Talk:Postmodernist film
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what is 'suspension of disbelief'? This is not clear and needs to be clarified to make the article readable and understandable. - 83.70.255.59 18:47, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
- there is a wikipedia article actually devoted to the concept of the suspension of disbelief. a link to the phrase would be, i agree, very helpful for those who might not know what it means.
From the page: "Whilst academia has concentrated on art-house works, all the definitions of "Postmodernist Film" equally apply to many Hollywood musicals". First off, who had the nerve to use "whilst"? Second off, this ridiculous claim has *no sources*. A general problem for the page. Thomas1617 (talk) 22:18, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
There is a problem with any definition of postmodernism. It is a philosophy grown out of a misinterpretation of the original use of cultural relativism, a tool which allowed anthropologists to understand other cultures without applying their own cultural values to that understanding. This gave rise to the belief that there is no authoritative voice or correct point of view when cultural relativism met post-colonial guilt.
If there is no authoritative voice or correct point of view, how can you possibly have an authoritative reference? More importantly, how could anyone ever fail an examination on the subject? Other than writing something clear, concise and understandable of course. If you can find a clear and concise definition of postmodernism in any field, please let me know. All I have ever found is waffle, other than one:
Postmodernism: Surrealism without a sense of humour. Ceci n'est pas une pipe.
However, the following is more typical, and the fact that this person begins with 'in brief' underlines the problem.
"In brief, postmodernism may be thought of as an attitude which eschews an essential, transcendent subject, rejects teleology and historical destiny, and discredits faith in totalizing grand narratives." http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Postmodernism.html If anyone can work out what this actually means, please let me know. Personally, I think that postmodernism is simply an employment creation scheme for sociologists and cultural commentators left with nothing to do after the collapse of the iron curtain.
This article makes a great deal more sense.
When we watch a film, we know it isn't real. It's populated with actors and often shot on fake sets. Nevertheless, we pretend it's real to enjoy the pleasures and diversions the story offers.
A postmodernist film - like the current "Adaptation," a comedy about a man struggling to write the very movie we're seeing - doesn't even pretend to be real. It's aware that it's only a movie and in fact celebrates its unreality.
This isn't anything new. Jeanine Basinger, professor of film at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., notes that when silent film comics such as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin broke from the action around them and stared directly into the camera, they were creating a postmodernist moment.
"In 'The Road to Morocco,' " Basinger said in a recent phone conversation, "Bob Hope and Bing Crosby get tied up in gunny sacks and thrown into the desert. In the next shot they're walking across the dunes and one of them says, 'Do you think the audience will wonder how we got out of those sacks?'
"That's postmodernism. Of course, the makers of those movies didn't use that phrase, which is something critics and scholars came up with in recent years to describe what they were seeing." http://www.temple.edu/ispr/examples/ex03_02_09b.html
Oh, and one more thing; the word 'whilst' is probably used by people who spell colour with a 'u', and not as I found recently in a postmodern dictionary, colour spelled 'vpi;pit'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.41.22.214 (talk) 15:10, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
