Perspectives Lecture [1] 'Postmodernism is Difficult'

Definitions

Capitalism- A political and economic system, wherein trade and industry is owned and controlled by private or corporate businesses, who invest according to prices, production and the distribution of goods, and are driven predominately by competition.

'The Rise of Big Business' (No Date).

Superabundance- when something is excessively plentiful.

Disconnected- In which a connection is cut-off. In relation to 'Post-Modernism', this refers to a 'superabundance' of images, styles, across television, advertising, commercial design, and pop culture that feel disconnected/fragmented from meaning. Diverting from the traditional ideas around depth, originality, authenticity and meaning. Something evident since the 'advanced capitalism societies' of the 1960's. 

Pop- The mainstream culture aimed towards a younger demographic, across multiple media platforms (print, online etc.).

Simulacra- A constructed/artificial reality, which represents a person or thing. Theorist Jean Baudrillard is known for his work on Simulacra and 'Hyper-reality'- claiming that in a post-modern culture, consumers are unable to distinguish reality from fiction, as signs begin to simulate a simulation, and representations come to replace the things which is actually being represented. 

Reality becomes a greyer, less idealistic version of 'Hyper-reality', which according to Baudrillard, isn't "any more or less ‘real’ than the reality they simulate" ('Hyper-reality', No Date).

Fragmentary - Comprising of small, disconnected parts.

Superficiality- Something that may appear real on the surface, only proven false, or shallow under closer scrutiny. 

Eclectic- Attaining ideas, styles etc. from a wide range of sources.  

Flippant- An attitude that is dismissive or unrespectful towards something, or someone. Post-modernism is said to "greet in absurd or meaningless confusion of contemporary existence with a certain number or flippant indifference" ('Answers.com', No Date), as broken, meaningless work is in some ways a more truthful depiction of reality, than modernism's attempt to reach an ultimate singular meaning of the world. 

Depthless- Lacking content. "Shallow and Superficial" ('Oxford Dictionaries', 2017).

Fabulation- The activity of fabricating fiction, (typically with "a strong element of fantasy", 'Collins English Dictionary', 2014).

Pastiche- A piece of work in art, literature, theater or music that imitates one or more artist's, as a way of celebrating their work. 

Bricolage- A singular construct compositing of many other things.  

Aleatory- Art, music or other form of culture that involves elements of chance during it's production/performance.
Modernism- an attitude, dating as far back as the 1850's, that entails the rejection of past traditions (i.e. drawing realistically in art, conservative beliefs and social hierarchy etc.), and styles across general culture.
In the midst of industrial development, driven by a capitalist society, modernism seemed like the only way to explain the changing world (one with a desire for greater profit at the expense of lives), in a new, meaningful way.
This took the form in art as abstraction; an "innovation and experimentation with form" ('TATE', No Date), i.e. shape, colour and line, with new materials, techniques and processes.
More generalised ideas of modernism include ideal beliefs around human society and its scientific, and artistic progression. This was done by challenging older art and literature of the 20th century, so to establish meaning from the world. Post-modernism- it's successor- also challenges all that came before, but does so with "flippant indifference" ('Answers.com', No Date).

High Modernism-One form of the modernist movement, that's concerned with the 'intellectual' side of modernism, rejecting traditional beliefs, and enforcing a more ideological 'philosophical utopian desire' for an ideal world. One that saw the arts unite, to reach an ultimate scientific/artistic meaning, and for society to exist as one singular utopian state.  

Low Modernism-the ideas and changes of modernism that had been 'absorbed' into daily life and society (1930's). This included urbanisation, and the introduction of new technologies (electricity, telephones, vehicles etc.), that created new jobs, free time, and a culture of consumerism. 

It rejects/remains ignorance to the intellectual and 'radical ideas' of 'High Modernism', and is concerned onto with meeting "commercial demands for commercial purposes" (California State University Northridge, No Date). Examples: Art Deco, Pictorial Modernism, War Posters, Dada, Graphic Design etc.
Nostalgia- A sentimental longing/regard for a period in the past. 

In regards to 'Postmodernism', this refers to the regurgitation of existing culture, and media's tendency to produce artificial realities that exploits people's nostalgia for purpose of money.
Note 'Disney-world' and 'Las Vegas' who depend upon nostalgia for fantasy worlds, to sell merchandise.
The regurgitation of old films into a new updated versions, or sequels, comes from a "lack of faith in new properties" (Buchbinder, No Date), in film, and relying on "known bankability" (Buchbinder, No Date).
It could also be a product of the "technological apocalypse" (Hutcheon, 1998), wherein nostalgia becomes an "attempt to defy the end, to evade teleology" (Hutcheon, 1998), and revert back to simpler items ("an age of reproducibility often results in nostalgic imitations of yesteryear's mass-produced items (e.g., a CD player in a case resembling an old-time radio", and "...the return of the fountain pen--as an object of consumer luxury--in the age of the computer, when we have all but forgotten how to write” 'Pennsylvania State University’, No Date).

Kill Bill
 

Five ways 'Kill Bill' is 'Post-modern':

1) Fragmentation

Tarantino intertextualises multiple genres, styles and contexts throughout 'Kill Bill'. This fragmentation seems to hold no relation between music/style. With themes around 'Western film', the classic 'Film Noir Movie'\old Hollywood style with dramatic lighting and its use of black and white footage, before transforming into a Chinese action, martial-arts film, then old Japanese film (around the historic culture of Samurai, A.D. 646), and then modern Japanese animation; i.e. anime.
This isn't even accounting for the sound track that has everything from 1960's Nancy Sinatra's 'Bang Bang', and 'Green Hornet Theme Song',to the sudden wailing of synthesizers whenever Beatrix Kiddo saw red, and the other 70's pop songs peppered throughout the fight sequences.

As the film progresses, reality seems to distort substantially. Again, enforcing that fragmentation and sense of 'hyper-reality' in 'Kill Bill'.

2) Self-Aware
Typical of Postmodern films, 'Kill Bill' shows awareness for itself as a film- often winking at the audience and laughing at itself by pushing the boundaries of realism, often to humorous effect.

Tarantino constantly reminds the audience that they are 'watching a film' by disrupting the fluidity of content with obviously fake content.
The miniature model of Tokyo, Uma's flying jumps that seem to defy all gravity, and the headless enemies who's neck spurt with blood at impressive heights, all work to remind the viewer that it's just a film, and to just enjoy the entertainment.

Intextualisation of Japanese, Chinese and American culture also gives evidence of the film being knowledgeable of genres/film types across the platform.

3) Non-linear narrative.

 Non-linear narratives, typical in many Post-modern texts, is evident also in 'Kill Bill', as the main character changes changes throughout each chapter, telling an independent story for each of the characters involved with the main one; Beatrix (the bride). In learning about her assassination of O-Ren Ishii, we go into a sub-story about O-Ren's origins and the events leading up to the wedding, which in turn is the reason Beatrix begins her revenge killing in the first place.
Additionally the chapters themselves aren't told in chronological order, in relation to time... but rather are organized to "create the arc of the narrative".
As Leah Moriyama (2009) states: Tarantino "breaks up the continuity of the story", and this " totally defies what the audience expects". Consequently, this "takes away the predictability of the story and it adds to the suspense, anticipation, and excitement of the film."

4) Nostalgia
Tarantino's choice to intextualise and reference other existing film material is an example of 'Postmodernist' ideas. Something that by the 1980's became quickly associated with pro-"“pluralism, fragmentation, allusions, allegory and quotations." (Palmer, 2014), that marked "an end to the avant-garde’s faith in originality and the progress of art" (Palmer, 2014).

Postmodernism is said to reject the idea of originality as the new, and instead encourages the regurgitation existing, past culture. This means "tearing down of borders between styles and various cultural elements, and the advance towards seeking something new and original was discarded and substituted with an amalgamation of elements from past and existing cultures", to create a more "real and personal experience" ('UK Essays', 2015). We are dependent upon mass medias "representation of the world rather than our first hand experience" (Crouch, 1999).

'Kill Bill' is an example of a 'Patiche' work, though some believe it's an appropriation of sorts. 

Tarantino's inclusion of existing references, however, isn't solely used for the existing context/knowledge we have of it... but also manages to create a "new breed of the nostalgia film that is stylistically accurate but remains bereft of any cultural and political ideology that was present at that period in history" (Jason Michael, 2015), remaining on some level detached from it's existing history, to help create entirely new meaning.

5) Depthlessness
'Kill Bill' has a lot of potential for content. We have a woman who's tragic origin story has driven her along a specific goal, to kill those involved with the Wedding massacre. All this.. and yet the film feels in some ways shallow.
Having it predominately action-based, and plot-driven (Beatrix goes here... then she does this, and goes here etc.), means the story is purely intended for shallow entertainment, with no ultimate meaning behind Tarantino's reasoning; author's intentions and meaning was typically looked for in the 'Modernist' era.
As 'Public Broadcasting Service' (No Date) states, "Postmodernism is "post" because it is denies the existence of any ultimate principles, and it lacks the optimism of there being a scientific, philosophical, or religious truth which will explain everything for everybody - a characteristic of the so-called "modern" mind."
Incidentally, having it confused, and chaotic means it's in someways more truthful reality, something that's intentions aren't there to satisfy, and clear things up for humans... than Modernism's attempt to explain everything in a concise, and satisfying way.
This shallowness, and reminders that we, as an audience, are 'watching a film', helps us in someways to enjoy it for what it is: a piece of entertainment. 

References

Websites
‘America’s Story from America’s Library’, (No Date), ‘Gilded Age (1878-1889)’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/gilded/jb_gilded_subj.html [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Buchbinder, Jeff (No Date), ‘Nostalgia Films: A New Breed of Film’, [Online]. Available at: http://jbuchbinder.com/2016/07/21/nostalgia-films-a-new-breed-of-film/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘California State University Northridge’, (No Date), ‘”High Modernism”: The Avant-Garde in the Early 20th Century’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/Media08--Early_20_cent_A-G.pdf [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Cartwright, Jason (2013), ‘The ironic response to nostalgia in the postmodern condition’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/4863266/The_ironic_response_to_nostalgia_in_the_postmodern_condition [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘danajm722’, (2011), ‘Modernism Vs. Postmodernism / “High” vs. “Low” Art’, [Online]. Available at: https://danajm722.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/modernism-vs-postmodernism-high-vs-low-art/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Hutcheon, Linda (1998), ‘Irony, Nostalgia, and the Postmodern’, [Online]. Available at: http://library.utoronto.ca/utel/criticism/hutchinp.html [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘Hyperreality’, (No Date), ‘Jean Baudrillard’, [Online]. Available at: http://enterhyperreality.weebly.com/jean-baudrillard.html [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Jerina, Andrew (2010), ‘Social Media and the Simulacrum of the Self’, [Online]. Available at: https://researchgeek.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/simulacrum-of-the-self/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Little, Daniel (2010), ‘High Modernism and Expert Knowledge’, [Online]. Available at: http://understandingsociety.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/high-modernism-and-expert-knowledge.html [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Michael, Jason (2015), ‘Postmodernist Nostalgia Films: Pastiche in the Works of Quentin Tarantino’, [Online]. Available at: https://thefilmfaculty.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/postmodernist-nostalgia-films-pastiche-in-the-works-of-quentin-tarantino/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Moriyama, Leah (2009), ‘Final Paper – Kill Bill: A Post Modern Masterpiece’, [Online]. Available at: http://leahmoriyama.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/final-paper-kill-bill-post-modern.html [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Palmer, Daniel (2014), 'Explainer: What is Postmodernism?', [Online]. Available at: https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-postmodernism-20791 [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
‘Pennsylvania State University’, (No Date), ‘History of Electroacoustic Music: Postmodernism’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/meb26/INART55/postmodernism.html [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Potter, Rachel and Trotter, David (2004), ‘Low Modernism: Introduction’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Journal_Samples/CRIQ0011-1562~46~4/593.PDF [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Priestley, Owen (2013), ‘Yeah get real! Originality and authenticity in a postmodern age’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.20three.com/2013/06/yeah-get-real-originality-and-authenticity-in-a-postmodern-age/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘Public Broadcasting Service’, (No Date), ‘Postmodernism’, [Online]. Available at: https://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/gengloss/postm-body.html [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘Socialist Worker’, (2010), ‘How Capitalism Created Modernism’, [Online]. Available at: https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/9073/How+capitalism+created+modernism [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’, (2007), ‘Jean Baudrillard’, [Online]. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/baudrillard/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Tanner-Dempsey, Isaac (2012), ‘Low Modernism vs. High Modernism’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.izdesign.co.nz/blog/low-modernism-vs-high-modernism [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘TATE’, (No Date), ‘Art Term: Modernism’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘TATE’, (No Date), ‘Art Term: Postmodernism’, [Online]. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/postmodernism [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
‘The University of Iowa’, ‘Introduction: Nostalgia’, [Online]. Available at: https://uiowa.edu/ijcs/introduction-nostalgia [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
‘The Quentin Tarantino Archives’ (2015), ‘Kill Bill References Guide’, [Online]. Available at: http://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Kill_Bill_References_Guide [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]   
Walters, Jake (2015), ‘Quentin Tarantino: Kill Bill’, [Online]. Available at: https://thelongtake.net/2015/04/19/quentin-tarantino-kill-bill/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 
Willette, Jeanne S.M. (2012), ‘Postmodernism and the Past’, [Online]. Available at: http://arthistoryunstuffed.com/postmodernism-and-the-past/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017] 


Illustrations 
Fig. 1 'The Rise of Big Business' (No Date), [Caricature]. Available at: http://www.socialist.net/images/stories/capitalism-cartoonweb.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 2 Jerina, Andrew (2010), ‘The Simulacrum of the Self’, [Photographic Edit]. Available at: 25/09/2017] https://researchgeek.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/simulacrum-of-the-self/ [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 3 ‘Kill Bill | Poster’, (2003), [Online Image]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUTLwIarOjwVHpCtLTg4GxZW9u5R3R2n2GYdeKOKtMGr-NqpvPUKn1Z03mtvvXfwbj3FSuIQ37hQAeXu79Hn29cZ7D6hStLw8Iqz87GvQoXHxJc3C7csOvb13gxncSZI_1ZYF5oaj6IXQ/s1600/kill-bill-vol-1-poster-01.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 4 ‘Kill Bill’, (2003), [Film Still]. Available at: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LZwmmORsK0M/maxresdefault.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 5 ‘Kill Bill’, (2003), [Film Still]. Available at: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t1AImTJS2fQ/maxresdefault.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]Fig. 6 ‘Kill Bill’, (2003), [Film Still]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCKHltqe6ATx532kIbn2_LbgzQriGzdiIsEYzXMnmYXYjJHNAO1FyOSXkKFde5ivTld1ZwpE_g0BYRhyipkHGoAjatszMvcGC4Me3WbgtBKOWY6JHopi0Cq2NIOPh86O3eqHk9HqM1Q7x/s1600/kill-bill.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 7 ‘Kill Bill’, (2003), [Film Still]. Available at: https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/killbill/images/1/19/Chapter_2_Bride_Awake.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130128182410 [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 8 ‘Kill Bill’, (2003), [Film Still]. Available at: http://i.imgur.com/AOSFLOq.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 9 ‘Kill Bill’, (2003), [Film Still]. Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a3/51/59/a351592d515bd2d775485eee43d7988c--action-films-uma-thurman.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 10 ‘Kill Bill’, (2003), [Film Still]. Available at: http://ilarge.lisimg.com/image/5242474/892full-kill-bill%3A-vol.-1-screenshot.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 11 ‘Kill Bill’, (2003), [Film Still]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCeMevQKsAn5SAYxaQLEsosPecDST0UkjyyIrtRfFSn_zyCzAtLONEbOU0Oi0MxR8TliSwsXsuXc31_yQasga8_qJ0gUn395shZHwWfA10hqC4zdFaiKxAt5nKj97ga_ETDuynyD_MQB-/s1600/500full-kill-bill+-vol.-1-screenshot.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]
Fig. 12 ‘Kill Bill and Western Film Comparison’, (No Date), [Online Image]. Available at: http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/04/11/movies/11KEHR.1.300.jpg [Accessed Date: 25/09/2017]