Artikel

Film en postmoderne maatschappij

---

Abstract

Film and postmodern society - Our interest is not in the internal developments of the film medium, but in the relationship between film and postmodern society. Although postmodernity is a fashionable concept, the relationship between postmodernity and film has hardly been examined. Recently theorists have started a trend to study film as the mirror of society. (Certain) contemporary films can be considered as cultural reflections of postmodern society. In the present article, we will indeed focus on the way postmodernity is reflected in these films. We used the work of the neo-Marxist writer Fredric Jameson as a point of departure. He examines the mechanisms that translate the social organization into cultural forms such as film, literature, etc. Jameson states that each historical period, each stage of capitalism has its own specific cultural form and ideology. Postmodernism is in that respect the cultural form of late capitalism. From this, we examine what the postmodern film reflects (i.e. the characteristic features of postmodern society) and what techniques postmodern filmmakers use to reach that goal. Because of the special place the body occupies in postmodernity, we chose to conclude with a remark on this particular aspect and looked at the different ways filmmakers make use of the body to reflect postmodern traits.

How to Cite:

Smessaert, K., (1997) “Film en postmoderne maatschappij”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 42(1), 50–62. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95259