Scream

This movie highlighted several aspects of postmodernism that we have discussed in class. I actually watched this one during our pre-Halloween horror fest. The theme of this particular movie binge was to finally watch all the horror films that people constantly reference, but which we haven’t seen. In pursuit of this goal, we watched as many classics as we could think of (including the entire Halloween series, yikes!) and particularly famous contemporary movies (Scream was on this list). The reason I mention what led me to watch this movie is that it fits into the postmodern theme of pastiche that the movie exemplified for me. So many movies are simply part of everyday conversation that it’s impossible to function without at least knowing what they are about. For example, it can be difficult to follow a conversation about swimming in the ocean if you have never heard of Jaws.
Scream is ostensibly about a group of teenagers who are being threatened by a serial killer. Side plots do occasionally thrust themselves into the action: the reporter thing, the thing with Sidney’s mom… But, the movie isn’t really about any of those things, it’s about horror movies. The entire film is awash in film references. There is even a character who describes a survival strategy based on his study of a billion slasher flicks. That said, it is unclear whether this is meant to be a parody in the traditional sense of mockery. Clearly some of the action is ridiculously cheesy but there also seems to be a level of reverence for the films that wouldn’t exist in traditional parody. It seems to be a case of Jameson’s blank parody. Entire sequences and themes are lifted from other movies and placed in this one without any clear sense of mockery. For example, when Dewey survives against all expectations (a classic horror movie convention) the audience is meant to be amused and pleased by the film’s referencing. It is like one long inside joke, where the audience is both entertained and satisfied by their knowledge of other movies.
As Jameson hints, this sort of citation may destroy the individuality of authors (filmmakers) by simply requiring them to take pieces of already created material and throw it together into a cohesive whole (or not). Just another example of postmodern conglomeration.