There are many arguments for and
against post modernism, and there are many theories that support and criticise
it. One of the main aspects of postmodernism that sparks debate is the use of
intertextual references. A good example of how intertextual references are used
by someone who is post-modern is on popular current cartoon shows such as
Family Guy, who constantly make reference to classic films like Star Wars or
Star Trek. Also, take the 2009 Quentin Tarintino film ‘Inglorious Basterds’ for
example; this film has many references to other films, as it uses Spaghetti
Western typefaces in the opening credits, which is unusual for a WWII movie.
This sort of filmmaking would be supported my Julia Kristeva’s theory of
intertextual references. But on the other hand someone like Jameson would
criticise this, as he believes postmodernism is ‘vacuous and trapped in
circular references’. Another example of where Jameson’s criticism would be in
effect is in ‘Hobo with a Shotgun’. This film takes a laughable take on
referencing popular films from the 80’s, the film is bad for the sake of being
bad, this is why the idea of post modernism can be unconvincing. The films
music in particular is reminiscent of the soundtrack used in popular 1980’s
films like The Terminator. Both of these films are very similar in story but
differ in quality of acting and screenplay, but they both make post-modern
references to irrelevant media. Another difference between them is that Hobo
with a Shotgun makes its references laughably obvious, whereas Inglorious
Basterds drops them subtly, this is why Inglorious Basterds is seen as a good
post-modern film compared to Hobo. It also means that traditional text-reader
relations are challenged as some people will understand the references but
other will not.
This leads on to Scott Pilgrim
vs. The World, directed by Edgar Wright, the film did badly at the box office
and its references and target audience can explain this. As its target audience
was young teenagers, and its references were from old films, video games, and
music. For example there is a reference to the band ‘The Doors’, which most
young people today will not be familiar with.
This means the films intention to be homage was lost because of its
target audience.
Hyper-reality is also a part of
post-modernism that could lead people to become negative about the idea.
Theorised, by Braudillard, it is the idea that it is difficult to tell reality
from a simulation. Examples of this come in video games, RPG’s like assassins
creed where anything the user wants to do can be done, so it is just like real
life. This game also uses real places from the past, this is what makes it
post-modern as you can visit Rome or Venice, and see it as you would if you
were there, but it is through a screen. However we know that this is not realistic,
whereas with the post-modern video game Desert Bus, we see an incredible level
of realism, the game is so realistic it cannot be paused or restarted, and
takes about 8 hours to get one single point. Also, if you crash the bus, you
get towed back to the start of the game, which can take hours too. People
against post-modernism will see this game as being very pointless and boring,
but the post-modern view on the game is that it is true hyper reality and is
literally the point of hyper reality games, as it is as realistic as it can be.
Kirby Ferguson theorised that
‘everything is a remix’, this means that he believes everything is post-modern,
that everything is some way related or has some substance from something else
that came before it. But surely by this logic post-modernism doesn’t exist? Ferguson
also expresses his concern over the future, as everything will become a blatant
copy of each other, and with more and more patent acts being issued no one can
create anything anymore without being sued for it. Take Bridge Port Music for
example, they sued an artist for a less than 2 second ‘sample’ in the song ‘100
miles runnin’. The sample is barely recognisable and makes the future seem bad
for artists especially within the R&B genre, as they so often rely on
samples with generic drum beats and patterns etc.
Another reason that is linked to
music for people not being convinced by the idea of post modernism is that
there are many famous songs that are taken from songs from the past. For
example Kanye West’s ‘Goldigga’ seems to have been spawned through some older
songs. Starting at ‘It must be Jesus’ by The Southern Tones and then from ‘I
gotta woman’ by Ray Charles. Both these songs contain beats and symphonies that
can be heard in Gold Digga, which supports Kirby Ferguson’s theory of
everything being a remix.
In conclusion, I believe that
some people may not be convinced by the idea of postmodern media because they don’t
see the humour in the intersexual references, or the over realism of video games
and other aspects of post modern media. This may be for numerous reasons, but
maybe because they see no point in referencing something old when you can just
create something entirely new, which I think is a good point but then I also
believe that it is good to pay tribute to older texts and reference things that
perhaps a director (like Quentin Tarintino) is a fan of by using a homage. But
then Jameson would say that postmodern media is trapped in circular references,
so I think it is down to the viewpoint of each individual as to whether they
see a point in post modernism, or they simply do not understand or care for the
idea of it.
