Monday 23 March 2015

Essay

Most post modern media texts remove many formats of grand narrative. They are created purposely to question, as to whether we have a distinct ideal difference between what reality is and what reality isn't, due to there being no absolute.  As an audience, we believe a re-creation of real past truths are the most appealing products, however we are fooled into thinking they are a re-creation. Industrialisation was the platform for postmodernism.


In 'Django: Unchained' the film expresses the politics behind race and status. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Post modern films like to approach historical topics such as these in different ways. In Django: Unchained, Quentin Tarantino pays homage to 1966 Spaghetti Western film Django, and Mandingo, directed by Richard Fleisher in 1975, released by Paramount Pictures. However, Tarantino pays pastiche to other western films such as The KKK and Birth of a Nation by adding humour to a scene where the characters ride horses for an attack blind folded. As well as this, black Django played by Jamie Foxx becomes empowered by a white man, and therefore contradicts the real truth of this time period, meaning the film doesn't reflect history the way it actually occurred, resulting in the manipulation of time.


Music artists also manipulate time and space via simulacrum. An example of this is Miley Cyrus, as she represents herself through three different people - Miley Cyrus, Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana, all of which aren't her real name. This therefore exhibits to the consumer that she is a product rather than a person. As well as herself, her songs are also a product. In 'We Can't Stop' Cyrus samples sound from 'La Di Da Di' by Doug E Fresh, and then this was used in DJ Earworm's mash up United State Of Pop. This identifies that all songs in the industry are a remix of each other and therefore there are less and less originals each year. Therefore manipulating space.


Miley Cyrus was criticised in the press for damaging the image of a Disney character through her own new material and videos. An example of this would be the music video to her song Wrecking Ball, where she is explicitly revealed to her consumer. As well as this, Cyrus pays pastiche to Nicki Minaj via a photo posted to her fans on social network, mocking an iconic pose whilst wearing large gluteal pads to offend fans of Minaj. This image had a caption 'Hannah Conda' to mock the song 'Anaconda'.


Cyrus's latest album 'Bangerz' is an example of bricolage. She ranges from genres Hip Hop to Country to identify the contrast of influences the new album has, as well as a platform to express her vocal range. This showcases that she has manipulated time and space in the same period, by not only releasing different genres of music on the same album, but also releasing them as three different artists, demonstrating that she has no real identity.


Therefore, if time and space is constantly manipulated by the media it creates a structure for post modernism to continue to occur. However, it can be argued that directors, artists and song writers are becoming less different and more mainstream, due to excessive sampling. Furthermore, leading to a distinct fall in postmodern products because everything will end up becoming the same.










Tuesday 17 March 2015

Essay Plan

"Postmodern media manipulates time and space" To what extent does this definition apply to texts you have studied? 

Topic - Postmodern Media
Aspect - Apply to texts you have studied
Viewpoint - Manipulates time and space
Instruction - To what extent does this definition

Topic

Postmodernism

  • The rejection of modernism 
  • Offers truth, improvement, hierachy and order.
  • Grand Narratives are rejected - (The Big Bang)
  • Industrialisation created possibility for PoMo to exist because everything became identical 
  • Loss of identity = Simulacrum


Viewpoint









Space - an area / position in relation to something else
Time - linear measurement from start to finish







All songs are a remix or a form of bricolage

They either pay Homage or Pastiche

In the essay -

Name of the text (Year, Directors / Composers)
Everything is a Remix / Hybrid





Essay Structure
(5 Paragraphs)

Paragraph 1 - What is PoMo? 

Paragraph 2 - Django: Unchained 

Reference to Gone with the Wind - Mississippi titles scrolling at the start of the film. 
KKK parody scene - Reference to Birth of a Nation.
Black exploitation -  One of the few American Westerns that portray Americans in a negative way. 
Everyday box office films feature big stars appearing as the hero of films. This is not the case in Django.

Paragraph 3- Madeon 

Homage - Madeon pays respect to a number of artists, old and new 
Intertextual References - 
Bricolage - 


Paragraph 4 - A TV Programme

Conclusion - Predict the future 'sued for sampling' 







"The Death of Uncool"