Postmodern media break the rules of representation. Discuss.

There are a number of elements that can be seen in postmodern media texts which set it aside from modernism. Postmodern texts often break the rules/codes generic conventions which an audience expects to see.

The Nicholas Winding film ‘Drive’ confuses representations regarding genre. The film has a gangster genre due to the grotesque violence, such as in the elevator scene where the films protagonist Ryan Gosling kicks someone to death. On the other hand the relationship displayed between Ryan Gosling (‘The kid’) and Carey Mulligan (Irene) suggest more of a romance genre, with a stripped back narrative. Another genre that could be applied to ‘Drive’ is a fairy-tale genre. The film has all the crucial character’s needed for a fairytale, with Carey Mulligan acting as the princess in need of rescuing, the ‘bad guys’ being the gangsters, and Ryan Gosling’s character (often referered to as the unidentified ‘kid’) acts as the hero. However it could be argued that his violent actions display more of a monster, not a hero. This can be seen after he kills the man in the elevator and the close-up on his face displays the look of a psychopath.The clashing of genre’s represented in the movie ‘Drive’ can be considered postmodern as normally movie producers would stick to one genre in order for the audience to identify with. However in  ‘Drive’ the rules of representation are broken because the audience cannot identify the film with one specific genre. Theorist Jacques Derrida suggests that ‘there is no genreless text’ and I agree with this theory as it applies to Drive. Drive could also be considered as a bricolage due to the these many genre’s re-worked into one movie.

Another example of a postmodern film which breaks the rules of representation in a similar way to ‘Drive’ is the 2009 Tarantino film ‘Inglorious Basterds’. The opening scene is a pastiche of the film ‘the sound of music’ and displays slight irony as ‘The sound of music’ is about freedom and everything good in the world, whereas in Tarantino’s film a Jewish family are about to be killed. This film displays the postmodern feature of parodies as the film follow’s Nazi killing soldier’s played by nearly all American actors. The self-mocking of Brad Pitt's character and extensive amount of dialogue displays Leotards suggestion of a 'micro-narrative', where the narrative is unpredicatable. Brad Pitt who plays the role of ‘Aldo Raine’ who breaks normal representations of soldiers by having a pristine uniform, neat hair and an over the top Tennessee accent. This also displays elements of hypereality as soldiers who have been scalping and fighting nazi’s would not maintain such a clean uniform. One of the scenes which includes the soldiers replicates that of scene in the older film ‘The dirty Dozen’. As a director, Tarantino replicates many scene’s in his movie’s from a spaghetti Western genre. This can be heard in the soundtrack for ‘Inglorious Basterds’ as the song ‘Slaughter’ by Billy Preston is played when Hugo Stiglitz is introduced to the audience. Another recent example of Taratino using a Western genre is in his most recent film ‘Django Unchained’ where there is a Mexican stand-off that replicates that of the one in ‘The Good The Bad And The Ugly’. The inclusion of a western style to modern films again, breaks rules of normal representation as the reader is confused by the hyppereal “war film”.

Quentin Tarantino’s 90’s film ‘Pulp Fiction’ also breaks the rules of representation due to it having a time twisting narrative. The film has been describes as a ‘delirious postmodern mix of neo-noir thrills’, this is because of it’s mix of gangster/crime genre. The film incorporates four different story lines, from the professional mob hit-men, to the crackhead wife, and the amateur criminals In an American diner. Having these chronology shifts in the film confuses an audience’s idea of a crime film representation. The time twisting narrative also displays hyperreality and reminds the audience they are watching a fictitious film. Pulp Fiction has an interesting soundtrack as it features a western style song ‘Girl you’ll be a woman soon’ – by Urge Overkill. This song is synchronous to the narrative/actionof Mia Wallace dancing around her apartment. In Tarantino’s recent film ‘Django Unchained’ a modern hip-hop song (Rick Ross- ‘Black Coffins’) is included in a postmodern film set during 1850’s. This confuses the audience and distorts time. Having this song included into a film set in 1850’s creates a new idea in relation to representation in postmodern films.

When discussing how a postmodern media breaks representations it is important to consider Winding’s film ‘Drive’ and the use of the setting. The film is supposedly set in the city of L.A, which we associate as being busy and full of glamorous people. However this representation has been broken due to the over the city night shots displaying more of a ghost town, with hardly any car’s on the road or people on the streets. The representation of a glamerous lifestyle in L.A is also broken due to ‘the kid’ living in a small apartment and dressed fairly casually. The protagonist in the film is a getaway driver and is unidentified to the audience and simply referred to as ‘The Kid’. This is another postmodern element to the film and creates a sense on mystery surrounding the protagonist.

Postmodern media doesn’t just involve film. T.v shows such as ‘flight of the concords’ and ‘The Simpsons’ can also be considered postmodern and break rules of representation through the use of parodies, such as The Simpsons having a pastiche of lady gaga in an episode.  These T.v shows can be a form of escapism for viewer's as representations of the real world are blurred between the fictional.

Music can also be considered postmodern and break rules of representation. The TU-PAC performance at Coachella in 2012 is an example of how music can be hyperreal. The hologram of TU-PAC displayed complete hypereality as many will know he was killed years before. David Bowie is another postmodern artist who began his career as an artist and then found his way in the music industry in the 70’s. All of David Bowie’s albums have a different genre of sound. This is postmodern as Bowie displays his complexity and variation by exploring nearly every genre of music. Another postmodern music artist is Beyoncé. Beyoncé has previously sampled Major Lazer – ‘pon de floor’ for her song ‘Run the World’. This can be seen as postmodern as she has taken inspiration from the past and made it relevant for a modern audience. Theorist Jonathan Kramer suggests music as ‘not as autonomous but relevant to social, political, and cultural context’. This can be applied to Beyoncé as she took inspiration from African music and choreography. This breaks rules of representation as she then uses the African influences in a hip-hop/pop song, resulting in the song not being convincing for an audience who prefer or believe the original origins/representations of this music.