Leproust Camille.

VCT assessment term 2.

POSTMODERN CINEMA & POSTMODERN LITERATURE A comparision based on PULP FICTION.

In the end of 20 th century, cinema is well alive. Production is abundant and the public is working-class. Then, the public enjoy discover new movies, wich, more often, delight them. Cinema is from now in his postmodern phase. In cultural terms, postmodernism is marked by the return of the artwork under the constraint of rules and processes that modernity had repudiated. The architecture abandon the shapes a bit stiff and cold affected by modernity, to revive with the mannerism of the ornaments, columns and capitals. Painting revives with the most exigent technically to mimic the precision of photography (Hyperrealism). Postmodern literature and postmodern cine ma have a lot of things in common . I wanted to focus my essay on the similarity between postmodern cinema an d postmodern literature while During the postmodernist era, with the onset of computers, media and advancements in technology, television and computers became dominant in society. I will use the example of pulp fiction as postmodern movie to illustrate my points. The caracteristics of Postmodern movies are multiple. There is for example a choice of hyperreality, altered states, and also an invasion of special effects. In pulp fiction, the three main caracteristics are the pastiche, the multiplication of nar rative paths and the irony. These three key words are also totally perceptible in the postmodern literature. We can add the changement of writing styles, paranoa, and hyperreality to the characteristic of postmodern literature. Pulp fiction is a movie of Quentin Tarantino, from 1994. T he movie starring Uma Thurman,John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth and Bruce Willis. In this gangster film, we can follow the story of two hitmen, a mob boss wife, a boxer and a pair of bandits. The movie was premiered at the Cannes film festival and won the Palme dor award. It was also nominated for seven oscars , and Tarantino and Avary won best original screeplay for the movie. As in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction start s with a scene where two personnages are in the middle of a conversation, in a Californian restaurant. The two characters, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, (tender nicknames they give themselves), are agree to stop hold up small stores and opt instead for restauran ts like the one in which they are, less dangerous and more lucrative.

 In pulp fiction there is multiple narrative paths, independent of each other, crossed, entwined, merged and diverged; characters are not developped in any "conventional" way, they appeared then disappeared, dying in one scene and then alive in another. Non-linear narrative is the opposite of Linear. It means that events are not presented in order, or in a line. Narrative is the telling of a story. In pulp fiction, The events of the story are not displayed to the audience in chronological order. There are three subplots that make up Pulp Fiction, which are all related. They are made clear to the audience through subtitles.They are: Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife, The Gold Watch, and The Bonnie Situation. As always in Tarantino movies, the speech precedes the act. The gap between the acts and words, between sound and image, between narrative and time, is both the engine and comic narrative of the film.Pulp Fiction, takes us and lost us in the middle of the three stories. Three stories that finally intersect and whose coherence is fully sealed at the end of the film. The last gap, when the generic ends, throw again the spectator in the middle of a conversation. The film's structure also contributes a lot to the constant surprise effect and then strength the dynamism of the narrative. Like Citizen Kane , Pulp Fiction is not constructed linearly , that give us the impress that you can see the movie a dozen times and never be able to remember what comes next. . It is also one of the main caracteristic of postmodern literature. fragmentation and non -linear narratives are central features in both modern and postmodern literature. Temporal distortion in postmodern fiction is used in a variety of ways, often for the sake of irony. Time may also overlap, repeat, or bifurcate into multiple possibilities. For example, Robert Coover in "The Babysitter", of the Pricksongs & Descants collection, the author propose some possible events that occur simultaneously - in a part of history , the babysitter is murdered while in another part of it nothing happens and so on. Narrative is often used to undermine the authority of the author, by unexpected changes of story, to promote a story uniquely, for emotional distance, or to comment the act of narration. For example, If on a winters night a traveler(I talo Calvino, 1979) is the story of a reader trying to read a novel of the same name.

Pastiche, is an other main caracteristic of postmodern movies and postmodern literature. We can define that as a piece or text that references another text or contains attributes of it. It borrows motifs or techniques from one or more sources. Referencing other familiar texts is a characteristic of pastiche. For example, Pulp Fiction references many earlier texts a nd people. Unlike Parody, with pastiche, a familiar text is referenced without the intention to mock it.

In plup fiction, one of the obvious example of postiche is when Mia and vincent are installed in one of the recycled Cadillac in the Jack Rabit Rest aurant, a veritable temple of kitsch cult invented by Tarantino. Mia and Vincent are talking about a $ 5 milkshake, about the imaginary film pilot in which Mia played, the difference between Marilyn Monroe and Mamie Van Doren ... And then, as an apotheosis , Tarantino resurrects, during the time of a competitive twist, the Travolta of Saturday night Fever. There is also, for example, a reference to Kiss Me Deadly (1955) at the beginning of the film. The mysterious suitcase's glowing properties are inspired b y this film. Three Little Bops (1957), is also a pastiche of pulp fiction shown during the scene in the car, with mia and Vincent. This Looney Toons short was referenced by Mia's "Don't Be a Square" line, in which a square is shown drawn physically in the air. Quentin tarrantino references himself in his movies. For exemple the choice of the weapon in the shop of music is the occasion of winks. First, Butch whants to choose a chain saw to kill his aggressor. It is a big reference to scarface, But he finally choose a traditional sabre, that we see in kill bill. Pastiche is the second commun point between postmodern movies and literature. In postmodern literature, this may be an homage or a parody of the old styles. It can be considered as a representation of chaotic aspects, pluralistic, or fill with informations of postmodern society. Feminist social science fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale Written by Margaret Atwood is a kind of mix between feminist novel, 1984 by George Orwell and V for Vendetta. Between science fiction and fairy tales, there are many biblical references in this book. Derek Pell use the collage, thriller, erotica, travel guides and even DIY manuals. the novel The Public Burning by Robert Coover mix historically inaccurate act ions of Richard Nixon in interaction with historical figures and fictional characters such as Uncle Sam and Betty Crocker.

Irony is the third key word used in literature and movies during the postmodern period. Irony is the use of words or actions to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. There is muchevidence of irony in Pulp Fiction. They can be seen through both conversations and actions. Often, they show us illegal actions carried out as any other actions, casually, and without thought towards how evil these actions really are. Quentin Tarantino establishes humor through irony. Irony in actions, as well as conversational irony. Characters eating hamburgers at 7 in the morning. "Hamburgers; the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast". Hitmen talking about foot massages, and European cultural differences just before a hit.

The gap between the dramatic situations of crisis and these apparently ordinary of scenes that precede them ,are in fact artificial. It's in the banality of everyday life that contain each time the cause of disasters. The irony, with black humor and with the g eneral concept of the "game"(linked to Derrida's concept or the ideas advocated by Roland Barthes in The Pleasure of the Text) are among the most recognizable aspects of postmodernism. A good example of postmodern irony and black humor lies in the storie s of Donald Barthelme. The School, for example, deals with the simultaneous death of plants, animals and persons related to children in a classroom, but the repetition of the inexplicable death is treated only as a joke, the narrator remains emotionally di stant throughout the narrative. Thomas Pynchon, in particular, provides examples of play, including play on words often ridiculous in a serious context. Ex= The Crying of Lot 49 . Roland Barthes and jean baudrillard are two french philosophers who often use irony in their works. To conclude, Postmodern period has been affectedby some good writters and film directors. Quentin Tarantinois one of the most talented and most extravagents director of cinema today. I wanted to conclude by a quote of Jean Baudr illard, wich is, in my opinion, a nice illustration of postmodern movies.

Cinema plagiarizes itself, recopies itself, remakes its classics, retroactivates its original myths, remakes the silent film more perfectly than the original: all of this is logical, the cinema is fascinated by itself as a lost object as much as it (and we) are fascinated by the real as a lost referent. Simulacra and Simulation" (2004)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Postmodern books named in the essay:

the babysitter Robert Coover. If on a winter s night a traveler Italo Calvino. the public burning Robert Coover. The handmaid s taleMargaret Atwood. The little red book of adobe live motion Derek Pell . the public burning Robert Coover. the school Donald Barthelme. The Pleasure of the Text Roland Barthes. Simulacra and Simulation Jean Baudrillard.

Books used for the essay:

CIMENT, Michel.- ZIMMER, Jacques. La critique de cinma en France . Editions Ramsay cinma. Paris. 1997. MERIGEAU, Pascal. Cinma : autopsie dun meurtre. Editions FlammarionParis collection Caf Voltaire- 2007 MARIE, Michel AUMONT Jacques.- Lanalyse des films. Nathan. Paris. 1988. JAKUBOWSKI, Maxim. The mammoth book of PULP FICTION. Carroll & Graf Publishers. New york. 1996. SMITH, Anthony. Knowledge and information in the postmodern era . BFI Publishing . 1993.

WEBSITES:
http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=pulp+fiction http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/ http://www.cahiersducinema.com/Critique-Boulevard-de-la-mort-un.html