Postmodernism in Film: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
This week I spent a little time thinking about films which I have seen which are post modern, and none stood out clearer than Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Throughout the entirety of this film, there are constant references to video games, comics and other films. In the film, I picked up on all of the clear and key signifiers of irony, pastiche, intertextual references and bricolage. I believe that this film is a strong candidate for my case study, and will watch it again in weeks to come.
Research into Simulacrum
This week I looked into simulacrum, in the sense of what it means and what is its relevance in postmodernism. Simulacrum is the idea that everything is a copy of a copy of a copy, and that there is no such thing as originality. This would suggest that all media, and even aspects of society are copying each other so much so that there is nothing original that can be produced anymore. Finally, simulacrum also believes that the relation between media and reality has collapsed; implying that there is no longer a distinction of what is real.
After reading up about simulacrum, I went away and discovered my own examples of it and noticed that there is so much of it around us that the majority of major figures, places and landmarks are all post-modern. The clearest examples that I have taken away from this research are pop-stars and Las Vegas. Both of these model themselves on other places and people and use previous fame and popularity to increase their own stardom. Las Vegas has taken landmarks like the pyramids and Venice and placed them into Las Vegas to add this desired effect.
Confusions over Time and Space
This to me is the most interesting topic and feature of post-moderism as it is a topic that is discussed frequently when considering the future of the world, and what it has to offer. For me, this is such an interesting topic as it takes into account the possibility of what could happen in the future and speculates the technology and development of ideas.
The first real reasons for confusions over time and space is the fact that in todays world it is so easy to travel across the globe and at such a speed. Furthermore, it is also inexpensive and available for near enough every person in the current world that we live in. Also, this sense of tourism relates to the sense of twenty-four hour cities and how places are open at almost all hours of the day. To conclude, I looked at the internet and how it has broken down space and time barriers but also built everyones knowledge of other cultures and religions. All of these features have links to films and T.V. series' that I admire like Memento and Lost, which both feature confusions of time and space.
The Decline of Meta-Narrative
Looper
Jumanji
http://www.totalfilm.com/news/stranger-than-fiction-writer-to-pen-jumanji-remake
I discovered that the 90's children's classic 'Jumanji' is being remade in the near future, and not only did this upset me but also highlighted how this adheres to the idea of pastiche and how there is no longer any original ideas, and everything is a remake of an original.
Alice in Wonderland
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=35977
Due to the massive money success of the first film, another Alice in Wonderland film is now in the pipeline to being created, and this will anger many people; including myself due to the fact that I was majorly disappointed by the first film. Despite the fact that it made $1 billion at the box office, it had very mixed reviews, but I still feel as though this film has only been created due to the fact that the first film was very successful, and they want to follow on from this success. Reflecting how the film industry has lost passion, and the finance is the most important aspect of the industry.
Absolute Truth?
One of the most prevalent characteristics of postmodernism is the idea that there is no and can never be any kind of absolute truth. Truth cannot be known in the context of postmodernist thinking, and those who claim to know truth are either lying or foolish. I believe that this is a theory composed by postmodern thinkers to demoralise any other grand theory or meta-narrative, however in doing so they are being controversial and ironic as they themselves are establishing a mass-theory.
Over the Top.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c0d20836-3f92-11e2-b0ce-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Eav7AlQM
This film review looks at this weeks releases and deconstructs the films, and simply breaks them down and justifies their reasoning behind the strong opinions that are conveyed. On the other hand, it discusses about how these films are trying so hard to be postmodern that it is off putting and ruins the films. In my opinion, the films are trying to be postmodern so that the creates a 'buzz' around the film and tempts people to go and see it, and this is masking the content of the film as people go for it being controversial instead of the quality. Finally, I think that the film trying to be different makes it the same as everything else, and therefore exploits a downfall of postmodernism.
