Perspectives | Dissertation Proposal OGR

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@phil | Perspectives | Cone of Cogency

Proof of Concept | Dissertation Proposal

Proof of Concept by Alex on Scribd

Perspectives | Lecture 6

Normativity: Our perception of things when related to a standard/Norm as well as the act of doing things based on or in line with the norm.

Binary Opposition: A binary system based on having two 'opposites'.

Deconstruction: Breaking concepts and idea's down into their parts/structures to understand them and to create new idea's from the pieces.

Reinscribe: Renaming or redefining in a new context.

Cognitive Dissonance: Discomfort caused by having conflicting ideas or beliefs.

Judith Butler is an American philosopher and theorist that focuses on gender and the effect of sex on gender. She explores the idea of gender being preformative and something that people perform on a place to place basis as opposed to being something that just is.

5 Reasons Funny Games is postmodern:

1. Deconstruction: The film deconstructs the horror tropes found in horror movies by not showing any of the violence on screen, this leaves the viewer without the experience the expect as the horror is all off-screen.

2. The fourth wall: The film breaks the fourth wall during the film as a character addresses the audience with winks and questions.

3. Non-linear/Fragmented: The film has elements of these, the most noticeable being the scene in which one character, Peter, gets shot only for Paul to rewind the scene and prevent it. This is non-linear and fragmented as it shows the character changing the way the film plays out and the order things would happen in. The scene also shows deconstruction as it deconstructs the idea of the characters being set on an unchanging course as Paul just rewinds and changes the story.

4. Appropriation: The film is a shot-for-shot remake of itself as the director originally made the film in German and then remade the film for America.

5. Stereotypes: The film plays with stereotypes as the antagonists are dressed differently to how stereotypical antagonists are portrayed. Instead of wearing dark colours the antagonists are shown wearing white and are surrounded by bright colours more than by darker ones.

Perspectives | Lecture 5

The Canon - Refers to things in culture that are deemed more superior or significant than other things in the same area/field.

'DWEM' - stands for 'Dead, White, European Male'. A type of person that's viewed as dominant in both literature and culture, thus despised by feminists and multiculturalists.

Phallocentricism - A focus centred around men and the belief that masculinity is connected to power.

Eurocentricism - The emphasis placed on European cultures, values and beliefs.

Postcolonialism - The condition, both politically and culturally, of a former colony.

Multiculturalism - The support or presence of many different ethnic or cultural groups.

Feminism - A stance that fights for women and equal rights for both sexes.

5 reasons Moulin Rouge is postmodern

1. Appropriation: The songs in the film are all, with one exception, songs from pop culture that are mixed together to tell the characters emotions.

2. Non-Linear Narrative: The film has a non-linear narrative as it begins with the main character, Christian, typing as he proceeds to tell us the story. He opens his tale by telling us the end of the story and then working towards that end. The film closes on him back in that room, typing on his typewriter.

3. Multiculturalism: While the film is set in Paris, it references India and indian culture throughout the film - both in the play near the end and in the architecture of the giant elephant.

4. Pastiche: The film references many other movies through use of songs, scenes, dialogue and characters.

5. Pop - Pop culture is explored through songs throughout the film, as all of the song choices are from pop culture.

Perspectives | Lecture 4

Keyword Definitions:

Avante-Garde: Something new and modern when placed in the context of it's place and time of creation. Things that are avante-garde have the purpose of pushing art, culture and/or politics.

Nostalgia: A desire to return to a specific time or place in one's own past. The reuse of previously existing media in order to create a sense of nostalgia, or desire, in regards to the past.

Appropriation: Taking something or aspects of a thing, (sometimes without the rights to do so), that belong to someone else and using it in another context thus altering the original meaning.

Pastiche: A piece of work that aims to imitate another artist's work, a time period or style. Often used as a way to reference prior works.

Parody: A piece of work that aims to imitate another artist's, their work, a time period or style in an exaggerated manner with comedic intent.

Irony: When a situation or text has a result that's contrary or different to what we expected. This often ends up being in a comedic way.

Ideology: A set of idea's or beliefs held or integrated into cultures, often considered as truths within those believing.

Genre: A style or category, often of films, i.e, 'Horror' and 'Romance'.

Sherrie Levine: Sherrie Levine is an American Photographer and Painter. Her work is often part of conversations about appropriation and originality. She uses her work, reproductions of other photographic works, to bring attention to females within art history.

Scream:

Scream - Movie Poster

Ways that 'Scream' is postmodern:

1. Scream is a pastiche to slasher movies as it makes use of the many tropes involved in that genre.

2. The film is also a parody as it points out the cliches of slasher movies while simultaneously using those same cliches in the film.

3. Appropriation is another reason this film can be seen as postmodern as the film's antagonist uses a mask of the figure in the artwork The Scream by Edvard Munch. Another way it uses appropriation is in it's use of tropes and cliches from previous slasher films.

The Scream - Edvard Munch

4. Irony is used in this film a few times, this is done for comedic value as it plays with our expectations of a horror film by setting a scenario up and having the characters mock it while still falling into the actions they mocked. One example being the main character, Sydney, and her rant against slasher protagonists for always 'running up the stairs when she should be running out the door' as moments later she herself is running up the stairs away from the killer. Another is when the character Randy is watching a slasher and yelling for the character to 'look behind them', all while the antagonist of this film is slowly walking up behind him.

5. Intertextuality is used in the film as it references multiple other films numerous times, both in the use of tropes from those films and in mentioning them during the film through dialogue.

Archetypes in Labyrinth

There are some archetypes that are found in many films, these are Hero, Shadow, Herald, Threshold Guardian, Trickster, Mentor, Allies, Mother, Father, Child, Maiden and Shape-shifter. These are roles that can be found in the film Labyrinth (1986).

The Hero in Labyrinth is Sarah as she is the character that we follow on her journey to save her brother. She is a hero as her goal is to save her baby brother from the Goblin King after she wished the baby away. Throughout the film she encounters other characters that help and hinder her.

The Shadow, or Villian, of the film is Jareth, the Gobling King, as it is he who takes Sarah's baby brother Toby. He is placed in opposition to Sarah as the one she has to defeat to get her brother back and thus places obstacles in her path to prevent her reaching her goal.

The Herald in the story is not a character. In this case, the Herald is an event. This is when Sarah's stepmother tells Sarah to look after the baby and then leaves. This is the Herald as it is leaving Sarah with the baby that led to her wishing him away and starting the journey.

Sir Didymus is the character that acts as the Threshold Guardian as he is the one to block Sarah from continuing her path as he must guard the bridge and allow none to cross without permission. To pass him Sarah has to think as she cannot just move freely past him and must figure out how to get him to let her pass. One she gets past him, Didymus is no longer required as the Threshold Guardian as there is no longer a threshold to gaurd thus he joins her as an Ally.

The role of Shape-shifter is filled by Hoggle as he toes the line between helping Sarah and doing what Jareth wants. He begins by giving Sarah advince on getting into the Labyrinth, but then advises her not to go in at all. Then when Sarah is stuck Jareth sends Hoggle to take her back to the start, which Hoggle intends to do until Sarah bribes him to take her as far forward as he can. He then goes back on that when Jareth shows up, claiming he was taking her back to the start the whole time. Hoggle is also the one that Sarah trusts as he saves her life, only for him to give her a peach from Jareth that hinders her journey. Ultimately he chooses to help Sarah, and thus becomes an Ally.

Sarah gains Allies as the film progresses, by the end she has three main allies. These are Hoggle, whom she befriends, Sir Didymus, who wishes to join her on her journey, and Ludo who she saved from the Goblins. These three accompany her as she travels to the castle, offering their help when they can.

Throughout the film Sarah receives advice from many places but the advice that ends up recurring the most comes from a Worm she meets near the start of the Labyrinth. Thus the worm is the Mentor as he is the one to give her the advice she needed to get through the maze and defeat the Goblin King.

The character of the Child is both Sarah's younger brother Toby, who she wishes away, as he is a baby and the symbol of the childhood Sarah is leaving behind as well as her childish need to have all of her parents attention. The other example is Ludo, who uses simple and childish logic to progress through things. He is the Child as he is innocent and childlike.

The role of the Mother is filled both by Sarah's absent birth mother and by her Step-mother. The former as she is who Sarah aspires to be like, even though she isn't part of Sarah's life. The latter is because she is trying to be a mother-figure to Sarah.

Perspectives | Postmodernism in Inception

1. The way reality is treated in the film is one example of postmodernism as during the film the viewers sense of reality is tested. There are two ways reality is tested, one is through the blurring of the real and the dream worlds, the other is through the dreams themselves. The dreams test reality in that they are the dreamers perspective on reality more than an actual representation of the real. The blurring is done both at the very beginning of the film, in the scene where Ariadne and Cobb are talking only for Ariadne - and the viewer - to realise she's dreaming, as well as the end of the film. The blurring of reality is more extreme near the end as the viewer is left to wonder whether Cobb made it back to the real world at all or if he has accepted his dream as reality.

2. Time is distorted during the film in a postmodern way as the distortion of time lends the film to be less linear. This is due to time passing differently dependant on where they are. In reality time passes much faster than in the dreams, and in the dreams time is staggered - getting slower the deeper they sleep. This leads to multiple events happening at the same time but being shown one after the other.

3. Inception is fragmentary as the dreams are each separate from each other and we bounce between them all, this is to show what is happening in each dream as they all occur simultaneously. Another example of the fragmentary nature is that the opening and ending scenes are almost exactly the same.

4. The narrator in inception is an unreliable one as Cobb is often unable to tell the difference between reality and dream himself, making it more difficult for the viewer to know as well. Another reason is because of the circumstances around the end of the film. This is as according to the established 'rules' Cobb should still be stuck in the dream, he did not get awoken from the van in the first dream, but there is still uncertainty as to if he did as he is shown awake in the plane. This could then be because it is what his reality is seeing even if it's not what the true reality is.

5. The ending of the film leads the viewer to question the validity of a 'true reality' as the film leaves the viewer wondering if Cobb is still dreaming or not and whether it truly matters if he is as he has accepted where he is either way. 

Perspectives | Kill Bill and Postmodernity

5 Reasons Kill Bill is a postmodern film:

1. One example is the animated segment in the middle of the film as it is completely different from the rest of the film.

2. The music is another example as it often doesn't match what is being shown on screen.

3. The amount of genre's covered in the film are also an example of it's postmodernism as the film switches genre many times.

4. The reversal of the gender roles throughout the film are an example of postmodernity.

5. The lack of realism, over the course of the film any sense of realism is broken down until things become bizarre and you're made aware that you're watching a fictional piece.

Perspectives | Postmodernism Word Definitions

High Modernism: A form of modernity that believes in science and technological progress.

Capitalist: Someone who uses wealth to invest in industry for profit along with the principles of capitalism.

Superabundance: Exceedingly or excessively abundant, more than sufficient.

Disconnected: Lacking contact with reality, lacking a logical sequence.

Fragmentary: Consisting of small disconnected or incomplete parts.

Pop: Short for Popular Culture; Idea's, thoughts and Images making up mainstream media.

Superficiality: Lack of thoroughness, depth of character or serious thought.

Simulacra: An image or representation of someone or something. An unflattering imitation of=r replica.

Eclectic nostalgia: A sense of nostalgia caused by things imitating the past.

Flippant: Not showing a serious or respectful attitude.

Depthless: Shallow and superficial, too deep to be measured.

Pastiche: An artistic work or style that imitated another work, artist or period.

Bricolage: Something created from a diverse range of things.

Aleatory: Depending on the throw of a dice or chance; random.

Fabulation: Creating stories, particularly with elements of fantasy.