Postmodernism

I selected “Intermission” and “The Final Cut”.

I think that the trailer of “Intermission” shows the postmodern (and modern) features of fragmentation, discontinuity and simultaneity. After watching this short video, I did not get a sense of “unity”-many characters are presented in different situations, as if several unrelated stories happen at the same time. These “micronarratives” or small stories(situational, provisional, contingent, and temporary), help to develop the idea of multiplicity and incompatibility, which is one of the most important characteristic of postmodernism.

In “The Final Cut”, postmodernism is clearly illustrated by the reliance on computer technology to the extent that it can manipulate and determine social practices. In this trailer, babies may be implanted a memory chip which will record every moment of their lives and after their deaths, the chip will be edited by a ‘cutter’ so that it has a certain length. In this society, the relationship between signifier/signified is non –existent (the events on the chip may be deleted). This lack of reality, also accounts for the passivity of the postmodern subject: people watching the content on the chip will take it as real, "the only reality they can know".