I've been wanting to go into film studies at a higher level for a few years now, so I was very happy to begin doing so this year in A-level. The entire postmodernism unit we did was very fulfilling for me. While reading the theories of Baudrillard, Jameson, and Hutcheon, I kept thinking back to some of my favorite films, finally having proper terminology to put into analyses I had made during prior watches. Postmodernism felt like the perfect movement for me to study, especially since I got the chance to write about one of my favorite films ever, Resident Evil: Retribution, in the context of postmodern theory for our A-level midterm.
The negative mainstream reception of and around the Resident Evil films honestly makes me sad because of how perfect they are as examples of postmodernism, especially in our contemporary postmodernist age with a growing interest in VR and full immersion in digital spaces. I feel that looking at these films through that lens specifically could lead to a much-needed critical reappraisal, and I'm really glad I was able to offer my take on this in my midterm essay. The whole postmodernism unit and that case study also got me thinking about how many 21st century films should be reappraised in this way. There's an abundance of cinema from the past 25 years that is rife with the anticapitalist commentaries and hyperreal digital atmospheres theorized by the postmodernists, critically and commercially shunned and written off as overindulgent, insubstantial vulgarities.
Some of my favorite examples are Michael Mann's Miami Vice and Christopher Nolan's Tenet, both of which have received criticism for unintelligible dialogue and being style-over-substance pieces with an air of pretentiousness and egoism. Both of these films indulge in their maximalist atmospheres and subvert action conventions while simultaneously holding true to them, taking everything to the furthest extent possible. The former oversaturates the style and campiness of the source material and lives in a perpetual state of aesthetics and opulence, akin to the similarly reviled Showgirls (1995) and Psycho (1998). It uses pastiche in a way that is upheld and advanced by Mann's manipulation of the buddy-cop/noir paradigm: almost twofold what he had already achieved in 1995's Heat. Tenet is almost self-parodying in its incomprehensible plot and time-warp motif. Nolan takes what he is known for -- definitively postmodern pieces that deal with simulacra and human emotion expressed through layers of hyperreality -- and throws sensibility to the wind. Dialogue offering a bombardment of exposition (barely audible at times, the sound design feels purposely disruptive; this was meant to be viewed in a theatre) with a slow-moving and indiscernible plot that leaves the viewer stranded, near-drowning. Nolan's reputation for confusing, "meta" films allows him to indulge in postmodernist traits to such a high level without the restraints of genre or expectation: thus is the fate of the vulgar auteur.
Seems like I went on a tangent there. Oopsies! But my point is, this unit gave me the tools and outlet to further express my ideas on film and other media I consume. I'm more excited than ever to go to college for film studies, maybe even pursue this as a career :D