Fifteen million merits

Fifteen million merits is not a post modern text. Discuss this claim with the reference to the Wachoski brothers, the matrix and one other text.

The media text I studied was an episode from the series, Black Mirror, Fifteen Million Merits.
I noticed that this text is not a post modern text, but however it deals with post modernity.
Within in this everybody in doing the same thing, on a static pedal bike earning points and maybe generating something which they are not aware of. This appears to be blurring the boundaries of human and machine, doing the same thing each day.
Hyperreality, which Jean Baudrillard talks about, can be applied to this text, the competition hot shot and the advert for porn, over exaggerating it in compared to what it actually is in real life. This then creates a confusion to what real is.
Fifteen Million Merits may appear to be a post modern text by having simulation and having a post modernity aspect to it and within this world they are in, everything is simulated, from the food machine to the waking up call.
With the food machine, the screen shows what the food looks like, but there is no visual proof of what the food is until it is vended to the buyer. Abbi said to bing that even the food was grown in a petri dish, Implying that everything is simulated and there is no sign to the real life.
At the talent show, hot shot, even the crowed was simulated, being an avatar representing that person. having an avatar allowed the people in this life to customize and create an image which gives of a false representation of them. Bing said that what they were buying for the avatar was junk, reflecting that what they were buying didn't actually exist.
I would view this text to have a dystopian view on life and an exaggerated reflection on today's society, That if we keep doing as we are told, someday the life style may change to be like Fifteen Million Merits, to live in a virtual reality. Within this episode
The idea of a hegemony, keeping everyone under an idea which is made to be the truth. This is shown by the talent show, that to be happy and have what you want, you must become famous.
Although Fifteen Million Merits have post modern features, i would argue that it wasn't a post modern text. Reason for this as it has a linear narrative, following a conventional structure. It also might be seen as having a hero's journey, but having the hero being unsuccessful in what he is trying to achieve. The episode has a linear narrative, and making it to tell what genre it is, it being a sci-fi based. Another text which shares similar features would be the Minority Report, having a linear narrative and has elements of post modernity. Also the Idea of a hegemony, keeping everyone under and idea to what they told is the truth. This text also features simulation, having the idea of of cars that hover and  vehicles that fly.
The matrix also deals with simulation, creating a world and blurring the boundaries to what is the real and what isn't, being a hyperreality. This is shown when Morpheus take Neo to the place where "desert of the real" showing a dystopian world. The matrix blurs the boundaries between, having the agents within the matrix being an infection, a virus, having no original body, making them simulacrum.

Mika Hatsune

Explain how certain types of media can be described as post-modern

I believe that a lot of media in the present day has some form of post-modern with in. A good example that would show this is a coca cola advert, with the water droplet running down the side of the bottle. This is Hype reality, best described by Jean Baudrillard, over exaggerating something that is in real life, making it more appealing.
Another type of media i believe to be post modern would be online gaming, having multiple ways of being post-modern. When it comes t online gaming simulation and imitation, I would say, the key areas. The game Battlefield 3, has a mixture of both simulation and imitation. The simulation part of this is the map which have been created within the game, not existing in real life. Imitation on battlefield 3 would be the weapons,  all existing in real life and being used in the Military this current day. Shooting games are not just the only genre of online gaming, Racing games such as need for speed also have simulation and imitation, with the cars being an imitation and the maps in which you race around being simulation. Forza Motorsports 3 is a racing game where both tracks and cars are simulation.
Films also have features of being post-modernism, such as film like Shaun of the dead, Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and hot fuzz. Shaun of the dead is in some way a parody of Dawn of the dead, both being about a zombie breakout. The idea of parody was discussed by the thinker Fredric Jameson, he also talked about Pastiche, taking an idea and recreating it. Hot fuzz, have multiple features of post-modernism. Hyper reality is a main on, over exaggerating what modern day police officers are like and what they do. This film has a lot of intertextuality, referring to other films likes Bad Boys 2, Point Break, also the TV He Man with the quote "By the power of gray skull" being used by both Danny (Nick Frost) and Sgt. Angel (Simon Pegg). Hot Fuzz also has a lot of references to other actors like Chuck Norris, have a street in the film named Norris avenue.
After listening to a wider range of music, I found the Japanese pop star Miku Hatsune, who is a hologram, so she would be a simulation, although her voice is someones real voice. This blurs the boundary to what is real and what isn't, seeing a anime character walking and singing in front of you and not on TV.
Within films, having a story or a meaning it maybe considered a modern feature, giving a message to the audience. One the other hand, if the film is all about affects and has no story, Transformers, it might be considered as post-modern, taking is trascent. The idea of waning, thought of by the thinker Fredric Jameson, with the film being about how the film looks.

Easter Work

Pulp fiction

This Film being a postmodernism film, Challenges the conventional relations between audience and text, I also found that Buffy the vampire slayer also does this. Whilst both the film and TV series appear to have a genre, it is also mixed with other genres making it not so easy to categorize.
With pulp fiction being a film where the “chapters” are mixed about and played in a different order within the film to when they actually happened.  In Buffy, there are episodes however I found that not all of them link together one after another, having references throughout the series.  When you watch either Pulp fiction or Buffy, you can be drawn in and feel as its reality or you know it’s a film/TV series and don’t gain the feeling for a specific character.

Modernism films have a deep story and follow this storyline rather than work on the visual side of the film. However, postmodernism films focus on the visual side, not focusing on the story, if there really is one.  This example is greatly shown in the film Transformer, with loads of action and explosions creating amazing visuals and not showing what the story is. Although Buffy the Vampire slayer is a post modernism TV series, some episode side track from being postmodernism and focus on a little bit of a storyline, and the characters. Pulp fiction doesn’t really tell a story, but the way in which the film is presented is all over the place. This then makes the viewer have to put the film in the right order once seeing the whole film.

Both Buffy the vampire slayer and pulp fiction relate to a previous section of the past, in pulp fiction it would be the retro dinner and the twist competition, going to the 1950s and buffy going to the medieval times, where vampire, witches and monsters were all thought to have been around.

Hot Fuzz

I will be discussing whether the film “Hot Fuzz” could be categorized as a post-modern film. I will talk about the intertextuality, conventional vs. postmodern films, and the way in which is challenges the text to audience relationship.

From watching this film and looking at the references within the film, I found there are a lot more then I first thought. The first one I find is the one to the films, “3 colours of red/yellow/blue” films made in Italy directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski in the 1990s. The 3 colour films are high culture films, where as Hot Fuzz and the other film in the 3 Cornetto trilogy, Shaun of the Dead, are low culture films. As this film if part of a trilogy, there are many references to the first film, Shaun of the Dead, such as “Never taken a short cut before?”  And “Do you want anything from the shop?” Both of these quotes have been repeated in the films a number of times. Other films like bad boys 2, and the tv show He man, With “by the power of Grayskull” being repeated by both Sergeant Angel and Danny in Hot Fuzz.

Some people say this film is postmodern, although it does have elements of being a convention film, having the film in order, unlike pulp fiction. It may be conventional as it has a story, a police officer going from the big city full of crime to a small village, where crime is not as high. Genre could challenge whether Hot Fuzz is postmodern, for the reason as it is unclear to exactly what genre the film is. Throughout it’s a mixture of films from comedy to action and police and crime, this then links to the music used within Hot Fuzz, using Fire by The crazy world of Arthur Brown and Blockbuster by The Sweet; giving this film a more postmodern look, having a very mixed soundtrack.