• Huldra [they/them, it/its]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Idk, I feel like some of the commentary on "postmodern film" falls into the trap of just making statements without really trying to demonstrate with actual examples, it kinda feels like just repeating a narrative of "Oh yeah everyone got tired of that dang ol postmodernism deconstructing everything and just being an ironic asshole about it all." A narrative that exists in people with opinions on basically any kind of art form.

    Just didnt click for me, felt like a guy saying subjective stuff at me as if they were facts.

    • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      just making statements without really trying to demonstrate with actual examples

      I agree that his examples of films aren't well explained or numerous but I think this essay is aimed at cinema junkies. Even though I haven't seen all the films he talks about and disagree with some of his examples I do agree with his overall thesis that Meta-modernism is notable development storytelling as well as his definitions of modernism and post modernism in film.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Meta-modernism is notable development storytelling as well

        So... that just happened, just like it would in a movie where that would happen! :soypoint-1:

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      subjective stuff at me as if they were facts

      How exactly is a subjective experience like a show or a movie supposed to be melted down and put in a centrifuge in a laboratory environment to determine how many goodness and badness particles are in it? :what-the-hell:

      • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Thats the eternal problem of talking about art, but at least describing fairly solid things like how stories are being told or making an attempt at concretely describing the emotions conveyed through the films is better than repeating blanket narratives that cover basically all art discourse.

        He's got one example of the most blatant comedic deconstruction in Monty Python, but a lot of the other featured films arent particularly clear. And what definition he uses for which films are actually postmodern is just not really explained either.

        • UlyssesT [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          I actually agree that they could have done a lot better with more examples and more specifics. I'm just burned out after :freeze-gamer: gate when it comes to the erroneous belief that there's truly some nonpolitical no agenda "Objective/10" way to measure art.

          • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
            ·
            1 year ago

            Tbh I thought the video was kind of obnoxiously nonpolitical when talking about "modernist" film and repeating that stuff about how "postmodern" film just points to a bunch of problems with no ideas for solutions, reminded me of smug ascended liberal speak.

            • UlyssesT [he/him]
              ·
              1 year ago

              I won't argue with you there.

              I think a video could have been made with the same basic argument that was way less smug and vague. It could have been "this is what makes Rick and Morty's fandom so toxic" and at least it'd have focus and better examples.

              • ProfessorAdonisCnut [he/him]
                ·
                1 year ago

                Rick and Morty is a weird example, cause it feels like (with the framing the video uses) a postmodern reaction against metamodernism. Its whole shtick is building up apparent sincerity within an ironic absurdist setting and then tearing that sincerity down again in a wave of nihilism as the punchline, before promptly resetting the board to convince the audience (not necessarily the actual audience though, the imagined one you, the viewer, get to feel superior to) to try to kick the sincerity football again.

                • UlyssesT [he/him]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  I'm reading what you're saying, but even while I don't particularly agree with the video's premise and I don't identify with "metamodernism," Rick and Morty just seems so irony poisoned in its own premise that it "cures" the poisoning just to inflict more poisoning because that would be extra poisonous irony which is totally funnier and smarter for real guys. I'd rather just not run that race than try to keep up with Justin Roiland in a drug fueled sprint, with one of his hands busy jerking himself off about how subversive and smart he thinks he is while the other hand is creep texting children and then sending racial slurs their way if they turn down his advances. :libertarian-alert:

                  I think "metamodernism" is too shifty in its own positions to really stand for anything in particular, so that's why I said "at least dunking on Rick and Morty's fandom would be a solid premise with solid examples" compared to whatever the video was trying to do.

    • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      It's because he's approaching the development of a particular medium of art as completely self-contained and not being influenced by outside forces, especially economic forces. In other words, he's being undialectical.