Lighting
Editing (special effects)
Sound (diagetic/non diagetic)
Camera shots
Camera angles
Setting (weather)
Mise en Scene (costume, styling, colour, house style (magazine), props)
Thursday 26 April 2012
Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) Dir. Jason Eisener
1. Bricolage - typical grindhouse film - naked women
2. Hyperreality - trapped in the violence.
Homage/Pastiche - of grindhouse movies from the 1970s. - Hobo is reminiscent of films such as 'The exterminor' an exploitation movie about vigilante.
3. Acting/characters - over the top? bad?
- So bad it's good?
- The film sets out to be a bad/trashy film.
- Shocked? Or desensitised to cruelty on screen?
THE FUTURE OF MEDIA
1. Holograms of music stars. What other stars would this work with?
2. Films based of games/toys e.g. Hastro's transformed & Battleships.
3. Trailers of imaginary films being turned into real movies. E.g. Hobo and Machete.
*Deliberately meant to be a bad film
*Humour in the violence? - not a film to be taken seriously
*Effect on a physcological level?
*Typical American western narrative - a person goes into town - kills the bad guys & saves the day - like Drive? The hero is something you can relate to other films. -Bricolage
2. Hyperreality - trapped in the violence.
Homage/Pastiche - of grindhouse movies from the 1970s. - Hobo is reminiscent of films such as 'The exterminor' an exploitation movie about vigilante.
3. Acting/characters - over the top? bad?
- So bad it's good?
- The film sets out to be a bad/trashy film.
- Shocked? Or desensitised to cruelty on screen?
THE FUTURE OF MEDIA
1. Holograms of music stars. What other stars would this work with?
2. Films based of games/toys e.g. Hastro's transformed & Battleships.
3. Trailers of imaginary films being turned into real movies. E.g. Hobo and Machete.
*Deliberately meant to be a bad film
*Humour in the violence? - not a film to be taken seriously
*Effect on a physcological level?
*Typical American western narrative - a person goes into town - kills the bad guys & saves the day - like Drive? The hero is something you can relate to other films. -Bricolage
- Drake - humorous in a bad way, typical 'bad' character (not realistic) - typical villain music, dark lare atmosphere.
- Music 'burn baby burn' humorous?
- In some parts they've tried to use realistic music in an obvious non realistic film - makes it bad?
- Some link to the Jews with 'The Mob'?
- List of people that The Plague have got rid off is unrealistic - e.g. Jesus.
- Idea of superheroes with 'Abbie' being the wonderwomen, making a speech, women's power?
- All about a 'show'
- The Plague - rewriting history?
- Difficult to call is pomo?
- Irony - so gory that it's funny
- Humour - 'Bear speech', Lawn mower conversation, Gloryhole, Plague masks, Hobo is funny or is he an entirely serious character dispensing justice vigilnate style.
- Ridiculous - the two violent brothers and Drake
- Unexpected elements - Abbie losing her hand, Hobo dying at the end (heros death is like a trademark though).
- Homage to grindhouse films - harking back to an earlier type of trashy film - wee see the now in technicolour sign at the start of film.
- Film titles look like they are from the 1980s.
- The music is reminiscent of John Carpernter's soundtracks from films such as Assault on Precienct 13 and Escape from New York.
- The brother's look 80s style.
- Not one genre - comedy/horror/thriller/exploitation/grindhouse.
- The Mob - seen in 50s/60s.
- Horror films such as Frankenstein, Dracula etc.
- Also seen in westerns from the same period.
- The vigilante or lone gun - seen in westerns and films like Rambo/Death Wish
- Similar ending to Drive?
- The TV appearance of Drake - Kickass, Batman Dark Knight.
- Snakes on a Plane? 'I've had it...' - similar to something we've seen before.
- The octopus
- Distopia - everythings dark, gloomy in the city.
- The human pinata.
- The colour schemes - orange - outside the hospital, blue - the Drake's HQ.
- Characters overcome injuries quickly - Abbie's next wound.
- Bit like Funny Games.
- Subverts conventions.
- Team America speech - link to Abbie's speech.
- Ludicrious in parts.
- Some things are just ridiculous.
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Wednesday 18 April 2012
Hobo With A Shotgun (2011) Dir. Jason Eisener
Hobo with a Shotgun, directed by Jason Eisener, was initially a fake trailer made for an international contest to promote the release of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's double feature Grindhouse.[5] It won the contest, and was screened in some areas of Canada as part of the actual release of Grindhouse.[6] A feature-length version of Hobo With a Shotgun began principal photography in Halifax on April 19, 2010.[7]
A teaser trailer (including behind-the-scenes and test footage) was released on April 26, 2010.[8]
It was the second of Grindhouse's fake trailers to be turned into a feature film, the first being Rodriguez's Machete.[9] David Brunt, who played the homeless man in the trailer, has a cameo appearance in the film as a cop.[10]
Grindhouse
Grindhouse is a 2007 action-horror/exploitation double feature co-written, produced, and directed byRobert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The double feature consists of two feature-length segments, Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Tarantino's Death Proof, and is bookended by fictional trailers for upcoming attractions, advertisements, and in-theater announcements. The film's title derives from the U.S. film industry term "grindhouse", which refers to (now mostly defunct) movie theaters specializing in B movies, often exploitation films, shown in a multiple-feature format. The film's ensemble cast includes Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Naveen Andrews, Fergie, Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and stuntwoman Zoë Bell.
Rodriguez's segment, Planet Terror, revolves around an outfit of rebels attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a rogue military unit, while Tarantino's segment,Death Proof, focuses on a misogynistic, psychopathic stunt man who targets young women, murdering them with his "death proof" stunt car. Each feature is preceded by faux trailers of exploitation films in other genres that were developed by other directors.
Grindhouse definition
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.[
How to answer a Postmodern question
These are the previous questions set for this topic:
If we look at the bullet points in the Specification, which defines what should be studied, we should be able to relate them to the questions set so far:
• What are the different versions of post-modernism (historical period, style, theoretical approach)? (first and fourth questions above)
post-modern cinema,
interactive media,
social media and social networking,
reality TV,
music video,
advertising,
post-modern audience theories,
aspects of globalisation,
parody and pastiche in media texts or a range of other applications of post-modern media theory.
- What is meant by ‘postmodern media’?
- Why are some media products described as ‘postmodern’?
- Explain how certain kinds of media can be defined as postmodern.
- Explain why the idea of ‘postmodern media’ might be considered controversial
- “Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation.” Discuss this idea with reference to media texts that you have studied.
- Discuss why some people are not convinced by the idea of postmodern media.
So as you will notice, the questions may focus on what postmodernism is and how you apply ideas about it to examples, but also to why there is an argument about the term itself. I suspect if you have studied this topic, you will have been introduced to the debates around it and have the ability to apply definitions to examples, but I'll point you in the direction of some useful material here too.
• What are the different versions of post-modernism (historical period, style, theoretical approach)? (first and fourth questions above)
• What are the arguments for and against understanding some forms of media as post-modern? (possibly all six questions!)
• How do post-modern media texts challenge traditional text-reader relations and the concept of representation? (first, second, third and fifth questions)
• In what ways do media audiences and industries operate differently in a post-modern world? (quite a hard one, maybe a bit of the third and fifth ones)
The kinds of thing you might use as case studies include:
How post-modern media relate to genre and narrative
computer / video games, virtual worlds, augmented reality and and new forms of representation,post-modern cinema,
interactive media,
social media and social networking,
reality TV,
music video,
advertising,
post-modern audience theories,
aspects of globalisation,
parody and pastiche in media texts or a range of other applications of post-modern media theory.
It is pretty open in terms of what you might have studied, so I would expect answers to draw upon very different case study material.
This part of the exam asks you to do three more specific things, whatever topic you answer on:
1. You MUST refer to at least TWO different media
2. You MUST refer to past, present and future (with the emphasis on the present- contemporary examples from the past five years)
3. refer to critical/theoretical positions
1. You MUST refer to at least TWO different media
2. You MUST refer to past, present and future (with the emphasis on the present- contemporary examples from the past five years)
3. refer to critical/theoretical positions
So for 1. you might compare and contrast examples from film and TV or from games and the web.
For 2. the main thing is to ensure you have a majority of material from the past five years. There were a number of answers last year which were dominated by older examples, so beware of this if you are writing about games or the web, you can be pretty up to date, but the same is true of examples from TV, music video or cinema. This is not to stop you referring to historical examples, just encouraging an emphasis on recent ones. For the point about the future, you could say something about how as we all live more of our lives online, more and more texts take on elements of postmodernism.
For 3. You will hopefully have been introduced to some theory and your teachers will have tried to make it accessible- some key names are Baudrillard and Lyotard and their ideas are summarised quite neatly here
Media Magazine published an excellent article in MM22 about postmodernist texts a couple of years back by Richard Smith:
"Postmodern media manipulates time and space". To what extent does this definition apply to texts you have studied?
Modernism is all about moving forward and postmodern texts came after this and focus on the borrowing of things from the past and intertextual references. In some ways it manipulates time in terms of developing and moving forward and by instead reinforcing the past. This is significantly noticeable in the typical postmodern labelled films such as Inglorious Basterds, where Tarantino tends to demonstrate postmodernism throughout each of his films. Postmodernism tends to display self reflexivity, irony and disputes the boundaries between genres. Due to the intertextual references, postmodern texts are mainly designed to be read by a literate audience who will notice the ‘borrowings’ and be able to identify the similarities from other texts that highlight the fictionality of the text.
In Inglorious Basterds, there are many postmodern elements that can identified to manipulate time and space. This involves how the film almost plays with reality such as in the beginning scene where one overhead camera shot shows no ceiling, but it then switches to a low angle shot which appears to show that the ceiling is there. This clearly challenges the idea of reality; however postmodernism focuses on reminding the audience that a text is fictional which juxtaposes the approaches of many other films that aim to create an element of reality to connect with the audience. When considering Fiske, an audience may recognize Inglorious Basterds as being a war film because of their cultural knowledge of the concept war film that they have gained from watching others. Because of this, we then wouldn’t find it necessary to look at the intertextual references. However the fact that Inglorious Basterds includes such obvious fictional elements reminds us indeed, that it’s not real.
To some extent the quote ‘Postmodern media manipulates time and space’ can be applied to Inglorious Basterds due to the extensive and diverse borrowings it has within the film. The film manipulates time by using texts from the past in a modern day film which is perhaps what the audience wouldn’t expect due to the constant pressure to move forward in society. In the film ‘The Searchers’ released in 1956, the rememberable ending has been referenced to in Inglorious Basterds at the end of the first chapter. This scene is where a character is framed in a door way and then walks away, which creates a dramatic effect. In some ways this links directly with Inglorious Basterds; however the film manipulated this by stripping the effectiveness created in The Searchers which could perhaps effect our views on that original film.
In the ‘Projection box’ scene in Inglorious Basterds there are also war elements in terms of the music. The music suggests that something dramatic is going to happen as Frederick walks towards the room that Shosanna is in, allowing the audience to foreshadow. The type of music sounds like it’s from a war film and portrays that some sort of action will follow however in this scene, when Shosanna opens the door the music stops. Then when something does happen, there is no music. Clearly this manipulates ‘normal’ conventions and it decreases the ‘dramatic impact’ usually created which may confuse an audience. In a traditional war film there is normally less music and more sound effects, i.e. the shooting of guns. However a Tarantino element is that there is extreme violence but much of it is suggested off-screen. Also when Shosanna gets shot, her death seems less brutal and more peaceful which may suggest a romantic element. In some ways her death may seem sad to an audience as she was such a key character, therefore an audience may choose to see her death as romantic or that her ‘mission’ has been completed and she’s at peace. They choose to see it as this is because it is what they want to believe, rather than believing her ‘mission’ had failed. The romantic music in the death scene is an example of contrapuntal music as the means are against the point. The slow motion also emphasises how she was a main character from the beginning therefore it is a ‘tragic’ death and this convention is common in most films. However in a typical film where a character gets pay back, they usually survive to see their revenge. Tarantino is almost challenging the audiences stereotypical views and perspectives and putting it in reality for them that no films are real. The hyperreal elements in the film portrays that the film is not real. We learn very little about the characters even though the film is character led rather than mission led. In some ways this disconnects the audience with the characters as they are not able to connect with the characters and therefore emotion such as sympathy isn’t created.
In terms of Levi-Strauss One of the most important ‘deletion’ in the film is history. The film rewrites history as Hitler dies differently. Comparing it closely to other war films there are obvious contrasts in elements, for example the film ‘Where Eagles Dare’. Also fear has been taken out for example the scene where Shosanna gets shot juxtaposes the usual elements of a ‘typical’ scene like this as there is romantic music playing. It could be argued that because the film is challenging and questioning an audiences typical views, postmodern media does manipulate time and space because it’s beginning to control how the audience should see the film, instead of making as something they can relate with a lot of open questions. Although an audience is able to freely choose the way they see a film, postmodernism focuses on getting across certain elements to ensure that the audience doesn’t see it as something real. In the future it is obvious that with the rapid expansion of media, postmodern media in particular, will perhaps come to have more control over society. Lyotard's argument of 'the collapse of the grand narratives' suggests that traditional views held by traditional movement is now disappearing. Postmodernism often opposes ideas of Good vs Evil. For example there's fear in the film 'Saving Private Ryan'; however in 'Inglorious Basterds' there's no fear in anything they do. Clearly the quote ‘Postmodern media manipulates time and space’ can be applied to an extent in Inglorious Basterds in terms of the borrowing; however postmodern media cannot be critised alone for manipulating time and space as no texts can be redeemed original in some aspects due to the creator using or being inspired from already existing ideas. In terms of films, each film has a genre and this is a shared genre. Each film has the ability to portray the past, present and future and each film is able to control how an audience may view a film, in terms of feelings, sympathy created etc. This can further be applied to music where Jonathan Kramar media theorist states one of sixteen characteristics ‘does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present’. I feel that the quote highlights the little limitations postmodernism has and the ability it has to expand through using borrowings from other texts and manipulating the audience. It’s recreating what we perhaps redeem is normal and is able to change what society has become comfortable in believing in, to something new. Although that seems arguable when postmodernism involves borrowing things from the past.
Postmodern texts offer the viewer a different perspective. In a postmodern world the media audience will view a postmodern text differently to other texts as they are picking up on the familiarization's and the intertextual references, which indeed indicate the fictional aspect of the text. This can be applied to the film ‘The Matrix’ which focuses on challenging to audience to define ‘reality’. However the intertextuality references such as those ‘Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ highlight the that the film is fictional and these references are easily recognisable. A non literate audience may perhaps try to relate a text to reality which is where phrases such as ‘it was like a movie’ come from. The realization that media is beginning to become closely related to being ‘the reality’ to some people is overpowering and postmodernism perhaps brings the audience ‘back to reality’ through the impact of fictional elements. With postmodernism expanding it suggests that this ‘made up from a movie’ society will then be able to realise what is real and what is not. I feel the media industries operate differently in a postmodern world as they are trying to create and achieve a different, yet strangely, ‘unoriginal’ effect as to those other media industries that focus on moving forward. Postmodernists know what their trying to achieve which is why postmodern elements in films are easily picked out, just like in Inglorious Basterds.
Define Postmodern, with examples.
Postmodernism is a label given to Cultural forms since the 1960s that came after modernism and follows our shift from being an industrial society to that of an information society. Modernism looks forward whereas postmodernism looks back and borrows from other texts to construct new texts that withhold many references. Postmodern texts tend to display self reflexivity, irony and they also challenge the boundaries between genres and the mass media. They are usually designed to be read by a literate audience that will notice the ‘borrowings’ and ‘transformation’ of other texts and intertextual references which clearly portray the fact that it is fictional.
Postmodern films place the audience in a different seat to that of another film by presenting to them something they perhaps wouldn’t expect. They challenge the audience to see the film from a different perspective and do so by deliberately playing with meaning and using humour in a mocking way. A postmodern theorist Frederic Jameson sees postmodern as something that’s ‘trapped in circular references and is nothing more than a series of ‘jokes’ which have no deeper meaning or purpose’. In terms of literature and media, postmodernism is generally considered to be anything which makes little attempt to hide the fact that it is not real and this can be presented in numerous ways. Anything postmodern wants you to recognize elements from elsewhere to show that there are no new or original ideas. As an audience, you are challenged to distinguish reality and fiction and postmodern films mock the way the viewer relates movies to real life. A postmodernist film describes the expression of ideas of postmodernism through cinematic medium. Postmodernist films don’t oblige to the ‘what seems normal’ conventions of narrative structure and thus create the feeling of disbelief.
There is great importance placed on portraying that a text is fictional through being both controversial and including many intertextual references which differentiates postmodern texts from other texts. An example of this is the postmodern Tarantino film, Inglorious Basterds released in 2009, which challenges mass media through representing the idea of war in a different and non serious way to other films that share the same genre. The film uses the postmodern elements of parody, homage and pastiche. It takes a difference approach to what may be considered as the mainstream conventions of a war film as it places less importance on the narrative; the Nazi war. The approach it takes is careless and comedic and postmodernism is renowned in doing such a thing with sensitive subjects.
The non war elements may not be noticed by an audience due to the characters such as Hitler which instantly connotes war. However this film takes a postmodern approach through challenging the boundaries of the war genre by contrasting those ‘stereotypical’ judgements of war films that we have created ourselves by watching other media texts. This is overall done through the fairytale elements to the film, the informality of the chapters, the comedic elements and the deletion of history, i.e. Hitler’s death which perhaps suggests postmodernism has no concern for historical correctness and deletes areas of history. In a future perspective this may suggest that with the expansion of postmodernism correspondent with technology, the deletion of history will become of little concern as we are now rewriting it in a humorous manner? This may be due to new generations, new fashions, new socialect and possibly new interests.
An example of ‘borrowing’ is the beginning of Inglorious Basterds which starts with ‘Once upon a time’ which is transformation when considering Levi-Strauss. This classic opening of fairytales is recognizable, therefore reminds the audience that the film is not real. Such a borrowing comes across shocking due to the fact fairytales are written for younger children, yet Inglorious Basterds is rated as an 18. Not only does this film grasp how the limitations of postmodern are little but it shows the diversity in postmodern films as they redeem it acceptable to mix such contrasting genres.
In the beginning scene one overhead camera shot shows no ceiling, but then it switches to a low angle shot which appears to show that the ceiling is there. This element again reminds the audience that it isn’t in fact, reality which juxtaposes the approaches of many other films that aim to create an element of reality to connect with the audience as this is what creates repeat viewing. A further intertextual reference is the Italian/Spanish spaghetti western element copied from the film ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. It appears that postmodernism strives from parody and perhaps it uses the effect of creating audience recognition of the imitation of style, character, and scenario to create viewings as the audience enjoy the process of familiarization.
The postmodernism element of using parody humour can be applied to the cartoon program ‘Family Guy’ which is known for it’s careless approach. The program has too, touched the subject of Hitler and War through homage and pastiche. For example, the scene of Hitler and Eva. This use of humour and irony links it with the postmodern film Inglorious Basterds which also offers a postmodern element of parody of Nazi’s. As well as Hitler being an example, there is also the continuously prestige looking Brad Pitt which again acts as a reminder that the film isn’t real. These links portray how postmodernism exaggerates the idea of copying and intertextuality. Such an approach challenges you to distinguish reality and fiction and clearly contrasts our stereotypical, or what could be described as reality views of what War is actually like. For example when compared with Saving Private Ryan, the contrasts in terms of War elements are clearly noticeable. For example the deletion of fear in Inglorious Basterds. However again such views can be argued to be shaped by other films so the questioning of what is real continues!
Aside from this, postmodernism doesn’t want you to view it as being any more or less valid or important than a text which pretends to be real. Postmodernists argue that every reading of a text is determined by each viewer. This is similar to Barthes ‘Death of the Author’ theory in which he says 'Each member of an audience has different readings, all which are correct and the intended meaning by the producer is no longer significant'. Postmodern texts aren’t just constructed to withhold one meaning; there is a lot more impact into how a text looks. A postmodern film in which this theory can be applied to is ‘Drive’, released in 2011. The film feels like a dream and it is left open so that we, the audience, can construct our own meaning. This relation to the dream is suggested through the films setting; a city with little people in it and in dreams there’s also little presence of people as it’s personal and our minds can’t quite create that. This post modern genre and narrative can also relate to the post modern video game ‘Grand Theft Auto’ in terms of Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality. The game is a constructed world that lacks both music and people. There is no presence of police and the location is dream like and empty. This highlights how postmodernism plays on and mocks stereotypes of gender, culture, genre and many more. The ability to apply postmodernism to further media outlets suggests that it may possibly expand further in the future.
A theoretical approach to postmodern media is Baudrillard’s idea of hyperreality. Baudrillard suggests that the world we live in has been replaced by a copy world, where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more. A film which this can be applied to is ‘The Matrix’ where we are questioned to distinguish fantasy and reality and again the film adheres the postmodern feature of leaving open questions to the audience. Hyperreality is a means to characterize the way of what we are aware is "real" in a world where media is now able to shape and filter an original event or experience.
Another postmodern element that can be applied to ‘The Matrix’ is bricolage which is the mixing up of different genres and styles. For example there is the continuous reference to Alice in Wonderland with direct quotes and imagery taken from the film itself, for example ‘follow the rabbit’. As well as this there are direct quotes taken from the ‘Wizard of Oz’ for example, ‘You’re not in Kansas anymore’. Not only does this portray the flexible approach to postmodern films in terms of mixing genres, but it reminds us clearly that the film is fictional by using quotes from fictional films. This links with theorist Jacques Derrida who proposed that a text ‘cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text.’ In the Matrix there is a clear mixture of action, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy and fairytale which may confuse an audience on one hand, but on the other is may present the possibilities of mixing genres which in turn may present how something new then can be made, overcoming this idea of ‘nothing is original’. A criticism of postmodernism is that fact it represents a decline in originality; however it is perhaps arguable that by bringing in lots of existing features to create a ‘new’, ‘different’ idea can be labelled as being original by the creator.
Another key concept of postmodernism is Simulacra and Simulation which is most known for its discussion of images, signs, and how they relate to the present day. Baudrillard claims that modern society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that the human experience is of a simulation of reality rather than reality itself and this is supported by our grown reliance on the media and technology (e.g. texting on phones). The simulacra that Baudrillard refers to are signs of culture and media that create the perceived reality; Baudrillard believed that society has become so reliant on simulacra that it has lost contact with the real world on which the simulacra are based. This again can be linked with the idea proposed in ‘The Matrix’ which suggests what we believe is the real world, is nothing but a cover up of the real reality. Baudrillard's idea of hyperreality was heavily influenced by phenomenology, semiotics, and Marshall McLuhan who coined the phrase 'the medium is the message'. By this he means that the approach in which the message is shown becomes more important than the meaning of the message itself. This is applicable to the McDonald's ‘M’ symbol that instantly tells us that there is a McDonalds; however the letter ‘M’ actually represents nothing.
Overall this again highlights how postmodern proposes the concept that nothing is original and everything is a mixture of intertextuality and bricolage. Society can be argued as being made up from other representations and media. It almost suggests that our knowledge of society and what happens in it is made up from media texts as we tend to refer to a ‘real life’ situation as something thats ‘like a movie’ even though the movie isn’t real. When considering postmodern theorist Fiske, an audience may recognize such films like, Inglorious Basterds as being a war film because of all the other war films they have seen and will relate it to; however they may have never experienced war before themselves. Our cultural knowledge of the concept of a ‘war film’ (that we have gained from other war films) portrays to us that it is a war film; therefore we then wouldn’t find it necessary to look at intertextual references. The soldiers, weapons, the mission, and the characters (Hitler, Churchill) are elements that make us create the link with the war film. However how do we know that it’s real? Postmodernism creates a feeling of disbelief when a person then comes to realise that the movie isn’t actually something they could relate to as being real.
Postmodern media has also highly influenced many aspects of the media culture. Many of the sophisticated visual puns used by advertising media can be defined as postmodern. Postmodern texts will employ techniques such as bricolage, and will use images and ideas in a way that is completely different to their original function. Postmodernism effects the way we see, develop and engage with the media which suggests that people will begin to see media texts from different perspectives. It questions an audience’s view and creates the feeling of disbelief. As technology develops, it encourages new ways in how we engage with media. It rejects the traditional idea of art replicating reality and states a huge emphasis on reality being a constructed fiction and this combined with the idea of nothing is original makes us come to realise that our media world is just running in circular movements and the prospect of nothing being ‘new’ can be daunting. This relates to such theorist Brian Eno who suggests ‘there are just too many styles around, and they keep mutating too fast to assume that kind of dominance and this applies to all aspects of our culture, music, films, art, pictures, magazines, where nothing can be considered original.’ The development of media suggests that the postmodernism will also expand which could overall possibly change or adapt what the society views are now. However such a thing is not completely liable as not everyone actually agrees with postmodernism. Aside from this, the overall prospect of postmodernism expanding may perhaps, no longer allow us to describe something we see, watch or hear as like a film.
Postmodern films place the audience in a different seat to that of another film by presenting to them something they perhaps wouldn’t expect. They challenge the audience to see the film from a different perspective and do so by deliberately playing with meaning and using humour in a mocking way. A postmodern theorist Frederic Jameson sees postmodern as something that’s ‘trapped in circular references and is nothing more than a series of ‘jokes’ which have no deeper meaning or purpose’. In terms of literature and media, postmodernism is generally considered to be anything which makes little attempt to hide the fact that it is not real and this can be presented in numerous ways. Anything postmodern wants you to recognize elements from elsewhere to show that there are no new or original ideas. As an audience, you are challenged to distinguish reality and fiction and postmodern films mock the way the viewer relates movies to real life. A postmodernist film describes the expression of ideas of postmodernism through cinematic medium. Postmodernist films don’t oblige to the ‘what seems normal’ conventions of narrative structure and thus create the feeling of disbelief.
There is great importance placed on portraying that a text is fictional through being both controversial and including many intertextual references which differentiates postmodern texts from other texts. An example of this is the postmodern Tarantino film, Inglorious Basterds released in 2009, which challenges mass media through representing the idea of war in a different and non serious way to other films that share the same genre. The film uses the postmodern elements of parody, homage and pastiche. It takes a difference approach to what may be considered as the mainstream conventions of a war film as it places less importance on the narrative; the Nazi war. The approach it takes is careless and comedic and postmodernism is renowned in doing such a thing with sensitive subjects.
The non war elements may not be noticed by an audience due to the characters such as Hitler which instantly connotes war. However this film takes a postmodern approach through challenging the boundaries of the war genre by contrasting those ‘stereotypical’ judgements of war films that we have created ourselves by watching other media texts. This is overall done through the fairytale elements to the film, the informality of the chapters, the comedic elements and the deletion of history, i.e. Hitler’s death which perhaps suggests postmodernism has no concern for historical correctness and deletes areas of history. In a future perspective this may suggest that with the expansion of postmodernism correspondent with technology, the deletion of history will become of little concern as we are now rewriting it in a humorous manner? This may be due to new generations, new fashions, new socialect and possibly new interests.
An example of ‘borrowing’ is the beginning of Inglorious Basterds which starts with ‘Once upon a time’ which is transformation when considering Levi-Strauss. This classic opening of fairytales is recognizable, therefore reminds the audience that the film is not real. Such a borrowing comes across shocking due to the fact fairytales are written for younger children, yet Inglorious Basterds is rated as an 18. Not only does this film grasp how the limitations of postmodern are little but it shows the diversity in postmodern films as they redeem it acceptable to mix such contrasting genres.
In the beginning scene one overhead camera shot shows no ceiling, but then it switches to a low angle shot which appears to show that the ceiling is there. This element again reminds the audience that it isn’t in fact, reality which juxtaposes the approaches of many other films that aim to create an element of reality to connect with the audience as this is what creates repeat viewing. A further intertextual reference is the Italian/Spanish spaghetti western element copied from the film ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. It appears that postmodernism strives from parody and perhaps it uses the effect of creating audience recognition of the imitation of style, character, and scenario to create viewings as the audience enjoy the process of familiarization.
The postmodernism element of using parody humour can be applied to the cartoon program ‘Family Guy’ which is known for it’s careless approach. The program has too, touched the subject of Hitler and War through homage and pastiche. For example, the scene of Hitler and Eva. This use of humour and irony links it with the postmodern film Inglorious Basterds which also offers a postmodern element of parody of Nazi’s. As well as Hitler being an example, there is also the continuously prestige looking Brad Pitt which again acts as a reminder that the film isn’t real. These links portray how postmodernism exaggerates the idea of copying and intertextuality. Such an approach challenges you to distinguish reality and fiction and clearly contrasts our stereotypical, or what could be described as reality views of what War is actually like. For example when compared with Saving Private Ryan, the contrasts in terms of War elements are clearly noticeable. For example the deletion of fear in Inglorious Basterds. However again such views can be argued to be shaped by other films so the questioning of what is real continues!
Aside from this, postmodernism doesn’t want you to view it as being any more or less valid or important than a text which pretends to be real. Postmodernists argue that every reading of a text is determined by each viewer. This is similar to Barthes ‘Death of the Author’ theory in which he says 'Each member of an audience has different readings, all which are correct and the intended meaning by the producer is no longer significant'. Postmodern texts aren’t just constructed to withhold one meaning; there is a lot more impact into how a text looks. A postmodern film in which this theory can be applied to is ‘Drive’, released in 2011. The film feels like a dream and it is left open so that we, the audience, can construct our own meaning. This relation to the dream is suggested through the films setting; a city with little people in it and in dreams there’s also little presence of people as it’s personal and our minds can’t quite create that. This post modern genre and narrative can also relate to the post modern video game ‘Grand Theft Auto’ in terms of Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality. The game is a constructed world that lacks both music and people. There is no presence of police and the location is dream like and empty. This highlights how postmodernism plays on and mocks stereotypes of gender, culture, genre and many more. The ability to apply postmodernism to further media outlets suggests that it may possibly expand further in the future.
A theoretical approach to postmodern media is Baudrillard’s idea of hyperreality. Baudrillard suggests that the world we live in has been replaced by a copy world, where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more. A film which this can be applied to is ‘The Matrix’ where we are questioned to distinguish fantasy and reality and again the film adheres the postmodern feature of leaving open questions to the audience. Hyperreality is a means to characterize the way of what we are aware is "real" in a world where media is now able to shape and filter an original event or experience.
Another postmodern element that can be applied to ‘The Matrix’ is bricolage which is the mixing up of different genres and styles. For example there is the continuous reference to Alice in Wonderland with direct quotes and imagery taken from the film itself, for example ‘follow the rabbit’. As well as this there are direct quotes taken from the ‘Wizard of Oz’ for example, ‘You’re not in Kansas anymore’. Not only does this portray the flexible approach to postmodern films in terms of mixing genres, but it reminds us clearly that the film is fictional by using quotes from fictional films. This links with theorist Jacques Derrida who proposed that a text ‘cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text.’ In the Matrix there is a clear mixture of action, adventure, sci-fi, fantasy and fairytale which may confuse an audience on one hand, but on the other is may present the possibilities of mixing genres which in turn may present how something new then can be made, overcoming this idea of ‘nothing is original’. A criticism of postmodernism is that fact it represents a decline in originality; however it is perhaps arguable that by bringing in lots of existing features to create a ‘new’, ‘different’ idea can be labelled as being original by the creator.
Another key concept of postmodernism is Simulacra and Simulation which is most known for its discussion of images, signs, and how they relate to the present day. Baudrillard claims that modern society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that the human experience is of a simulation of reality rather than reality itself and this is supported by our grown reliance on the media and technology (e.g. texting on phones). The simulacra that Baudrillard refers to are signs of culture and media that create the perceived reality; Baudrillard believed that society has become so reliant on simulacra that it has lost contact with the real world on which the simulacra are based. This again can be linked with the idea proposed in ‘The Matrix’ which suggests what we believe is the real world, is nothing but a cover up of the real reality. Baudrillard's idea of hyperreality was heavily influenced by phenomenology, semiotics, and Marshall McLuhan who coined the phrase 'the medium is the message'. By this he means that the approach in which the message is shown becomes more important than the meaning of the message itself. This is applicable to the McDonald's ‘M’ symbol that instantly tells us that there is a McDonalds; however the letter ‘M’ actually represents nothing.
Overall this again highlights how postmodern proposes the concept that nothing is original and everything is a mixture of intertextuality and bricolage. Society can be argued as being made up from other representations and media. It almost suggests that our knowledge of society and what happens in it is made up from media texts as we tend to refer to a ‘real life’ situation as something thats ‘like a movie’ even though the movie isn’t real. When considering postmodern theorist Fiske, an audience may recognize such films like, Inglorious Basterds as being a war film because of all the other war films they have seen and will relate it to; however they may have never experienced war before themselves. Our cultural knowledge of the concept of a ‘war film’ (that we have gained from other war films) portrays to us that it is a war film; therefore we then wouldn’t find it necessary to look at intertextual references. The soldiers, weapons, the mission, and the characters (Hitler, Churchill) are elements that make us create the link with the war film. However how do we know that it’s real? Postmodernism creates a feeling of disbelief when a person then comes to realise that the movie isn’t actually something they could relate to as being real.
Postmodern media has also highly influenced many aspects of the media culture. Many of the sophisticated visual puns used by advertising media can be defined as postmodern. Postmodern texts will employ techniques such as bricolage, and will use images and ideas in a way that is completely different to their original function. Postmodernism effects the way we see, develop and engage with the media which suggests that people will begin to see media texts from different perspectives. It questions an audience’s view and creates the feeling of disbelief. As technology develops, it encourages new ways in how we engage with media. It rejects the traditional idea of art replicating reality and states a huge emphasis on reality being a constructed fiction and this combined with the idea of nothing is original makes us come to realise that our media world is just running in circular movements and the prospect of nothing being ‘new’ can be daunting. This relates to such theorist Brian Eno who suggests ‘there are just too many styles around, and they keep mutating too fast to assume that kind of dominance and this applies to all aspects of our culture, music, films, art, pictures, magazines, where nothing can be considered original.’ The development of media suggests that the postmodernism will also expand which could overall possibly change or adapt what the society views are now. However such a thing is not completely liable as not everyone actually agrees with postmodernism. Aside from this, the overall prospect of postmodernism expanding may perhaps, no longer allow us to describe something we see, watch or hear as like a film.
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