"Postmodern media blur the boundary between reality and representation". Discuss this idea with reference to media texts that you have studied.

"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 20^th 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 4^th 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.