Levi-Strauss saw any text as
constructed out of socially recognisable
‘debris’ from other texts- bricolage- deletion, addition, substitution, transposition.
* The film shows elements of bricolage like- deletion and
substitution. Traditionally, superhero films contain a hero who is happy to be
a hero, whereas Deadpool lacks the heroic aspect as he doesn’t feel he is a superhero-
“I may be super, but I'm no hero”. Similarly,
other stereotypical superhero characteristics have been deleted and
substituted. Examples of this are: the fancy superhero vehicle has been
substituted for a taxi, the technology-filled base has been swapped for an
apartment Deadpool shares with an old blind lady and most importantly, Deadpool
has traded the audience of younger, superhero-loving children for adult viewers
who love comedies and aspects of superhero films. The final element of
bricolage Deadpool uses is Transposition. This is to take something from a myth
or fairy tale and apply it to a piece. Deadpool has a similar storyline to the
Greek myth- Orpheus, who went through hell to get his true love back from the
underworld. Similarly, Deadpool goes through ‘hell’ (due to the disfigurement of his face and battles)
to get his girlfriend back from the villain of the film.
Postmodernists take bricolage
(Levi-Strauss) and the various intertextualities identified by Genette,
extending their work into pure intertextuality that breaches the bounds of
genre.
* Intertextuality: Naming characters from other films.
* In Deadpool, actor Ryan Reynolds (who plays Deadpool) makes a reference
to a moment within the comic
book of Deadpool. He breaks into an apartment and orders a pizza to the door,
before he completes the job he was sent for. Audience members, who
haven’t read the comic book, may not understand the reference compared to
someone who has read the book and misses the humour of the moment.
Jameson suggests postmodern films are “nothing more
than a series of self-referential jokes which have no deeper meaning or
purpose”.
* Deadpool is self-referential towards- himself, the film and the fact
he knows the audience are watching him in a film. He performs multiple asides
to the audience which breaks the fourth wall and reminds the audience they are
watching a film. His self-referential actions can range from a wink to direct
address to the audience- “A 4th-wall break inside a 4th-wall break! That's like,
16 walls!".
Kramer- ‘binary oppositions’
* Deadpool and Francis fight and it is Vanessa who withdraws a knife from
her thigh and uses it to get Francis off Deadpool. This is unusual as the
female in distress never turns around to be strong and helping to destroy the
enemy. It is usually the male protagonist who helps the female lead. This is
where it is evident that the screen writer has changed the way genre works and
made more of a postmodern approach to the tradition of the male saving the
female.
Abercrombie- 'Audiences derive pleasure from being able to anticipate the direction the text will take and when their expectations are realised.
* This is something they will be able to guess if they are familiar with a specific genre. Postmodern film genres, however, are not easily identifiable as they can use a range of different genres in a film. Deadpool mixes film genres such as- comedy, romance, action and superhero; making the film accessible to different audiences.
Jacques Derrida proposed: 'Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text' - Derrida is a structuralist and therefore this principle goes against postmodernist thinking.
* Deadpool is made up of different genres: comedy, superhero, action, romance. This can be received well by some as it widens their knowledge and cinematic experience from viewing elements of genres they may not be aware of.
Baudrillard- Hyperreality:- a condition in which
"reality" has been replaced by simulacrum argues
that today we only experience prepared realities-- edited war footage,
meaningless acts of terrorism, the
Jerry Springer Show.
* The Neon Demon is seen as a postmodern film. This is due
to the hyperreal world and what the character’s think is normal, but we don’t.
For example, the three models, who are consumed by jealousy over the new model
(Jesse), murder her by pushing her into an empty swimming pool, cut her body up
and eat her. This is something we, as an audience, wouldn’t be used to in the
real world, however they seem used to it in their world.
Baudrillard- ‘the real is no longer possible’
* Necrophilia is extremely uncommon and frowned upon in our
world, however it seems to be acceptable in theirs.
Parsons- Certain elements of a film’s structure are
necessary in order for the audience to understand the narrative.
* The film includes little dialogue which may cause audience
members to not understand the narrative, despite the fact audiences are
increasingly becoming no longer concerned with the process of understanding a
text as they can interpret it from the visuals.
Some theorists (Kramer) would suggest that multiple meanings
to media is a good thing as it allows us to take something from the film that
we would value.
*The lack of dialogue was replaced by music which was upbeat
and continuously increased tension, as well as allowed room for interpretation.
Jameson- The Flattening Effect:- post modern films tend to rid texts of
their emotional impact on viewers. The audience don’t usually engage with the characters emotionally and
the lives of the characters are shown emotionless. The audience’s emotions have been manipulated by the director (Nicolas
Winding Refn) to add alienation.
* The audience are
emotionless towards the death of Jesse. The lack of dialogue and emotion from
the character herself cause the audience to not feel sympathetic towards her as
it is like we don’t know her and understand her as well as we would a character
with expression and speech we could relate to
Kramer: Postmodern music...
'Does not respect boundaries '.
* Eminem could be seen as postmodern due to his crossover between genres;
using bricolage. Collaborated with singer/ songwriter Rihanna who is of a different genre. Eminem opens his music up to a variety of consumers as he, not only
targets his own fans, but targets the fans of the artists he collaborates with.
Thus, introducing his audience to a wider variety of genres they may not have
heard of if they have only been experienced in his own.
'Challenges barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles'
* Eminem
uses sampling as a way of creating sounds for his music and as a way of paying
homage to other artists. On his track ‘Berzerk’ from ‘The Marshall Mathers
LP.2’ he samples four different tracks. The song sampled the most is Billy
Squire’s ‘The Stroke’ which influenced the drums, electric guitar and other
instruments in the track. Certain riffs are taken from Squire’s work and placed
into Eminem’s to give the track more sound. Furthermore, Eminem sampled Labi
Siffre’s ‘I Got The…’ from 1975 in his track ‘My Name Is’ on his debut album
‘The Slim Shady LP’ in 1999. The elements used from Siffre’s track are funk,
soul and disco. The sample used in Eminem’s song has a jazzy feel to it which
contrasts against his hip hop/rap genre. This, again, introduces Eminem’s
audience to a form of music they may not have heard of and brings the jazz
style back into music. Eminem clearly adopts Kramer’s theory that postmodern
music “challenges
barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles” as Jazz would be a ‘high’
style and rap would be a ‘low’ style. Eminem mixes the two together to produce
sounds that an audience would never have heard of before.
