Discuss two or more media texts that you would define as postmodern and explain why you would give them this label.
Introduction
Post-modern refers to a movement in the arts and in criticism extending and developing some modernist ideas in a rather humorous, satirical or ironic manner. Post-modernism also rejects some long-standing certainties of the previous generations as seen in its challenge to the use of striking categorizations such as male versus female, white versus black, and straight versus gay (Connor 2004, p.21). As such, post-modernism espouses the belief that the so-called apparent realities are but results of social constructs and are subject to change intrinsic to time and space. It argues the realities are plural and relative, in addition to being dependent on the individual or group of persons interested and what constitute their beliefs. However, it is not easy to attach a single definitive definition to the aspect of post-modernism as it constitutes of a set of core ideas as well as key concepts which work in tandem to shape it (Harvey 1989, p.4). The postmodernism in a text is determined by the more of these ideas and concepts contained in it.
Postmodernism argue that in the current media-proliferated world in which we are constantly immersed in media – while at home, on the move, at work – the previous clear distinction between reality and the representation of the media has become increasingly blurred, if not completely invisible to us (Caldwell & Rea 1991, p.35). As such, we no longer can make out the distinction between real things and their image, or real experiences and their simulations. Media reality has effectively become the new reality. We know live in a ‘reality’ as defined by representations and images of the media, a phenomenon known as a state of simulacrum. Also, in a state of hyper-reality, images make reference to each other and represent each other as the reality as opposed to some ‘pure’ reality existing before the image represents it. In postmodern media, deliberate exploration of this state of hyper-reality is evident in the texts or products that are inter-textual and self-referential. This translates that they are designed to explore their own constructed nature – they make an effort to present media reality as opposed to representing reality itself (Gitlin 1976, p.105).
According to postmodern media, no media text or product is of superior value to another. All judgments are purely a question of personal taste. As such, anything qualifies to be art and holds the right to reach an audience. The fall out of this state of affairs, from the postmodern point of view, is that culture ‘eats itself’ due to lack anything new to produce or distribute. All the ideas of ‘truth’ are merely competing claims, and we come to take as the truth at any given time is purely the ‘winning claims.’ According to Baudrillard and Lyotard, there is need to ‘deconstruct’ the concept of truth in order to effectively challenge the prevailing ideas widely believed to be truth – described by Lyotard as ‘grand narratives’(Gitlin 1976, p.72) Baudrillard argues to the effect of only the surface meaning, translating the sign is the meaning itself there is no longer any original’ thing to be represented by a sign. We live in a society constituted entirely by simulacra, which are simulations of reality designed to take the place of any ‘pure’ reality. The simulacra that Baudrillard is in reference to here are signs of culture and media which produced the perceived reality (Jameson 1982, p.47).
Postmodern media texts
Postmodernist media texts such as films are seen to communicate the ideologies of postmodernism via the cinematic medium. These media texts have characteristic attribute of going against the mainstream ideals of narrative structure and characterization by destroying (of making fun of) the audience’s suspension of disbelief to develop a work with less-recognizable internal logic (Connor 2004, p.35). This paper explores the postmodernism in two media texts (films): The Mighty Boosh (2008 – ) and John Crowley’s Intermission (2003).
Intermission (2003)
Intermission (2003) is an Irish black comedy crime film written by Mark O’Rowe and directed by John Crowley. The film’s title is in reference to the short-lived breakdown of John (played by Cillian Murphy) and Dierdre’s (played Kelly McDonald) relationship following John’s resolution that they should have a trial separation, along with the subsequent events that ultimately bring them back together again (O’Connell 2010, p.49). The film, targeted at the audience of age-bracket 15-25 years, adopts a post-modern, ironic tone as well as toy with generic convections for the purpose of keeping the audience off balance and uncertain of what to expect. At a more fundamental level, the comedy comments on a postmodern culture of the media saturation along with the apparent loss of collective identity (Booker 2007, p.73).
In particular, however, director Crowley uses postmodern cinematic techniques to showcase the everyday lives of the diverse groups of people usually under-represented in film. The film avoids the hegemonic model associated with classical studio productions that give little chance to local and diverse ideological and cultural spaces. Such a postmodern cinema aims to cast the multiplicity of society, thus presenting a counter-hegemonic voice against the modernist ideals of cohesive yet ultimately stifling, political, social, and religious authorities (O’Connell 2010, p.63). This is in line with Lyotard’s favor of the micro-narrative instead of the meta-narrative and the elevation of heterogeneity over homogeneity as well as triumph of dissension over consensus. It also depicts Baudrillard’s notion of loss cohesive social units and collective identity through anti-heroes, outcasts, marginals, drifters, or outright losers (Jameson 1982, p.69). Characters in Intermission come across as anti-heroes and sometimes marginal figures in their struggle in a fragmented society and Dublin’s media saturated society. Indeed, the expression “life is what happens in between” in the film reflective of its postmodernism in the form of micro-narratives instead of grand narratives of modernity – all story lines in the Intermission are presented as interconnecting short, snappy scenes in rapid succession (O’Connell 2010, p.85).
Also, every story in the film goes against the familiar Irish cinema style that strived to juxtapose the threatening city life with the idyllic countryside life. This serves to reject the existence of the traditional signifiers of identity often manifested through inter-generational conflicts, religion, and politics (Lauer 2003, p.75). The film gives primary concern to the local narratives: John and Oscar’s minimum wages; Oscar’s sexual frustrations; Sally, Noeleen and John’s suffering with aftermath of their broken relationships; and Mick’s loss of job due to Philip. As such, the Intermission presents a counter-narrative against the stereotyped narrative of Ireland’s economy success (Celtic Tiger) resulting in improved living standards of many Irish people. Lyotard’s disapproval of meta-narratives is especially visible in Ben’s documentary titled “Little Big City”, where Ben’s search for depth is ultimately rejected by his boss – postmodernism rejects depth in favor of surface or multiple surfaces. Also, Intermission depicts the ‘rootless’ culture of postmodernism through the lack of religion/politics’ overarching influence. Parody of shared communal experience among specific characters in the film is depicted by their use of HP brown sauce in tea (Booker 2007, p.86).
Baudrillard’s simulacrum argues that postmodernism in media texts is all about reproductions considering that art is no longer valued for its production qualities instead by its reproducible qualities, which is depicted in Intermission. Also, advertising is used to creat idealized images implied by Baudrillard’s simulacra – John and Oscar walk pas a massive window advertisement showing a blonde female’s face, beautiful yet evasive figure, soft lit and smiling benevolently but devoid of depth. Oscar and John immediately become darkned-out characters that are faceless before the simulated image of perfection. Oscar speaks of the dance as the place to find the women though the women are not only much older than hi, but also far removed from the sparkly image in the advertisement. Here, Intermission depicts the disparity between the characters’ real life and that of the simulated reality.
Further, Baudrillard’s hyper-reality can be seen in Detective Lynch’s whole approach to life – he perceives himself as self-ordained hard-man able to single-handedly confront Dublin’s criminals. In this regard, Lynch sees his life and work via the Celtic mysticism in which he is the heroic figure, wrongly equating his violence with natural bravery (Booker 2007, p.79). In addition, Detective Lynch also shows his nostalgia for only an imagined past, whose reproductions have little resemblance to the past reality. As such, the real is replaced by the hyper-real. In selling his documentary titled “On the Streets with Detective Jerry Lynch”, Ben claims that “it’s real, it’s true,” but when he independently makes the documentary it is revealed just how “unreal” and staged the whole documentary is. We see life through mediated images, typical of postmodern media texts (Lauer 2003, p.81).
Intermission also makes of use nostalgia by showing how nostalgia for the idyllic rural past along with the land of a thousand welcomes is trumped over by the reality of urban life. The film affords little attention to the idyllic fantasies of the rural past, and where present, they portray their incompatibility with the postmodern life. A postmodern form of nostalgia accompanied by irony is depicted in Detective Jerry Lynch’s nostalgia for the past Celtic mysticism that was simple, ordered, pure, beautiful, easy, and harmonious, now replaced by the present which is complicated, anarchic, contaminated, ugly, difficult, and confrontational (O’Connell 2010, p.85). Whenever he wants to relive the past, he reaches for the “sounds” from his past favorite artistes sucha as Rainneach, Clannad, and Fainne Lasta.
Parody in Intermission is seen in the character of the Supermarket manager Mr. Henderson. He is a parody of authority with an American styled management constructed through television images as opposed to any real-life management style (O’Connell 2010, p.104). He finalizes his meetings with John and Oscar with what is considered effective American one-liners such as “I shit you not, as they say in the United States.” Parody in postmodern media texts is adopted to challenge the prevailing ideologies or traditional representation via irony, allowing us to subvert the ideologies and create our distance from them (Harvey 1989, p.87). Here, Henderson lacks originality as he borrows his identity from the Americans and affix to his authentic self.
Finally, the film Intermission depicts the postmodernism element of self-reflexive – drawing attention to the manner it has come into existence as well its own constructed nature. The film occasionally challenges the technique of film-making as seen in Ben’s maiden documentary. He attempts to film racing rabbits which fail to perform despite the much rehearsal they been through. This was meant to a real-life documentary but ultimately gives a mediated view of reality which finally fails. Jerry also snaps at a drug addict he is talking to on the street to “speak to the camera” (O’Connell 2010, p.181). Also, he pauses and looks directly in the camera before his Lehiff, informing Ben to title of the episode: “Personal Justice.” All these among others remind us of the fact that we are watching a mediated and simulated reality.
The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe that provides a lot of material relating to analysis of such more conventional core media concepts as representation and institution. Its lead characters are two zookeepers (Howard Moon and Vince Noir), the zoo owner (Bob Fossil), one shaman, and scary gorilla. The surrealist sitcom attests that the best playground for postmodern television is to be found in a situation comedy as evidenced by its plots that revolve around journeys to monkey hell, a granny of death, kangaroo boxing among others (Smith 2008, p.6). The Mighty Boosh bear such major postmodernism elements in media texts as eclecticism, intertextuality, parody, bricolage, acts against modernism, nostalgia, narcissism, an active audience, and hyper-consciousness.
i. Eclecticism
Eclecticism is a common element in postmodern media texts that refers to the use of a multiplicity of influences, techniques and contributions. It is commonplace now to find that a single media product has several appeals such as being part tele-novela, part sit-com, part soap opera (Connor 2004, p.54). In The Mighty Boosh, eclecticism features prominently through the deliberate use of an array of noticeable influences to the extent the audience is left unsure of the specific single genre that the media text is committed to. This is evidenced by the fact the Boosh transitions from Fantasy (as in ‘Welcome to mirror world!’) to Eighties Pop (as in ‘I am electro boy…’); from Science Fiction (as in ‘I come fully equipped with a papoose!’) to Romantic Comedy (‘Her teeth are like hard, shiny, pegs of cream’) (Smith 2008, p.6).
Eclecticism is also portrayed in the varied characters, both major and minor. There is no telling what you are going to get as the eclectic characters prove to be over-the-top and overly bizarre. Howard Moon is a pessimistic, pretentious, awkward, and delusional man in his thirties and self-proclaimed “man of action” and “jazz maverick.” On the other hand, Vince Noir is an optimistic, fashionable, good-looking young man in his mid-twenties, with friends and dates Howard desperately yearns for (Smith 2008, p.6). While they have clashing personas and never-ending fights, they are inseparable best friends. Their larger than life personas are expressed through their elaborate costume designs, most of which are still made using theatrical techniques. Random bits and pieces of objects are put together to make up the costumers, which benefits the story line by drawing attention to the quirkiness of the troupe.
In addition, The Mighty Boosh is full of eclecticism in its range of musical styles. The media text’s stage performances consist of a blend of songs, dances, lots of comedy and crimping (which is their own invention). All these are highlighted by various over-the-top theatrical sets and lighting. Animation and illustration is further used as form of theatrical elements to propel the plot together with the characters (Smith 2008, p.6).
ii. Intertextuality
Intertextuality refers to the tendency of the author to borrow and transforming from previous texts (Caldwell & Rea 1991, p.54). This technique is pronounced in The Mighty Boosh, where is much borrowing, mimicking, and adoption of traits of a wide range of styles, clichés, and conventions known to and directly relatable to the audience. For instance, Howard and Vince depict the conventions of a trashy music their on-camera rap of the Tundra Rap, with a cut to the beat, evidently erratic camera techniques that are complemented by generic lyrical gems making the rap really distinguishable (Smith 2008, p.7). Intertextuality is also demonstrated by the use of a single character of the familiar Spirit of Jazz to refer to several other people such as Papa Lazarou (The League of Gentlemen), Slash (Guns and Roses), or the 1950s BBC’s show The Black and White Minstrel Show. Also, there is frequent making of parallels between The Boosh, Spaced, Monty Python, The League of Gentlemen, and The Goodies with their individual sporadic happenings and surrealist humor (Smith 2008, p.7). This recognition and familiarity serves to appeal to the active audience. In addition, the intertextuality goes a long way to underscoring the point that we live in a world obsessed with fashion and celebrity culture.
iii. Parody
Parody refers to satirical or humorous imitation of a text. This rationale for using parody in a media text is that the familiar audience will identify an imitation of character, style, technique, or scenario and be pleased with the recognition and familiarization (Smith 2008, p.7). The Mighty Boosh uses such parodies drawn from the generic (‘Mutants’ for the sci-fi/horror genres); textual (‘The Nightmare of Milky’ Joe from the film Castaway); and musical (Hardrock parodied in Bollo Monkey Hell’’). This soft imitation manages to give the audience a reference point evoking sense of familiarity and appreciation.
iv. Bricolage
Bricolage refers to the technique of constructing new works from a number of materials available. This is the source for a major criticism of postmodernism as not encouraging originality, in a period where there is nothing new to produce other than merely recycle old formulas. The Mighty Boosh is in itself a bricolage of several previously tried-and-tested formulas but with a twist of originality (Smith 2008, p.8). The lead actors play several other minor characters, some of which are direct reference to other people, both real and fictional. Also, there is playing of musical note previously played but in a unique way.
v. Acts against modernism
Postmodernism is reputed for its rejection of such modern era ideas and ideals as progress, reason, objectivity, grand narrative, and personal narrative. As such, postmodernism establishes itself as a systematic and progressive reaction to the immediate modernist movement. The Mighty Boosh exhibits the nature of postmodern media text to revolt against reason, logic and orthodoxy through its idiosyncratic humor in terms of a talking gorilla, a man made out of cheese, a Mexican jazz-fusion guitarist with a door squarely in his afro. This depicts absolute lack of reasoning or justification for the actions or characters (Smith 2008, p.8). They are in existence by virtue that they can exist. The medium of television in this regard allows a media text to freely pick and choose form a rich list of familiar tried and tested formulas to an ironically new piece.
vi. Nostalgia
Nostalgia is the technique of celebrating the past and bathing in its glory. Whereas modernism is keen on looking forward and pushing the medium to the next level, postmodernism takes pleasure in reminiscing nostalgically by borrowing from the memorable past pieces to produce a reference-rich text. The Mighty Boosh evokes nostalgia by using music from different periods in time, highlighting a contemporary obsession for the modernistic nostalgia that has taken root in our culture (Smith 2008, p.8).
vii. Narcissism
Narcissism refers to the fascination with oneself or excessive self-love or vanity, which is characteristic with postmodernism (Olivier 1992, p.121). In The Mighty Boosh, narcissism is deliberate in the character of Vince Noir who is overly obsessed with his own appearance and great itching to become a notable front man like his idol Mick Jagger. This is a character who is always up to date with the trends in fashion and keeps his own ‘style’ consisting of overly flamboyang and bizarre attires and hats (Smith 2008, p.9). He is also only interested in girls with the same fashion and music taste as his. Noir is also a little boy in man’s body as evidenced by his imagination that often run wild with sparkly, crazy, quirky-minded things such as totem men, furry monsters, red orbs, and kangaroo bollocks – self-named ‘sunshine kid’. If someone copies his style, he would have a fashion-related crisis. In combination with his rebel status (or nihilism), Noir’s vanity well captures the narcissism that is prevalent in postmodernist media texts.
viii. An active audience
In postmodernism, the concept of an active and intelligent audience argues that meaning and experience cannot be rendered objective by the author or narrator, rather only by the individual. The audience is taken to be an all-knowing and media-saturated entity (Hunter 1999, p.94). The unpredictable, surreal and illogical postmodernist media text thus leaves the audience with little option but to be an aware and active participant, following each twist and turn however the text goes (Smith 2008, p.9). It is an equivalent of a media puzzle that requires the individual to decode it so as to get maximum satisfaction from it. In incorporating past influences from other films, it is expected that the audience will easily recognize the references and enjoy.
ix. Hyper-conscious
Hyper-consciousness is a characteristic element of postmodern media texts which are aware of themselves. The Mighty Boosh team make creative use of it at the start of each episode as seen in the act of Vince and Howard fixated in front of stage curtains to introduce the show by directly hinting at what the audience should look out for (Smith 2008, p.9). The cast often breaks out their scripted lines and address the audience.
Conclusion
The two media texts discussed herein, The Mighty Boosh and Intermission uses several postmodern elements. Intermission has such key postmodern elements as focus on micro-narratives rather than meta-narratives, ignoring of over-riding societal and cultural influences in favor of focus on more diverse, local narratives of the characters. Intermission also employs Baudrillardian hypereality and depicts the effect of media culture of people’s lives and the contest between images overshadows the truth. There are also such postmodern elements as irony, parody, and nostalgia as played out by characters like Detective Jerry Lynch and supermarket manager Mr. Henderson. Finally, Intermission is a self-reflexive film employing postmodern cinematic style that casts a distance from reality of what is being recorded constantly mediated by ‘live’ events seen by the audience.
Similarly, The Mighty Boosh – a surrealist sitcom – attests that the best playground for postmodern television is to be found in a situation comedy as evidenced by its plots that revolve around journeys to monkey hell, a granny of death, kangaroo boxing among others. The Mighty Boosh bear such major postmodernism elements in media texts as eclecticism, intertextuality, parody, bricolage, acts against modernism, nostalgia, narcissism, an active audience, and hyper- consciousness.
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