Scream Postmodernism Film Review

Fig1

Postmodern films attempt to subvert from narrative structure and characterisations that are mainstream conventions. This is so the text can test the audience disbelief. Usually postmodern films aim for something that isn't abiding by traditional narrative and this is done by breaking the divide in culture of high and low art and typical representations are inverted of things like , gender, race, class and genre and even time. Postmodernism is a reaction to the meta and is more interested In instability and fragmentation and contradiction. And this was seen as saving the type of genre of film after being postmodernised. This 1996 film was doing things differently from films like Halloween and Friday the 13th and that made it stand out as it had the following qualities.
"It's not where you take things from it's where you take them to."-Jean Luc Godard.
This quote describes this postmodernist film well as the film relies on everybody already understanding the codes and conventions of a slasher and the rigid formula within for example a group of teenagers doing things they shouldn't resulting in consequences i.e. getting drunk ,having sex and being killed off one by one. But usually these characters are not aware of this. In the film Scream the characters are aware of this formula and it is purposefully done because it is aware that the audience will have knowledge of this and also provide a sense of satisfaction and parody and therefore taking it into a different direction by using these satires and cliche's.

Fig2

An example of this could be when the teenagers use a famous one liner being ill be right back..but they get killed. And the other teenager Randy Meeks who himself as a character is a film fanatic being aware of the various consequences of what not to do to survive a horror film This. They even go as far to the teenagers watching a horror film in the film itself making it a postmodern film Because it uses its awareness of The ideology of slasher. It also relies on the audiences exploitation themes to that genre as a meta This characters representation is relating to people already know the systematic way this genre of film is played out and people who are not aware as he speaks them out loud which in the film can be quite fourth wall breaking from the fictional images on screen and the real inclining us to feel like they're being more direct to us as the consumer.

Fig3

Contradictiveness is used in Scream when there is the phone call and main protagonist and the character Ghost face which asks "do you like scary movies?" and Sidney Prescott Replies "Whats the Point they're all the same some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who cant act and is always running up the stairs when she be running out the front doormats insulting." This Quote shows that the character knows what is expected of the film and is poking fun at it but further she contradicts this by running up the stairs.  

Bibliography

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Goodreads.com. (2018). Postmodernism Quotes (159 quotes). [online] Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/postmodernism 

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