'Ashes to Ashes' - Postmodern Analysis

I no we had to do a case study on one postmodern text, however, after visiting mediamagazine8, it made me realise that i could have done it on Ashes to Ashes as i watched this programme and Life on mars religiously.

Strinati's feature of postmodern of confusion over time and space, really comes into play in Ashes to Ashes. This programme has the plot of Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) who gets shot in present time (2008) and stays unconscious in 2008 but become conscious in 1982. During Alex's time in 1981, she knows that she is meant to be in the present time and the series is about her trying to get back and wake up from her coma. For confusion over time and space, this happens because every now and then, within the show, there are clips of what is happening in the future. An example of this is the clip below of when Alex is seeing people talking to her unconscious body in 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ty32Y_sEwM&feature=channel

Another example of confusion over time and space is flashbacks as the occur often. This is a technique commonly used throughout the series, for example when Alex Drake has flashbacks of her parent's death.

Ashes to Ashes draw on several genres, such as, mystery, police, comedy and drama. Even though Ashes o Ashes is meant to have a genre of drama, however, there are comedy elements, especially some of Gene Hunt's line which creates a humorous side. This series also has three narratives which are all about the past, future and present. As of the three part narrative, it is blurring the lines of reality. This is because in this series they are using the flashbacks to mix the narratives up which is causing the blurring of line in reality. This is also happening because in some confusion over time and space aspects, it is showing what people are doing/saying to Alex Drake in 2008, however, Alex is in 1981, so is confusing whether 1981 is realty or is 2008 and the events in 1981 is just a dream.

'Scrubs' - Postmodern Analysis

Scrubs has been around since 2001 and it is still going Strong. This TV series has many factors which are considered postmodern. This TV series is on channels like E4 and T4 religiously and have a wide target audience.

Scrubs has many different genres and keeps switching between the two. This series is a medical drama, a comedy and a sometimes a musical. The example below turns from talking normally to a musical. However, the first part of the song is a parody and the music is similar to the Grease song. This is also an intertextual reference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64Ca0763o8&list=QL&playnext=1

Mixing up the genre's is also a form of hybrid (bricolage)

In the ninth season they made a new title sequences and in this series the theme tune is the same tune as 'superman.' This is postmodern in itself as it is taking an existing piece of music and turning it into something new.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUitRiJoVWU

From Strinati's five features, Scrubs falls under confusion over time and space. This is a subtle element and the use it throughout all of their shows. An example of this is when they have just taken a patient into the operating theatre and after using the fade in and fade out, they showed the patient back out of the operating theatre. Another confusion over time and space postmodern element is that this TV show uses flashbacks.

http://www.youtube.com/wathc?v=thUyf4PlqVc

'Spaced' - Postmodern Analysis

I couldn't find any case studies on how 'Spaced' can be seen as a postmodern text, so this is just how I interpret it :)

'Spaced' is no doubt one of the most intertextual television shows aired on British tv; starring and written by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes who also play the main characters Tim and Daisy. It was directed by Edgar Wright, who has famously directed Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Spaced constantly makes references to 'Star Wars' and other cult movies; parodying and satirising as seen in the pictures below. In the show, there are frequent 'fantasy sequences' influenced by the American Television Series 'Northern Exposure'.





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Elements of Strinati's 5...


It challenges the distinction between high art and popular culture, by referencing to science fiction, horror films, comic books, video games and many more and is perhaps a more accurate view on life and culture in the 21st century. There is also a scene early on in the first series where Tim and Daisy meet Brian, a man who lives in the flat below them:
Daisy: What do you do Brian?
Brian: I'm an artist.
Daisy: Oh, Tim's an artist. What kind of thing do you do?
Brian: Anger.
[Shot of Brian attacking the canvas furiously]
Brian: Pain.
[Shot of Brian pricking his finger with a needle and whimpering]
Brian: Fear.
[Shot of Brian cowering in the dark as creepy music plays]
Brian: Aggression.
[Shot of Brian violently smashing an egg with a hammer]
Daisy: Watercolours?
Brian: It's a bit more complex than that.
Daisy: Tim does cartoons.
Tim: It's a bit more complex than that.


Some could argue that it has some aspects of bricolage as it borrows the 'visual language' of genre specific films and this is evident through Wright's style of directing, shot set-up and camerawork.


Strinati says that in modern times, we now make sence of reality with references to media texts, this is definitly evident within 'Spaced' as they reference their lives and situations they face to well known films.

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Baudrillard...
The idea that we live our lives in hyper-reality and connect more deeply to media texts - this is very apparent in 'Spaced' as Tim and Brian are both artists and connect deeply with their different styles.

'Spaced' is self reflexive however unlike '24 Hour Party People' it does not present it directly to the audience it is definitely aiding the audience in being aware of it's construction.

Surrounding culture (London) and the context of it brings normality back into this sitcom, for example when Daisy and Tim go to sign on because one of them loses their job and the other can't get work.


Spaced Jaffa Cakes

Mo Myspace Video

'The Mighty Boosh' - Postmodern Analysis

A case study of 'The Mighty Boosh' was done in MediaMagazine in 2008, and I have used some elements of that are in my analysis as well (but hey, that's postmodern too, right?!).

The Mighty Boosh, at first glance is more surreal than anything else, with the main characters being (in the first series) two zookeepers - Howard Moon and Vince Noir, the zoo owner - Bob Fossil, one shaman and strangest of all, a gorilla. Many other minor characters are also played by Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett, which in itself could be considered postmodern, as a form of bricolage, but also because some of the characters they play are direct references to other people, both real and fictional (eg. the Spirit of Jazz can be seen as a representation of Slash from Guns and Roses, and also Papa Lazarou from the League of Gentlemen). This is not only intertextual, but it also draws attention to the celebrity-obsessed culture that we live in, as many references are to celebrities such as Slash. Vince also craves fame, and will constantly re-invent himself in order to do that - one day he is a punk, the next he is a goth.

At the beginning of the first series, Vince and Howard begin each show by giving a direct address to the audience about what is to come. Not only is this self-reflexive, as it draws attention to the constructed nature of the text and also references what is considered to be 'high art', the theatre, with the curtains behind them.

The use of bricolage throughout allows the show to reference many different genres, from music video (the tundra rap) to fantasy ("welcome to mirror world") and romantic comedy, not to mention the cartoons used throughout later episodes. This mixing of genres is typically postmodern, however, it is not bricolage as other texts do it, as all of the footage is newly shot. In fact, The Mighty Boosh tends to blur the boundaries between genres rather than use bricolage in the traditional sense. Much like '24 Hour Party People' shares genre characteristics with that of a documentary and a drama, the Mighty Boosh can be classed as a comedy, musical, fantasy, science fiction and many more besides.

This show also parodies and satirises many other shows, as well as genres in general. The episode 'Mutants' is a parody of the horror/sci-fi genre, and a more precise parody is my personal favourite episode, 'The Nightmare of Milky Joe', which is a parody of the film 'Castaway', starring Tom Hanks. Obvious parallels can be drawn between the two texts, with Tom Hanks' character creating an imaginary friend out of a football, and in The Mighty Boosh, Howard creates Milky Joe from a coconut. However, the Mighty Boosh takes the idea one step further into the surreal, with the coconut people coming alive to capture Howard and Vince.

Postmodernism...

Well its the time of the year again...
This year we will be writing about our postmodern work and our music video.
But we will still be blogging the whole way through it and we will win the best blog again this year, but hopefully winning the music video award too.
Fingers crossed.