What is Cinema? Critical Approaches Postmodernism

Lecture structure 1. What is postmodernism? 2. Postmodernism as a period? 3. Depth, surface, simulacra 4. Self-reflexivity, parody, pastiche

1. What is postmodernism? repetition self-aware stereotype fragmented subject collapsing narrative

Postmodernism and film studies ‘Postmodern ideas […] have tended to inform other film theories, rather than develop as a body of theory in their own right. Postmodern polemicising against “universalising” and “totalising” theory has led to a certain refocusing of interest on the local and the specific which may be detected in the turn away from “Screen theory” of the 1970s towards historical research, cultural studies, and an interest in the social and cultural specificities of non-Euro-American cinemas’ (John Hill, ‘Film and Postmodernism’, p. 103)

A rough periodisation of film theory ( s) ‘Classic’ film theory: Munsterberg, Arnheim, Eisenstein, Bazin, Balazs, the Frankfurt School, Truffaut (1960s-1980s) ‘Contemporary’ film theory: structuralism, semiotics (the ‘linguistic turn’), psychoanalysis, ideology critique, feminism (sometimes called ‘Screen theory’ while Bordwell talks disparagingly of ‘SLAB’ theory) (1990s-2000s) Post-theory?: cognitivism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism, postmodernism, queer theory, the ‘ethical turn’.

2. Postmodernism as a period? ‘There is much dispute over whether [postmodernism] should be thought of as a historical period, a “cultural logic” or a set of representational practices’ (Noël King, The Cinema Book, p. 546). Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

Phenomena associated with modernity Rise of the nation state Industrialisation Rise of capitalism Emergence of socialist countries Rise of representative democracy Increasing role of science and technology Urbanisation Mass literacy Mass social movements Proliferation of mass media

modernity and barbarity

photography and film as symptomatic technologies of modernity

Postmodernism: ‘a periodising concept whose function is to correlate the emergence of new formal features in culture with the emergence of a new type of social life and a new economic order – what is often euphemistically called modernisation, postindustrial or consumer society, the society of the media or the spectacle, or multinational capitalism’ (Fredric Jameson, ‘Postmodernism and Consumer Society’, in Postmodern Culture, ed. Hal Foster (London: Pluto, 1985), pp. 111–25 (p. 113))

2. Depth, surface, simulacra Jameson: depth model (modernity) > surface model (postmodernity)

Simulacrum: copy for which no original exists ‘The world thereby momentarily loses its depth and threatens to become a glossy skin, a stereoscopic illusion, a rush of filmic images without density’ (Jameson, Postmodernism, p. 34)

Baudrillard: signifier severed from signified; hyperreality

Cuban revolution, anticolonialism, guerrilla warfare; revolutionary and rebellious spirit; wearer is likely to be a leftie Rebellious, exotic, iconic, cool, tried and tested; wearer is postmodern

Television as quintessential postmodern medium? (consumerism, distraction)

For Baudrillard, we’re all like Neo, given a dream world to live in. This is what Baudrillard calls hyperreality (where the connections between signifier, signified and referent have broken).

4. Self-reflexivity, parody, pastiche ‘There is no longer any room for change. All that remains is to play with the pieces –[…]. And postmodernity is the attempt […] to reach a point where one can live with what is left. It is more a survival among the remnants than anything else’ (Baudrillard, The Evil Demon of Images, p. 29)

‘contentless’ games of quotation and recycling?

Jameson: parody (modernist) vs pastiche (postmodernist) Pastiche: ‘a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody’s ulterior motives, amputated of parody’s satiric impulse, devoid of laughter’ (Postmodernism, p. 17)

‘postmodernism’s initial concern is to […] point out that those entities that we unthinkingly experience as “natural” ([…] capitalism, patriarchy, liberal humanism) are in fact “cultural”; made by us, not given to us’ (Hutcheon, The Politics of Postmodernism, p. 2)