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Alice Hoar Why are some media products described as postmodern?

Postmodernism is a term given to media products that are aimed at a literate audience and provide opposing views on culture, literature, fiction, scientific reason and hierarchy, and generally subvert and reject the grand narrative ideas love, war, death, science, religion - of the previous Modernism era. Postmodernism within film, more specifically, refers to the use of hyperreality, intertextuality, embracing paradoxes, and playing with conventions. Quentin Tarantino is a director renowned for producing post-modern films, which constantly refer and relate to existing texts, and play with genre conventions. His 2009 film Inglorious Basterds is a prime example of Tarantinos postmodern style, made clear within the very roots of this film as a fictional representation of war. The films opening credits are an immediate reminder of the fictional basis of the film through the use of a chapter structure a common feature within Tarantinos films which suggests a fairy tale structure that emphasises the fantasy and fictional elements of the film. The mixture of fairytale genre conventions within a war film is an example of postmodernism as it combines the expected historical references from within the time period with fantasy fairytale elements and a fictional narrative. Another postmodern feature within the film is the violence and Tarantinos representation of the brutality within war. The violence throughout the film is not directly related to the war, for example, they do not portray battles; instead they show ridiculously over-played violence with an impulsive and murderous brutality, and not always for the right reasons, that is almost comical. This sort of violence is greatly controversial as it questions what is acceptable to show within a film, even with a rating of 18; it is also a common postmodern element within films, as over-played violence provides the audience with a reminder of the fictional basis of the film. Another example of this sort of violence within a postmodern film is Nicolas Winding Refns film Drive. Drives violence is similarly brutal, especially when it first appears in the film, as it is extremely sudden and unexpected from the character, as up until this point the audience perceives him as a calm, pacifistic character. The most distinct scene within the film is the lift scene, in which the main character brutally and murderously kicks in a mans face as the female character Irene watches; this is where the audience sees the complete change within the characters nature. Up until this point the character remains calm, with only occasional glimpses of his brutal side which appear almost like schizophrenic elements within his personality, such as the dinner scene when he threatens to kick someones teeth down their throat. The lift scene is the climax of the characters monstrous and psychopathic edge, the abrupt violent actions of the main character are so outrageous that it appears unrealistic and reminds the audience of the fictional narrative; this is a clearly self-reflexive element. The lift scene also has other self-reflexive elements such as the kiss between the main character and Irene; the whole atmosphere of the film changes within this moment - the action is slowed down and the lighting changes - these features are clearly unrealistic and remind you that the story is fictional. This slowed down element within the scene also helps to emphasise the sudden brutality of the main characters actions; as well as this, the change in atmosphere relates to the fictional and fantasy elements of the film, making reference to the fairytale influences within the film. Refns intentional play on conventions and use of fairytale elements is very similar to the style of Tarantinos Inglorious Basterds. The main features from fairytale conventions that have been placed within Drive include the idea of a hero, villain and princess who needs rescuing; these features are challenged in some scenes, but appear distinctly throughout the film. Several other elements within the film provide the audience with subtle reminders of the films fantasy basis, for

example the font within the opening credits, which is reminiscent of the text used within Grand Theft Auto video games. This reference links to the actions within the film and reflect the fantasy and contrived, artificial idea of the film; some of the birds eye shots of the city within the film are also similar to those within the video game. Drive does not have a obvious or defined time period in which it is set, this is a postmodern element as it, again, refers to the fictional basis of the film and the idea that the film does not require a set time period as the narrative and action is more important than the setting. Many other elements within film also refer to this idea that the setting is not relevant to the narrative such as the way in which the city (L.A.) is portrayed. The city has a very eerie and bizarre look within the film as it generally appears empty; there are very few background people or cars within the scenes, something that would normally be expected as a city, in reality, would be busy and full of people and life. This is a postmodern element as it is a reference to the fictional basis; it also makes the city appear more like a character than a setting, as it seems lonely and therefore may reflect the main characters loneliness within the big city. A lonely city also helps to blur the audiences perception of the time period. There are some references made to the 1980s time period within the film, for example the scorpion jacket reflects 1980s clothing, as does the 80s style synth music within the soundtrack. However, props such as mobile phones, which suggest that the time period would in fact be later than the 1980s, contradict these references. The way in which time periods are played with in this way is a postmodern element that appears in many postmodern films; another example of this would be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind directed by Michel Gondry and released in 2004. This film is based on a fictional idea of targeted memory erasure, which is in itself a postmodern feature as it is completely unrealistic and continuously self-reflexive. The way in which this film is structured completely disregards real-time, linear and chronological narrative structures, which turns the audiences attention away from the time period and allows them to focus on the narrative. Again, similarly to Drive, there is no clear or obvious distinction or an era of time. The main focus of the film is dreams and memories, this idea is reflected within the structure of the film, as the way in which the mind stores memories and dreams is not chronological or in a specific, organised order. A key postmodern element within Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is dialogue; the use of dialogue within the film plays a key part within the film, as the entire film is narrated by the main character, which explains the majority of the events over the top of scenes, rather than through conversation. This reflects Levi-Strauss theory of substitution as much of the dialogue is directly aimed at the audience rather than through the scenes, and therefore replaces the usual aim of dialogue. This is a postmodern element as it is self-reflexive, showing that the film is aware that it is a film, and they are telling a story. Dialogue is an element within film that is often altered or adjusted to reflect the postmodern theme of a film; for example, within Quentin Tarantinos Inglorious Basterds dialogue is used heavily to tell the story through conversations between the characters within the film. Although this is a feature that is conventional to many films, its heavy placement within a war genre film makes the dialogue appear almost over used, as in several cases violence and battle scenes within the war are described rather than shown. This works well within Inglorious Basterds as it helps to emphasise sudden violent action and creates greater suspense within the film. However, this is still also another example of Levi-Strauss theory of substitution. In Refns film Drive, again, the conventional dialogue has been challenged and manipulated; within this film dialogue is extremely minimal, contrasting the ideas within Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Inglorious Basterds. However, this proves to be equally postmodern, as again we see Levi-Strauss theory appear, although this time

it is a larger focus of deletion, as the minimal use of dialogue makes the film overall have a stronger emphasis on action. A third example of Levi-Strauss theory could be taken, again, from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as, although there is a strong sense of substitution of action for dialogue within the film, there is also an idea of addition through the use of a narrative voice over as an added feature that is not necessarily conventional or required within the film. The use of a narrative voice from the main character within Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind helps to ensure that the audience can follow and understand the narrative, as the complex time structure makes the storyline hard to piece together at times. However, complex time structures like this are common within postmodern film, as they encourage the audience to engage in the film in order to piece the narrative together themselves, as well as providing a self-reflexive element that reminds the audience of the fictional basis of the films. Other examples of this could include Momento a Christopher Nolan film from 2000, which tells the main characters story backwards, and (500) Days of Summer directed by Mark Webb and released in 2009, which tells a love story between a couple in a completely random order that at first appears completely unstructured and extremely hard to follow.

Overall, I think that a postmodern film is a media product that defies and challenges conventional ideas of both genre and the grand narratives; drawing the audience into complicated narratives written for the literate, whilst also providing self-reflexive elements as constant reminders of the fictional basis and hyperreality form of films.

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