular culture, in this case, David Bowie, to become a more dominant mode of
discourse during the period, using the theories of Michael Foucault, Ernst Bloch and Joel F.
Handler’s work on Postmodern Melancholia. I will discuss the postmodern identity of David
Bowie in an attempt to outline key aspects of the postmodern within his personality, or rather
his “performative self” in order to theorise its presence within his music and its impact upon
various forms of postmodern culture. And more importantly, how it addresses the issues
present within West Berlin during the Cold War. As well as the impact that David Bowie’s
‘artificial identity’ had upon his fans and how this altered the perception of him in the context
of the outside world. Whilst paying attention to how this reflects the effects that the rise of
consumerism had upon the generation of the 1970’s and its presentation of itself in the
various postmodern styles that emerged during this decade.
From here I will begin to theorise the presence of walls within the trilogy. From walls of
sound to The Berlin Wall and what their presence says about both Berlin and Bowie
symbolically. This section will be composed of theoretical work as well as close readings of
songs such as Heroes which contain, some of the most notable references to the Berlin Wall
in modern music. I will further explore the themes of walls through the medium of sound in
this section in order to theorise the themes of resistance and oppression that arise, often
subliminally in the sonic elements of Low and “Heroes”.