Typical post mod question

Taken from OCR - so it's almost straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak...

Postmodern Media
1.  ‘Discuss two or more more media texts that you would define as ‘postmodern’ and explain why you would give them this label. Cover at least two media in your answer.
  MARRS – Pump Up the Volume. A seminal 1987 UK No.1 that was one of the first
tracks to feature samples from other records and had a huge influence on
establishing sampling as a core element of dance music.
  AMV (Anime Music Videos) – fan created cut ups of anime videos using digital
video editing software and alternate music tracks.
  Quentin Tarantino films – numerous intertextual references to a variety of genres
and icons. Kill Bill is a prime example. The martial arts genre is heavily
referenced by Uma Thurman wearing a similar yellow jumpsuit to Bruce Lee and
the use of the original actors from the ‘70s such as David Carradine and Gordon
Liu.

The above was taken straight from OCR.

You could, instead, reference Telephone and the intertextuality with Kill Bill / Ross Myers etc.

Write about how Kill Bill takes from Bruce Lee (as above)

Consider (maybe) Four Lions and how there is no meta narrative behind the story (ie terrorism isn't shown as good or bad. Terrorism just 'is'. As a viewer we're left to make up our own mind about the narrative (death of author etc)

Post mod work

Here's something for you to look at and consider.

Remember, the more you watch, the easier it is to identify postmod influences.

Look at:

Lady Gaga: Telephone
Watch Kill Bill

Consider the look of Betty Page (link to Jessie J look...)

Link Kill Bill / Telephone

Watch Telephone first.

Then conisder the look of Russ Myers films eg Faster Pussycat Kill Kill

See this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdLTIzrRrBo

Make sense about borrowing?

Ok.
Now look at Bruce Lee:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q9kYKtvYU0

Classic fight scene. Traditional oriental music accompanies the fight. People in traditional Gi (the fighting suits)

Now link this to Tarrentino in Kill Bill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jhTRqgTZSM

It's the same... Yet different.

Think about homage and pastiche. Is Tarrentino paying homage to Lee?

Costume... Very formal DJ for the men (black uniform), but the eye-bands give it the post modern feel.

No judgement is expected on the part of the audience. We are not supposed to feel good / bad / revolted by watching the violence. There is no narrative to it or point behind it.

Now watch the next scene...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3aFv8IQb4s

What are your initial thoughts?

How did you feel about it?

Was it 'cool'?

Was it stylish?

What cuture / convention / genre is being taken here?

Think about the Japanese media obsession with schoolgirl-look and Manga.

Scribble down a few comments now...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Then think that, in essence, you've just watched a schoolgirl get murdered.

Why is this postmodern? Did you make, or were you asked to make, a moral judgement based on what you just watched?

No.

Was there retrospective hand-wringing from parents / siblings / teachers?

If there were, it would 'tell' us what to think (eg sorry for the child and the death)

But's it's not. There's no call on us as viewers to make the moral decision as to what is right and what is wrong. Tarrentino doesn't tell us what to think.

This links in to Barthes and the death of the author idea... ie that 'it is not what is written that is important, only how it is interprited by the reader.'

Essentially, YOUR interpritation is all that counts, not what is intended by a writer / director / producer et al.

Work for Monday, March 11

Here you go...

Don't panic too much, but here's a typical exam question... Along with some help answering it.

Complete the table first of all (go online or refer to your notes to help you), then have a go at the question.

Link the numbers to the letters so, for example, 1 = K. You can have that one for free!

1. Post-modern	A To copy something in a humorous and tongue in cheek way.
2. Post-modernity	B A culture and society in which individual and collective identity is constructed in material acts of economic exchange e.g. shopping
3. Parody	C The semiotic landscape of a society dominated by consumer culture and information technology
4. Pastiche	D A copy without an original
5. Hyper-reality	E A historical period in Western culture after the Second World in which society became dominated by information technology
6. Consumer culture	F The knowledge and information that informs  people’s cultural consumption in a post-modern society
7. Simulacrum	G The basic units of semiotic analysis.
8. Cultural capital	H To copy something without humour, irony or anything else that communicates difference
9. Signifier and the signified	I The dominant way of thinking about society and culture enforced by the ruling class.
10. Multi-accentuality	J A system of belief or ideas.
11. Ideology	K The collapse of the distinction between the real and simulated.
12. Hegemony	L The way in which meaning changes according to context and over-time.

 THEN:

Consider the ways in which post-modern media challenge conventional relations between audience and text. Refer to at least two media forms in your answer. [50]

HELP:

Re-read the question and define in your own terms what is meant by the following words or phrases:

Post-modern 

Post-modernity

Conventional relations between audience and text

Post-modern relations between audience and text

Using the list below select texts in each category you would feel confident with looking at.

Remember to be specific e.g. don’t just say post-modern Art, say Damien Hirst.

Computer Games / Platforms

Play Station, Nintendo DS, wii etc, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Combat, Virtual Football Manager, Warcraft, CoD

Interactive Media

Internet, Social networking, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube etc.

Cinema

Blue Velvet, Desperate Living, Videodrome, The Graduate, Clockwork Orange, The Matrix, The Full Monty.

Television

Reality TV, Big Brother, Black Mirror, Life on Mars, Soap, Sitcom, Mighty Boosh, Flight of the Conchords.

Music Video

Eisenstein, Hollywood Musicals, Rock ‘n’ roll films, The Beatles, Queen, MTV, Michael Jackson, YouTube,

Advertising

Compare the Meerkat, Cadbury’s. FHM Sports Driver, viral marketing, niche marketing, multi-platform, interactive.

Art

Romanticism, Modernism, Post-modernism, Situationism, Surrealism, Pop Art, Saatchi Gallery, Turner Prize.

Homework... Finish this off!

Homework - male gaze

Ok, 1. Have a look at the following : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QA-ksOHP0bY It's a scene from Apocalypse Now, a classic movie. Deconstruct the scene and think how Mulvey's work relates. For example, how are both men and women shown? What are the instincts / ambitions of the men in the audience (and the cinema audience)? How are the women shown? What effect does the lighting have on the scene? Does this reinforce any of the comments or points you've made? What is the fetishistic gaze? Is it relevent? Are women exploited - what do you think? What are the connpotations with only male voices being heard? Try and write this as an essay - email it to me, but also add it to your blogs.

Look at these...

Look at this / these... http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/music-groundbreakingvideos/1/ http://whatculture.com/film/6-groundbreaking-films-that-redefined-their-genres.php http://www.ifc.com/fix/2009/06/50-greatest-trailers

Laura who?

Homework and lesson time: Make sure you have decided on a song / genre / sub genre Look at (or try to find) benchmark videos from the genre What does Laura Mulvey have to say about where viewers look... Crypic I know, but think how her views on the male gaze can be interprited by you in your own work. This is true for music vids and trailers... What draws a viewer's attention to a text et cetera.

A2 start

With the short film / trailer option, make sure you think about your effects. Obviously there's not the Hollywood resources to hand, but there's loads of cool stuff you can view and learn... If you're doing horror, buy some liquid latex and have fun experimenting with effects, below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzC85Tm-fMY Link from that to other ideas to get you started... If you're doing music video, there's nothing stopping you putting the whole band in some sort of makeup too! Remember... Research your genre, PLAN your ideas to the n'th degree and have a really clear plan in what you want to achieve. Plan, check, revise, repeat...