Thursday 13 March 2014

Postmodern Essay- Improvements

“Postmodern media manipulates time and space”. To what extent does this definition apply to texts you have studied?

Many postmodern texts remove any traces of a typical grand narrative, instead are created to question or to manipulate with time and space. Postmodern media is the question as to whether we have any sense of the differences between what is reality and was isn’t, there is no absolute. As an audience we want a realistic approach to a film, we want to believe that certain films are a recreation of history.

In war films such as Saving Private Ryan, it is perceived as being a historical war film, when in actual fact the history is extremely inaccurate as it is hard to recreate precisely what has happened in the past. Postmodern films however like to approach history in a slightly different way. For example in Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino created a film using pastiche to exaggerate and mock other war films that have previously been released, it differs from traditional war films by removing aspects of tradition and fear, thereby replacing some sections with humor and a comical feel. I feel that some sections of the film could be seen as a pastiche type genre, then again could be seen as homage.

The characters were made to look and sound very stereotypical, the English and the American accents in particular. Hitler was dressed in his finest robes that he would have only worn on special occasions, presented in the portrait of himself shown in the film. Hitler is also to be killed by Americans, however we know that this is not the case, as he committed suicide. This is the idea of how we see the characters; we don’t seem fazed by the Tarantino’s stereotypical ways, as we were not around at the time. We are merely watching what we think is a historical film. Tarantino is pursuing his idea of manipulating time and space, through using multiple genres within the film. He is adding a fairytale impression onto the film, for example by starting the film with ‘Once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France...’ From this we know that the film is going to be a fictitious style film that does not reveal the truth about history.
Another example of manipulation of time and space is the Cinderella shoe reference. Hands Landa places Bridget Von Hammersmark foot into her shoe from a previous scene, which she had lost. However the Cinderella fairytale was not created until the 1950’s, whereas the film in which this pastiche war film was set, was in the late 1930’s. As I have mentioned previously the scenes in Inglorious Basterds begin with a chapter, which is presented in different font styles. It creates a new narrative, with the font style matching up to the genre and the setting of the next scene to be. In addition to the on screen text used the colour of the font used is not necessarily conventional; it is used to identify some of the characters; such as Hitler. Time is not necessarily an issue within Inglorious Basterds, as Tarantino uses a David Bowie song, which was released years after the film was set. This is an unusual convention in a war film; as most war films want to attempt to create realistic approach to filming. It is almost impossible to recreate history accurately.  It is a film inspired by war not a recreation of the war. It relates to Frederick Jameson’s theory of ‘historical deafness’, some things are usually taken out of context and therefore lack the original meaning. Tarantino likes to make masterpieces that draw attention to himself, not necessarily to create accurate historical references.  I have noticed that the characters presented within Inglorious Basterds are very polished and their aesthetics are not affect. They seem to look clean, whereas in reality we know that this is not realistic, and relates back to the hyper-reality of this film being a fantasy.

An example of time manipulation is within the film Inception. The concept that Christopher Nolan wanted to create was a plot of a dream within a dream. The idea that the real world slows down when out of the dream state, and whilst in the dream state time speeds up and becomes seconds. It changes the viewer’s perception of reality; this disturbs the idea of time and space, disrupting the ‘linear structure’.  The fact that when the characters are in the dream state, their subconscious mind is set in a real place, with real people, therefore this is an example of hyper-reality. It is a fabricated view of reality, but has a fake identity.
Edith Piaf’s song ‘je ne regrette rien’ is played in the background of a dream to perform as what is known as the ‘kick’.  When this is played the characters will wake up. The song is often slowed down when the characters are deeper within the dream layers, so the audience feels part of the dream, and they can differentiate the dream state. The word Inception means to place an idea into somebody’s head, and Nolan does this by making the audience question whether or not they are in a dream state. This could question their existence, which is an example of hyper-reality; we may not be able to differentiate the difference. This links with Jacques Derrida’s theory that; “The centre doesn’t exist naturally, but rather because we need it, in order to make sense of the world around us”. We see in the film that the young architect is taken into a shared dream with Cobb, and she changes parts of the sub-conscience world in order to suit her needs, for example making a bridge to make it easy for her to get from one place of the dream to a next. This is an example of space manipulation, as the city that the architect is in (in a sub-conscious state) the city folds in half, creating gravitational pulls. This allows the characters to in hindsight walk upside down. Similar in the hotel when the characters are deep within the dream state, the motions of the van again create gravitational pulls. As the van slowly falls off the bridge into the water, the characters in the dream have no gravity, as if they were in space. The mirror scene is also quite significant, as she pulls the mirror towards her, showing the reflection of her and Cobb relating back to Inception of the dream within a dream idea.



Consequently if time and space is manipulated from slightly altering original material, this creates a post-modern structure. I agree with the statement as inspiration from older material is good, but the new material will be more developed. Though in some cases it could be argued that directors/artists etc. are becoming less original and soon ideas will run out, causing postmodernism to fall and will be no more.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

HER

Romantic films are usually include:
  • A couple meet
  • Fall out/argument
  • Get back together
  • Have a good looking male/ popular male
  • Shy girl- turns to 'princess'
  • OR Roles reverse- popular girl with a geeky boy
HER
  • Male and OS
  • Meet at the software release (online)
  • Begin as friends
  • Samantha has an attractive voice- makes us think of Scarlett Johansson
  • Similar to Siri, Google, a call centre talking apps etc...
  • Quite cute and kooky
  • Seductive and fun
  • Sends picture (similar to snap chat)
  • She has an existential crisis
  • Ex-Wife questions the relationship- equivalent to online dating  
  • Real life 'online' relationships- second life
  • Samantha is a polygamist- talking to thousands of other people
  • OS's run off to another place- they feel different to others.
  • They can bring people back from the dead
Theodore writes a letter for other relationships, therefore is he any better than Samantha?
He notices small details on his 'clients', such as the 'chipped tooth', he almost falls in love with other people.
The letters then got published...Would the people who received them feel cheated?


Today we are sent pictures and gifts.
The 'Ideology' that we have to behave in a certain way, in order to make the future look better- Postmodern


Her shows an idea of what the world will look like in 100 years time- relates to Space 2001.

Thursday 6 February 2014

Arcade Fire

Using your knowledge of post modernism, create a short video or podcast explaining why your chosen artist is post modern.



Friday 31 January 2014

Postmodernism Essay

“Postmodern media manipulates time and space”. To what extent does this definition apply to texts you have studied?

An example of time manipulation is within the film Inception. The concept that Christopher Nolan wanted to create was a plot of a dream within a dream. The idea that the real world slows down when out of the dream state, and whilst in the dream state time speeds up and becomes seconds. This disturbs the idea of time and space, disrupting the ‘linear structure’.  Edith Piaf’s song ‘je ne regrette rien’ is played in the background of a dream to perform as what is known as the ‘kick’.  When this is played the characters will wake up. The song is often slowed down when the characters are deeper within the dream layers, so the audience feel part of the dream, and they can differentiate the dream state. The word Inception means to place an idea into somebody’s head, and Nolan does this by making the audience question whether or not they are in a dream state. This could question their existence, which is an example of hyper-reality; we may not be able to differentiate the difference. This links with Jacques Derrida’s theory that; “The centre doesn’t exist naturally, but rather because we need it, in order to make sense of the world around us”. We see in the film that the young architect is taken into a shared dream with Cobb, and she changes parts of the sub-conscience world in order to suit her needs, for example making a bridge to make it easy for her to get from one place of the dream to a next. The mirror scene is also quite significant, as she pulls the mirror towards her, showing the reflection of her and Cobb relating back to Inception of the dream within a dream idea.

In terms of Quentin Tarantino’s film ‘Inglorious Basterds’ it differs from traditional war films by removing aspects of tradition and fear, thereby replacing some sections with humour and a comical feel. I feel that some sections of the film could be seen as a pastiche type genre, then again could be seen as homage. The characters were made to look and sound very stereotypical, the English and the American accents in particular. Hitler was dressed in his finest robes that he would have only worn on special occasions, presented in the portrait of himself shown in the film. Hitler is also played to be killed by Americans, however we know that this is not the case, as he committed suicide. Tarantino is pursuing his idea of a fantasy, however he is adamant on not pretending the film to be perceived as real. This is the idea that the audience and people who were not around in the time period thought he looked on a daily basis. The scenes in Inglorious Basterds begin with a chapter, which is presented in different font styles. It creates a new narrative, with the font style matching up to the genre and the setting of the next scene to be. In addition to the on screen text used the colour of the font used is not necessarily conventional; it is used to identify some of the characters; such as Hitler. This could relate to the fact that Tarantino is portraying a fantasy-type film where it reminds the audience that it isn’t real. Time is not necessarily an issue within Inglorious Basterds, as Tarantino uses a David Bowie song, which was released years after the film was set. This is an unusual convention in a war film; as most war films want to attempt to create realistic approach to filming. However after reflecting upon films such as Saving Private Ryan, this film is just as realistic as Inglorious Basterds. It is almost impossible to recreate history accurately.  It is a film inspired by war not a recreation of the war. It relates to Frederick Jameson’s theory of ‘historical deafness’, some things are usually taken out of context and therefore lack the original meaning. Tarantino likes to make masterpieces that draw attention to himself, not necessarily to create accurate historical references.  I have noticed that the characters presented within Inglorious Basterds are very polished and their aesthetics are not affect. They seem to look clean, whereas in reality we know that this is not realistic, and relates back to the hyper-reality of this film being a fantasy.


Consequently if time and space is manipulated from slightly altering original material, this creates a post-modern structure. I agree with the statement as inspiration from older material is good, but the new material will be more developed. Though in some cases it could be argued that directors/artists etc. are becoming less original and soon ideas will run out, causing postmodernism to fall and will be no more.

Thursday 30 January 2014

Essay Plan

Inglorious Basterds 


  • Differs from a traditional war film- removes traditional aspects and adds humour
  • No fear within the film- quite comical
  • David Bowie song was released after a long period of time after the film was set- out of the time period- quite unusual
  • Opening scene is very similar to The Sound Of Music (French dairy farm)- it is very subtle and goes deep into intertextuality 
  • On screen text- colourful, isn't shown on conventional war films- used to identify certain characters- cartoon effect
  • Film within a film (links to Inception)
  • Tarantino's foot fetish- Cinderella shoe- a fairytale element
  • Chapters- all with different fonts
  • Frederick Jameson- 'historical deafness'
Inception 

  • Manipulation of time and space- dream within a dream
  • Real world slows down, in the dream state time becomes quicker
  • Disrupts linear structure
  • Mixes up time and space
  • What happens in the space that only takes a few minutes is stretched to hours for the audience
  • Not being able to distinguish between what is real and what is a dream- 'hyperreality'- cannot differentiate the differences 
  • 'Inception'- planting an idea into someones head- puts in the audiences head whether or not they are in a dream- it questions reality
  • Jacques Derrida- "The centre doesn't exist naturally, but rather because we need it to, in order to make sense of the world around us". 

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Opinion In 20 Words

"Postmodern media manipulate time and space". To what extent does this definition apply to texts you have studied?

Postmodernism rejects truth, there is no absolute within time and space featured in media texts. Inglorious Basterds exposes and mocks the truth of war, nobody can reconstruct the history that has already occurred. Inception reveals different layers that time is linear and has previously be lived. The idea that life is just an image and isn't real.

Thursday 23 January 2014

Daft Punk

Daft Punk got their music video inspiration for their album 'Discovery' from many from famous 70's French children's cartoons. In particular the song 'One More Time' they are inspired by the cartoon Albator 84. Daft Punk state that this album is hugely inspired by their childhood. 'Its less of a tribute of a tribute to the music from 1975 to 1985 as an era, and more about focusing on the time when we were zero to ten years old.' Their music video is rather cheesy, in the sense that it is very child-like, featuring blue aliens who originally would be targeted at younger children, whereas this is targeted at young adults from 16-24 year olds, or more. The album is to bring back and highlighting memories of being young again. 

Daft Punk- One More Time

Albator 84

In the opening sequence of each video from Daft Punk's and Albator 84, both videos begin with rockets in space, featuring planets and galaxies. However Daft Punk's music video is also heavily inspired by Japanese anime cartoons... 




These characters were also taken/inspired by Leiji Matsumoto's characters from Albater 84...




In terms of the music side of Daft Punk, the song 'One More Time', is very similar to the intro of 'Ulysses 31'. In this video blue aliens in fact feature, similar to the anime ones in Daft Punk's music video. 
Ulysses 31

Daft Punk produce music with a 'French House' sound, similar to artists such as Bob Sinclar and Cassius. 

Here is a video showing how Daft Punk took a piece of well known music, and used pastiche and homage to create richly textured music. This is not an easy process, it is extremely time consuming and has been created with intelligence. 

In 2001 Daft Punk released 'Discovery', the album relied heavily on sampling and saw a move towards disco inspired house music. The album was to do with their childhood and memories. 'It's less of a tribute to the music from 1975-1985.'