Pulp Fiction Task/Lady Gaga Task

Consider the ways in which postmodern media challenge conventional relations between audience and text. Refer to at least two media forms in your answer.

Pulp Fiction

As Pulp Fiction does not have a clear narrative, it challenges a linear structure and smooth flow. As show below, the story line doesn't happen in a straight line. It moves from different events in time throughout the movie.

(Image 1)

The start of the film begins with two characters sitting in a diner. They talk about robbing a bank then talk about robbing a café/diner. They then get their guns out and tell everyone in the diner to cooperate with them whilst they are trying to rob the diner.

(Image 2)

At the end of the movie, they again get their guns, just like in the beginning of the movie (image 2), and the clip is then shown again. This time however, we have more of an idea why they want to rob the diner and also what goes on whilst they try to rob the diner and after they try to rob the café.

As shown in Image 1, many of the film aren’t in chronological order. Many of the events we see happen earlier in the film actually happen later on. This makes it hard for the audience to understand at times. Some of the events that happen later on in the film happen earlier in time. Again this makes it harder for the audience to realise what it happening.

Pulp Fiction makes you feel less secure and sometimes it’s not easy to identify the genre. Pulp Fiction’s genre is hard to identify, this is because there are many different genre’s Pulp Fiction. The first scene suggests that it could be a Crime Thriller, but throughout the film, it also suggests many other different genres’s including Drama, Thriller, Fiction and also Comedy.

 (Image 4)

Pulp Fiction makes the audience regularly and frequently wrong footed. This is because of the storyline throughout the film. As I have already mentioned, the storyline isn’t in chronological order, which makes the audience wrong footed because at times the audience don’t get what is happening or what will be happening.

 (Image 5)

In Pulp Fiction, we think about Jameson’s ‘flattering of affect’. We have emotional sympathy for Mia, one of the main characters. When Mia snorts some heroin, and she O.D’s, Vince give her a shot of adrenaline to the heart to bring her back to life. We feel sympathy for her because she could potentially die. Although it was her own fault for snorting this, we feel sympathy towards her in case she does die.

 (Image 6)

Pulp Fiction follows more postmodern conventions making it a postmodern film. This is because, audience don’t gain security from knowing the direction of the narrative. Pulp Fiction also doesn't have a familiar narrative which audience get swept away into. Pulp Fiction also doesn't have a clear story line. This is why Pulp Fiction is more postmodern rather than conventional. 

Lady Gaga – Born This Way

Like Pulp fiction, Lady Gaga – Born This Way is also very postmodern.
Reasons you can tell this is because the music video is very hard to identify a genre. There are many different genres, for example, electronic rock and techno but also on a broader level, heavy metal, disco and rock and roll. You can tell the music video is these genres because of its lyrical topics of sexuality, religion and individuality.

There is not a clear story line to the music video. The video challenges a linear structure and smooth flow. The story line does not always make sense and there are certain parts that most of the audience could be unsure about and could get confused.

Gaga’s videos are often postmodern and Lady Gaga herself is postmodern.