Postmodern Media - Wednesday 10th - Friday 12th March

Postmodern media texts tend to portray sequences of events not in chronological order, with the use of flashbacks. This can be seen in the film 'Blow' 2001 Ted Demme where the last scene is shown at the beginning of the film. This 'non linear narrative is used to engage the audience to force them to become more actively involved in the understanding of the film. Other texts which use similar non linear fragmentation are: Pulp fiction, 24 and lost.

Fragmentation can also be used to show a range of character conventions in relation to values, for example family. Simpson's is a classic text to mention when speaking about family values. The running motif throughout the animated series is that no matter what happens the family will not be broken up, despite various changes in circumstances. This can also be seen in relation to family guy, although the focus seems to be less on values and more on a very erratic/random narrative to create comedy.

The Coen Brothers

The Coen brothers use a range of postmodern traits in their films, such as a hypereality. A hypereality is created via the use of 'allegory'. This can be clearly seen in 'O'brother where art thou'2000 - Ethan and Joul Coen. The film represents the classic tale 'The Odyssey'. This is done by taking the general narrative of the Odyssey and reconstructing it applying it to a more contemporary text. Playing with a classic text keeps an audience active as they are constantly having to differentiate between the classic tale and the hybrid that has been created.

A pastiche is another postmodern trait used in O' brother. The films opening titles intertextualised the same traditional music and font style as old fashioned silent films. It can be argued that by infusing the Odyssey with a narrative that involves such a juxtaposition of character traits, with the heroes of the Odyssey being portrayed as low status convicts to some extent unsantifies the entire text, which again portrays a lack of values. The ways in which the Coens have represented the Odyssey are subtle and require an active audience. A example of how the Odyssey has been represented can be seen through the 3 convicts being chained together at the start of the film representing the three headed hydra of the Odyssey. There is also a link between the convicts being drawn towards the singers in the forest and the sirens at sea.