Postmodernism part 10: Shaun of the Dead

The final film we watched for our Postmodernism lecture is Shaun of the Dead(2004)



The film is about the world being infected by Zombies and our hero Shaun has to save the people he cares about and take them to the pub for safety until the whole zombie situation calms down.
This film is considered postmodern for taking a complete twist on the Zombie genre, instead of having cool looking characters we have an average man who works at a electronic shop and his freeloading buddy who's a slob going their way to save the people they care about. The main characters even planned on how the two of them will pull off the big rescue and take everyone to a safe place, but it all blew up in their faces. The people slowly died one by one and they had to destroy the pub which they thought was safe, and all of this happened in one day.
This movie is also a pastiche of classic Zombie horror films by referencing quotes from past Zombie films to how the the Zombies act and how to kill them. However even though there was a lot of chaos in the movie, the main characters still had fun with it, like killing the zombies, running them over to actually acting like them.
Funnily enough this movie is considered a romantic comedy even though there weren't many elements of romance, there were a lot of comedy and horror, I guess you can see Shaun saving his girl friend as part of the romance side but not much.
This movie is a complete parody of Zombie movies and a good one, has all the stuff a parody of the genre would have and much more.

Postmodernism part 9: Psycho 1998 Remake

The next film we watched for Postmodernism is the 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho staring Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates.



The story is about a murder mystery of Marion Craine, who embezzled the company she was working for and was on the run. The police, a detective and even her sister and Marion's lover is looking for her with the leads pointing towards the Bates Motel as her last known location.

This film is considered postmodern for being a shot by shot remake of the 1960's classic. It had some changes here and there to show times has changed but the majority shots are the same from opening credits to the end. A lot of the public did not like this film because it is a copy of the old film with not many new ideas of its own. However there are many ways to interpret this film, one can see this as tribute to the old film for being true to it's source or a coloured version of the old film. As for me I see it as a true remake for being unoriginal and shouldn't be shunned for that but in fact it should be praised for being a proper remake.

Postmodernism part 8: Dancer in the Dark

The next film we watched for Postmodernism is 'Dancer in the Dark' staring Bjork as the main character Selma Jezkova.



The plot of the film is about Selma, a struggling mother who is going blind, getting money for her son's operation but it wasn't easy because she had to go through a lot of obstacles, one of which is to keep her job while hiding her condition form her boss, attending her play recitals and saving up the money.
The reason this film is considered Postmodern is because it is a musical within a musical, focusing on the main character's fixation on musicals that it always makes her happy and she wants to be in one herself. However unlike other musicals this film ends in a sad ending instead of the typical happy ending.
What I Believe also makes this film Postmodern is how it feels like a play, the way it transitions from one place to another and how the actors act. What else gave this movie theater feel is how the ending ends, when the curtain closes on the Selma with the camera panning upwards, having the actors stop moving with no sound playing, helping us suck in the atmosphere that this moment is meant to be intense.
I like this film because it has us feeling sorry for the main character Selma that a lot of bad things happens to her but she is an innocent character that it seems no good rewards come to her, but it does when she got the money for her son's operation. Thats why I like this movie because even though it ends in a sad note you can still feel a bit happy for her knowing that she was able to help her son.

(On a personal note, the other reason I like this film is that how tough having blindness is and I could relate because someone dear to me is going through that soon which is my sister. To get an idea of the level of blindness she has, get a straw from the nearest shop and look through it, thats whats going to happen to her soon until she sees nothing but darkness. No need to worry because she is strong and is also looking for solutions to cure it or at least finding new ways to see thing.)

Postmodernism part 7: The Truman show

The next film we watched for Postmodernism is The Truman Show.



The film is about Truman Burbank discovering that his life is not what it seems. That his world has certain routines. The way people walk, talk and the way they act. Soon he learnt that his life was a TV show for peoples amusement and he wants out.

This movie is considered Postmodern because it has the character challenging the Director. That he does not want to be kept in a cage and wants to live his own life.
What made this film interesting is that Truman knows how his world operates and how to escape as well, the problem is how he is going to execute it.
Another thing that makes this film interesting is the idea of a man (Truman) taking on something that is bigger than him, like he is challenging god (the director), that he demands his own independence even if it cost him his life.
That's why I like this movie because it is a story of someone small fighting something that is bigger than him.
Now a days television is trying to replicate that feeling by making reality tv which in my opinion is a waste of time, because in realities tv the people know they have to entertain the public but they do it in such an odd way that it felt acted, like people fighting each other or running around naked, example big brother.
However in Truman Show he is a born character living in the life of fiction believing it was reality, and what made this film more successful is how it gives the actual audience a taste of Truman's life of how the audience in the film watches his show.

Narrative Lecture part 6: Dracula(1958)

The next film we have watched for the Narrative lecture is Dracula.




The film is about Doctor Van Helsing investigating the case of Count Dracula and also looking for his missing partner Arthur. Soon Helsing found his partner but has to dispose of him because he has became a vampire. Later Helsing has to protect the family of his partner's fiance from Count Dracula.
The purpose of watching this film is to see a British adaptation of the classic Dracula book. Which is interesting because the film plays on the appearance of British society, with the people in a pub being quiet and don't want any trouble, while the upper classes wants to know whats going on around their homes. It even plays on their appearances and the way the public talks as well. With people from the lower classes wearing old tattered clothes and talking in a rough tone to having the higher classes being well dressed and spoke in a posh manner.
The strengths of the film is the opening sequence with the camera moving towards the castle of Count Dracula to zooming into the his coffin with blood dripping on his name, this shows that something is strange about Dracula himself. The other is how the clothes specks about the character a bit more, with Dracula his clothes is black with a red inside this shows that Dracula has a creepy feel around, while looking at Van Helsing clothes you feel safe yet worried when around him.
The weakness is that the film has bad pacing, an example would be the beginning. The film did not left too much of a mystery on Dracula we are introduce and we instantly know that something is up with him. Few minutes later it is reveled that he is a vampire, it did not left any room for the audience to think about the strangeness of Dracula.
I did not like the film too much because the acting felt stale, it didn't have the level of acting to make the film more interesting. The music was quiet most of the time and only plays when something dramatic happens, there is no mysterious background music when something questionable happens.

Postmodernism part 6: Adaptation.

The film we watched for Postmodernism is Spike Jonze 'Adaptation.'.




The movie is a about a screen writer named Charlie Kaufman who is struggling to write a story based on the book 'The Orchid Thief' which is different from what he is use to writing. Having him doing massive research on the book and still have nothing to write. He goes to orchid gardens, writer seminars with a famous writer even asked his brother for some help, until he finally decided to write about himself writing his troubles on working on the screenplay for the film.

To me this movie has a Mulholland Drive feel to it, by that I mean it has many stories with lots of characters, but unlike Mulholland Drive, Adaptation goes in a straight motion without making too many side stories that it confuses the audience.
The number of stories I can see in this film is three. The first being the main character Charlie Kaufman, who is struggling in writing a screen play based on the book that was given to him. The second is the other main character Susan Orlean, who is on a quest in looking for the ghost orchid to see what is so special about it. Finally the third is when Kaufman comes across the love affair between Orlean and her lover John Laroche and she wants to cover it up by killing Kaufman.
What makes this film Postmodern is that it is based on the screen writer's actual difficulty in writing the screen play for the book. From him looking for help in writing his screen play to actually writing something that felt a bit too far fetched to be real, mostly near the end.

Postmodernism part 5: Funny Games U.S.

The next film we watched for our Postmodernism Lecture was Funny Games U.S.(2008)



The plot of the film is about Paul and Peter meeting the new family around the area acting neighbourly until the two of them holds the family hostage and challenge them into a game. If the family can stay alive by morning, if they do Paul and Peter will leave them alone but it won't be that easy.
This film is postmodern because the creator of the film remade this for the American audience and it kept most of the same scenes from the previous film released in Germany under the same name. It is also a new take on horror because Peter and Paul are not you typical killers. They are polite but also very creepy and they always ask in questions, an example is when Paul had a golf ball in his hand and he asked the family why does he have it, hinting out that he killed someone. What else made this film creepy is that Paul and Peter gave the family many choices but twist it to their favour. The film also constantly breaking the forth wall with Paul talking to audience by saying along the lines of do you want to see this horrible thing thats happening to this sweet family. While Peter plays the role of the audience by questioning the things they are doing like are you sure you want to let them live a little long we could end this right now. Even their origins of why they are torturing the family while in other horror films the killer has a reason why they are killing people but for them they don't they just doing it.
The film also teases the audience a lot too, by having one of the family members escaping but gets caught, having the phone working but can't call no one. Even have Peter getting shot but Paul brought him back to life by turning back time with a remote control.
So in conclusion this film is not meant to be enjoyed if you want a happy ending and it completely teases the audience to a high level.

Postmodernism Lecture part 4: Moulin Rouge!

This time we looked at a Postmodernism in musical romance, and the film we watched as an example was Moulin Rouge! (2001)

The film is about Christian, a young writer, moving to Paris to learn about love. He went to a cabaret called the Moulin Rouge where he meets an actress name Satine. The two of them fell in love but a jealous duke won't allow it so he is finding different ways to prevent them from being together.

This film was amazing, it uses a lot of cliche romance rules. Examples of this would be the story for having the hero falling in love with a woman who is out of his league. The woman is also involve with someone powerful, but in the end the woman and the hero falls in love. Another part of it's clicheness to romantic stories is when the characters sings out their feelings.
The Postmodernism of the film comes from the music it uses. They are not made up but are actual songs preformed by actual singers. It only has one song that belongs to itself which is the main song but the rest are from other performers. Another example of Postmodernism is the pacing of the film, it began with a very fast pace which I believe is the point of view of Christian where he first entered Moulin Rouge and everything was fast and wild. The film then slows down putting us as the audience once again to see how will this love story will unfold.
This pacing is Postmodern because of how fast the first few minutes started out. You have Christian meeting his neighbours, being invited to the Moulin Rouge, meeting the girl of his dreams, asked to make a play for the Moulin Rouge and keep the love affair a secret from the duke. That when the film slows down you do not remember what happened but you know that Christian have a job of writing a play and has to keep his love affair a secret. In other words in those first few minutes we are Christian and when the film slows down we are back as the audience.