Postmodernism

March 25th 2013

Case Studies: How Are They Postmodern?

Monday, 3rd March 2012

Currently, in class we are look at television show as postmodern texts. As an individual case study I chose the animated TV show 'Family Guy', which I have illustrated below in the form of a Voki on how it is considered a postmodern text.



Wednesday, 2nd November 2012
I'm so postmodern
Wednesday, 21st NOVEMBER 2012

Pulp Fiction – Postmodern

A great example of postmodern film is Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) which includes many elements of postmodernity. Firstly, it includes a large amount of Pastiche throughout the film where Tarantino has referenced other story lines and characters from other films; an example of this is in the film is when Marcellus Wallace walks out in front of Butch's car at the traffic lights and turns to face him, as it is similar to a scene in Psycho (1960) by Alfred Hitchcock when Marion's boss crosses the street in front of her car. In addition to this, there is a number of references to other films; when Butch is considering what weapons to use before saving Marcellus e.g. Chainsaw is a reference to 'Leatherface' in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". "Quentin Tarantino has given reasoning behind this in as he states that "If one million people see my movie, they also see one million different movies".

Intertextuality is another postmodern element within the film; there is reference to a variety of genres including boxing, gangster, romance, and art house. There are also many references to other Quentin Tarantino films such as Resevoir Dogs (1992) and The Assasin (1993). Trovolta plays someone with the possible future of the character he played in Saturday Night Fever signifying that Tarantino intended to make this reference. There is also another references to 1950s stars and movies in the scene in the trendy diner Jack Rabbit Slim's, which also illustrates how the film can be considered very nostalgic which is another element of postmodernity, it also illustrates how it refers to the past which is a key feature of postmodern film.

What also makes Pulp Fiction very postmodern is the idea that in modern films the protagonist is generally scene very "heroic" with good values such as changing current problems in society; however, this is not evident in the film and instead the protagonists are portrayed with violent attitudes, the tone of the film is disorienting in the way that it clashes and mixes different types of feeling throughout. An example of this is throughout the film there are various scenes with off-hand shootings where the killer doesn't even look at the victim illustrating how they have no remorse or sympathy for their actions and what they have done is almost considered "normal" behaviour; overall, this illustrates the postmodern element of hybridity.

Additionally, it is argued that the films narrative disregards a chronological narrative and therefore is what makes it a postmodern film. Instead the film incorporates micro-narratives as the film is split into three narratives;"Vincent Vega and Marcellus Wallace's Wife", "The Gold Watch" and "The Bonnie Situation" and therefore using Lyotards theory of declining meta narratives over time. Overall, this gives a fragmented sense of location and history which confuses the audience and makes them figure out what time and location it actually is.

MONDAY 19th NOVEMBER 2012
Pulp Fiction 
http://prezi.com/_crjxgj0d_6d/pulp-fiction/?utm_source=prezi-view&utm_medium=ending-bar&utm_content=Title-link&utm_campaign=ending-bar-tryout

October 2012
Postmodern Essay
Thursday, 27th September 2012
-Insert video here on post modern music video

Monday, 24th September 2012
Postmodern Analysis in Music Videos
Postmodern Analysis in Music Videos
 
Post Modernism:

Post-modernism is a late 20th century style in art, literature, and architecture which rejects the rules of modernism and mixes old and new influences in unusual ways.

Art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles, as by reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or by carrying modernist styles or practices to extremes.

Postmodernism theorists
Jean-François Lyotard