Vladamir Propp Theory

According to Russain theorist Vlamir Propp, a story involves three narrative functions that are necessary for the narrative to exist, also known as spheres of action.

His characters are all of certain type;

• The Villain: Struggles against hero
• The donor: prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
• The (magical) helper: helps hero in the quest
• The princess or the prize: the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to gain her due to unfair evil
• Her father: gives the task to the hero, identifies her but is not always clearly distinguished
• The dispatcher: character who makes the lack known
• The hero/victim/seeker hero: reacts to the donor and marries the princess
• False hero: takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.

The Man Who Wasn't There

The Man Who Wasn't There is a 2001 American neo-noir film directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen. It stars Billy Bob Thornton with Frances McDormand and Scarlett Johanson.

This film may be considered to be post modern due to its main character Ed Crane (Thornton) whose thoughts can be heard in a narrative style throughout the film as he narrates in first person. It is apparant that Ed finds it hard to interact with others surrounding him, even his wife, who he suspects is having an affair but primarily doesn't want to do anything about it. His calm overtone holds up until the end of the film, where Ed regrets his actions for the pain he caused to others. Crane is a somewhat unique individual who's lack of speech and communication towards his brother in law and all other people sets him apart from the rest yet his lack of emotion, even when his wife commited suicide, portrays something thats odd and different.

Joel Coen (co-director) admits that the film is "heavily influenced by" the work of James M. Cain, a writer best known for the novels Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, with them too both using a narrative style and a sense of nostalgia.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is an idea or term applied to varying movements within literature,art, philosophy and fiction, as well as many others. The term 'postmodernism' is difficult to define, although it stems from the recognition that reality is not simply mirrored by humans understanding of it, but it's constructed as peoples' minds try to understand its own individual personal reality. It stresses how meaning is hard to pin down such as words and concepts. Postmodernists claim that in a media saturated world, the distinction between reality and the media representation of it becomes blurred or even invisible.

Jean Baudrillard

Jean Baudrillard was a French sociologist, philosopher, cultural theorist and political commentator. Baudrillard's postmodern world is that of mass communication, mass media and the proliferation, across all bounderies, of signs. Baudrillards formulation of postmodernism, in its extreme conclusion, would entail the eventual disintegration of the Saussurean concept of the sign, leaving a world completely divorced from the real thing. Another interpretation of this would be that the media we are subjected to is the media we are made to believe and as we are not there when such huge disasters or events occur, then we develop our emotions and come to conclusions that are persuaded by the images and what we see in the media.

word definitions for postmodernism

• Ironic - a term that describes something which has gone beyond the initial simplicity of an action or thought.


• Nostalgia - commonly used to describe a yearning for the past, often in an idealized form, or a general interest in past eras, personalities or events.


• Narrative style - an account of any event and the incidents it is composed. It is giving a connective order to a series of recorded events. ( Used in The Man Who Wasn't There )


• Intertextuality - is the shaping of the texts' meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author's borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader's referencing of one text in reading another.


• Parody - A parody in contemporary usage is a work created to mock, comment on or poke fun at an original work, its subject, author, style or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. ( Such as Austin Powers which mocks the James Bond films and books)


• Self Referentiality - Making a reference to itself or oneself or related to a work of literature or art which exhibits the author's or artist's self-conscious awareness of the creative process, of the techniques he or she is using etc.