Introduction

In art - especially cinema - it can be said that, “Postmodernism brought with it darker
kinds of films that viewed the world with a hint of detached irony. Postmodern movies aim to
subvert highly-regarded expectations, which can be in the form of blending genres or messing
with the narrative nature of a film.” (Bedard).
Postmodern cinema has emerged in the 1980s and 1990s as a powerfully creative force
in Hollywood filmmaking, reflecting and helping to shape the historic convergence of media
culture, technology, and consumerism. It corresponds to the globalized phase of capitalist
development typified by increasing class polarization, social atomization, urban chaos and
violence, ecological crisis, and mass depoliticization. Departing from the modernist cultural
tradition grounded in the enlightenment, norms of industrial society, and faith in historical
progress, postmodern cinema is characterized by disjointed narratives, a dark view of the
human condition, images of chaos and random violence, death of the hero, emphasis on
technique over content, and dystopian views of the future.
Postmodern film is like pushing back and forth inside its own story with a lots of
abstract ideas and senses and also many inline linear characteristics all together. Its
unpredictable, dark and even it could be so unpredictable and sometimes completely not
understandable. A postmodern film might not even have a message in particular rather
different audience can have their own message by themselves. Social hierarchies and statuses
are represented truthfully to how they are today. Showing feminism and racial integration are
some examples of this. Postmodernism is irrational, chaotic, fragmented and unscientific. It
does not have to have a meaning unless that meaning is explored through the individual of
which the film is the subject. It does not attempt to theorize, instead its ideas are concrete,
while at the same time, being arcane. It invites the ironies and contradictions of mass and pop
culture. Postmodern films can either be unknown indie films or big blockbusters. There are
six different themes related to the subject and cinema of postmodernism; pastiche,
hyperreality, more human than human, altered states, time bending, and flattening of affect.
Each in its own way is different.
While postmodern directors such as Woody Allen, Oliver Stone, Robert Altman,
Quentin Tarantino produce films that are often highly original and even subversive, their
departure from conventional Hollywood formulas and motifs that define the studio system -
their pronounced cultural radicalism - is rarely associated with any sort of political radicalism
even where a harsh social critique might be visible. Postmodern cinema helps reproduce the
very popular mood of anxiety, uncertainty, fear, and cynicism that it mirrors in the general
society.
There are several certain characteristics in postmodern films. Most of them are often
scattered away or even connected to each other. A single postmodern film might not have all
the characteristics of postmodernism again, on the other hand, a film which is not postmodern,
may import some particular characteristics of postmodernism to deliver its idea.
Intertextuality, self-referentiality, parody, pastiche, and recourse to various past forms,
genres, and styles are the most commonly identified characteristics of postmodern cinema.
These features may be found in a film’s form, story, technical vocabulary, casting or some
combination of these. Postmodernism can even be found in the form of cinematography or
directional style of the film or even some small or minimal senses like hair-styles, costumes,
set-designs and many other things that could be just simple elements of a film.
 Blade Runner

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and adapted

by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young,
and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep? The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in
which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell
Corporation to work on space colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led
by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly
agrees to hunt them down.
Blade Runner initially underperformed in North American theaters and polarized
critics; some praised its thematic complexity and visuals, while others critiqued its slow
pacing and lack of action. It later became an acclaimed cult film regarded as one of the all-
time best science fiction films. Hailed for its production design depicting a decaying
future, Blade Runner is a leading example of neo-noir cinema. 
The film has influenced many science fiction films, video games, anime, and
television series. It brought the work of Philip K. Dick to the attention of Hollywood,
and several later big-budget films were based on his work, such as Total
Recall (1990), Minority Report (2002) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). 
In this film, science, technology and progress are all questioned and shown in some
way to have failed. The world in Blade Runner is polluted by industry and overcrowding;
only the rich escape to the 'off-worlds'. One of the key themes of the film is the 'blurring' of
the differences between the real and the artificial, between the humans and the replicants.
Increasingly it is no longer possible to be clear about what it means to be human.
Blade Runner is a film which did not do terribly well at the box office when first
released, but since the original release in 1982 it has become a huge critical success - a cult,
now heralded as a classic piece of dystopian science fiction, the subject of a Director's Cut
release (with the famous voice-over removed) and, more recently, a Final Cut edition. Blade
Runner is the subject of a wealth of books and websites and Blade Runner is very often
discussed as a postmodern film. It is the epitome of a postmodern film because it can be
viewed as postmodern in style, in its reception and in its subject matter.
 Blade Runner is said to have a postmodern aesthetic, mixing textual references and
images. The film-noir voice-over of the original release is juxtaposed with the futuristic,
dystopian images (time is manipulated, as a 1950s film convention is displaced into the
future), but at the same time the shadows and constant rain fit with the film-noir style -
resulting in a 'neo-noir' visual style and thematic range The city depicted - Los Angeles in the
future - is in itself a pastiche of our ideas of the East, the West and the future. The images we
see give us a mise-en-scene of decay and decline, of things coming to an end for humanity as
we know it, and the story is to do with replicants (people who feel human but are synthetic)
striving for an extension to their lifespan.
The questions that the film poses are to do with the meaning of humanity in the
postmodern age, when the distinction between the human and the machine is unclear.
Whether emotions can be programmed or if humanity can be manufactured. These are the
same questions asked by the postmodern philosophers about the hyperreal, and how we cope
with a world where the image overrides the individual. The Los Angeles of Blade Runner has
been discussed as a vision of the postmodern city - huge advertising images promoting an off-
world colony and the idea that everyone who can has fled the 'real world' for a more attractive
virtual equivalent.
The film is about time and our lack of it. One of the replicants is a young man, but his
body is ageing. We are never sure whether the main character, played by Harrison Ford, is
human or not - this remains an enigma. A dying replicant in the finalscene delivers the line:
'all these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain', and as in most postmodern films, we
are forced to confront the way in which the 'modern world is constructed through a set of
binary oppositions - truth/lies, reality/fiction, human/machine, life/death and good/bad. One
reading of Blade Runner is that it deals with racism - the extermination of replicants - and,
like all science fiction, therefore, it places 'real-world' concerns in a fantasy setting. But the
postmodern reading of the film focuses more on the way that the classic oppositions that have
defined our philosophy are undermined, or at least exposed as vulnerable. Blade Runner
happens in a future but one which is an amalgam of numerous pasts, and where taste
distinctions have been levelled out.
While not initially a success with North American audiences, Blade Runner was
popular internationally and garnered a cult following. The film's dark style and futuristic
designs have served as a benchmark and its influence can be seen in many subsequent science
fiction films, video games, anime, and television programs.
 Blade Runner continues to reflect modern trends and concerns, and an increasing
number of critics consider it one of the greatest science fiction films of all time.

Scream

Scream is one of the most influential films in the horror genre, and its director, Wes
Craven, is arguably one of the most influential people within the genre.
Scream is a postmodernist film that is often celebrated for its willingness to portray
characters who have seen horror films. It is credited for reviving the horror genre after a string
of disappointing sequels and direct-to-video releases in the 1980s and early 1990s, which left
many fans and critics to believe that the once creative and lucrative genre was dead.
Horror films often have a knowledgeable audience who are aware of horror
conventions and have certain expectations of the genre. Scream is a film which clearly
acknowledges that its audience will have seen previous horror films. It invites us to comment
on the predictability of the genre and at the same time offers us a new, self-conscious, at times
humorous, but nonetheless frightening example of the horror film.

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by
Wes Craven. The film stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew
Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, and Drew Barrymore. Scream follows the character of
Sidney Prescott, a high school student in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, who
becomes the target of a mysterious killer known as Ghostface. The film combined comedy
and mystery with the violence of the slasher genre to mock the cliché of the horror genre
popularised in films such as Halloween and Friday the 13th. The film was considered unique
at the time of its release for featuring characters who were aware of real world horror films
and openly discussed the cliché that it attempted to subvert.
The plot is not unlike other slasher films: An unknown killer who goes by the name of
Ghostface terrorizes the suburban town of Woodsboro, California. The difference, is that the
characters in Scream have seen horror films. For instance, one of Ghostface’s trademarks
before attacking a victim is to call him or her (usually her) on the telephone and engage in a
conversation about popular culture. Valerie Wee states that the “self-reflexivity” of the
Scream series is the “actual text”. This is particularly evident when looking at the events in
the beginning. While Ghostface’s call initially takes the form of a flirtatious discussion of
famous horror films, including Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street, the caller soon
begins taunting and threatening Casey. She fulfils the role of the final girl. Characters are
being killed all around her and she is left at the end of the film having to confront the killers.

Postmodern movies aim to show a different style than the expected. In this case, a
horror film would attempt to frighten audiences, by building up tension throughout the film.
However, in Scream, the director has manipulated the script and cinematography to
humorously mock the horror genre at moments. By including this element of parody, shows
an alternate to the expected. This plays and breaks the rules of the typical horror genre.
The protagonists in the movie almost recognise that they are being filmed and acting
as characters, which is an example of the humour brought into the movie: “Do you want me
to play the helpless victim ? Please don’t hurt me, Mr Ghostface, I want to be in the sequel.”
Self aware/ ironic- almost as if they know they are in a film. Irony is also a convention of
postmodernism, which is played on in the film frequently.

Scream is a posmodernist film, as we can notice another important feature, which is

intertextuality. The movie has endless references to Halloween movie as a central text within
the slasher movie. For instance, much of the film contains intertexual references to other
works of art - especially horror - and these allusions give the film a postmodern self-
awareness.
Williamson sets up Jamie Kennedy as a horror movie fan who is constantly connecting
everything back to slasher films. He creates the famous rules for survival in a horror film:
You may not survive the movie if you drink or do drugs. You may not survive the movie if
you say “I’ll be right back”, “Hello?” or “Who’s there?”. He offers such advice as “If the cops
saw Prom Night (1980), they’d know exactly what’s going on.”
Do the rest of the characters follow this three-step template? Of course not. And that is
what makes Scream such an ironic dose of satire. Craven mocks the rulebook while
simultaneously following its every word, as if fulfilling some morbid curiosity of just how far
clichés can be bent. Characters relate situations to scary movies they have seen, yet they do
not do much better when it comes to acknowledging their own bad decisions.
The self-reflexivity of Scream highlights the media saturated world of these teenagers,
with one character accusing Sidney of sounding “like some Wes Carpenter flick”, in a
deliberate blending of Wes Craven and John Carpenter (Scream). These teen characters are
well versed in popular culture and thus can recognise that their life is following a slasher film
pattern. The most obvious example of this occurs towards the end of the film, when we are
treated to the recitation of the “rules” of generic slasher films.

The self-referencing of the film finds expression in the appellation of characters as

well. The character Billy Loomis was named after Dr. Loomis in Halloween, who was named
after Sam Loomis in Psycho. Also, the girl who plays Annie in Halloween is called Nancy
Loomis. There is multiple intertextual referencing between Scream, Halloween and Psycho.
At the start of the film, Casey Becker, played by Drew Barrymore, is asked to name the killers
in Halloween and Friday the 13th. Billy’s line “We all go a little mad sometimes” is a direct
quote from Norman Bates in Psycho.
In a comical reference to A Nightmare on Elm Street, the janitor of the school is shown
wearing a fedora and striped jumper similar to Freddy Krueger’s. The principal even refers to
him as ‘Fred’. This acts as comic relief. When the principle is killed, there is a close up of his
eye in which we can see the mask of the killer. This is an obvious allusion to Psycho and the
famous shower scene.
In both films, characters are sent to the ‘McKenzie’s’ house for help. Randy mentions
‘Leatherface’ at one point, a direct reference to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
During the party at Stu’s house, they all decide to watch Halloween. Randy explains
the rules of horror films. Randy seems to be narrating Halloween and his own life, his own
horror movie. Randy screams “he’s behind you!” at the screen, while the killer of his own
movie is right behind him. When Dewey enters the house to investigate, the soundtrack to
Halloween also acts as the soundtrack for Scream.
When the killer says “It’s like right out of a horror movie,” we cannot help but smile
because we understand that it is, indeed, out of a horror movie, the one we are watching. To
further demonstrate its postmodern sensibility, the film contains allusions to other works of
visual culture. For example, the white mask Ghostface wears pays homage to Edvard
Munch’s “The Scream,” an expressionist horror painting from 1893. An influence of
postmodernism is that the killer is ‘masked’ and so the audience is disorientated and has he
killer’s identity obscured until the end of the film.
In fact, it is one of those postmodern films that one needs to “get” in order to truly
appreciate, like Pulp Fiction. Without a background in popular culture and visual culture, the
self-aware references, allusions, and in-jokes will escape the viewer.
 Postmodernism is generally skeptical and likes to challenge the ideologies of modern
thought. It often becomes very reflective upon itself, developing the idea of a metanarrative.
If you are not familiar with metanarrative, it is a subject that is self-aware. For example, a
character like Deadpool is “meta” because he knows he is a superhero, in a superhero movie.
Craven uses these techniques of postmodernism and metanarrative within Scream to elevate a
pretty typical slasher film into an extraordinary one.

The main boundary that Scream crosses is the boundary between film and reality. The
obvious references to several popular culture films blur the lines between the characters being
in our reality: aware of these films, with their own criticisms and opinions of them, and them
being in their own horror film, separate from our world.
The irrationality takes the form of the killer. Throughout the film we wonder why all
this is happening, and who could be behind it all, whereas we know exactly who it is in
Halloween. This is enhanced by the police presence as they are trying to find out what we
want to know. Motives and people are questioned throughout the film: „Everybody’s a
suspect!” – Randy. Not having any reasoning capabilities creates a terrifying monster because
without rationality, they cannot see what they are doing is wrong, and it is very unlikely the
monster will stop.
Although we are able to separate the characters world from our own, the lines between
the two are blurred. They like the same movies as us, they dress like us, eat and drink like us,
and are subject to the same advertising as us. If they were in a horror film, how are they aware
of other horror films? These hazy and unclear boundaries aim to set the film in our world,
rather than in the realm of the horror movie.
In conclusion, Scream is a rare film in which is critiques its own genre, and then goes
and deconstructs it, then rebuilds it up all again. It takes the rules of the slasher films, and
throws them out the window, only leaving pieces and parts of them making the film fresh and
unpredictable. Making Wes Craven’s Scream a postmodern slasher film that critiques the old
rules of slasher films and repackages them in new and unprecedented ways. This movie was
released at a time when the teen slasher movie was on the wane, and it helped revitalise the
genre through its clever use of characteristics of postmodernism such as parody, irony and,
most predominantly, self-reflexivity. The ensuing sequels and TV show further employ the
use of postmodernism to deconstruct the generic teen horror film.
 Pulp Fiction

Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is another example of a postmodernist film.

The film tells the interweaving stories of gangsters, a boxer, and robbers. The 1994 film
breaks down chronological time and demonstrates a particular fascination with intertextuality:
bringing in texts from both traditionally "high" and "low" realms of art.
This foregrounding of media places the self as "a loose, transitory combination of
media consumption choices." Pulp Fiction fractures time (by the use of asynchronous time
lines) and by using styles of prior decades and combining them together in the movie. By
focusing on intertextuality and the subjectivity of time, Pulp Fiction demonstrates the
postmodern obsession with signs and subjective perspective as the exclusive location of
anything resembling meaning.
Pulp Fiction (1994), a crime comedy, was a major success among critics and
audiences and won numerous awards, including the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for
Best Original Screenplay.
Its plot occurs out of chronological order. The film is also self-referential from its
opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of "pulp".
Considerable screen time is devoted to monologues and casual conversations with eclectic
dialogue revealing each character's perspectives on several subjects, and the film features an
ironic combination of humor and strong violence. TriStar Pictures reportedly turned down the
script as "too demented".
Pulp Fiction is widely regarded as Tarantino's masterpiece, with particular praise for
its screenwriting. The self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive homage and
pastiche have led critics to describe it as a touchstone of postmodern film. It is often
considered a cultural watershed, influencing films and other media that adopted elements of
its style. The cast was also widely praised, with Travolta, Thurman and Jackson earning
particular acclaim.
 Pulp Fiction's narrative is told out of chronological order, and follows three main
interrelated stories that each have a different protagonist: Vincent Vega, a hitman; Butch
Coolidge, a prizefighter; and Jules Winnfield, Vincent's business partner.
The film begins with a diner hold-up staged by a couple, then begins to shift from one
storyline to another before returning to the diner for the conclusion. There are seven narrative
sequences; the three primary storylines are preceded by intertitles:

1. "Prologue – The Diner" (i)

2. Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
3. "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
4. Prelude to "The Gold Watch" (a – flashback, b – present)
5. "The Gold Watch"
6. "The Bonnie Situation"
"Epilogue –If the seven sequences were ordered chronologically, they would run: 4a, 2, 6, 1,
7, 3, 4b, 5. Sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of
view, as do sequences 2 and 6. According to Philip Parker, the structural form is "an episodic
narrative with circular events adding a beginning and end and allowing references to elements
of each separate episode to be made throughout the narrative".Other analysts describe the
structure as a "circular narrative The Diner".

Summary
Hitmen Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega arrive at an apartment to retrieve a
briefcase for their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace, from a business partner, Brett. After
Vincent checks the contents of the briefcase, Jules shoots one of Brett's associates. He
declaims a passage from the Bible, and he and Vincent kill Brett for trying to double-cross
Marsellus. They take the briefcase to Marsellus and wait while he bribes boxer Butch
Coolidge to take a dive in his upcoming match.
The next day, Vincent purchases heroin from his drug dealer, Lance. He shoots up and
drives to meet Marsellus's wife Mia, having agreed to escort her while Marsellus is out of
town. They eat at Jack Rabbit Slim's, a 1950s-themed restaurant, and participate in a twist
contest, then return home. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his heroin and snorts
it, mistaking it for cocaine. She suffers an overdose; Vincent rushes her to Lance's house,
where they revive her with an injection of adrenaline into her heart. Vincent drops Mia off at
her home, and the two agree never to tell Marsellus about the incident.
 Butch bets the bribe money on himself and double-crosses Marsellus, winning the
bout but accidentally killing his opponent as well. Knowing that Marsellus will send hitmen
after him, he prepares to flee with his girlfriend Fabienne, but discovers she has forgotten to
pack a gold watch passed down to him through his family. Returning to his apartment to
retrieve it, he notices a submachine gun on the kitchen counter and hears the toilet flush.
When Vincent exits the bathroom, Butch shoots him dead and departs.
When Marsellus spots Butch stopped at a traffic light, Butch rams his car into him,
leaving both of them injured and dazed. Once Marsellus regains consciousness, he draws a
gun and shoots at Butch, chasing him into a pawnshop. As Butch gains the upper hand and is
about to shoot Marsellus, Maynard the shop owner captures them at gunpoint and binds and
gags them in the basement. Maynard and his accomplice Zed take Marsellus into another
room and begin to rape him, leaving the "gimp" – a silent figure in a bondage suit – to watch
over Butch. Butch breaks loose and knocks the gimp unconscious. Instead of fleeing, he
decides to save Marsellus, and arms himself with a katana from the pawnshop. He kills
Maynard and frees Marsellus, who shoots Zed in the crotch with Maynard's shotgun.
Marsellus informs Butch that they are even, and to tell no one about the rape and to depart
Los Angeles forever. Butch picks up Fabienne on Zed's chopper, and they drive away.
Earlier, after Vincent and Jules have killed Brett in his apartment, another man bursts
out of the bathroom and fires at them, but every shot misses; after briefly checking themselves
for wounds, Jules and Vincent shoot him dead. While driving away with Brett's associate
Marvin, Jules professes that their survival was a miracle, which Vincent disputes. Vincent
accidentally shoots Marvin in the face, killing him, and covering Vincent, Jules, and the car
interior in blood in broad daylight. They hide the car at the home of Jules's friend Jimmie,
who demands they deal with the problem before his wife Bonnie comes home. Marsellus
sends a cleaner, Winston Wolfe, who directs Jules and Vincent to clean the car, hide the body
in the trunk, dispose of their bloody clothes, and take the car to a junkyard.
At a diner, Jules tells Vincent that he plans to retire from his life of crime, convinced
that their "miraculous" survival at the apartment was a sign of divine intervention. While
Vincent is in the bathroom, a couple, "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny" hold up the restaurant
and demand Marsellus's briefcase. Distracting him with its contents, Jules overpowers
Pumpkin and holds him at gunpoint; Honey Bunny becomes hysterical and points her gun on
him. Vincent returns with his gun aimed at her, but Jules defuses the situation. He recites the
biblical passage, expresses ambivalence about his life of crime, and allows the robbers to take
his cash and leave. Jules and Vincent leave the diner with the briefcase in hand.
Why is Pulp Fiction a postmodernist movie?

• Pulp Fiction is a postmodernist film because of “look back” and make constant
references to earlier film
The film starts with a reference to a French New Wave film “band a part” by Jean Luc
Goddard “ a key characteristic of postmodern film is inter-textual reference to other, older
films.
• Postmodernism film constantly refer back to the past.There is nothing new to say , it
has all been said
In Pulp Fiction they go to a retro restaurant.Older music is playing;they dance an old dance
(the twist).The waitresses are Budy Holly and Marylin Monroe
• Postmodern films are inter-textual and refer to others films
The dance reminds the audience of John Travolta dancing in “Saturday Night Fever”.It also
makes references to the dance scene in “bande a part”.The Marilyn Monroe waitress has her
white dress blow up to her thighs as happens in “The Seven Year Itch”film.
• Another key postmodern characteristic is the lack of meta-narratives.In the second
scene of the film, two gangster are discussing hamburgers with as much seriousness as they
discuss killing people.
The Bible is quoted at vey inappropriate moments
The nature of “miracles” is discussed
• The lack of meta narratives leads to the lack of morality
Murder is almost “matter of fact”!
Scraping the side if a car is almost regarded as the worst possible crime!
• Postmodern films are playfull
When Mia is in the car with Vincent, she draws a square to “jolt” the audience and remind
them they are watching a film.This is a non reality as the graphic reminds us.This is not the
“classic” way that the traditional films are watched by their audience.Normally we are
encouraged to “suspend disbelief”.
• Postmodern films do not differentiate between high and low culture.
Both are equal worth.
Butch`s partener refer to Madonna in the pop video for “Lucky Star” when she wants a pot
belly.
Conclusion