Why is postmodernism so appealing to a contemporary audience?
Internet Culture
Today's culture is based largely on the internet, the opening of many windows at the same time. There are sources available for everyone such as YouTube or Google that mix the high quality work with the trash. In many occasions it only depends on the viewer to choose between the two. This natural selectivity reflects on movies especially on those from the '90s and onwards. For example the greatest pioneer was Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, which builds around 3-4 different story lines organises them in a non-linear way, which keeps the audience hooked up from the first moment to the last. Due to the success of this movie many filmmakers intended to reproduce this set-up, although, even Tarantino failed to recreate the same environment and mood for a film that regenerates the same excitement in the audience. The style has grown quickly from independent to mainstream and affected even such traditional comic-book heroes as Batman The Dark Knight, or the concept of Inception (a dream within a dream within a dream etc.).
Internet is the scene where the viewers can interact with each other and the filmmakers, give opinions, find similar films they might like or buy other products. The minute they start to wear a t-shirt with their favourite hero on it, the movie becomes a lifestyle, so the fans can feel part of the myth.
Fragmented narrative & Hybrid genres
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| Cobb and his (imaginary?) wife Mal |
Although it might seem that it is only something that have evolved recently in movies, deeply thinking of it, the fragmentation of story telling has always been part of our lives, so it seems quite natural to us. We might go further in time in linear, but some events are connected to each other through a great time-lapse. For example we might meet a friend, forget about the person, but it will affect our lives 5-10 years later when it's unexpected. Now it seems very likely that we would only mention that person
after the event has happened. For example in Inception, we suspect that there is some dark secret around the suicide of the main character's (Cobb's) wife, but we only hear the confession in the end.
The narrative structure often challenges conventions, which might seem odd, but as a result, most viewers nowadays get bored if they are forced to see something in chronological order, because they find it too predictable. It is evident to notice that some narrative structures are part of the genre conventions. For instance: the detective always solves the mystery by the end. E.g.: Agatha Christie's Poirot or Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Now what if the detective himself creates the mystery? Quite disturbing but interesting thought. (Eg.: Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige). We are never reassured in Inception that the characters are actually real and not just part of a dream.
Even Batman which follows a linear line contains frequent parallel cuts (which raise anticipation) and flashbacks (which provide background stories and include strong emotions).
Hyper-reality and audience response
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| A fan's drawing of Bane |
Now if we watch a film there is a wide range of platforms connected to it: we get to download the music (iTunes), the cast and crew's information (IMDb), gossip (magazines, TV), souvenirs (t-shirts, mugs, toys etc.) and above that there are the digital forms such as DVD, Blu-Ray, iPod etc. Therefore it is essential that the story introduces interesting characters, but leaves enough questions for the fans to create their own imaginary world out of it. That is one of the reasons why the popularity of trilogies and sagas increased in the last few years - they offer new concepts but leave space for dreams. For example the new villain (Bane) in Christopher Nolan's Batman The Dark Knight Rises was based on completely on the fans drawings and ideas they shared on Facebook and other social networking sites. The fans of Inception created sites and blogs for each and every character of the movie above the official website.
Credible heroes
Let's have Batman's example. Traditionally a comic-book hero is an instinctively good person, lives a full life, saves people etc. Lately the trend is to portrait the hero as troubled person whose past haunts him. E.g.: in Inception Cobb blames himself for his wife's death, in Batman Bruce Wayne blames himself for his parents death. It doesn't mean that the heroes are more real than before, but for the viewer it is easier to connect to them emotionally. Everyone recognises the meanings of childhood, grieve, hard work, love, lack of love, betrayal etc. However, interpretations make the differences in everyone's mind, so they might feel connected to the hero because they also lost their parents or also have been victims of crime and so on.
Applicability
The gritty portrayal of hero almost ties the filmmakers to show the villain even darker. Although the morals are not as clear as in conventional views, the strongest message is that taking a life is definitely wrong.
E.g.: Batman despises killing people might they be innocent children or murderers. To the contrary his opponent Joker kills a many for 'philosophy'. Many critiques have identified this type of villain with the senseless killings of 9/11 and the Iraqi-an War. In postmodernism nothing can be declared to be a clear metaphor or anecdote of anything, but we can certainly notice similarities and apply them to reality.
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| 'Some men just want see the world burn.' |
At some points Inception implies that the danger is below the surface by comparing the idea to a virus both being 'highly contagious' and dangerous. This point of view awakens an awareness of our own imperfections, mirrors the fact that anyone can make mistakes or even kill.
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| An idea is the most resilient parasite |
Although we never see clear religious or political sides in either Batman or Inception, both are American, therefore the main ideology is American, which favours the general freedom and democracy. Films often reflect the public fear of losing these two, either in the way of terrorism, anarchy or a natural catastrophe which also leads to chaos.
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