“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.
