rango as a postmodernist study
18 Mar 2011 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mayoraaseiAfter brooding on this for a night, I've realised that Rango makes a perfect study for a post-modernist film, without being so tied up with its own self-importance and techniques to make it unenjoyable.
It's been many years (*shakes head*) since I studied post-modern literature that I've forgotten most of the key features and techniques. But let's go through what Wikipedia has listed...
1. Irony, playfulness, black humour
This is pretty obvious. The character of Rango is built around the irony of who he projects and who he really is, and perhaps also the irony of who he can become against the weakling he thinks of himself. The movie's a comedy and there is plenty of rather unusual humour. Even the choice of using rodents and lizards - hardly your average cute and fluffy protagonist - is part of that. There is a playful irreverence - then again, plagiarism is the greatest compliment - in its use of classics, in particular (since I can't pick up on the film references) the use of classical music. Ave Maria as Rango crashes out of his truck, Tchaikovsky as Rango waltzes between bullets...really?
2. Intertextuality
Since I haven't watched (m)any westerns, I can't comment on this, but a lot of reviewers have pointed out specific examples of how the movie channels famous westerns, e.g. the way Rango first appears in the desert haze wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Or, I suppose, any of the takes on the cliched fast draw showdowns. I'll blame the glaring similarities to Pirates of the Caribbean on Verbinski's stylistic choice rather than intertexuality XD
3. Pastiche
For a post-modern work, the movie editing is relatively chronological and logical. The most obvious usage of pastiche is in the opening scenes, where Rango runs through multiple character roles. There are other things we don't even notice any more because it's so prevalent in blockbusters, the fact that it spans multiple genres, or that some of the scene changes are very abrupt in order to bring out a punchline or to juxtapose events or people.
4. Metafiction
This is probably where Rango is most obviously post-modernist. The story frequently breaks the 4th wall. In fact, the whole basis is that it is a story within a story, and that Rango is creating a story (about himself). As well as acting as fly on the wall/narrators, the musician/mariachi owls also frequently remind us that this is an active recreation of a story. They serve both as elements of the story and elements outside of the story, narrating and in a sense orchestrating the audience's perceptions. There are also multiple other incidences not involving the owl, some of them more subtle, some of them much more transparent, like Rango drawing a rectangle before us, effectively reminding us that we are watching him through/beyond the 4th wall.
5. Fabulation
Walking trees and roadkill that stay alive in spite of having a giant gap where its stomach was, anyone? In a scene directly reminiscent of Jack Sparrow in Davy Jones' locker, Rango wakes up in the white haze and...sees things which are not meant to exist, and yet has an epiphany that is apparently grounded in reality? ...In other words, I had no idea what happened but everything is explained by postmodernism XDDD
6. Poioumena
Poioumenon "refer to a specific type of metafiction in which the story is about the process of creation". I kept thinking about this during the movie, because Rango is so keen on creating a story and creating an image of himself. Was the entire story merely a creation by him? Is it a recreation or a creation? Of course, just the very fact that he created this fake persona who eventually was forced to become the hero he pretended to be, is an act of creating the story he began to live, sort of like in more traditional terms, making his own destiny.
7. Magic realism
"...marked by the use of still, sharply defined, smoothly painted images of figures and objects depicted in a surrealistic manner. The themes and subjects are often imaginary, somewhat outlandish and fantastic and with a certain dream-like quality". I think the Wikipedia definition pretty much pins it. The animals' sizes make no sense, for starters. The fact that the town is isolated in miles and miles of white hazy sand and highly unusual flora and landscapes creates a dreamlike atmosphere whenever the scene leaves town.
One thing Wikipedia didn't list but I remember from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is the questioning of identity. The fact that Rango is both a literal chameleon and one in personality terms means he has no fixed identity. His character, if it were to represent the "every character", were free to be molded into any shape by the author. Hence he has no real identity, just whatever happens to be convenient for the plot, as who he is is controlled by an outside force that he cannot fight...hence the haunted "who am I?" because he does not know.
This, my friends, is where postmodernism screws up your mind XD
Wow...I don't think I ever bothered reading this much into a story since the HSC XDDD
There were more...I just couldn't be bothered LOL I think it makes a really good text, actually.
It's been many years (*shakes head*) since I studied post-modern literature that I've forgotten most of the key features and techniques. But let's go through what Wikipedia has listed...
1. Irony, playfulness, black humour
This is pretty obvious. The character of Rango is built around the irony of who he projects and who he really is, and perhaps also the irony of who he can become against the weakling he thinks of himself. The movie's a comedy and there is plenty of rather unusual humour. Even the choice of using rodents and lizards - hardly your average cute and fluffy protagonist - is part of that. There is a playful irreverence - then again, plagiarism is the greatest compliment - in its use of classics, in particular (since I can't pick up on the film references) the use of classical music. Ave Maria as Rango crashes out of his truck, Tchaikovsky as Rango waltzes between bullets...really?
2. Intertextuality
Since I haven't watched (m)any westerns, I can't comment on this, but a lot of reviewers have pointed out specific examples of how the movie channels famous westerns, e.g. the way Rango first appears in the desert haze wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Or, I suppose, any of the takes on the cliched fast draw showdowns. I'll blame the glaring similarities to Pirates of the Caribbean on Verbinski's stylistic choice rather than intertexuality XD
3. Pastiche
For a post-modern work, the movie editing is relatively chronological and logical. The most obvious usage of pastiche is in the opening scenes, where Rango runs through multiple character roles. There are other things we don't even notice any more because it's so prevalent in blockbusters, the fact that it spans multiple genres, or that some of the scene changes are very abrupt in order to bring out a punchline or to juxtapose events or people.
4. Metafiction
This is probably where Rango is most obviously post-modernist. The story frequently breaks the 4th wall. In fact, the whole basis is that it is a story within a story, and that Rango is creating a story (about himself). As well as acting as fly on the wall/narrators, the musician/mariachi owls also frequently remind us that this is an active recreation of a story. They serve both as elements of the story and elements outside of the story, narrating and in a sense orchestrating the audience's perceptions. There are also multiple other incidences not involving the owl, some of them more subtle, some of them much more transparent, like Rango drawing a rectangle before us, effectively reminding us that we are watching him through/beyond the 4th wall.
5. Fabulation
Walking trees and roadkill that stay alive in spite of having a giant gap where its stomach was, anyone? In a scene directly reminiscent of Jack Sparrow in Davy Jones' locker, Rango wakes up in the white haze and...sees things which are not meant to exist, and yet has an epiphany that is apparently grounded in reality? ...In other words, I had no idea what happened but everything is explained by postmodernism XDDD
6. Poioumena
Poioumenon "refer to a specific type of metafiction in which the story is about the process of creation". I kept thinking about this during the movie, because Rango is so keen on creating a story and creating an image of himself. Was the entire story merely a creation by him? Is it a recreation or a creation? Of course, just the very fact that he created this fake persona who eventually was forced to become the hero he pretended to be, is an act of creating the story he began to live, sort of like in more traditional terms, making his own destiny.
7. Magic realism
"...marked by the use of still, sharply defined, smoothly painted images of figures and objects depicted in a surrealistic manner. The themes and subjects are often imaginary, somewhat outlandish and fantastic and with a certain dream-like quality". I think the Wikipedia definition pretty much pins it. The animals' sizes make no sense, for starters. The fact that the town is isolated in miles and miles of white hazy sand and highly unusual flora and landscapes creates a dreamlike atmosphere whenever the scene leaves town.
One thing Wikipedia didn't list but I remember from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is the questioning of identity. The fact that Rango is both a literal chameleon and one in personality terms means he has no fixed identity. His character, if it were to represent the "every character", were free to be molded into any shape by the author. Hence he has no real identity, just whatever happens to be convenient for the plot, as who he is is controlled by an outside force that he cannot fight...hence the haunted "who am I?" because he does not know.
This, my friends, is where postmodernism screws up your mind XD
Wow...I don't think I ever bothered reading this much into a story since the HSC XDDD
There were more...I just couldn't be bothered LOL I think it makes a really good text, actually.
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Date: 2011-03-19 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-20 12:40 am (UTC)