SPRING TERM 2014
POSTMODERN HOLLYWOOD
Catherine Constable and Matt Denny
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POSTMODERN HOLLYWOOD
Module leader: Dr Catherine Constable, room A 1.21, extension 50651.
Module tutor and guest lecturer: Matt Denny, room A 1.09.
OVERVIEW
The module offers you the opportunity to study postmodernism in detail. This will involve
looking at a number of different versions of the postmodern. We will begin with Jean
Baudrillard’s and Frederick Jameson’s analyses of postmodernism as nihilistic forms of capitalist
excess that destroy reality, history and truth, and will discuss their influence/impact on specific
films, including The Matrix Reloaded (2003). We will then consider three different affirmative
accounts of the postmodern: Linda Hutcheon’s account of the paradoxical nature of postmodern
art, Donna Haraway’s famous ‘Manifesto for Cyborgs’ and Judith Butler’s analysis of identity as
performance. In addition to working on specific theorists, we will also consider key issues such
as the stylistic features of the postmodern film text, and postmodern performance styles.
SUMMARY OF AIMS
 To provide an appreciation of the complexity and multiplicity of postmodernisms.
 To provide the means for you to engage directly with the key primary texts by major
philosophers and cultural theorists of the postmodern.
 To provide the opportunity to critically evaluate different theoretical frameworks and models.
 To focus on the ways in which theorists of the postmodern both explicitly address and
implicitly rely on the art form of cinema.
 To assess the ways in which concepts of the postmodern are useful for analysing films
through the detailed textual analysis of specific film texts.
LEARNING AND TEACHING STRATEGY AND METHODS.
The teaching on this module comprises a weekly lecture and two seminars, coupled with a single
film screening. These are held at Millburn House on Fridays. As there are 26 people on the
module, students will be split into 2 groups with different timetables – see below.
09.15-10.30 Lecture for everyone (A1.27).
Group 1 (A1.27)
Group 2 (A0.26)
10.30-13.00 Film screening.
11.00-12.00 Theory seminar.
12.00-12.30 Lunch.
13.00-13.30 Lunch.
12.30-15.00 Film screening.
13.30-14.30 Theory seminar.
15.00-16.15 Film seminar for everyone (A1.27)
ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK STRATEGY AND METHODS
Summative Assessment
There is a choice of assessment available for Postmodern Hollywood. The work can either be
100% examined, or 100% assessed. This sets up two options:
 One 2-hour exam, comprising 1 question to be answered in 2 hours.
 One 5,000-word essay.
Summative Essay Deadline: Wednesday 23rd April 2014 (week 1 Summer term).
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Optional Formative Assessment
One 1,000-word essay providing an outline of the overall theoretical position of ONE specific
theorist on the module.
Formative essay deadlines:
1. If you are doing this module 100% assessed you may hand in the formative essay on
Monday 3rd March (week 9 Spring term). Only those choosing to write on Judith
Butler may hand in their formative essay on Monday 10th March (week 10).
2. If you are doing the module 100% examined and would like to write a formative essay
the deadline date is Monday 28th April (week 2 of the Summer term).
N.B. You will need to plan ahead in order to perform the formative exercise satisfactorily.
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MODULE BREAKDOWN: WEEKLY TOPICS
The weekly reading is available at:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/electronicresources/extracts/fi/fi305
You are expected to download a copy and bring it to the seminar.
The reading for week 2, and part of the reading for week 3 will be distributed in hard copy.
Week 1
Screening: Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan, 2005.
Reading: W. Brooker, Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-first Century Batman, I. B. Tauris, 2012,
chapter 5, pp. 178-199.
Lecture: An introduction to structuralism and deconstruction. An examination of different modes
of meaning construction and the different modalities of reading and textual analysis generated by
each one.
Seminar: An analysis of the techniques of deconstructive reading utilising Brooker’s take up of
Derrida’s work. An application of the concept of the pharmakon to Batman Begins.
Further Reading: R. Stam, “The Poststructuralist Mutation” and “Textual Analysis”, Film Theory:
An Introduction, Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, 2000, pp. 179-192. A good, reliable introduction.
P. Brunette, “Post-structuralism and Deconstruction”, The Oxford Guide to Film Studies, Oxford,
Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 91-95.
Week 2
Screening: Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino, 1992.
Reading: F. Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in The Portable Nietzsche, Kauffman, W. (Ed
and Tr.). London: Chatto and Windus, 1971, selected extracts.
Lecture: an introduction to continental philosophy, focusing on Nietzsche. An exploration of the
foundations of perspectivalism.
Seminar: an exploration of the impact of a different style of philosophical writing and the relation
between style and content. An examination of the role of interpretation in theorizing. An
assessment of the representation of fiction and performance and their impact on characterization
in Reservoir Dogs.
Further Reading: F. Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lies in a Non-moral Sense”, Philosophy and
Truth: Selections from Nietzsche’s Notebooks of the early 1870s, D. Breazeale (Tr.) New Jersey
and London: Humanities Press International, 1979.
C. Constable, “Making up the Truth: On Lies, Lipstick and Friedrich Nietzsche”, Fashion
Cultures, P. Church-Gibson and S. Bruzzi (Eds), London: Routledge, 2000.
Week 3
Screening: The Matrix Reloaded, Wachowski Brothers, 2003.
Reading: selected extracts from J. Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, S. F. Glaser (Tr.)
University of Michigan Press, Michigan, 1994.
Lecture: examining Baudrillard's nihilistic conception of the postmodern. The postmodern as the
epitome of capitalist excess, the end of all meaning and the construction of the self as image.
Seminar: a discussion of Baudrillard’s definition of the postmodern. An analysis of the ways in
The Matrix engages with a number of Baudrillard’s key concepts, including the hyperreal and the
code.
Further Reading: J. Baudrillard, America, Tr. C. Turner, New York, Verso, 1988.
C. Constable, Adapting Philosophy: Jean Baudrillard and The Matrix Trilogy, Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 2009.
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W. Merrin, “Did you ever eat tasty wheat?: Baudrillard and The Matrix”, Scope: An Online
Journal of Film Studies, http://www.Nottingham.ac.uk/film/journal/articlesdid-you-ever-eat.htm
J. Rovira, “Subverting the mechanisms of control: Baudrillard, The Matrix Trilogy, and the future
of religion”, International Journal of Baudrillard Studies, 2:2 (2005), on-line article.
http://www.ubishops.ca/BaudrillardStudies/vol2_2/rovira.htm
Week 4
Screening: Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut, Ridley Scott, 1991/2007.
Reading: F. Jameson, “The nostalgia mode and nostalgia for the present”, Postmodernism: Or the
Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Verso, 1991, pp. 279-296.
Lecture: examining Jameson’s view of the postmodern, particularly the end of history, and the
ways in which he borrows from Baudrillard. Jameson’s key role in defining postmodern
aesthetics.
Seminar: an analysis of Jameson’s definitions of parody and pastiche. A discussion of the ways in
which Blade Runner can be viewed as an example of postmodern nostalgia for the past.
Further Reading: F. Jameson, Postmodernism or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, London
and New York: Verso, 1991. Particularly the introduction and the first chapter.
Week 5
Screening: Mission Impossible, Brian de Palma, 1996.
Reading: J. Arroyo, ‘Mission: Sublime’, in Action/Spectacle Cinema, (ed.) José Arroyo, BFI,
2000, pp.21-25.
T. Schatz, ‘The New Hollywood’, Collins, Jim., Hilary Radner, and Ava Preacher Collins (eds.)
Film Theory Goes to the Movies, Routledge, 1993, 8-36.
Lecture: An analysis of the ways in which nihilistic models of the postmodern overlap and
intersect with models of the post-classical within Film Studies.
Seminar: A discussion of how far Mission Impossible conforms to the post-classical and how far
it might be considered postmodern. A consideration of the different perspectives provided by the
different theoretical frames.
Further Reading: D. Bordwell, J. Staiger, K. Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film
Style and Mode of Production to 1960, Routledge, 1985, pp. 12-23.
C. Verevis, Film Remakes, Edinburgh University Press, 2006. (One of the most positive analyses
of de Palma’s oeuvre).
Week 6
Reading week.
Week 7
Screening: Gosford Park, Robert Altman, 2001.
Reading: L. Hutcheon, “The Politics of Parody” in The Politics of the Postmodern, Routledge,
2002, pp. 89-113.
Lecture: an introduction to the ways in which postmodernism is said to destroy the concept of
history. Linda Hutcheon’s conception of the paradoxical nature of the postmodern, her defence of
postmodern history and identity and her positive conception of the postmodern art object.
Seminar: analysing the ways in which Gosford Park can be regarded as a postmodern work,
focusing on the ways it utilises and subverts the conventions of golden era crime fiction. We will
also discuss the presentation of the relationship between working class characters and popular
culture in the film.
Further Reading: L. Hutcheon, A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Film, New York
and London, Routledge, 1988.
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Week 8 – guest lecturer Matt Denny
Screening: District 9, Neil Blomkamp, 2009.
Reading: D. Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”, Simians, Cyborgs and Women: the
Reinvention of Nature, New York, Routledge, 1991.
Lecture: addressing the ways in which Donna Haraway both borrows from and radically alters
deconstructive accounts of textuality. Her analysis of the cyborg and use of it as a multifaceted,
positive figure.
Seminar: a discussion of Haraway’s analysis of new technologies. An analysis of the ways in
which characters from District 9 might be said to both instantiate and to problematise Haraway’s
vision of the cyborg.
Further Reading: H. Gray (Ed.) The Cyborg Handbook, Routledge, London, 1995. (Section 4,
entitled ‘Cyborgs in the Imagination’ contains work on film).
Week 9
FORMATIVE ESSAY DEADLINE
Monday 3rd March. Only those choosing to write on Judith Butler may hand in their formative
essay on Monday 10th March (week 10).
Screening: Victor/Victoria, Blake Edwards, 1982.
Reading: J. Butler, section “Bodily Inscriptions, Performative Subversions”, Gender Trouble,
Routledge, London, 1990.
J. Butler, “Imitation and Gender Insubordination”, Inside/Out, D. Fuss (Ed.), Routledge, New
York and London, 1991.
Lecture: an analysis of Butler’s take up of Austen’s conception of a particular category of
‘performative’ words. Her conception of identity as a series of speech acts and construction of
gender as ‘performative’.
Seminar: discussion of Butler’s argument that certain types of parodic performance have radical
potential. An analysis of the characterisation in Victor/Victoria and the extent to which it can be
considered to subvert normative standards of femininity and masculinity.
Further Reading: J. Butler, “Gender as Performance, An Interview with Judith Butler”, P.
Osborne and L. Segal (Eds.), Radical Philosophy, no 67, 1994, pp. 32-39.
C. Constable, “Feminism, Postmodernism and the Aesthetics of Parody”, Differential Aesthetics,
P. Forence and N. Foster (Eds.), Aldershot, Ashgate Press, 2000. An analysis of Baudrillard,
Butler and To Die For.
Week 10
Judith Butler formative essay deadline Monday 10th March.
Screening: The Muppets, James Bobin, 2012. This will be accompanied by a screening of one of
the episodes from the television series The Muppet Show.
Seminar: we will utilise a variety of critical frameworks drawn from across the term in order to
consider the different ways in which The Muppets can be regarded as a postmodern film. This
will involve thinking about the presentation of the muppets as objects of nostalgia, the
deployment of intertextual references and the reflexive aspects of the text.
There is no lecture and no required reading in the final week of term.
Formative essays submitted during March will be returned in the final seminar and you will
have a chance to discuss any issues arising during this time.
Those doing the module 100% examined may submit a formative essay on Monday 28th April
(week 2 of the Summer term).
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Further Reading
Appignanesi, L. (Ed). Postmodernism: ICA Documents, London: Free Association Books, 1989.
Balsamo, A. “Feminism for the Incurably Informed”, Postmodern Literary Theory: An
Anthology, N. Lucy (Ed.), pp. 218-246.
Barry, P. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, Manchester and
New York: Manchester University Press, 1995.
Baudrillard, J. Simulations. P. Foss, P. Patton and P.Beitchman (Trs.), New York: Semiotext(e),
1983.
Baudrillard, J. America. C. Turner (Tr.), London: Verso, 1988.
Best, Steven and Kellner, Douglas. Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations, Communications
and Culture Series, Hampshire and London: Macmillan Press, 1991.
Bloggs, C. and Pollard, T. A World in Chaos: Social Crisis and the Rise of Postmodern Cinema,
Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc, 2003.
Bratu-Hansen, M. “The Mass Production of the Senses: Classical Cinema as Vernacular
Modernism” in Reinventing Film Studies, C. Gledhill and L. Williams (Eds.) London: Arnold,
2000, pp. 332-350.
** Brooker, P., Brooker,W. (Eds). Postmodern After-Images: A Reader in Film, Television and
Video, London: Arnold, 1997.
Brooker, P., Brooker,W. ‘Pulpmodernism: Tarantino’s affirmative action’ in P. Brooker and W.
Brooker (eds) Postmodern After-Images: A Reader in Film, Television and Video, London:
Arnold, 1997, pp. 89-100.
Bruno, G. “Ramble City: Postmodernism and Blade Runner”, Alien Zone, Ed. A. Kuhn, London:
Verso, 1990, pp.183-195. Uses Baudrillard’s simulacra and Jameson’s pastiche to read the film.
Bukatman, S. Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Postmodern Science Fiction, Durham, NC
and London: Duke University Press, 1993.
Butler, J. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York, London:
Routledge, 1990.
Cahoone, L. (Ed.) From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology, Oxford and
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
Connor, S. (Ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2004.
** Connor, S. Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary, Second
Edition, Oxford and Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.
Constable, C. “Baudrillardian Revolutions: Repetition and Radical Intervention in The Matrix
Trilogy” in The Matrix Trilogy: Cyberpunk Reloaded, S. Gillis (Ed.), London: Wallflower Press,
2005, pp. 151-161.
Constable, C. “Baudrillard Reloaded: Postmodernism through The Matrix Trilogy”, Screen, vol.
47, no. 2, summer, 2006, pp. 233-249.
** Constable, C. “Postmodernism and Film”, The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism, S.
Connor (Ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 43-61.
Constable, C. Thinking in Images: Film Theory, Feminist Philosophy and Marlene Dietrich,
London: B.F.I., 2005.
** Degli-Esposti, C. “Introduction: Postmodernism(s)”, Postmodernism in the Cinema, New
York: Berghahn Books, 1998, pp. 3-18.
Denzin, N. The Cinematic Society: The Voyeur’s Gaze, London: Sage, 1995.
Denzin, N. Images of Postmodern Society: Social Theory and Contemporary Cinema, London:
Sage, 1991.
Doane, M-A. Femmes Fatales: Feminism, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis, London, Routledge,
1991.
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Docker, J. Postmodernism and Popular Culture: A Cultural History, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1994.
Durham, M. G. and Kellner, D. M. (Eds.) Media and Cultural Studies: Keyworks, Oxford:
Blackwell Publishers, 2001.
Dyer, R. Pastiche, London and New York, Routledge, 2007.
Eco, U. “Postscript to The Name of the Rose”, The Post-Modern Reader, C. Jenks (Ed.) pp. 9395.
Foster, H. (Ed.) Postmodern Culture, London and Sydney: Pluto Press, 1987.
Friedberg, A. Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern, Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1993.
Garrett, R. Postmodern Chick Flicks: the Return of the Woman’s Film, Basingstoke, Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Holden-Moses, P. “Not Waving But Drowning By Numbers: Peter Greenaway’s Cautionary
Tale” in Postmodernism in the Cinema, C. Degli-Esposti (Ed.), New York: Berghahn Books,
1998, pp. 219-230.
Hutcheon, L. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Film, New York and London:
Routledge, 1988.
Jenks, C. (Ed.) The Post-Modern Reader, New York and London: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
King, G. Spectacular Narratives: Hollywood in the Age of the Blockbuster, London: I.B. Taurus,
2000.
Laga, B. “Decapitated Spectators: Barton Fink, (Post)history, and Cinematic Pleasure” in
Postmodernism in the Cinema, C. Degli-Esposti (Ed.), New York: Berghahn Books, 1998, pp.
186-207.
Lucy, N. (Ed.) Postmodern Literary Theory: An Anthology, Oxford and Massachusetts: Blackwell
Publishers, 2000.
Lucy, N. Postmodern Literary Theory: An Introduction, Oxford and Massachusetts: Blackwell
Publishers, 1997.
Lyotard, J-F. “Answering the Question: What Is Postmodernism?” in The Postmodern Condition:
A Report on Knowledge, trans G. Bennington and B. Massumi, Manchester University Press,
1984, pp. 71-82.
Lyotard, J-F. “Defining the Postmodern”, Postmodernism: ICA Documents, L. Appignanesi (Ed.),
London: Free Association Books, 1989, pp. 7-10.
Lyotard, J-F. “Notes on the Meaning of ‘Post-’” in T. Docherty (Ed.), Postmodernism: A Reader,
New York and London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993, pp. 47-51.
** Malpas, S. The Postmodern, London and New York: Routledge, 2005.
Marris, P. and Thornham, S. (Eds.) Media Studies: A Reader, Second Edition, New York: New
York University Press, 2000.
McHale, B. “POSTcyberMODERNpunkISM”, Postmodern Literary Theory, N. Lucy (Ed.),
Oxford and Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 2000 pp. 24-263.
McRobbie, A. “Feminism, Postmodernism and the ‘Real Me’”, Media and Cultural Studies:
Keyworks, M. G. Durham and D. M. Kellner (Eds.) Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001, pp. 598610.
McRobbie, A. Postmodernism and Popular Culture, London: Routledge, 1985.
Merrin, W. Baudrillard and the Media: A Critical Introduction, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005.
Natoli, J. Postmodern Journeys: Film and Culture 1996-1998, Albany: State University of New
York Press, 2001.
Shary, T. “Reification and Loss in Postmodern Puberty” in Postmodernism in the Cinema, C.
Degli-Esposti (Ed.), New York: Berghahn Books, 1998, pp. 73-89.
Stam, R. “Introduction: The Theory and Practice of Adaptation” in Literature and Film: A Guide
to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation, R. Stam and A. Raengo (Eds.), Oxford:
Blackwell, 2005.
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Travers, M. An Introduction to Modern European Literature: from romanticism to
postmodernism, Hampshire and London: Macmillan Press, 1998.
Williams, L. “Discipline and Fun: Psycho and Postmodern Cinema” in Reinventing Film Studies,
C. Gledhill and L. Williams (Eds.), London: Arnold, 2000, pp. 351-378
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POSTMODERN HOLLYWOOD
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Students attending the module are strongly advised to produce a 1,000-word essay on the work of
ONE of the key theorists studied on the module.
You should outline the theoretical position of ONE major theorist from the module (e.g.
Nietzsche, Baudrillard, Jameson, Hutcheon, Haraway, Butler). Make sure that you summarise the
key features of the chosen theoretical system in your own words. Try to limit the use of
quotations and always provide a clear gloss for the chosen quotes.
Formative essay deadlines:
1. If you are doing this module 100% assessed you may hand in the formative essay on
Monday 3rd March (week 9 Spring term). Those choosing to write on Judith Butler
may hand in their formative essay on Monday 10th March (week 10).
2. If you are doing the module 100% examined and would like to write a formative essay
the deadline date is Monday 28th April (week 2 of the Summer term).
Submission: Submit essays with a coversheet via the office in the usual way.
Feedback: you will receive written feedback on your essay with a general indication of
classification (e.g. 2:2, 2:1 etc.)
Essays submitted by the deadline dates in the Spring term will be returned in the seminar in week
10. Those submitted in the summer term will be returned at the revision seminar in week 3.
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Students doing the 5,000-word essay can choose any ONE of the following titles:
1. Outline the role played by new technologies in the writing of ONE or TWO theorists of
the postmodern. Assess how far the theories are instantiated or problematised in ONE
specific film of your choice.
2. Provide a critical assessment of the work of ONE major theorist of the postmodern.
Apply your chosen theory to ONE film text and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses for
understanding film.
3. To what extent can we define a distinctive ‘postmodern style’? Discuss how this category
might be exemplified and problematised by offering a detailed analysis of no more than
TWO film texts.
4. Utilising the work of ONE or TWO postmodern theorists define the term ‘postmodern
Hollywood’, and explain how it might be distinguished from ‘post-classical Hollywood’.
Demonstrate the differences and similarities between the theoretical frameworks offered
by the postmodern and the post-classical by offering detailed readings of ONE film text.
5. Outline the key differences between any TWO postmodern theorists studied on this
module, including a demonstration of the way in which they would generate different
readings of ONE film text. Critically assess the theories, explaining which one you find
most convincing.
If you wish to create your own essay title it needs to be agreed with me by Friday 14th March
(week 10 Spring term).
N.B. You cannot write on a title of your own devising if it has not been agreed with me.
Summative Essay Deadline: Wednesday 23rd April (week 1 Summer term).
Feedback: you will receive written feedback on your essay with an internally agreed mark.
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