Why are some media products described as postmodern?

Postmodern is a term that is given to media products that are aimed at a literate audience and provide contrasting views on culture, fiction and different styles of genres that can be used such as love, action and comedy. It also links into films narratives ideas like war, death and religion the main subject of the film that can be extended on. Postmodern elements within film are referred to the use of hyperreality, intertextuality, embracing paradoxes and using conventions. This is all needed to make a postmodern film.

The film fight club uses the main character’s journey to tell the story which starts from a depressed, insomnia condition life style that then takes a turn for the worse making him an unhinged violent physio-path which is seen as a postmodern theory. The characterization of his character is shown to be disconnected from the wider society which is seen as another key feature of this postmodern film. This movie uses a narrator throughout the film who is one of the main characters that describes his life style that is seen as a postmodern concept. The type of camera work they use disrupts the linear sequence of the narrative and instead creates a circular narrative in which parts of the film are cliff hangers that make the audience not sure about what’s going on and what’s supposed to happen next which mirrors the action of the main character.

Broadcast media bulletins that are used in the film to create suspense and tension. A dark colour scheme connects to the audience that this film is going to be violent and scary. This film is a classic example of the postmodernist theory. The use of pop culture references and the breaking of the conventions of Classic Hollywood Cinema. In the film there are several references to the consumer society. One great example of this is the “IKEA- nesting instinct” that he describes in the film. He spends his time looking through IKEA catalogues to find housewares that defines himself and a person. He also talks about corporations and the way that they would begin naming planets and galaxies after name brands, like IBM, Starbucks and Microsoft. He also says the simulacra created by these image-commodities and says that everything is “a copy of a copy of a copy”. Schizophrenia is represented by the split personality between Jack and Tyler, as Jack is representing the person he is within society, whilst Tyler represents the person Jack wishes he could be. The waning affect plays a major role in the film. In the beginning of the film, Jack finds himself going to different support groups in an effect to cure his insomnia, caused by post modernity. The fight club works in the same way as the support groups as each member fights each other in an attempt to feel something again. The would be like the intensities Jameson describes because the crying at the support groups has the same therapeutic value as the extreme anger and violence experienced at the fight club.

Depthlessness is seen as another postmodern idea that is referenced throughout the film. In a scene Tyler describes this when he’s talking to Jack after his condo blew up. He says: “we are consumers, we are by products of a life style obsession. Murder, crime, poverty. These are the things that don’t concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels.” The breaking of conventions is apparent at many points throughout the film. In the movie projection scene, Jack and Tyler break the fourth wall and directly address the camera. At this point Jack explains how Tyler splices single frames of pornography into children’s movies. As Jack talks about the cigarette burns, where the changer over happens we are able to see the cigarette burn, which then Tyler then points to bringing attention to the artifice of the film. The music used was made by a band that had never recorded for a film before. They used Radiohead’s music but ultimately chose the break beat

produce duo Dust Brothers to score the film. The duo created a post-modern score that included drum loops, electronic scratches, and computerized samples. Michael Simpson from the Dust Brothers explained the setup: "Fincher wanted to break new ground with everything about the movie, and a non-traditional score helped achieve that." The end credits features the song "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies.

Drive is another postmodern film which uses a young man that is always referred to as “the kid”. This film is very similar to other driving films using minimal dialogue which gives the characters a mysteries personality. The kid is a mechanic that does Hollywood stunts by being the wheel man as well as having a few other jobs to get by, leading a criminal life style which extends the idea of the pusher films about the dreadful state of the working class. He has an employer/ mentor called Shannon who runs the garage where only two men fix cars. The film undermines the older man idea of a basic western that are challenged in films like seven. Shannon’s character is a damaged, poor judgment man who has nothing to teach or gain in life. The kid is shown to be more confident than his boss even though he doesn’t say much when talking to people. Shannon isn’t really a mentor to the kid, as he just appeared at the garage out of nowhere. The whole film has a sense of the fading, threatened male hero as a representation of the postmodern sensibility.

In drive they use the stereotypical scary gangsters that have a lot of money and invest in ‘the kind’ as Shannon introduces them to each other for his own needs as he has a low paid job with few employees so he will do anything for money. When things go wrong in the deal the gangsters go looking for the kid and try to kill him and the people he loves which makes the kid angry. Nino is your typical gangster has a say in everything and seen as the well off over the top gangster so has more control and can get the job done quickly. Inrene is the boss and is a bit shamy and doesn’t look like a typical gangster expect through the way he talks and handles situations. In the final scene you see what Irene is really like as he goes and stabs the kid for his money which shows him as a true gangster. The kid is seen as the tragic hero as he gets involved in the girls life which is bad luck for him as he has to deal with her problems as well as his own and brings her into danger. He kills two men to save the lady but then leaves her to live more of a life and go on new adventures which are shown in the last scene. He could be seen as a anti-hero/ criminal/ brutal killer who is said to be a psycho-path which is shown in the elevator scene when he kills the men.

Violence is a main part of the film as Shannon is shown cutting himself down his arm to die quickly as he knows people are coming for him. The kid kicks someone to death and makes his face collapse in which is a brutal murder which is committed by the kid quite a lot. He kills the hit men and as seen to be pretty gruesome and is done simply with no effort. It is not a straight forward fairy-tale as there are your normal hero, princess and villains but in more of a modern grim fairy-tale. Stereotypical hero saving the girl bur being denied the “happy ever after ending”. Not a stereotypical ending as they don’t end up together. The kid goes through a journey as he kills people to save his princess’s life. The city is shown to be empty with no cars or people which are not normal for Los Angeles. The camera is looking down onto the city which looks like a shot from a driving game, giving an overall view of the city. The only cars seen on the road through the film is the kid and the police like a real driving gangster film. The sound track used is from the 80’s, synth pop which sets the scene of the film. Martinez built the film’s sonic landscape from ideas pioneered by European electronic bands, such as Kraftwerk. This gives the overall film a chilled and relaxed feel. Each song shows a different scene and gives you a feel of what the characters are feeling

Inglorious basterds is a Tarantino film that uses the traditional yellow writing that is shown on the screen. He uses modern music which could reflect Levi Strauss theory of bricolage and is used as chapter one is introduced. This film also uses spaghetti western music to set the tone of the beginning of the film. The first piece of text that comes on the screen uses a fairy tale story effect which doesn’t particularly fit in with this style of film. The open scene shows a heart-warming shot of the farmer and his children but then it turns into a sinister feel with the German army showing up and brutally murdering the Jews. The use of drop screen to see below the floor boards gives an incredible amount of tension to the film and shows that the house is not real which affects the audience as they are drawn in by this element. They use much exaggerated characters such as when Hans Landa drinks the milk he takes big loud gulps making it tense. Also Lt. Aldo Raine uses an over exaggerated accent which gives the actors some element of humour and he has a mark around his neck which is shown in the first few scene but you are never told how it happened so it’s just a mystery.

The use of humour is also used on Hitler, an extremely stereotypical parody in comparison to an accurate description. The diversity used in the film is another postmodern element because of the hazy distinction between the genres; this allows Tarantino to be creative with the war film elements he uses. War films are usually shown to be heavy gunfire and a sad time but Taratino entertains and gives a more graphic approach by using horrific methods such as cutting the Germans scalps off. The chapter uses flash backs which is an interrupted narrative concerning the German, Hugo Stilglitz. The narrative used is an element of postmodernism as is the introduction to it. The electric guitar is used several times as a motif to introduce characters. Blaxploitation music represents the basterds in this chapter and was considered ‘cool’ during the time; this isn’t how war films characters are portrayed. The main concern of the dialogue is about the films, which is a key element to the storyline and the reason for Zoller’s interest in Shoshanna. The postmodern element of the narrative occurs after the introduction of Goebbel’s in which Shoshanna’s thoughts are shown. She images him and his wife having sex which is shown in a short cut away shot with a comical manner to it.

The British men are shown to be very charming and witty which fits with their overly polite characterisation many British characters have. The basement scene introduces Bridget von Hammersmark who is very posh and an unlikely character to be found in a war film. Again instead of using loads of action they use a lot of dialogue instead which appears in the basement. This is used to create a large amount of tension leading up to the action scene. Tarnation refers to the western feel again by showing the barman reaching fir his shot gun that is hidden below the counter. The scene shot in the vet shows a side of a gangster feel to the film which is hypertextuality seen by the reference to a gangster film. Taratino also features a film within a film by taking a much more traditional approach to it as a war film. However element come back to hypertextuality although possibly to be more in favour of Nazi’s as the appropriate neat pile of bodies that are shown on the floor. In the last but one scene you see Taratino’s foot fetish come through as Landa kills Von Hammersmark and the camera is drawn to her feet and stays focused on them whilst she is being killed.

Overall, all these films show a lot of postmodern elements in them that show the audience it’s not real of leave you wondering what could happen next. I think the main factors used in all of these films are the music as it really sets the scene of each film and also the dialogue used as it shows you what kind of genre the film is through the way the characters talk. They all play on the postmodern

and hyperreality elements as you never known if what you are watching is real or not as you can be lead to believe different.