Pulp Fiction: A Postmodernist film Pulp Fiction is an American comedy crime film written and directed by critically acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino. The film came out in 1994 following the success of Reservoir Dogs by the same director. Pulp Fiction was widely praised for its unique narrative structure. The film consists of 7 major narrative sequences. There are multiple instances where the movie jumps backwards and forwards in timeline. The narration in the movie can be described as circular narrative as the ending and beginning when merged complete the timeline of the movie(1). This narrative structure is rather unconventional and reminds the audience at multiple instances that this is not real life and they are watching a movie. One of these instances include Mia (Uma Thurman) drawing a rectangle on screen while talking to Vincent (John Travolta) in car in front of Jack Rabbit Slim’s. The film includes multiple clues which link its narration style to Post Modernism. To understand this linkage, firstly Post Modernism should be described. Modernism began in early 1700s with the rise of capitalism. This was start of an age of rational thinking. The major belief of this age was to believe only those things which they could see. The idea of modernism is, to quote father of Modern Philosophy Rene Descartes, ‘I think therefore I am’(2). This basically meant believing only those phenomenon those can be seen or proved by science. This new thinking lead to a shift from
Auteur theory is an important mode of film criticism that indicates the extent of the director’s involvement in the final output of the film. As it has been previously mentioned, Spike Lee’s films express certain notions about race that emerge from his personal viewpoint as well as from his political and aesthetic beliefs. The focal point of this chapter is the auteur theory and its relativity to Spike Lee. In order to prove the connection between the theory and his works, it is necessary to refer to Lee’s biography, since both his background and distinguishable personality have contributed to his technical skills as well as to his unique style as a film director. The particular chapter will also include the synopsis as well as the technical analysis of each film correspondingly.
The concentration is on comparing and finding the changes that history made to this movie genre, especially considering the gender roles. Results will clearly explain the psyche of society in two different periods, which confirms that people reflect the movies as movies have an impact on people. The Introduction It is often said that the element of surprise makes the movie more interesting and leads the plot. There are many masters of storytelling
Apart from the change for people this also led to a change in how things would
“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can convey emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.” The written word and the moving image have always had their entwining roots deeply entrenched in similar narrative codes, both functioning at the level of implication, connotation and referentiality. But ever since the advent of cinema, they have been pitted against each other over formal and cultural peculiarities – hence engaging in a relationship deemed “overtly compatible, secretly hostile” (Bluestone 2).
In the early 20th century after the world war I, this was the period when modernism started. There was the industrialization, development of modern technology to solve problems and there was the modernist movement in writing also. This movement was characterized by a lack of confidence in the traditional ways of explaining existence and its meaning. Family, and religion were no longer seen as being dependable. Writers could not find any meaning in the old ways of writing, they did see the need to start writing in new techniques as the world was changing.
At this time period a lot of changes were happening in the society (1).
This essay will discuss how the film uses these two techniques, in reference to the film, and to what ideological and political ends are the techniques used in the films with specific references from the film to support the argument. A Man with a Movie Camera is based around one man who travels around the city to capture various moments and everyday
Different films use different styles in presenting the information to the readers. The strength of the information to be passed also depend on the symbols, images and other style used. Symbols involve something that is visible in the films and can be used to express the main information represented in the film. Some films may not have a clear summary of what is going on but through the symbolism style, the reader can keenly observe the film and understand the author's message to the readers. The film, "What's is eating Gilbert Grape", by Lasse Hallstrom, the author applies various symbols to pass the information to the readers.
At the beginning of the film there is a narrative voice over which explains the political context of what is happening to the audience. The viewer never has to figure anything out for themselves therefor the film is conforming to a typical narrative structure. The storyline concerns the coming of World War II and a love triangle between Baine, Ilsa and Laszlo. The viewer’s main focus is on the love triangle rather than the political context making the overall storyline easy to understand. This also is an aspect as to why this movie conforms to a classical narrative approach.
It was a paradigm shift from women being the objects of male gaze to the creation of a self sufficient female gaze, from being objects to being the subject
Both modernism and postmodernism worldviews approach ideas from a different perspective than the Christian worldview. The divisive central point is the reason for existence. Modernism and postmodernism are humanistic in structure. The Christian worldview is based on God. Knowledge base within modernism and postmodernism relies on the human based creation, while Christian worldview rests on the teachings of the Bible.
There are many different ways that reader can choose to interpret a literary work that they are reading or examining. The Freudian lens is one of the many tools that helps reader understand the in depth meaning of the main characters through their behaviors, characteristics, actions and their surroundings. Fight Club, a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, can also be interpreted by using the Freudian theory to analyze the main character, Joe (the narrator) and his discreet personality, Tyler Durden. The story is about the narrator’s depressing life in which he has been suffering from reality, until he has created another personality that represents his desire. In Fight Club, the narrator’s traits of aggressiveness, his desire and his sense of
Pulp Fiction, a gangster film centred around crime and drama, was directed and written by Quentin Tarantino, staring John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Samuel Jackson. The Oscar award winning film details the lives of two hitmen, a gangster, and the gangster’s wife Jules Winnfield (Samuel Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta), are on a mission to retrieve a stolen briefcase from their employer, and mob boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Mia, (Uma Thurman) plays the role as Wallace’s wife, who is spends some time with Vincent, while Wallace leaves town for business purposes. Even though the lives of these individuals seem interesting enough, each of them wove together to create a film involving a series of funny, bizarre, and suspenseful
Lebanese University Faculty of Letters-Branch II English Literature & Language Department Romanticism and James Joyce in A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man Prepared by Tracy Chamoun Submitted in partial fulfillment of Modern Novel course Dr. May Maalouf Fanar, Fall 2016-2017 0. Literature Review: Modernism, a period in English literature, which spread from almost the beginning of the twentieth century up till 1965; this period was considered revolutionary due to Modernists writer’s love for experimentation and individualism. Various critics have claimed that Modernism has its roots in some Romantic ideologies since many of the themes picked up by Modernist writers have been discussed before in Romanticism. Nevertheless, other critics discussed how Modernist authors attempt to reject some of the Romantic views; for example Modernists care little for Nature, Being, or overarching structures of history.