"Postmodern media manipulate time and space". To what extent does this definition apply to texts you have studied?

Post modern media is considered to be able to manipulate time and space as it has no boundaries, it is media that can have the most amount of meaning possible, but also have no meaning at all. It allows media producers to take what they want from anything and turn it into their own version, allowing them to use references or homage etc. to create a meaningless or meaningful representation of the orignal product. In many cases this orignal is deemed to be lost, and the copy has taken over its meaning whilst often leaving the audience unaware of this case.

An example of a way post modern media can do this is through the Christopher Nolan film Inception. The film uses layer upon layer of dream space where time is slowed down each level, for example level 4 is years long, level 3 months, level 2 weeks, level 1 days, and in the real world seconds. (Example). This shows how it manipulates time, as it stretches this length of time out throughout corresponding scenes, meaning the audience may forget about the layers of the dreams and just assume they are in sync. Also, the director Nolan plays a trick on the audience, since 'Inception' is planting an idea in somebodies head without them knowing it. He uses the music 'Non, je ne regrette nien' by Edith Piaf, this song is used to signal the 'kick' in where the dreamer wakes up. However, the intense sounding noises that are heard when the characters are in a dream is actually the same song just drastically slowed down. This is 'Inception' as the audience do not know this is happening, this is a great example of post modernism at its finest. The film also bends the audiences perception of reality, similarly to the theory of hyper reality. As when Ariadne first learns she is going to become an 'architect' of the dream worlds, she decides to create aspects of her life, buildings and scenes that she experience in her normal life etc. Cobb, the main character played by Leonardo DiCaprio, explains that this is a bad thing to do as she can find herself losing sight of what is reality and what is merely a dream. This is a very good way of explaining post modernism and its way of manipulating space as its main attribute is to make a copy of a copy until the orignal is lost and the viewer loses sight of what is reality, so the film kind of becomes an analogy of post modernism itself. Christopher Nolan is famous for his minimal usage of CGI effects in his films, however Inception does use them to an extent, most notable when Paris flips up on itself, this un realistic happening is created by Ariadne and is a good way of showing how the quote applies to this texts, as it show that post modern media can manipulate space, in this case literally being the laws of physics and gravity. This will mean the audience will realise the lack of sense and realism within this film which allows it to be whatever it wants, it allows it to have the freedom to literally break down every normality which therefore leads it to be just something that is there to break everything that is normal. Which then leads it to be effectively meaningless.

Another text I studied was the film Hobo with a Shotgun, this film is post modern as it uses the concept of being so terribly bad, it becomes good. Wether this worked is questionable but the film definitely manipulates time and space. For example, the films setting. The hobo arrives in the imaginary place called 'Hope Town'. This place is not before explained, and the film does not explain it later on, it is just a place that doesn't exist, is completely unrealistic and would not be allowed to continue the way it is in the film in the real world. This shows how easily post modernism can warp space, as post modernism fans will argue that you do not need to know about the town to enjoy the film. Also, the way in which the hobo recovers from his body being all cut up and beaten shows how post modernism can alter time, is it appears not to be constant and in a way it seems to have fast forwarded. Time and space is again manipulated when one of the evil brother is taken away on what appears to be a demonic school bus containing dead children. This bus then proceeds to take away the recently deceased brother, this event is simply unexplained and makes no sense at all, it seems as if they travel either to hell or to another dimension, at least this is what the audience can merely guess at.

Musically, post modernism has a similar effect. The Kanye West song 'GoldDigger' takes 'inspiration' or samples from a previous song called I gotta Woman by Ray Charles, which is also copied from a song called It Must Be Jesus by The Southern Tones. These three songs span from 1954 to 2009 and are a very good example of the manipulation of time. As the vast percentage of Kanye West fans who listen to Gold Digger will not know of its 'inspirations' from decades ago, this shows post modernism doing what it does best and removing the orignal meaning from the first version. As it started off as a gospel song praising the lord, but now it revolves around women who are with men for their money.

In conclusion, post modernism does effectively manipulate time and space in its media products. However, their can still be debate as to wether there is a point to post modern media actually doing this. Someone like Jameson would criticise post modernism by saying it is 'vacuous and trapped in circular references'. Whereas Braudillard who supports HyperReality would say that it has a purpose and fulfils its desire to remove the meaning of the original. I think that the quote definitely applies to the texts mentioned and the examples stated prove that point. I also think that in the future post-modernism will continue to manipulate time and space and will divide opinions on many films, shows, music etc. to come. It will also leave many audiences in the dark, as they may not understand the meanings or references (or lack of) that it is trying to convey.