In a modern society it can be hard to define what it postmodern and what is modern. Thoerist Anne Friedburg has suggested this is due to how we consum our media. In the past the only place you could watch a new movie was at a cinema in public. However modernising technology has allowed media consumption to move from public to personal. Friedburg also suggests that there is now a 'postmodern way of life' , were audiences are manipulated and confused by conventional understandings of time and space.
A postmodern film can confuse time and space, creating a complexity within the narrative structure. Such as at the beginning of 'Pulp Fiction' where we are introduced to a scene that re-ocurs towards the end on the plot. 'Pulp Fiction' follows four different stories and groups of people, therefore flashbacks and wipes are used to define the transition from each story. This film requires the attention span of an audience to increase slightly, in order to keep track of the plot and the intertexual references, meaning postmodern texts are designed for a literate audience with previous viewing experience. However it could be argued that narrative coherence could be less important for a modern audience as they are less interested in understanding a text in depth and simply enjoy a film due to it's Hollywood stars or for other credentials.
Another of Tarantino's films that is considered postmodern is the 2009 movie 'Inglorious Basterds'. A parody and hyperreality is displayed as the soldiers maintain their clean uniforms even after the brutal slaughtering and scalping of Nazi's. Hollywood Actor Brad Pitt almost has an uncanny resemblance and character to that of the hero figure Van Johnson, who was a popular actor during the fifties and sixties. The film references an older genre of spaghetti western films, such as the opening scene is a shot taken from the older film 'The searchers'. Tarantino's inclusion of grotesque violence is shocking for the viewer, and some may not agree with it. One of the shooting scene's replicates that of Mexican stand off in 'The Good The Bad And The Ugly', which is a 60's film. There is an element of bricolage in Tarantino's movies as he incorporates inspiration from the past and the modern day for a new media product to evolve. Again people may not understand the exact references to the film, nevertheless i think the film can still be enjoyed.
Postmodern media can be hard to define and hard for some audiences to interpret, except and enjoy. Some of the reasons for postmodern media to be unconvicing is due to the idea of it being 'weird for being weird'. Some audience's may find it confusing and even boring if they do not understand the intertexuality in postmodern T.V show 'Flight of the Concords' or Tarantino films such as 'Inlorious Basterds', where there are many refference to modern society and pop culture. In Tarantino's 90's film 'Pulp Fiction' there are may references to celebrity icons such as Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. The parody of these iconic figures work as a waitress/waiter in the diner 'Rabbit Slims'. Nearly all of Tarantino's film'Pulp Fiction' follows four different stories and groups of people, therefore flashbacks and wipes are used to define the transition from each story. This film requires the attention span of an audience to increase slightly, in order to keep track of the plot and the intertexual references. However it could be argued that narrative coherence could be less important for a modern audience as they are less interested in understanding a text in depth.
Postmodern media can involve many different genre's. An example of multiple genre's in one postmodern media is the canadian T.V show 'Flight of The Concords'. It is essentially a comedy. However it also is considered a musical and mockumentary with many intertexual references. The Windig Refn film 'Drive' also features many different genre's, such as gangster, crime, fairytale and romance. The inclusion of many different genre's is unconventional and make the media postmodern. The idea of having many different genre's could confuse some people as we can not associate the film with one specific genre. The different genre's also change the representation of a traditional ganger or crime with one specific genre. which some audiences may dislike.
Postmodern media can also involve music. Kirby Fergason suggests 'everything is a remix' and there is an element of irony as bands who sampled other bands are now being sampled by bands. Such as Beyoncé sampling 'Pon de Floor' by Major Lazer for her song 'Run The World (girls)' and then Beyoncé's song being remixed and sampled again. Music can somtimes reflect hypperreality, such as the TU-PAC performance at Coachella in 2012. The TU-PAC performance is admittedly not convincing as a literate audience would be aware he was killed many years before. Then again it could be argued that is was never mean't to be convincing, but more of a tribute. Another example of postmodern music is again, the confusion of specific genre's. Beyoncé crosses over from her original R&B genre to pop, soul, and hip-hop. This is postmodern as it displays the complexity and variation of an artist's work. Again some people may not like this, or may not be convince by an artist constantly challenging convention as they are not loyal to one. Beyoncé as a postmodern artist links to one of Jonathan Kramar's theories of music being 'not as autonomous but as relevent to social, political and cultural contexts'.
The increase in reality T.V shows such as 'Made in Chelsea' and 'keeping up with the Kardashians' is an example of complete hypperreality, as most of the 'reality' shows are completely scripted. This also has an element of irony. Postmodern T.V as well as film is a form of escapism, with viewers simply watching these reality shows (that aren't a reflection of reality) in order to escape from their own lives and enter the weird world of postmodern.
Overall, i agree that postmodern media is not for everyone's taste and is not always as easily understood by a mass amount of people. However there have been a number of very successful postmodern media's such as beyoncé music and Tarantino's films. The idea of postmodern as 'weird for being weird' is a valid opinion of someone who is not convinced by the term.
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