Final Essay (MEST4)

An Investigation of Postmodernism in Contemporary Film,

with Special Reference to Inception

The term 'postmodernism' became vaguely used for a number of approaches to philosophy, literature and the arts, which have in common a rejection of an earlier 'modernist' view.# It is commonly considered that we live in a postmodern world. However, many filmmakers, such as Quentin Tarantino, refuse to be categorized as ‘pomo’ artists. Some others, such as the Wachowski brothers (Matrix Trilogy) deliberately reference theorists such as Baudrillard. The returning aspects of films# are blurring of high and low art, mixing of cinematic styles, fragmented narrative, hyperreality, intertextuality, mini-narratives, subjectivity, self-reflexivity and open endings. On the other hand, theorists constantly rewrite the list. As a consequence of the fast development of technology, we spend more and more hours per day looking at screens. Computers enable us to have several windows open simultaneously. According to Ien Ang we are ‘living in a world of schizophrenically fragmented instants’ in a ’bricolage’ of information #.

The concept of a dream within a dream has been on the literary scene for centuries. However, contemporary art and cinema seems to put a big emphasis on the subject. 'The trick is that we want to be fooled.’# Baudrillard suggests that media has become our new reality, that the real and the mediated world collides into a simulacrum# through which we perceive life. In Inception, the protagonist Cobb loses the ability to distinguish reality from dreams. In my creative project I have taken this principle and twisted it around slightly. I have also adapted ideas from the 1960 Hungarian novel 'A gólyakalifa' (the stork caliph) by Mihály Babits, which was translated to English under the title of 'The Nightmare'. In this story the protagonist falls asleep and wakes up in another life everyday. What connects it to Inception is the addictive nature of dreaming: the urging need to be in a comforted situation, even if the price is the complete loss of control over reality. In Inception, many people enter the world of shared dreaming for hours and hours each day, as if there was no chance of living in any other conditions. The scenario is hauntingly reminiscent of that one explained in Gerbner's cultivation theory, but of course, here the role of television is replaced by dreams. The most shocking part of the film is the view that the only way out is suicide. Although the attempt is to avoid any references to religious background, this could be highly unacceptable even for such diverse societies as the American or British. Most religions deeply reject the idea of suicide, however common it might become in present or future days.

The question of auteurism often pops up in connection with the idea of postmodernism. If everything is taken from somebody else, then how can it be original? There is a considerable amount of originality and creativity in putting other people's work in a certain order#. The writer-director Christopher Nolan uses the recurring themes of blurring reality with imagination/ hallucinations and deception and self-deception, which elements combine to create recognisable filmic fingerprint. However, it is hard to consider him creating a brand of movie which is clearly identifiable - as on the case of other filmmakers such as Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino. Many fans claim that his labyrinthine narratives have made mainstream cinema more popular among fans of the indie. And it is true the other way as well: mass audiences finally have a chance to see more complicated stories and philosophical ideas. Also there are often lonely, troubled protagonists who are unwillingly forced to hide their true identity from the world. The hero often chooses the world of lies, dreams or fantasy instead of the pain to accept reality. His films usually revolve around characters that are afflicted with some kind of psychological disorder (phobia, dual personality, insomnia etc.) e.g. in Inception (2010), Cobb loses the ability to distinguish dreams from reality; in Memento (2000), Leonard has his 'conditioning', a memory problem, in Batman Begins (2005), Bruce Wayne suffers from bat-phobia sincere his childhood accident#. The villains often reflect the hero's mistakes and humiliate them in public. The antagonists mirror, question the hero. They are really ‘getting under his skin’.# Christopher Nolan is a Noir fan himself, and he deliberately uses elements from the ‘60s cinematic scene. The most recognisable element is that most of his films are set in an urban area. This also where he borrowed the tensity, countdown nature of storyline from. He admittedly mixes classical genres with however, he regards himself as a ‘very modernist’ filmmaker.# His endings have a recurring theme of justified dishonest, almost every time with the characters' fate open to interpretation. Typically concludes his films with a character giving a philosophical monologue#. Often ends his films with a jump cut to black and displays the title before the end credits.

Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch (2011) blends action, fantasy and drama. The director-producer is most commonly known for directing 300, and his obsession with stunning visuals. He is also currently working on superhero movie Man of Steel with Christopher Nolan.

It is unclear if Babydoll's hallucinations are due to her medication received in the mental institution, or come from her rejection of reality after the accidental murder of her own sister. However, she shows incredible bravery and selflessness. The distinction between reality and imagination often blurs, but a certain 'colour code' helps the viewers to cope. The real world is quite dark, greyish, while the first layer of dreaming is slightly more colourful but still contains references to reality, and the second layer is just absolute fantasy with monsters, dragons and spectacular fighting scenes.

Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan is about the internal struggles of a young girl against familial and sexual oppression. Aronofsky takes a rather masochistic approach to ballet. The price of stardom is incredibly high: who wins the fight for perfection is a question of life and death.

The blurring of high and low art is an aspect of postmodernism. However, some theorists, such as Adorno, consider classical sophistication far more important than pop culture. Others, such as Lyotard think that the favouring of one piece of art or the other depends on mere taste.

We constantly recycle the mediated past, such as Edith Piaf’s song ‘Je ne regrette rien’ in Inception. These are references to pop culture rather than simply stealing ideas and inevitable in the process of making memorable emotional connections with the audience. The question of originality has interested philosophers for centuries: even Aristotle thought that everything we create already exists. Human creativity highly depends on perception - therefore experience influences us to make new things#. We could simply say it like this: 'We all had films which made an impression to us when we were kids. This is a way of passing on to the next generation.'#

In today’s highly commercialised world, we can barely find any free space without ads (not even the cinema screen is sacred anymore) or shopping opportunities (e.g.: Amazon is linked to IMDb). In other words, we choose to be part of a consumerist world and accept the idea that it is possible to ‘buy’ happiness#. In films it is very common to include the list of used music in the ending credits, which enables the viewer to look for that song they liked. Of course today it its much easier to find them with websites such as YouTube. The habit of having more windows open at the same time actually affected the thinking of the general public: today's spectator is considered to be more of an associative thinker in comparison to our ancestors. It might be the reason that most filmmakers encourage us to dig into this pile of information online and get the most out of it. Such as in Sucker Punch, where all the songs are remixes of famous pop numbers. For example Sweet Dreams Are Made of These#, which has become infamous in Marilyn Manson's version. Or Where Is My Mind, which was originally by The Pixies and became the theme song of the cult film Fight Club.

Postmodern cinema employs non-linear storytelling techniques, often flipping around the three acts of a movie to tell the story in an interesting fashion or includes a number of flashbacks (e.g.: Inception). Although there are some, who still follow the linear structure and are still considered to be postmodern. In fact, there is no limitation of creativity here: a film can be completely or just partially CGI, the story can be reversed or all mixed up. What still connects these different styles is generally the subject matter. The recurring theme of questioning reality, the subjective nature of the truth, the sarcastic mockery of reality and the self-reflexive construction. The acknowledgement of the deceptive nature of perception often comes up as the main theme. For example, in Inception, the audience is aware that what the protagonist tells us is just one point of view, not the whole truth. In Sucker Punch, it becomes clear that somehow the imaginary world is connected with reality and there really is one winner in the end, the one who escapes and wins the chance for a happy life.

Postmodernists argue that narratives become more and more episodic. Ien Ang# considers TV as a main influence in decentralisation and fragmentation.  Anne Friedberg counts it amongst the numerous symptoms of the current 'postmodern condition’.  According to these two theorists, the control we get at home over the cinema, influences our way of living. The ability of stopping, forwarding and reversing DVDs and television results in changing our expectations of what a film or a programme should be. New moving image text very often end up in utter complexity or right the opposite: clean simplicity. Alain J.-J. Cohen has identified a new phenomenon in the history of film, the ‘hyper-spectator’. ‘Such spectator, who may have a deep knowledge of cinema, can re-configure both the films themselves and filmic fragments into new and novel forms of both cinema and spectatorship, making use of the vastly expanded access to films arrived at through modern communications equipment and media. The hyper-spectator is, at least potentially, the material (which here means virtual) creator of his or her hyper-cinematic experience.’ Therefore we assume that cinemagoers will need to be more sophisticated in films and filmmakers need to construct products which the audience (the new professionals so we could say) can appreciate.

However, critical appreciation is not everything a filmmaker can get. There is always some degree of fear for the unknown and new in society#. After the infamous Aurora massacre, Christopher Nolan had been accused of being ‘irresponsible’.# Viewers claimed that making villains sexually attractive, such as The Joker played by Heath Ledger, influences young consumers to identify with their socially distorted ideas. In the past there were many films facing the same criticisms such as Fight Club, Child’s Play and Clockwork Orange. However, in most people’s view, one bad example doesn’t prove that the whole media is wrong.#

Postmodernism is encouraged by the developments in technology, and is mostly associated with a post-industrial economy, which is more service-based, financially globalized and its society is typified by the rise of new information technologies. As the above description applies to our present days, presumably it brings up a few questions. For example, what can we expect in the next few years, perhaps decades? Is Postmodernism going to become a historical period, such as shall we say Renaissance or Modernism? After all, the name itself only comes from our habit of categorizing everything. This behaviour of labelling the new and weird is perhaps going to make these films more acceptable for us - or maybe less interesting, because we will know what to expect from the new genres.