Postmodernism film - Paranorman

Introduction

We can see a lot of movies today consist of more than one type of genre. A hybrid genre was formed when a lot of different genres are mixing around in a film and all these happened after the post-modernism.

Genres in Postmodernism

Postmodernism is an ideology of violating or opposing the traditional norms, ideas or theories that had been approached by modernist in the film and replace them with a fresh and new one which is more refined. (filmtheory.org, 2014). Postmodernists tend to question about the existing knowledge and appear to be anti-modernism, which they usually believe in anything goes attitude. The components of postmodernism include intertextuality, parody, pastiche, bricolage, and fragmentation (Easmin, 2014).

Intertextuality is an idea which the film had been influenced by the texts or works of art that had been done (Satnarine, 2012). This happened to a lot of films and it can be done intentionally or unintentionally. Next, a parody is a film that imitates the styles or characteristics of other movies in an exaggerated way with the attempt to mock and ridicule, whereas pastiche is about imitating the styles or characteristics of other movies without the attempt to mock but to show gratitude (Atkin, 2016). Furthermore, Sanderson (2013) stated that Bricolage is a work that is created by combining existing materials or resources. In terms of film. These materials or resources may include various genres which can be combined together to create a film with multiple genres. Lastly, fragmentation is a combination of different elements in a film to create something new (Spear, 2015). In term of genres, fragmentation is really popular in post-modernism as it combines different genres together and creates a new type of genres, which we call it as sub-genres or hybrid genres.   

Synopsis of Paranorman (2012)

Norman Babcock has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts, which made a lot of people labeled him as a freak. His strange uncle (Uncle Prenderghast) told him to stop the witch’s curse on their town by reading a book at the grove before sunset. Norman went to the wrong grove and he couldn't stop the curse on time. A group of zombies came alive and they asked Norman for helping them to stop the curse so that they could rest in peace. Norman successfully stops the curse and he had also saved the town.

Paranorman - A Hybrid Genre

Among all the postmodernist components, this film falls under bricolage and fragmentation. This is because this film has consisted of various kinds of existing genres and had formed a hybrid genre of Horror, Comedy, and Action.

First of all, this movie is considered as a horror film. Based on the semantics approach, this movie is about supernatural creatures, like ghost, witches, and zombies. The location was set in a town that is cursed by a witch. Most of the scenes are shot in a low key lighting so that it could bring out the fear of the audiences. Besides, before the zombies were known to be harmless, they were chasing after Norman and friends. The audiences had thought that these zombies are actually harmful and they are trying to attack the human. This had fulfilled the syntax approach of a horror movie, which can be seen by the relationship between the monsters and the human. Moreover, the witch that attacked Norman had also shown the threat of the monster towards the human.

Secondly, this movie can also be a comedy film because it draws a lot of laughter out of the audiences. Most of the humor of this movie came from Neil, who is a friend of Norman that always supports him. By fulfilling the semantic approach of comedy, this character has a cheerful, innocent behavior and he is designed to be chubby, short and cute so that it could bring out the humor more efficiently. Based on the syntax approach, the funny element in this movie can be brought out by most of the interactions of Neil and Norman. A simple example is when Neil just got to know Norman and wanted to hang out with him, Norman told him that he likes to be alone. Neil replied that he likes to be alone too and asked him to do this together. This conversation had made me laughed because as we all know, when a person is doing something with someone, he or she will not be alone. Neil’s innocent trait had supported the funny conversation between the characters and had also added some humorous elements in the movie to make it a comedy.

Thirdly, we can also categorize this movie as an action movie because it involves chase scenes. After the dead had come alive as a zombie, they were trying to chase after Norman. This chase scene was meant to be extended so that it can fulfill the semantic approach of an action film. The zombies chased after Norman from the grave, to the town and till the town hall. Furthermore, we can also see good versus evil in this film that shows the syntax approach of the action film. For instance, the mad witch is the evil character in this film who tried to attack the people and make them suffer, whereas Norman who tries to stop her is a good character. The zombies can also be considered as evil when they were chasing after Norman before they reveal their real identity as a good character.

Conclusion

Paranorman (2012) is a hybrid genre film because it combines horror, comedy and action in the movie. Even though it had become a hybrid genre, the semantic and syntax approach of all the genres in the film has still remained.

References

Atkin, A. (2016). POSTMODEN THEORIES: PASTICHE, HOMAGE AND PARODY. Retrieved from http://postmodernism-a2media.blogspot.com/2016/01/postmoden-theories-pastiche-homage-and.html.

Easmin, S. (2014). Film and Postmodern Culture. Retrieved from http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10361/3944/12163011.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

Filmtheory.org. (2014). Postmodernism in Films. Retrieved from http://filmtheory.org/postmodernism-in-films/.

Sanderson, J. (2013). Bricolage. Retrieved from http://chchsjsandersonmediastudiesa2.blogspot.com/2013/07/bricolage.html.

Satnarine, L. (2012). Intertextuality in Film. Retrieved from https://liyahsatnarinefilmshort.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/intertextuality-in-film/.

Spear, L. (2015). Fragmentation is a key trope of Postmodernism. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/kmjsmwj2ms4j/fragmentation-is-a-key-trope-of-postmodernism/.