Sunday 20 November 2011

@PHIL : Postmodern Essay Structure (1st Attempt)

Hello Phil,
This is the essay structure I have up till now. The main Body of the Essay will be divided in parts (paragraphs) which are numbered. I have worked out that I might be able to include Postmodern theories of 3 Philosophers but I am not sure if it's too much. Oh and I am still in the process of collecting different reviews on Scream like you told me.
Thank you.


Postmodern Essay Structure

1 comment:

  1. Hey Andi,

    Well done for getting this up and early: some just some pointers then;

    beware confusing 'meta-fiction' with 'meta-narratives' - and therefore Jean Francois Lyotard as being the thinker associated with 'meta-fiction'. 'Meta-narratives' - i.e. the big totalizing stories of history, religion and science - and 'incredulity' for them, is connected to the general move away from the certainties of modernity. I suggest you research 'Meta-fiction' specifically in relation to Scream - and as its own category - not as connected to Lyotard's use of 'meta'.

    Yes - 'meta' & deconstruction go hand-in-hand - because it's when a film starts to comment on its own formula (i.e. de-construct it) that it becomes 'meta'. You could suggest that 'meta' is a consequence or response to the idea of deconstruction (which is ultimately about the often hidden or non-obvious rules that drive our expectations). That's a great point about horror being particularly 'vulnerable' to meta treatments because, as a genre, it so obviously 'built' from formulas.

    The point about Scary Movie and 'death of the author' is right, because it mosaics all those 'texts' from other films and does so for the opposite (i.e. comic effect), so yes, you'd need to define the concept and apply it.

    In your introduction, I think you need to emphasise that pastiche and parody are key characteristics of postmodernism, and that you'll be exploring these categories in discussion of Scream and Scary Movie. Your intro could be much more confident and concise therefore: something like:

    This assignment will examine and compare Wes Craven's Scream (1996) and Keenan Ivory Wayans' Scary Movie (2000). While both films are characteristically postmodern, the ways in which they associate with postmodernity are different. Research sources include... (list them, and your reasons for using them - and then outline the order of your points raised, so...) The assignment begins by defining postmodernism in general terms, before introducing Derrida's idea of deconstruction... etc.

    ReplyDelete