Discuss Two or More Media texts that you would describe as post modern and explain why you would give them this label?

Discuss Two or More Media texts that you would describe as post modern and explain why you would give them this label?

Post modern films are described as films that go against normal conventions, they are films which can have aspects of reality in them but they also include a lot of scenes and scenarios which can be seen as unrealistic. “The French New Wave” period of time was where post modern media texts really started to become popular this was in the 50s going into the 60s.

The first post modern film I’m going to discuss is “Fight Club” produced in 1999 Fight Club is a very good example of a post modern text, the main example of post modernism in this film is the structure, it isn’t in chronological order the fact that the first and last scenes are the same shows us the post modern structure. The scenes between the first and last show how the characters get to the final scene. From an audience’s point of view, when they originally see the first scene it doesn’t give the impression that the text is post modern until later on when the film starts going forward and back in time.

Another post modern aspect of the film is the character Tyler Durden; we see images of him before we actually meet him as an audience, so when we are formally introduced the audience believe they have already see him; this gives an unrealistic feel to the film in general.
This film will only appeal to a certain audience because how it is layed out and the language and images shown, the post modernism in this film is quite difficult to understand as the character Tyler Durden doesn’t actually exist but this is not clear throughout the film and we just see him as an ordinary character.

Post modernism occurs in different films in different ways, one of my favourite films and a perfect example of a post modern text is Quentin Tarentinos 1994 Crime film “Pulp Fiction”. A very important aspect of post modernism is the scenarios characters find themselves in and how they as people deal with situations, for example when Jules (Samuel L Jackson) and Vince (John Travolta) walk in to a man’s flat with guns out with the intention of intimidating him and maybe killing him, whilst in there although they are still shouting and threatening him, they are doing this whilst discussing McDonalds as there is a bag on the table, Jules then goes on to talk about sprite. This scene is just one of many examples of post modern scenarios, it can be seen as post modern because although it’s meant to be an angry and maybe a violent scene it includes comedy because of how unrealistic the conversation they have actually is.

Similarly to Fight Club the structure is set out non chronologically, the first scene is the end and also there is a scene where Jules shoots a man in the head, in this scene they are dressed in suits and carry brief cases but in the next scene they are in coloured shorts and summer T-Shits but are still carrying the briefcase. This can be seen as a postmodern structure because as an audience we don’t know until later what happened to the dead body or how they got them clothes.

As an audience we notice a pattern throughout the film and that is that the majority of scenes are stopped at a vital moment or half way through a conversation this adds confusion to the audience which makes them want to watch more it adds tension which makes Quentin Tarentinos method effective and successful.

Personally I think that Jules’s bible passage that he speaks from memory adds a postmodern element to the film, I think this because he is a “Gangster” who does dodgy deals and has killed people as an audience we wouldn’t expect him to be a religious man.
Postmodernism in Pulp Fiction is shown through many ways but the structure and the characters in general are the main source of postmodernism. It is how Quentin Tarentinos makes his film and makes them different to others.

I think that both films are very similar in how they use postmodernism but there storylines are completely different, their structure is similar if not the same and they are both films that you need to watch carefully the first time or watch it twice before fully understanding.