Pastiche: “An artistic work in a style that imitates that of another
work, artist or period”
Oxford English Dictionary
Fredric Jameson (1991) believes that postmodern film
involves the reworking of representations, aesthetic codes and forms from the
past into the present. In Jameson’s famous essay ‘Postmodernism; or, The
Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism’ he suggests that postmodern culture
highlights reaching the end of a historical period, one which has failed to
move forwards resulting in the past being continuously recycled and reused in
the present day by various cultural forms, such as architecture, art and
cinema. Baudrillard elaborates on this point and discusses possible
explanations, for instance the representation of events have become so
overlapped that linear time, and the difference between what is real and what
is represented, becomes unsustainable. Jameson argues that as a result society
has managed to lose touch with the reality of accurate history as people are no
longer able to relate to their past.
Pastiche is featured heavily in Jameson’s essay, when
identifying the features of postmodern culture he refers to pastiche as a “flat
multiplication and collage of styles” (Connor, 1997, p.44) which he compares to
the ‘deep’ and unique aesthetic qualities of modernism. Whilst both parody and
pastiche are both considered postmodern traits, Hill (1998) highlights Jameson’s
insistence that pastiche is the dominant one out of the two in Hollywood films;
parody involves mockery or criticism of the film being parodied whereas Jameson
believes that pastiche is empty and acts only as a surface aesthetic, a “neutral
mimicry without parody’s ulterior motives” (Jameson, 1984, p.64-5).
Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction is often described by critics as a prime example of a postmodern
film due to its extensive use of pastiche and references towards popular
culture. In the scene ‘Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace’s Wife’ one of the
main characters, Vincent Vega played by John Travolta, is responsible for
entertaining his boss’s wife, Mia played by Uma Thurman, whilst he is out of
town. Mia and Vincent visit a 1950s-themed restaurant called Jack Rabbit Slim’s,
in which the waiting staff at the restaurant are all lookalikes of popular
icons of the decade; such as Buddy Holly, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean.
Some of
the pastiche included in the film was more implicit than the scene involving the waiters at Jack Rabbit Slim’s,
as the film is rife with scenes and quotes which are taken from various other
films and forms of popular culture. For example, a scene in ‘The Gold Watch’
sees Marsellus turn his head to watch Bruce the boxer then hit him with his car;
this is an exact re-enactment of the scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960).
Linda Hutcheon criticises Jameson for condemning all
Hollywood films as postmodern, as she believes that some Hollywood films use
parody in order to acknowledge history (for instance, in Woody Allen’s Zelig, 1983). Although, Hill states, Hutcheon
is aware of the fact that postmodern films are not always challenging and that
they may tend to be contradictory due to their use of irony.
Jameson (1991) discusses what he refers to as the ‘nostalgia
film’; he claims that the nostalgia film is an attempt to recapture a missing
past by completely restructuring the idea of pastiche. Within nostalgia films
there tends to be a portrayal of the dominant ideologies of a specific
generation. As discussed by Maltby (1995) and Bignell (2000) Jameson discusses the postmodern films of the 70s and 80s, which was when filmmakers began to produce films which were
set in the 1950s and early 1960s. He uses George Lucas’s coming of age film, American Graffiti (1973), as an example
as it was set in 1962. He claims that American
Graffiti, alongside others made around the same time, like Grease (1978), are the results of a
longing for the “lost reality of the Eisenhower era” (Jameson, 1991, p.19) by
Americans who wish to relive the ‘naive innocence’ found amongst youths and
within subcultures at the time (Jameson, 1991).
Jameson goes on to state that the nostalgia film cannot be defined as a
representation of history, but it instead represents the
past through the use of “stylistic connotations” (Jameson, 1991, p.19), this is done by glossing
over images in order to convey the past and the use of fashion to help display
the clothing preferences of an era. These glossy images, Jameson claims, have
taught society to consume the past in these romanticised forms. Hill (1998)
elaborates on this by suggesting that nostalgia films' use of pastiche and
intertexuality both contribute towards the loss of “historical depth” (Hill,
1998, p.101), a trait often associated with postmodernism, which involves
postmodern films substituting the ability to re-create a ‘real’ past for the
creation of a past which relies on simulations based upon styles and
representations which already exist.
Another very postmodern feature of Pulp Fiction (1994) is the fact that it doesn’t have a linear
narrative structure; there are three different stories and scenes intertwined
within the film and the stories unfold outside a chronological order. For
instance, the ending is placed into the middle of the film and the parts before
it are all shown afterwards, which means that a main character still appears onscreen,
even after he has been shot dead. Having no chronological order to the
sequences is seen as an extremely postmodern filmmaking technique and one which
is guaranteed to capture an audience’s attention.
In the past films often had difficulty in depicting ways in
which to signal chronological changes within the movie. Filmmakers began to use
camera shots (like a calendar blowing backwards in Written on the Wind (1956)) and narrative voice-overs to signify
the linear structure of the film going back in time (Maltby, 1995). Maltby
states that in order to represent the past and the future, films must therefore
bring them into the present. Very few films featured plots involving time
travel before the 1980s (Maltby, 1995), during this period time travel
storylines became extremely popular due to the release of films like Blade Runner (1982) and The Terminator (1984), both of which
involve the image of a dystopian future.
Blade Runner especially
is cited by many theorists for being typically postmodern (Strinatti, 1995;
Hill, 1998; Hill, 1998; Bignell, 2000). Bignell claims that it displays the
qualities of at least two different film genres, including film noir and
science fiction. He feels that the films use of pastiche and parody - through
the recycling of film styles, architecture and fashion from different periods
of history – are predominately postmodern qualities in film and may result in
confusion between accurate and inaccurate portrayals of history.
As stated earlier, another time period which was commonly
used in 1980s film was the 1950s era (Maltby, 1995; Bignell, 2000), with the
release of films such as the Back to the
Future series (1985; 1989; 1990) and Peggy
Sue Got Married (1986). Both films involved the main protagonists being
transported back to the 1950s. Maltby (1995) is critical of these films as he
believes that both are guilty of romanticising the 1950s by portraying a
utopian-like small-town America.
Films which compromise substance, narrative, character and
content for special effects, images and spectacle are defined as postmodern by
Strinati (1995). Strinati goes on to describe the Back to the Future series as being predominately postmodern for its
disorientation of time and space – the films jump back and forth between the
past, present (set in 1985) and future due to the creation of an experimental
time machine – this also fits in with his other description of postmodern
films, he believes that they are created and marketed purely on their image alone
and manage to avoid all sense of realism.
Bignell (2000) identifies three specific characteristics
which can define a film as postmodern; the second of which describes film as being
postmodern when it involves the rearrangement of the codes of narrative, genre
and spectatorship. He feels that these features can be seen as either attempts
to create an alternative film practice, or as evidence of a new cultural
dominant which has derived from postmodernity.
Hill (1998) states that many contemporary films tend to
provide examples of postmodern themes and also offer “images of postmodern
society” (Harvey, 1989, p.308-23; Denzin, 1991). He claims an example of this
began shortly after the introduction of what he refers to as ‘New Hollywood’ in
the late 1960s, when Hollywood films started to reference, copy and imitate
from other styles of film. Hill cites Jameson (1991) in saying that postmodern
culture has resulted in the weakening of historical accuracy and a
depthlessness which represents “a new culture of the image or the simulacrum”
(Hill, 1998, p.101).
George Custen in Maltby (1995) states that the versions of
history portrayed in Hollywood films is based around the construction of “great
characters” (Maltby, 1995, p.311), in which they refine and/or add
characteristics to famous figures throughout history, which, therefore,
significantly influences the public’s opinion and understanding of a particular
historic event. Maltby (1995) criticises this as he feels that historical
information can be inaccurate and the films can also compress history into a
simple, linear process which doesn’t allow for alternative representations. Historians
have expressed concern over such portrayals of history in film, mainly due to
the number of people who now use films as their main source of knowledge and
information about history. Examples of such can include Mel Gibson's portrayal of William Wallace in the 1995 film Braveheart and Russell Crowe playing Maximus Meridius in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000), as both films were found to be historically inaccurate.
Overall, the use of pastiche in film is seen by many, who agree with Jameson (1991), as one of the main characteristics of a postmodern film. Theorists criticise pastiche for its surface-only aesthetic image, as they believe it is empty due to it having no purpose other than to represent an image, whereas parody at least has a critical and/or mocking element to it. Jameson’s (1991) notion of the nostalgia film is the perfect example of a symptom of a postmodern society, in which an entire era is recreated through images and representations of the past in order to fulfil a longing for a specific period in time.
Jameson (1991) and Hill (1998) both see the use of pastiche
and intertexuality in postmodern films as a bad thing, as they believe it can
lead to the erosion of “historical depth”. They both claim that many people are
now using film as a main source of gaining historical information, thus the use
of pastiche in film and the notion of the nostalgia film can both contribute
towards a romanticised and inaccurate view of a specific period in time of
history.
The lack of a linear narrative in films like Pulp Fiction can also be described as a
postmodern film phenomenon. Strinati (1995) states that films which compromise
a narrative for other elements such as special effects and spectacle can be
defined as postmodern, this could be due to filmmakers using such effects to
attract audiences to their films in order to gain more money. This is a
capitalist mindset, therefore confirming that it is a postmodern film, as it
was created to generate more income rather than out of love or a passion for
filmmaking.
References
Pulp fiction movie references guide. 2012. [online] The Quentin Tarantino Archives. Available from: http://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Pulp_Fiction_Movie_References_Guide [Accessed 05/02 2013]
American graffiti (1973). 2013. [online] IMDb.com, Inc. Available from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069704/ [Accessed 05/01 2013]
Back to the future (1985). 2013. [online] IMDb.com, Inc. Available from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/ [Accessed 05/01 2013]
Blade runner (1982). 2013. [online] IMDb.com, Inc. Available from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/ [Accessed 05/01 2013]
Pulp fiction (1994). 2013. [online] IMDb,com, Inc. Available from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/ [Accessed 05/01 2013]
BIGNELL, J., 2000. Postmodern Media Culture. Edinburgh, UK.: Edinburgh University Press Ltd.
CONNOR, S., 1997. Postmodern Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK.: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
HILL, J., 1998. Film and postmodernism. In: J. HILL and P. CHURCH GIBSON , eds. The Oxford Guide to Film Studies. Oxford, UK.: Oxford University Press. pp. 96-105
JAMESON, F., 1991. Nostalgia for the Present. Postmodernism; or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. London, UK.: Verso. pp. 279-297
MALTBY, R., 1995. Hollywood Cinema. Oxford, UK.: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
STRINATI, D., 1995. An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. London, UK.: Routledge.
