How do postmodern media differ from other media
- 1. Sian Lynes How do postmodern media differ from other media? Make sure you refer to modernism, a variety of postmodern texts (film and music), relevant theory and how postmodern media are different from other media. Postmodern differs from other media in that it often rejects modernist conventions by manipulating and disregarding conventions such as time, space and narrative. These texts conflict boundaries of genre conventions, often entering and subverting these ideals to create a deliberate distortion of reality. Postmodernism media rejects traditional 'grand-narratives' and totalising forms such as love, war and history and utopian idealistic visions of reality. Instead, it is heavily reliant on being read by a literate audience in order to create constructed fictions and subjective idealisms. Quentin Tarantino's war film 'Inglorious Basterds' demonstrates the fundamentals of postmodern media which creates a distorted reality that challenges modernist utopias. The film is deliberately fragmented into visible Chapters, a convention often associated through the medium of literature and fiction texts. This self-conscious form of pastiche addresses a distinct hyper reality and rejects the conventions of linear narratives to create an entirely disjunctive style. The film's title, an example of bricolage: "Once Upon a Time in Nazi- Occupied France..." reinforces this awareness of hyper reality by paying reference to the fairytale genre. This creates irony as it relies on the literate audience's cultural knowledge of the historical significance of the horrors of 'Nazi-Occupied France' to challenge the utopian narrative of a fairytale. Genette's theory of hypotextuality can be applied here as the modification of the pre-ceding hypotext of fairytales, applied to a preconceived idea of violence within the war genre, goes against structuralist thinking. The socially recognisable debris of the fairytale genre supports Levi Strauss' addition within the concept of bricolage; reflecting the postmodernist disregard to confinements in genre conventions which would otherwise be adhered to in conventional media texts. Structuralist thinking is also challenged through the use of yellow text for subtitles and titles, as well as in his filmography, breaking the boundaries of the conventional white colour choice. This distinguishes his text from other media whilst identifying Tarantino's signature style and distancing himself from modernist media products. Self-reflexivity is a key concept within postmodernist style and perspective and a technique not often adopted in other media texts. This is evident in Tarantino's use of a bird's eye view during Shoshanna's preparation for the Nazi film premiere. The camera shot exposes the construction of the walls and layout of the rooms as it pans across the screen and follows Shoshanna walk along the cinema hallways. This direct deconstruction of the film set reminds the audience that the world the characters are in are completely fictional and by extension a hyper reality. Baudrillard's developed idea of hyper reality complies to this sequence, as the characters, and most arguably, the audience are experiencing a prepared reality chosen by the director (which the audience become conscious of). By acknowledging the film's own facade this highlights that postmodernist texts subverts the unconscious principles used for the audience decode texts, almost literally, in other media products. Postmodernist media often takes various debris from other media to form a mixture genres, as seen in Inglorious Basterds, in order to challenge modernist thinking and what is believed to
- 2. Sian Lynes be a war text. This can be seen in the opening chapter which references the 1965 musical film "The Sound of Music" through the iconic Swiss Mountains which is reflected around the setting of Pierre Lapadite's house. John Fiske's development of Barthes' semic code theory is the basis for the sequence, as it relies on the audience's cultural knowledge to be a prospectus for its significance. In this case, the Swiss Alps, associated with an equilibrium, as encoded in The Sound of Music, contrasts the disequilibrium arising during the arrival of Hans Landa. Tarantino also heavily references the Spaghetti Western film genre, for example when the shot of the exterior of the doorway as Shoshanna escapes the homicide of Hans Landa directly references the 1956 American western "The Searchers". The contrasting resolution of John Wayne's character departing at the end of the film against the irresolution of Shoshanna running for her life at the beginning of the film emphasises the hypotextuality. Further evidence of Genette's theory of metatextuality is evident when Hans Landa takes out his pipe, prepares it, lights it, inhales it and exhales it. This could be a direct commentary of the symbolic use of the pipe in the renowned detective film and character Sherlock Holmes. This implicit parodying of the mystery genre again in combination with other genres demonstrates to the extent that the war genre has been extended, differing itself from the constraints of other media. An additional example of a postmodernist text if the film "Drive" directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. The narrative is a reference to Grimm's Fairy Tales, the protagonist being "The Kid" and his love interest "Irene", being the damsel in distress. Genette's theory of hypotextuality can be applied here as the modification of a utopian fairytale in contrast with the disequilibrium The Kid experiences trying to help Stan is postmodern as it challenges the structuralism of conventional narrative. The Kid initiates no anger towards Stan, another love interest of Irene, which is unexpected as the dominance of two males around one female creates an almost unbalanced quality as the audience expect conflict to 'win' the woman. This breaks boundaries of generic codes such as Barthes' binary opposites of a singular hero and princess which would otherwise be complied to in other media texts. Fiske's semic code as be applied here as it is reliant on the audience's cultural knowledge of conventional narrative, such as the singular male hero, to recognise the unusual representation of the characters. The most significant concept that separates postmodern media from other media is Baudrillard's theory of hyper reality. Drive exemplifies this as it is heavily reminiscent of the video game genre, a medium in itself never represents reality. This can be seen in the representation of Los Angeles, which is often seen through an unnatural point of view, such as with a bird's eye view. The manipulation of a viewpoint in combination with the L.A. backdrop and The Kid's violent behaviour is reminiscent within popularised modern day game "Grand Theft Auto". This emphasises the hyper real narrative and reminds the audience that it is completely fictional. In addition, Baudrillard's State of Simulcra theory can be applied here as L.A. is represented in a dark and vacant way, challenging the audience's cultural knowledge presented to us by the media which often perceives L.A. as a glamorous place. By extension this creates a disjunctive simulated world that challenges traditional views held by the audience.
- 3. Sian Lynes The lack of The Kid's back story given to us by the director can be argued as postmodern as other media products are often reliant on this to progress the narrative. By denying the audience of his 'real' name' also this also challenges traditional features seen in other media texts. The protagonist also lacks dialogue throughout the film which is reminiscent of 'The Man with No Name' a stock character in the American western film genre, such as Client Eastwood in the 1966 "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". The deletion of dialogue, supporting Levi-Strauss concept of bricolage, can be considered postmodern as the audience's decoding system is therefore reliant on his behaviour and stylistic costuming in order for the narrative to progress. The finale of the film attempts to mythologize The Kid as he has been stabbed but starts the car and drives away into the polluted L.A. stress. This complies with Baudrillard's circular referentiality as it can be argued that The Kid is in the same disequilibrium as he was at the beginning of the film, having to start a new concealed life somewhere else and forget past events (where he started). Another example of postmodern media that continually contest traditional views is Family Guy's "Blue Harvest", an entire parody of "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" (1977). Genette's theory of metatextuality as throughout the film is an explicit commentary of the Star Wars franchise. The manipulation of time and space is present in the text, evident in the introductory title of "A long time ago, but somehow in the future". This is compliant with Lyotard's postmodernist theory as it rejects conventional "grand narratives", as seen in other media, and rejects the idea that as history moves forward in time so does humanity. Instead, it favours Lyotard's conception of a "micro-narrative" that reflects diversity and can go in any direction, often being unpredictable. The film continually acknowledges that it is a constructed fiction text and in no way represents reality. For example, Luke Skywalker played by the character Chris, breaks the "fourth wall" when he introduces the London Symphony Orchestra and composer John Williams. This technique directly creates disjuncture and a feature which is unlikely to be broken in other media products, especially in modernist narrative. Irony is also evident as the Family Guy character are aware they are playing other fictional characters that are played by actors. For example, Hans Solo played by Peter, refers to himself as "Captain of the Millenium Falcon and the only actor who's career isn't destroyed by this movie". Again, this creates an awareness of hyper reality, even through self-reflexivity by the characters, and that the audience cannot take the narrative seriously. The film "Scott Pilgrim Versus The World" directed by Edgar Wright differs from other media as it portrays the version of a supposed real world in which the laws of video game apply. The protagonist, Scot,, must battles the 'Seven Evil Exes' of Ramona Flowers in order to date her. The confrontation with the exes are staged like the rounds of the video game "Mortal Combat" in which foes are vanquished and are turned into coins of their point value. This form of intertextuality defies the laws of physics and science, a component not seen in other media and in this case makes the text postmodern via the manipulation of space. Even death is not an ultimatum, but instead perceived as the hindrance of the reward (in this case a date with Ramona Flowers), a completely hyper real view towards the natural forms of life and death.
- 4. Sian Lynes For example, Scott gains a "1-up" meaning an additional life after defeating the Katayanagi Twins. These signs of statistically imitating chances in life become a "simulcra", theorised by Baudrillard, as it bears no relation to reality and by extension a conditioned hyper reality. Postmodern music, like film, is irrespective of boundaries and often divulges itself into other genres. The musician Lady Gaga is example of this. Firstly, her stage name 'Gaga' adopts immediate connotations of the unusual and crazy. In addition her name takes inspiration from the rock band Queen's 1984 hit "Radio Ga Ga". Levi-Strauss' concept of bricolage can be applied here, as her stage name adopted the recognisable debris from the song, in addition with the honorific 'Lady', to create an entirely new title. Her central genre is "theatrical pop" however she often ventures into other genres, for example having worked with Tony Bennett on the classic jazz song "The Lady Is a Tramp" and for the musical soundtrack with Elton John on the song "Hello, Hello". Jonathan Kramer's theory that postmodern music includes quotations of or references to music of many cultures can be applied to her song "Bad Kids". The self-reflexive introduction is an explicit reference to Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us". This resultant combination of a hip-hop rock and dance-pop, and use of intertextuality, differs it from other forms of music. In addition, Kramer's definition that postmodern music is, on some level or some way ironic can be applied to her feature on the self-mocking American TV show "The Simpsons". Here, she sings a song "Superstar" often conforming to the media's representation of herself as 'weird' in order to create a self-mocking humour. This humour is reliant on the audience's cultural knowledge of herself, supporting theorists such as Fiske's semic code, to decode the significance of the text. Postmodern media therefore differs in many ways to other media products as it creates an entirely new simulation of reality and boundaries within conventions. Rather they adopt techniques such as bricolage and pastiche in order to create a new text within itself. As seen, it is heavily reliant on the audience's cultural knowledge of other texts in order to the reading to be decoding correctly. It focuses a lot of style of content in order to oppose modernistic approaches to encoding a text in order to distort reality and fantasy.