"Postmodern
media blur the boundary between reality and representation". Discuss this
idea with reference to media texts that you have studied.
Postmodernism is a late 20th
century style and George Ritzer suggested that postmodernism is a concept in
the arts, architecture and criticism which represents a departure from
modernism and is characterised by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and
conventions. Postmodern media often subverts and disregards conventions such as
time, space and narrative to create a ‘hyper reality’ (Baudrillard). The use of fragmented narratives
(Vernallis) itself in postmodern media causes many films to be a perfect
example of postmodernist work. Critic Lyotard’s opinion that the use of a grand
narrative is outgrown is therefore complicit to the fragmented nature of
postmodern media. George Ritzer suggested that postmodern media blurs the
boundaries between reality and representation, and can be applied to all
postmodern texts.
One film that is found to of blur the
boundary between reality and representation is the Marvel film Deadpool,
directed by Tim Miller. There is a wide variety of hyper real (Baudrillard) aspects
to Deadpool that make it all seem very unrealistic and unreal. One aspect is
through the use of flashbacks and rewinds throughout the film. The use of this
allows the audience to be brought back down to earth which makes them realise
that this isn’t real and they are experiencing this hyper real world as a film.
The use of breaking the fourth wall also makes the film more interactive, and
blurs the roles of Deadpool. Also, you never seem to see any normal civilians,
so it makes it seem like everyone else is irrelevant and only the main
characters are important. This blurs the boundary between reality and
representation because the characters seem to live in their own universe and
nobody else is important. For example, the police never seem to get involved
even though the Deadpools’ crimes seem to get more and more violent throughout
the film.
There are numerous
different intertextual references (Genette) throughout Deadpool referring to
various aspects in the film and comics. It refers to other texts through the
use of bricolage, pastiche, parody and homage. Firstly, theorist Claude
Levi-Strauss broke bricolage down to 4 areas: addition, substitution, deletion
and transposition. Deadpool shows addition by adding in scenes where the 4th
wall is broken. Also the film is a comedy but gory and violent with
intertextual references. It shows substitution where the title sequence at the
beginning is used as comedy, and it is not the official title sequence because
that is at the end but it is just at the beginning to introduce the comical
element to the film. Deletion is shown in large amounts through the deletion of
the stereotypical superhero, where other superheroes are mimicked and made fun
of such as when Deadpool says “oh look she’s going to do a superhero landing!”.
Deletion is also used because normally films of this genre are for a younger
audience but this film appeals to an older audience so the younger audience has
been deleted. Transposition is used through the use of mythology and the use of
the story of Orpheus where he has to delve deep into hell to save his one love Eurydice. Deadpool has
to do very similar. Deadpool also uses bricolage through the use of the
Deadpool comics in the film. For example, at the beginning Wade Wilson
confronts the pizza delivery boy and confronts him about being a stalker. Also
the numerous references to the X-Men comics with the use of Colossus and
Negasonic Teenage Warhead and a reference to the film 127 hours where Deadpool
cuts off his own hand in order to escape. The use of bricolage blurs the
boundary between reality and representation as the use of other superheroes
from films like X-Men make it seem like it is normal to have superheroes in the
hyper real world that is created by Marvel. Pastiche is shown after the credits
at the end of the film where Ferris Beuller’s day off is mimicked where
Deadpool is dressed in the same gown and in the same corridor. Parody is
represented through the mocking of superhero films like when Deadpool says
“she’s going to do a superhero landing”. Homage is shown through reference to
Deadpools other character in X-Men Origins Wolverine, where a toy model of that
character is briefly shown and Wade Wilson says “shit
just went sideways in the most colossal way, but not as bad as it could have
been”, to indicate it could have been worse being that character. This makes
the boundaries between reality and representation unclear because of reference
to other postmodern media texts and the use of bricolage (Levi-Strauss), so the
audience can see how much inspiration is taken from these texts and how much is
original; therefore, making the boundaries unclear.
Another film that is postmodern and
seems to blur the boundary between representation and reality is The Grand
Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Andersen. This film also odes this because of
the hyper real (Baudrillard) aspects to the film. For example, the main part of
the film is set up in a made up country called the Republic of Zubrowka,
which allows the audience the recognise the world is hyper real and doesn’t
exist. Also, some of the sets are blatantly not real so also fit Baudrillards
theory of a hyper reality. However, the Grand Budapest Hotel does contain some
aspects of realism such as going to war, and an enemy organisation that shows
parallels to the Nazi’s. This allows the audience to draw some connections
between the film and history, but the use of hyper real factors blur the
boundary between reality and representation so this postmodern film meets this
theory.
Some of
Jay-Z’s music fits well with theorist Jonathan Kramer’s theories, fitting the
characteristics of his points, such as ‘not respecting the boundaries between present
and past’, as well as quotations and references to other texts from different
cultures. In the song ’99 Problems’ it includes political and social reference
as in the song he talks about a conversation with a racist police officer. Also
his song ‘Otis’ meets the theory of ‘not respecting the boundaries between high
and low culture’ as the song is heavily influenced by an 80’s soul singer so ‘Otis’
is filled with modern day rap and ‘old’ styled soul music. This blurs the
boundaries between reality and representation as many of Jay-Z’s audience will
recognise that some of his work is taken from other places so they don’t see it
as original, and can then see what is reality, and what is a representation of
another artist’s work, therefore making the boundaries unclear. The future of
music is unclear, however the use of dead artists works and holograms may be
used much more frequently in the coming years. This may be negative for current
artists as it adds a vast amount more competition and allows the value of their
work to decrease. This blurs the boundary of reality and representation as
these resurrected artists and made to look real but are in fact only a
representation of what they used to be.
Postmodern
media texts successfully blur the boundaries between reality and representation
as it is hard to distinguish what work is theirs and original; and what is just
re-presented from other peoples work. Postmodern media deliberately plays with
other work, making them believe that there are no new ideas and everything is
made through Genettes’s theory of intertextuality.
