Postmodern Theory Rhys Funnell

Postmodernism definition Postmodernism - Postmodernism is a theory that allows producers to challenge convention forms and ideologies. It’s a theory that is open to debate and different ideas. It challenges meta-narratives – to challenge the main ideologies of society. For example in resident evil the main and strongest character is a woman who also plays the roll of a heroine who throughout the film is always seen as the person going out of her way to help people and fighting monsters much bigger than what she is. To use pastiche (or intertextuality) – to offer ‘updated’ ideas from ‘old’ ideas. For example in family guy when they used an episode where the family guy characters took on the roll of characters from star wars. To make audiences aware of a hyperreality – to make audiences aware of alternative realties that challenge our ideas. For example the scene in the matrix when neo goes into slow-motion when the bullets are coming at him.

Challenging meta-narratives For example in resident evil the main and strongest character is a woman who also plays the roll of a heroine who throughout the film is always seen as the person going out of her way to help people and fighting monsters much bigger than what she is.

Using pastiche (or intertextuality) to offer ‘updated’ ideas from ‘old’ ideas. For example in family guy when they used an episode where the family guy characters took on the roll of characters from star wars.

hyperreality To make audiences aware of a hyperreality – to make audiences aware of alternative realties that challenge our ideas. For example the scene in the matrix when neo goes into slow-motion when the bullets are coming at him.

Theorists Adorno and Horkheimer, two European critics of Hollywood, stated that mass production of film create a repetitive ‘standardisation’ of conventions dominated with one ideology (The American Dream) Nick Lacey suggests, that genre is a negotiation between Producers and Audiences because the producers need to make the films in such a way that will match their target audiences needs i.e. if a producer is aiming to make people laugh and give a certain level of humour they’ll aim to make a comedy film which will satisfy the target audiences needs.

Dystopian film – Mad Max: Fury Road There are both stereotypical parts in this films narrative and parts that aren’t so stereotypical i.e. one of the main characters is a strong female who braves the wastelands to help people in distress. The main hero comes across as a bad guy but also turns out to be the good guy who helps everyone in general. The film is set in a post apocalyptic world for a fight for fuel. The fact one of the main characters is a strong woman who plays a big part challenges the stereotype that all heroes are men and only men take the main character rolls of the film. There is a bad guy who works for the main antagonist who ends up being one of the good guys at the end which challenges stereotypes by saying that not all bad guys stay bad throughout the whole film.

British crime film - Snatch Snatch is a film based around a diamond heist and has many stereotypes to it but also things that challenges stereotypes. For example the protagonists of the films ‘Turkish’ and ‘Tommy’ have the roles of antiheroes because it’s a film of criminals vs. criminals but we like the bad guys of the film. Another challenging thing is the gypsy character ‘Mickey’ who seems like not a lot in the film but then turns out to be the hero in the film who kills the main antagonist at the end of the film. Both antagonists are very typical of the films genre for example ‘Brick Top’ is a typical London gangster who scams people for money with rigged fights. ‘Cousin Avi’ is a typical American gang type of character who is the leader of some kind of American gang which is typical of the films genre.