(Stam.R. & Miller.T. 2000. Film Theory an Anthology. Oxford. Blackwell)
Postmodernism has been present in opposite political senses. One current idea is of ‘ideology critique’ for the new era which will result in the demystification of media texts. It can also be used to decree the death of utopian alternatives using its language to define ‘existing capitalism’. In his book The Anti Aesthetic(1983) Hal Foster discusses the political contradictions that exist within post-modern discourse as well as identifying differences in neo conservatism, anti-modernism and critical postmodernism which argues for a ‘culture of resistance’ to act as an opposite to the culture of modernism as well as the ‘false narrativity of reactionary postmodernisms’.
Postmodernism has contributed to film theory by drawing attention to the shift towards a cinema more aware of the media with varying styles and the recycling of iconic imagery. Much of the theory associated with postmodernism has involved the positing of a post-modern aesthetic, this is evident in films such as David Lynchs’ Blue Velvet (1982) and Quentin Tarantinos’ Pulp Fiction (1994).
(Stam.R. & Miller.T. 2000. Film Theory an Anthology. Oxford. Blackwell)
One of the most significant lessons of post-modern theory is that any assumption about what constitutes ‘culture’ and ‘critical analysis’ are subject to intense debate. If there is something in common then it is that there is a determination to describe it something other then modernism.
Despite the confusion and contradiction surrounding the subject, there are evident features of a post-modern piece of work. These include the following, it moves away from abstraction and geometrics in order to be familiar and mass produced. Purity is replaced with eclecticism, there would be internationalism with cultural specify and invention including rearticulation. The significance of these and their ramifications remains a matter of debate. The emergence of postmodernism is seen as an ‘uneven’ development as its appearance affects all forms of media.
To discuss postmodernism in that at its worst it is said that it reduces politics to a spectator sport where we react to pseudo events through polls or call in tabloid news programmes. If you think of Pop Idol, Big Brother even 9/11. At its best it makes us aware that new times need new strategies. What it also teaches us is that nearly all political struggles will take place in the realm of the mass media.
(Stam.R. & Miller.T. 2000. Film Theory an Anthology. Oxford. Blackwell)
Modernism was about creating institutions and postmodernism was about deconstructing these as well as denouncing the metanarratives that promote social injustices. These are both influenced by changes over time and in an ever more electronic era a question is where do we go from here? The ever growing influence of the internet as well as digital television are going to have a large bearing on the future for modernism and postmodernism, as Smith said ‘Postmodernism is dead. What now?’
(Postmodernism is dead. Now What? Distributed Culture and the rise of the Network Age. Samuel R Smith.)
In order to provide an insight to how the city, the cinema and modernity are related I am going to discuss the film Blade Runner (Ridley Scott 1982). For this I am going to use. I shall achieve this by using a piece of writing titled ‘Blade Runner and the future city’ (Steven Rawley 1999 ‘). I have chosen to use this as it provides a good example that relates the film to the theme of this assignment.
Fig 1. Movie Poster
The film is about a cop played by Harrison Ford who investigates and has to ‘retire’ three robots called replicants who are searching for their meaning but only have a limited life span. The film is set against a futuristic backdrop of a city that is a vision of the future with many links to the past.
The film depiction of Los Angeles is indicated in the title screen ‘LA 2019’. This is an obvious way of placing the viewer in a time and place without actually showing how that has presented yet. In terms of its post-modern tendencies these are achieved by the use of pastiche. This is evident in the production design as it displays different historical styles especially in terms of the architecture.
In the representation of urban decay this echoes the acceleration of the industrial process and recycling under capitalism. The parts of the replicants being out served to street vendors are an extension of the process of the industrial revolution. The short life span of the replicants, due to the intensity of their lives suggests an accelerated experience under postmodernism. Post-modern ideals about the mediation of life through the elimination of ‘real’ history are evident through the emphasis on memory.
There is confusion as to where the film is set, as it switches from different settings based around Los Angeles and New York. The result is hybrid that resembles Los Angeles. This can be seen when Deckard travels to the Tyrell Corporation, his view revealing a suburb reminiscent of Los Angeles. It must be noted that the high rise buildings are suggestive of New York and the advertising board that dominates is suggestive of Times Square. The film is a way from being post modern view of Los Angeles as it isn’t convincing enough as a view of futuristic Los Angeles.
Fig 2. Shot of the city.
The city, cinema and modernity have always been linked and the relationship between Blade Runner and New York with modernism has several aspects to it. The beginning of the twentieth century was a period of high modernist thinking and when cinema started to grow. It was in New York that the ultimate metropolis was represented. Blade Runner with its vertical forms was also inspired by this. New York is full of modernist architecture this distracts when defining New York as modernist city. Modernist planning is based around ‘large scale metropolitan wide, technologically rational and efficient urban plans backed by absolutely no frills structure’ according to David Harvey who wrote about functionalism in architecture. Another writer Bukatman claims that the film has modernist ideals this is represented in the city streets and architecture and their influence by functionalism. The city was more heterogeneous as New York when it was modernist city before postmodernism, what Bukatman also talks about is that modernism is rejected in the film although some modernist experiences are revisited.
(‘Blade Runner and the future city’ Steven Rawley 1999.)
What can cause a problem is that the term modernism is dominated by architecture which is rigid and the more inter-changeable movement that is characterised by New York being seen as a metropolis. There are links to both modernism as well as post-modernism in the film and it is also suggested that the film has a medieval theme to it. Since the middle ages there have been negative images of the city. By representing urban decay and squalor it is a simple way of representing a future urban nightmare. In Blade Runner this is distorted as the city is partially over crowded and the street is vibrant whilst the buildings are derelict.
In the film the representations of Los Angeles with their links to modernism (New York, high density) and to post-modernism (endless suburbs, decentralisation) enables the film to contain utopian and dystopian elements.
What the film stands out for is that it anticipated the anxieties of post-modern futures. The film has also been praised as it chose not to represent a suburban hell although this makes the film less challenging and easier to fit into established genres. What is in the film though is an escape as it is assumed that there will be none for the characters. Deckard and Rachel they discuss leaving the city, this leaves the representation that an under class have to live with the urban decay as people have already left. In conclusion the film has both modernist and post modernist aspects to it due to its links with the history of the influences of both. The film was ahead of its time for its technical achievements as well as its representation of the story on the screen. The film was also re-released and still managed to gain wide acclaim and recognition.
(‘Blade Runner and the future city’ Steven Rawley 1999.)
I am now going to discuss the film, Falling Down (Joel Schumacher. 1992).
I am going to use the film to discuss the post-modern representation of the urban as well as the city. In order to achieve this I am going to use a piece of writing by Elisabeth Mahoney titled ‘The People in Parentheses-space under pressure in the post modern city.’ This piece of work offers a feminist viewpoint of postmodernism as well as the city. For this reason I believe it will serve as a good example.
Fig 3. Movie poster
When you speak about the urban it brings spatial paradigms and metaphors into discourse. The way in which we see the city is based upon fantasies and architectural projections of future space and time. Cities within a post-modern era are places for analysing the links between spatial categories and their dominant structures.
(The People in Parentheses – space under pressure in the post-modern city. Elisabeth Mahoney.1997)
The post-modern city has been seen as a place of difference and of fragmentation. There are many theorists that claim the post-modern is marked as a different experience to the urban. This raises the question that does it produce different configurations of space in theories and fiction.
The subjectivity of the person in the post-modern is the ‘product of urban experience’ as it is performative, decentred and fluid this is due to the relations between identity and the urban becoming ruptured. It seems that depending upon the individual experience of the urban that a different theoretical practice needs to be considered. The theoretical space has to jettison linearity and panoptic vision in order for otherness, difference and eclectic into view.
The way in which Maloney uses Falling Down is a piece of work that represents the post-modern city as it contains eclecticism difference and otherness as mentioned previously. What she also states is that the film presents a negative view of the urban as mentioned during the discussion about Blade Runner and it also displays the simultaneity of urban living.
The film Falling Down starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall is based upon a post-modern city of alienation and fragmentation.
( People in Parentheses – space under pressure in the post-modern city. Elisabeth Mahoney.1997)
The narrative centres around the journey of William Foster played by Michael Douglas and Pendregast a police officer about to retire played by Robert Duvall. The two men are attempting to ‘go home’ in their separate ways. They both have wives Pendregasts’ wife is paranoid and Foster’s has left him with his child although he still lives in the house. From the very beginning of the film we see the world through Fosters eyes as the first shot is from his mouth which represents his point of view. He is also seen as going on an impossible journey also considered fantasy. Foster is seen as the last of an existing order that has disappeared. His name in the credits is replaced by his license plate ‘D-FENS’ this indicates that his character has completely changed.
Fig 4. Road block scene
The construction of the urban space as violent and out of control triggers Fosters journey. The film is set in Los Angeles and is constructed as claustrophobic as well as being stagnant. For example the traffic queue, Garfield toy and Foster’s car all represent an alien landscape.
The narrative of the film set in two spaces highlights the alienation of Foster who appears to have no ownership as the space of the city has been inhabited by ‘others’. The city is contrasted with the safety of home.
( People in Parentheses – space under pressure in the post-modern city. Elisabeth Mahoney.1997)
In the scene where there is drive by shooting Foster is seen as having no place in either the urban or domestic spaces in the narrative as the gang see him cross the street his wife tells him on the phone that it not his home. Later in this scene as Foster crosses the street his shirt still white this potrays him as the ‘other’ or away from the corrupt world. There are two scenes that start to get to the root of Foster’s displacement. This is where the scenes in the park are crossed with the police interviewing his wife at home. In the Park he attempts to board a bus and fails the feeling of claustrophobia resurfaces as there is a large crowd. This is contrasted with the security of home as he sees a poster saying ‘I love you daddy’ this also reinforces his frustrations. In the second scene he is confronted with a circus of eclecticism as he meets the mad and the lonely, there are buskers, beggars also a fight breaks out. All this attacks his senses and a sign saying ‘NO MATTER/NEVER MIND’ suggests that the lack of connection communication is being celebrated. The space in the film is not only applicable to Foster and his wife, but also his mother she is cut off from reality and only talks about her collection of glass animals. The two spaces that are seen his childhood and marriage this shows his inability to deal with places he used to inhabit.( People in Parentheses – space under pressure in the post-modern city. Elisabeth Mahoney.1997)
The same can said for Pendregast whose wife has made him feel isolated from his home as well as withdrawing himself from life. The only safe place that the characters have is their memories. This shares a similarity with Blade Runner although in that film the memory or history was what their goal was. This takes them back to a time when the space they occupied was assured and unquestioned. There are scenes that show family videos filmed by Foster which is modernist concept as well as Pendregast’s daughter who died age at the age of two. Pendregast is able to complete his journey as he
Fig 5. Family video scene.
Does not retire, another link with Blade Runner, he claims a new place in the urban space. Foster is unable to achieve his goal and as he does dies struggles to understand his place when he says ‘I’m the bad guy, How did that happen?’.
What I have done in this assignment is provide some background to modernism and post-modernism in order to understand the basis for the theories that I have mentioned in this assignment. I have chosen two at first seemingly different films yet they share so much in common when related to the city or modernity.
REFERENCES
- Postmodernism is dead. Now What? Distributed Culture and the rise of the Network Age. Samuel R Smith.
- Stam.R. & Miller.T. 2000. Film Theory an Anthology. Oxford. Blackwell.
- ‘Blade Runner and the future city’ Steven Rawley 1999.
- People in Parentheses – space under pressure in the post-modern city. Elisabeth Mahoney.1997.
- Hodge. R & Gunther. K. Social Semiotics. Polity Press. Cambridge. 1988.
- Bignell. J. Media Semiotics. Manchester University Press. 2002.
VISUAL IMAGES
- BladeRunner. Ridley Scott. 1982. Google.co.uk
- Falling down. Joel Schumacher. 1992. Google.co.uk
