ADVANCED PORTFOLIO

POSTMODERNISM The definition of ‘ Postmodernism’ describes the postmodernist movement in the arts. This term came about around the 1870’s. Postmodernism challenges stereotypical film to push the boundaries and promote originality/creativity in today’s modern media. Nowadays, a lot of pastiche are produced, this is a Postmodern way of challenging the old with the new by combining the two. Postmodern Narratives:  Narratives that challenge conventional film narratives with non-cliché styles/characters e.g. Anti Heroes  Non-Linear narratives challenge the conventional Todorov’s 3 act narrative by mixing up the sequence in which each act takes place e.g. beginning with the disruption of equilibrium  Anti-narratives are a Postmodern way of disrupting and challenging conventional narratives. E.g. Freeze frames, meta – referencing and voce overs. These are used in films such as ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’.

DYSTOPIA The definition of ‘Dystopia’ is an imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror. These are usually influenced by environmental issues or some sort of totalitarian power over the majority of people. In other words it defines the opposite of ‘Utopia’. Dystopia uses Postmodern themes by presenting viewers with a futuristic catastrophe, including post apocalyptic worlds and totalitarian communities ruling over people, these give the audience a hyperrealism experience. e.g. 28 Days Later (2002) and Mad Max 2 (1981). The narrative usually starts with the disruption of the equilibrium and the film will revolve around the characters attempting to resolve it. This challenges Todorov’s theory because in a lot of dystopian films the equilibrium is not restored. A lot of these dystopian post-apocalyptic films feature real-time fears in society e.g. environmental changes, technology, medical advances etc. This helps the audience relate to what is going on.

GENRE THEORY The word ‘Genre’ is French, it translates into ‘type’ or ‘kind’. In the Media we tend to use it as a ‘category’ for media texts. ‘Genre’ was first used by Aristotle inn Ancient Greek theatre to produce a ‘ quality control ’ over different categories of play, where deviation wasn’t very popular. ‘Genre’ (definition – Type) an important tool that allows categorisation of films according to certain conventions (iconography) e.g. Mise en Scene, Cinematography, Lighting and Sound: these all have a deep influence on how films are classed. Post Modernism has proved that ‘genre’ is not static by merging them together to form ‘hybrids’ e.g. Horror Thrillers, Crime Thrillers, Romantic Comedies etc. This has a lot of benefits, one being that hybrids attract

CRIME GENRE AMERICAN CRIME Crime film originates from Hollywood Gangster films from the silent era around the 1920’s, these crime films actually reflected what was going on in the current period e.g. Around the 1930’s when Al Capone was at large, ‘Public Enemy’ was released. Gangster films were still about in the 1970/80’s but had become a lot darker and violent featuring drug dealing and mobs. This was around the time of the economic depression where films like Mean Streets (1973) and Scarface (1983) were released. Blaxploitation films also came about around this era, these films had a mainly all black cast, the films used a lot of stereotypes and dealt with racism and drug dealing etc. The 1990’s was the era of Postmodern crime, around this time there were a lot of different ideologies going about. Some directors pushed themselves away from the flock by using ideas from the past and the present to challenge the modern era. Films like Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997) were released, both of these films were produced by Quentin Tarantino who is a famous Postmodern director.

BRITISH CRIME Around the 1940/50’s ‘British Noir’ came about, reflecting British Crime/everyday life around that era e.g. ‘Brighton Rock’ which was released in During the 1970/80’s ‘gritty’ British crime immersed itself into films where all the lead roles were taken by strong stereotypical male characters, these films also represented gang culture etc. a good film example of this era is ‘Get Carter’ released in As the 90’s rolled on, British gangster films converted themselves to Postmodernism where films like ‘Sexy Beast’(2000) and ‘Snatch’(2000) were produced. These films borrowed iconography from past British crime films which often featured cockney slang and ‘New Laddism’ (subculture)to add a comical edge to it.