What makes the films of David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch postmodern?


Seminar Paper, 1998

11 Pages, Grade: 1


Abstract or Introduction

The term ‘postmodern’ has been used in different areas of study to describe similar phenomena. However, one must differentiate between postmodernism as a historical period, a cultural theory and an aesthetic category. The latter two uses will be the most important ones for my essay. It is essential for my discussion to include theories on postmodern culture, because the relationship between the real and its representation, and the zeitgeist as presented in film, is of vital importance for postmodern film. I will not define the term postmodernism here, on the one hand because the brevity of this essay does not allow my entering this ongoing debate, and, on the other hand, because the term itself escapes any fixed definition - it is rather a set of different tendencies.

The terms ‘postmodernism’ or ‘the postmodern’ are less precise categories than different versions of an all-embracing gesture which sums up a spirit of the times, an atmosphere.1

However, to be able to discuss whether or not Jim Jarmusch’s and David Lynch’s films are postmodern, I must first find a definition for ‘postmodern film’. One would expect a postmodern film to tackle the postmodern condition, life in postmodernity, as its subject matter. Since the differences in class, gender and ethnicity are central to the discussion of postmodernism,2 one can assume that these categories are equally important for the plot of a postmodern film. However, Down and Out in Beverly Hills is a film about life in the postmodern city and deals with questions of class and gender, but it is conventional in its style and structure, and obviously far from being a postmodern film. Thus not only the subject matter, but also the audiovisual style and narrative structure of a film should display postmodern characteristics.

Details

Title
What makes the films of David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch postmodern?
College
University of Aberdeen  (English Department)
Course
American Film Renaissance
Grade
1
Author
Year
1998
Pages
11
Catalog Number
V14783
ISBN (eBook)
9783638200912
ISBN (Book)
9783640202737
File size
422 KB
Language
English
Notes
Studie zweier sehr unterschiedlicher Ausformungen des postmodernen Films, jene von Jim Jarmusch und jene von David Lynch Studie zweier sehr unterschiedlicher Ausformungen des postmodernen Films, jene von Jim Jarmusch und jene von David Lynch
Keywords
What, David, Lynch, Jarmusch, American, Film, Renaissance
Quote paper
Mag. Markus Widmer (Author), 1998, What makes the films of David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch postmodern?, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/14783

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