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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