Independant Research

December 12th 2012
This week I finished creating my postmodern presentation on my chosen postmodern film Kick Ass. Below I have included the prezi presentation that I have completed which illustrates what postmodern elements Kick Ass have.

December 3rd 2012
www.onpostmodernism.com/movies/default.aspx
This week I have begun to look at postmodern film, as I need to choose one to study as a postmodern text and eventually make a presentation on. This website below is very helpful as it lists a lot of postmodern films.

November 26th 2012
Not only will I need to discuss a postmodern film in my answer during the exam I will also need to incorporate how a music video can be considered to be a postmodern text. Below is a slideshare presentation illustrating examples of music video that include postmodern elements.


November 19th 2012
Its important that I have a complete understanding of what postmodernism is, how to identify postmodern texts, and what postmodern theorists to include in my answer. Below is a slideshare presentation which illustrates all they key points above.


November 12th 2012
In lesson my group case study is Pulp Fiction; therefore, I have currently been researching this film at how its considered to be a postmodern text as this will help me when I come to do my group analysis. Below is a slideshare presentation I found on what postmodern elements Pulp Fiction incorporates.

November 5th 2012

http://www.imdb.com/list/RU5EhnPspDI/
This week I looked into films that incorporate elements of postmodernism. This list will be helpful when I decide what postmodern film will be my case study and what film I will further look at. 

October 29th 2012
http://www.enotes.com/cinema/discuss/how-does-postmodernist-film-challenge-convent-91257
This week I found an article on what how postmodernist film challenge the conventions of traditional narrative cinema? The link above is a disucssion forum on this topic.

October 22nd 2012
http://www.imdb.com/search/title?year=2013,2013&title_type=feature&sort=moviemeter,asc
This week I looked at films set to release in 2013, some of these included:
- Jurassic Park 3D
- Paranormal Activity
- Iron Man 3
- Star Trek

The examples above show how the film industry is continuously making copys of copys and are sticking to what they know will do well in the film industry. Overall, we can acknowledge the Year 2013 is going to take a completely postmodern approach to film making in order to avoid creating new films that have a repetitive storyline and the feel that we have seen it all before.

October 15th 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/18/ridley-scott-reunited-blade-runner-writer 
This week I found an article on how there will be a sequel to the postmodern film Blade Runner - Ridley Scott will be reunited with the original screenplay writer

October 8th 2012
http://mubi.com/lists/postmodernism
This week I found an article on a list of postmodern films. This will help me when I have to choose a film for my case study in my exam which I will have to analyse and identify what aspects of it make it postmodern.

September 24th 2012
http://www.onpostmodernism.com/movies/default.aspx
This week I looked at films that are considered to be postmodern due to them being more human than human, these include:
Blade Runner - Simulacra-focused movie follows an android hunter who himself may be one of the "more human than human" copiesScreamers - Another movie based on a Philip K. Dick story, features a war against machines self-evolved to mimick humansArtificial Intelligence - Pinocchio-like story of a robot boy and his quest to be "real"Robocop - A cybernetically enhanced cop seeks to regain his identity in a dystopian future driven by capitalism and the mass mediaWall-E - Redemption comes from a garbage robot in its quest for love after technology wastes away earth and all of mankindDistrict 9 - A ruthless bureaucrat becomes a better person after turning into one of the aliens he most despisesTerminator Salvation - Ex-con Marcus gets a second chance as a cyborg and makes the ultimate sacrifice for John ConnorAvatar - Crippled Marine dons "new flesh" and regains his humanity among an indigenous alien population he was sent to eradicate

We have currently been studying blade runner in class therefore I have a lot of knowledge on this film and understand other features on how it can be made postmodern, this is available on the blade runner section of my blog.


September 17th 2012
http://newleft.tumblr.com/post/445851066/lady-gagas-telephone-and-the-postmodern

In class we began speaking about postmodernism in music videos, one example was Lady Gaga "Telephone"; on a website I found a breakdown of how the music video represents postmodernism. 

September 10th 2012
http://tccpomo.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/family-guy-and-postmodernism.html?m=1

Recently I have been researching some examples of postmodern in media. On the Internet I found two examples of tv shows which are considered very postmodern which are The Simpsons and Family Guy. The link above directs you to a blog where the person has explained how the tv show Family Guy is considered for postmodern and what exact aspects of it link to postmodernism e.g the intertextuality that is commonly used.

September 24th 2012
http://www.onpostmodernism.com/movies/default.aspx#Hyperreality
This week I looked at films that are considered to be postmodern due to them including the element of hyperreality, these include:
The Matrix Trilogy - Cyberpunk twist where the world is in fact a simulated prison for humanity run by intelligent machine agentsThe Thirteenth Floor - Murder mystery set in a virtual recreation of 1930's Los AngelesTotal Recall - Adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story with the ambiguous premise that the whole experience was an implanted memoryeXistenZ - A designer gets lost in her own virtual reality game, full of Kafkaesque references and hallucinationsThe Truman Show - A sense that the world is not quite right leads Truman to find that he is the star of an expansive reality TV hoaxKick-Ass - Comic book geeks turned vigilantes make their superhero fantasies a bloody reality in this dark action-comedyInception - A team of con-men and architects loses touch with reality as they delve ever deeper into their targets' dreams

October 1st 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernist_film
This week I looked at the movie director Quentin Tarantino, as he very well known as a postmodern movie director. During this I looked at a wikipedia page about Postmodern film, Quentin Tarantino and his film 'Pulp Fiction' was mentioned and a small analysis of how 'Pulp Fiction' followed:

"Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is another popular example of a postmodernist film. The film tells the interweaving stories of gangsters, a boxer, and robbers. The film breaks down chronological time and demonstrates a particular fascination with intertextuality: bringing in texts from both traditionally "high" and "low" realms of art.This foregrounding of media places the self as "a loose, transitory combination of media consumption choices. Pulp Fiction fractures time (by the use of asynchronous time lines) and by using styles of prior decades and combining them together in the movie. By focusing on intertextuality and the subjectivity of time, Pulp Fiction demonstrates the postmodern obsession with signs and subjective perspective as the exclusive location of anything resembling meaning."

October 8th 2012
http://www.onpostmodernism.com/movies/default.aspx#Pastiche
This week I revisited the above site, this time I looked at films that are considered Postmodern by including the element pastiche, these films include:
Pulp Fiction - Quirky tribute to old Hollywood crime dramas and "Pulp" magazines, filled with numerous pop culture references
Jackie Brown - Tarantino's spin on "blaxploitation" action flicks of the 1970's that manages to reinvent Pam Grier and her co-stars
Kill Bill, Volume 1 - Stylized fusion and tribute of Hong Kong action flicks and spaghetti Westerns, filled with exaggerated stereotypes
Scream - A postmodern slasher movie, where the killer and his victims knowingly play out the clich?d plots of classic horror films
Scary Movie - Low brow, third order simulacra is a pastiche of other pastiches (Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer)
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark - Campy cult comedy that follows a vampire TV hostess as fate brings her to suburbia
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Tongue-in-cheek horror/comedy that follows a suburban high school student and vampire hunter
This is Spinal Tap - Mockumentary about a fictitious British band on their American comeback tour
Austin Powers - Mock Bond film pays homage to the popular culture of the Swinging 60's, British Invasion, and ridiculous Spy flicks
October 15th 2012
http://www.slideshare.net/DaleLuck/blade-runner-postmodernism
In class we have been studying the postmodern film 'Blade Runner'; therefore, this week I researched about how the film is considered postmodern, during this I found a slideshare that someone has completed about how they consider the film postmodern and quickly summarises this. This piece of research is very useful for when we come to analyse the film in class as I can refer back to this for pointers.