“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.
