-
Essay / The advantage of using postmodern characteristics in “Stranger than Fiction”
Postmodernism states that there is no real truth because everyone sees and identifies the truth based on their own knowledge and beliefs. The film “Stranger than Fiction” belongs to a recent cycle of postmodern films with a philosophical scope that explore important questions in our lives. The accurately shown postmodern characteristics help the viewer understand an overall message, especially a destiny that cannot be controlled. Some people would say that these elements prevent the discovery of the overall message; however, fragmentation, asking unanswered questions, and genre conventions are used as very powerful tools in the film to prove otherwise. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayFirst of all, Harold Crack is the protagonist of the film who lives his life in order, counts his brushstrokes, the number of steps to reach the bus stops, his work stops and everything is timed with his wristwatch. It seems that the man is content to follow the watch's instructions and act as its servant. His inner conflict is that Harold lets time dictate his individuality. The character struggles against daily routine for twelve years in order to find solace and purpose in life. The routine is depicted using physical fragmentation that grabs the audience's attention through the use of graphics, obscure camera angles, split screen, and rotating shots. These methods allow us to better understand Harold's personality and make the film more interesting. Fragmentation gradually moves to another element of postmodernism, like asking questions without giving answers. The central questions of the film are something like these: Is the narrator's life real and is Harold's life fiction? Is Harold just an imaginary character from the book “Death and Taxes”, and are all the events presented in the film written and assumed by Karen Eiffel? However, the viewer unfortunately has many opportunities to ask further philosophical questions without receiving answers. Additionally, the postmodern element makes the audience think about the importance of people's actions and the real meaning of our lives. For example, the personification of the wristwatch made everyone wonder: does time control us? This question provides a huge lesson about the need to use time wisely and not get lost in routine as the main character of the film. The element that poses unanswered questions is also linked to another no less important postmodern characteristic called genre conventions. Most of the time, films have a clearly defined genre, for example, comedy, drama, tragedy, horror, romance, thriller, etc. . In some cases, “Stranger Than Fiction” doesn't exactly give one, leaving people to decide which genre is most appropriate. The film does not present its characters' lives as comic or tragic, but rather asks the audience whether or not their lives are a comedy or a tragedy..