Family Guy can be seen as very postmodern as it is full of references from popular culture. The title 'Family Guy' is said to be a reference to the popular television culture of family sitcoms. Family Guy builds itself on postmodernism by always having references from other popular medias and makes fun of itself whenever it can. Their introduction theme tune is a mickey take on modern television. Lois says "it seems today that all you see is violence in movies and sex on TV." Peter then sings in reply "where are those good old fashion values on which we used to rely? ... Lucky theres a Family Guy." The audience know that although Family Guy is saying that we should reply on the show for better family values, we know that it is going to be the complete opposite just because we know what the show is like. That already gives viewers their own inside joke.
The whole show is full of blantent intertextual references. In one episode, Peter Griffin, the main character is feeling upset. Brian says he knows a way to cheer him up, leaving the room, then returning in a banana suit to dance to the 'peanut buttter jelly time' music, an popular online clip. This humour can only be found funny if the audience is well tuned with not only their televisions, but also to their computer screens and possibly all digital media. Family Guy is constantly using references from other shows and movies and the interent. Like in this case, they usually show the intertextuality so blatantly, the audience automatically knows what it is just because they are so "media savvy."
For Family Guy, the only way for it to work and be viewed as comical is that the audience is up to date with their televisions and computers enough to get all the smallest happenings in the world and media so they can get all the random jokes. This also links to the idea that 'Postmodernism will eat itself' idea, as its all just regurgated pop culture. Every media aspect that is popular is covered, especially in Youtube and readily avaliable digital media.
One of my favorite and quite obviously postmodern texts is the Matrix (1999.) It has so many aspects of the postmodern culture that it is difficult to decipher them all. The whole idea of the film is to make the audience question their own existence. Leaving the cinema, they’ll think about being so fortunate and living in the reality of the 1990s, and not in the monstrous future shown on the big screen. Yet, after a moment, the audience realizes that the characters in the film also think that they live in the relatively peaceful 1990s. According to a French philosopher, Jean-François Lyotard, the condition of postmodernism is “scepticism towards all metanarratives”. The postmodern aspect of this film makes spectators question yet another metanarrative - this of the time they live in - and of what they perceive as reality.
ReplyDeleteIn the film itself this reality is nothing more than Jean Baudrillard's postmodern simulacrum. The reference to Baudrillard's ideas is not a coincidence, as the protagonist of the story, Neo, is shown hiding illegal software in Baudrillard's book Simulacra & Simulation, just as gunfighters in classic western films used to hide their weapons in the Bible. Moreover, the French philosopher is quoted throughout the film.
Also other film references are shown throughout the entirety of the film. From the Kafkaesque scene of Neo's interrogation to the shooting scene that resembles of Arnold Schwarzenegger entering the police station in the first Terminator. From antagonists in a form of mysterious agents, resembling of a modern myth of Men In Black, to Neo playing Superman in the final scene. Or from the Alien-like scene of debugging Neo to the reversed version of the Snow White. Not to mention quoting Through the looking Glass and The Wizard of Oz. But probably the most important citations are those from the Bible. The anagram of the main character's name is One and he is often, though not directly, referred to as the Messiah. Other biblical images, as the one of Zion, continuously reappear throughout the film. Additionally, not only Neo, but many other names of characters have symbolic meaning as well. The man who wakes the human beings up from their seemingly endless sleep is Morpheus. The woman who completes the team of Neo and Morpheus is called Trinity. And, finally, the traitor's name is Cypher, bearing a suspicious resemblance to Lucypher. All of that is shown in a mix of blended conventions: of science fiction film, of action movie, even of romance and horror - and all of that with ever-present touch of humor.
These are just some of the reasons why the Matrix is one of my favorite post modern films. Because you can watch it numerous times, and every time you see it, spot new elements and layers in this postmodern riddle.
James Hurrell