Sammy James

Why are some media products described as postmodern?

Postmodernism is a cultural label that came after modernism since the 1960s which 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 and deliberately play with meaning. Postmodern texts are designed to be read by a literate audience and exhibit many traits of intertextuality as well as displaying self reflexivity and irony. Many texts openly acknowledge that they can have no preferred reading and present a whole range of oppositional readings simultaneously. Inglorious Basterds, a 2009 war film made and written by Quentin Tarantino, differs in various ways to what you would consider normal in a war film and can therefore be described as postmodern. The genre of the film drifts in and out of many categories despite the fact that the film's actual setting is throughout the period of World War 2. This is due to Tarantino removing certain parts of a traditional war film such as fear and replacing it with other parts such as humour and incorporating a number of intertextual elements such as the shot framing, revealing the set, having onscreen text and the choice of music. The choice of music by Tarantino is a big talking point for the way in which it can be classes as postmodern. There are times where the music can be classed as contrapuntal as the music simply doesnt match the visuals. For example in the Projection box scene where Frederick walks up the stairs, the music suggests that something dramatic is going to happen. The music we hear builds up an incredible amount of tension, representing a war film, but as soon as the door is opened by Shosanna the music soon stops. Tarantino challenges normal conventions of music as when something dramatic happens there is no music to emphasis the impact. Another example of contrapuntal music in this scene is when Shosanna looks back at Frederick after she shoots him almost regretting what has happened. After Frederick rolls over and shoots Shosanna several times the music played in the background sounds romantic, as if they should be on a date, not in fact shooting each other. Overall this is implying that it isnt a traditional war film, and therefore the dramatic impact usually needed to make scenes realistic has been erased. In relation to the music, Tarantino uses a variety of genres ranging from Spaghetti Western to David Bowie. Despite the fact that this genre of music is unusual to be used in a war film due to its tone, I felt that it didnt seem too out of place especially when the camera style and shots supports. One particular part of the film I felt that it worked was the Bear Jew scene which is also set very similar to a Spaghetti Western shootout scene Another media product that could be defined as postmodern is Drive, a 2011 film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. This particular film includes a wide range of postmodern elements, the most obvious being the lack of dialogue. The main characters in this film express no emotion or reaction to the surroundings which is very surreal as the film is set in Los Angeles, which is usually highly populated. This place almost seems deserted due to only being introduced a small amount of characters throughout the film which are stylised. This postmodern element of lack of dialogue expresses main character, played by Ryan Gosling, psychopathic traits as he shows no reaction to anything that he witnesses or does. This makes the audience question whether this hyper real character is real or not as we dont know why he does certain things. For example, the ending scene of the film has because open for the audience as The Driver drives off into the night leaving the money to secure the

Sammy James safety of Irene and Benicio. This enhances his freedom as we dont what is going to happen to him next, where he is going and what the future holds for Irene and Benicio. However The Driver isnt the only character who holds many unanswered questions as Irene portrays herself as innocent and keeps her feelings to herself. There is a connection between The Driver and herself which questions the audience whether they are lovers or not. This connection makes it unusual for this film to not involve any sex scenes, but I believe this is what makes the connection more powerful, leaving the audience with even more unanswered questions. Romance is shown in the lift scene, where the postmodern element of involving fairy tale characters is identified. This scene is self-reflective as there is a paradoxical combination of self-consciousness and a historical grounding with slow motion, lighting and music. The idea of incorporating a fairy tale element is shown through the slow motion when the two characters are kissing although when the music fades the lighting changes and so does the genre. In seconds the film goes from romance to emotionless violence. This particular scene is much unexpected because we havent yet see The Driver act in that way and neither has Irene. This violence clearly shocks Irene, shown by the expression on her face when she gets out of the lift and The Driver conveys his psychopathic behavior as we still see no emotion after gruesomely killing the hit man. Another example of a postmodern element demonstrated in the film is the lack of depth in the narrative. Most of the knowledge we gain from the film is through the characters actions and the mise en scene, however this leaves us with very little explanation for the characters behaviours. This lack of narrative again creates many unanswered questions and also supports the self reflexivity of the film as its up the viewer to comprehend the film. Media products can be defined as postmodern after certain theories have been introduced. Breaking down Levi Strauss theory into four categories, addition, deletion, substitution and transposition it is very clear that Inglorious Basterds can be expressed as postmodern. Looking at addition to the film we can definitely see the fairy tale incorporated by the use of fairy tale references slipping in and out of scenes. For example after the Tavern scene we see a close up of Hans Landa picking up the single shoe that is left behind by Briget Von Hammersmark which clearly indicates the fairy tale Cinderella. Broadening on this theme, the ending is set in a fresh looking forest, which is again something we wouldnt expect to see in a war film. By showing the Basterds somewhat winning this could be linked to the fairy tale stereotype of the good guys succeeding, making this film have a happy ending. This is postmodern itself because typical war films dont have happy endings after the catastrophes that occur. Also the cleanliness of the characters and the setting used by Tarantino reminds us that this film in non-fictional, just like a fairy tale. In terms of deletion, for a film that is supposed to be set in the World War 2 there is very little gunfire and action scenes which is something that would be expected but Tarantino has decided to delete and substitute it with humour. Transposition is clearly used throughout this film as Tarantino has changed history as we know it such as Hitler displayed as being killed in a movie premiere. Kick Ass, a 2010 film, is another example of a film where Levi Strauss theory of bricolage is portrayed. This idea is illustrated by the character of Hit Girl. Not only is Hit Girl involved with extremely bad language and adult humour but she is involved with emotionless and brutal violence which is abnormal for a girl her age. It is clear to see that this hyper real character has been substituted for a stereotypical woman super hero such as Bat Girl and Superwoman. She is someone you wouldnt expect to see as a woman superhero; however the contradictions of her character are what create irony and humour. Her emotion has been

Sammy James deleted and has been replaced by her extreme cold blooded violence. This further defines the hyper real aspect of Postmodern Media. This particular theory used has blurred the line between what is real and what is fantasy, which is very similar to Tarantinos Inglorious Basterds. Common features within postmodern films are intertextuality and hypertextuality. In Kick Ass many superhero films and comic books are referenced which reminds the audience that this film has been transformed from other texts. For example, when Kick Ass tries on his new super hero costume there is a parody of Peter Parker, Spider Man, looking in to the mirror. Also the character Big Daddy is a pastiche of Batman. In the film Drive there are intertextual references to the 1978 film, The Driver. The car chase scene has been reconstructed from the scene in The Driver which links to Roland Barthes and John Fiskes theories as we can relate to situations in other films that we have seen. Not only can this scene be related to The Driver but there are also intertextual links to James Bond and other action films. This film also consists of other intertextual references such as the use of neon pink text in the opening credits which is comparable in Grand Theft Auto, Vice City, a video game. The idea of the film representing a video game is further shown through the birds eye view angle of the city of LA. This is because this represents the built up area of LA which is again similar to the game. Inglorious Basterds can further be defined as postmodern in terms of colour. With traditional war films it is common for them to either be in black or white unless they are recently made films which they tend to have a dulled effect, such as Saving Private Ryan to make it look realistic and represent the full effect of what the war is like. By our knowledge of war films we know that they arent shown with exciting colours because what is actually being represented isnt exciting at all and as this film is set in the World War 2, the audience would expect to see the colours representing more of a gloomy atmosphere. However, Tarantino portrays this film in another way making it a postmodern film by simply using vibrant colours throughout. An example of these colours being shown is in the movie premier where Lieutenant Aldo Raine and his soldiers are formally dressed in spotless white jackets along with Shosanna dressed in a striking red gown with red lipstick to match. Tarantino has completely gone against the usual conventions of a war film and made it his own to stand out. These examples of media show how film can be expressed as postmodern through a range of techniques such as intertexual references, bricolage, parody and self-reflexivity. They use ideas in a way that is entirely alien to their original genre to show the audience that there is no preferred reading.