Pilgrim Vs The World And Mulholland Drive: Film Analysis

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Recommended: Postclassical cinema

Postmodernism is a difficult term to define but characteristics such as discarding master narratives and any notion of enlightenment, hyperrreality, fiction and reality and the relationship between them, intertextuality, bricolage, imitation, video games, schizoid postmodernism and film noir are commonly visible in films described as “postmodern.” I will attempt in this paper to show how these characteristics are incorporated into the films Existenz, Scott Pilgrim Vs the World and Mulholland Drive and how these films can be considered “postmodern” in accordance with Lyotard’s, Baudrillard’s and Jameson’s theories of postmodernism.

Jean-François Lyotard, a French philosopher, defined postmodernism as incredulity towards all metanarratives meaning …show more content…

The film contains schizoid postmodernism, imitation, discards master narratives and any notion of enlightenment, hyperrreality, fiction and reality and the relationship between them and film noir and follows Lyotard’s, Baudrillard’s and Jameson’s theories of postmodernism as Lyotard’s theory of a kind of sceptical attitude to all claims of absolute truth is incorporated as dancers and a useless body are duplicated and shown in many scenes. The same stance is held in Baudrillard’s theory where there is a blurring of the lines between people and machines and a blurring of the line between reality and image and reality is imitated and duplicated. This is also the case in Existenz and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Mulholland Drive also like Scott Pilgrim vs the World adopts Jameson’s theory as people and situations are often duplicated throughout the film. This conforms to pastiche. The plot centres on a bright eyed young actress (Naomi Watts) who travels to Hollywood, only to remain ensnared in a dark secrecy surrounding a woman (Laura Harring) who was almost killed and now has amnesia as a result of a car crash. Eventually, both women are pulled into a psychotic delusion surrounding a hazardous blue box, a director named Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) and the imprecise night club Silencio. In the film, director David Lynch utilises schizoid postmodernism and pastiche of film noir on several levels. The movie is primarily reminiscent of the 1950’s period, especially with the story taking place in Hollywood. Mulholland Drive additionally resonates textbook noir in the utilisation of the searcher plot throughout the dream part of the movie. Baudrillard’s and Lyotard’s ideologies are incorporated into the film by David Lynch as Mulholland Drive questions two truths and what becomes fiction. Other examples in the movie where Baudrillard’s and Lyotard’s ideologies are further

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