Postmodernism and Woody Allen
January 21, 2017
Postmodernism is an artistic movement and a conditions whose features have been attemptedly identified and discussed by many intellectuals over the past fifty years. Even though it is chronologically located after Modernism, it rather represents the outcome of it as it can be noted in Postmodern art, architecture and also media such as film and television. This essay aims at analysing what the features of this movement and condition are by analysing work of academics such as Jameson, Baudrillard and Sontag and others applied to the different forms of culture, to finally offer their application to Woody Allen’s film Zelig (1983) starting from Baudrillard’s statement that this film is typically Postmodern “in that it leads astray to all possible interpretation” (1987 : p16).
Mike Featherson in his “Consumer, Culture and Modernism” (1991) illustrates some of the common features or Postmodernism in accordance to Art, Architecture and text in general. What characterises Postmodern art for example is “a stylistic promiscuity favouring eclecticism and the mixing of codes” (Featherson : pp 7-8) as demonstrated in many artworks including Ai Weiwei’s Han Dynasty Urn with a Coca Cola logo dated 1994 (1). Andy Warhol’s Pop art can also be a representation of “the playfulness and celebration of the surface “depthlessness” of culture” which Featherson (1991 : 7-8) refers to as another feature of Postmodern art if we consider that even the Campbell’s tomato soup can had then be considered “art” (2). Surely, one of the most important feature of the Postmodern that can easily be applied to all sorts of art is the “decline of the originality and genius of the artistic producer, and the assumption that art can only be repetition” (Featherson :1991 : 7-8). In fact, Postmodernists shared a common acceptance of the fact that everything had already been done before and therefore it is no longer possible to be original. What just stated can also be verified by simply looking at some architectural projects of the time such as the Portland Building by Michael Greaves (1982). This building in fact incorporates different architectural styles that are typical of the East and West of the world in that is has Egyptian details whilst keeping a cubic shape mostly featured on Western blocks. (3) Furthermore, according to Jameson, it is specifically in Architecture that “ Postmodernist positions have been inseparable from an implacable critic of architectural high Modernism, where formal criticism and analysis are at one with reconsiderations on the level of urbanism and the aesthetic institution, more decisively than in the other arts or media” (Jameson : p2) .This phenomena draws our attention to the fact that for us to notice the difference between these contrasting styles, these need to coexist. This leads to another feature of Postmodernism and that is the “collapse of hierarchical distinction between high and mass culture”(Featherson : pp 7-8). Postmodernists in fact were mostly fascinated by the cheap and “degraded” state of the overall cultural landscape that characterised this period as also shown on tv series and advertisement and incorporate these materials in their very substance rather that just quoting them. Finally, the coexistence in Postmodernism of styles belonging to past eras highlights the nostalgic feeling for their originality that is now been lost in the attempt of giving them a logical explanation. And finally, these theories, as Jameson explains, also aimed at demonstrating that they did not only influence culture, but also stimulated a social outcome in that this ideological society no longer obeys the laws of classical capitalism, meaning “the primacy of industrial production and the omnipresence of class struggle” (Jameson : p3).
Also Collins agrees with the fact that what distinguishes the Postmodernist context is the co-presence of conflicting styles and that “rather than asserting itself as the newest radical alternative, it seeks to render all conflicting modes of representation obsolete” (1989 : 114 -115). In fact, another common feature of the postmodern conditions is the scepticism around all theories and totalising explanations or representations such as those of Marx and Freud as these are “many optional ‘kinds of writing’ or discourses” ( Sarup : 1993 : 132) and therefore have no evidence of being true and final. Postmodern scepticism in fact mocks any sort of scientific explanation given to sociologic or other natural phenomena, showing a certain “incredulity towards metanarratives, and those intellectual and scientific frameworks that sustained the belief in progress” (Lyotard : 1984 :p xxiv). This belief resumes in the Enlightenment project’s thought that progress is proportional to the amount of knowledge and the therefore belief that, investigation and analysis of any sort of phenomena, would ultimately secure an answer. Within a scientific context however, there are opposing opinions in these regards such as that of the quantum physic. This, in fact, refuses the above position as it states that “knowledge will always be marked by a degree of uncertainty”(Polihronis :2016: 1) The quantum theory has certainly contributed in reinforcing the postmodern condition as for the common refusal for authoritarian and almost imposed interpretation and presumption of having a secure explanation for everything.
Within the cultural environment instead, intellectuals such as Saussure and Derrida have explored language and the role it plays in the way we perceive and create meanings using semiotics. This point of view, specifically offered by Saussure and furtherly developed by others, forms the base of Post Structuralism, a movement contemporary to Postmodernism specifically related to the study of language and its relation to the formation of meanings. On his side, Saussure studied how the signifier, the physical object or symbol, relates to its signified, the meaning attributed to it by cultural contexts. Although languages have always been an imposed mean of communication and are constantly evolving by attributing new signified to new signifiers, Saussure disagrees with the fact that there is necessarily a connection between them (signifier and signified) and therefore their correlation is arbitrary. For example, what stated can be explained and demontrate the arbitrary nature of language by the fact that, in many cases, “what sounds good in one language can have some unfortunate meaning in another” (Polihronis : 2016 :2). Also Derrida agrees with the above theory to a certain extent as for him “there is nothing outside the text” (1976 : 158). Furthermore, he argues that by trying to fix a meaning like it happens on dictionaries, language, as a reflection of society, is attempting to give a transcendental signified to signs, or in this case, words. However, for Derrida the fixed meaning of signs is only limited to language as on a dictionary definition a word’s “arbitrariness results in indefinite deferral or postponement of the delay of reaching this ultimate and absolute meaning beyond language” (Polihronis : 2016 : 3). Because we are taught how to communicate through words since we are born, language becomes something that our culture and society imposes on us. We begin to associate signifiers to meanings and therefore “we see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation” (Sapir: 1958 : 69). Besides, as far as Derrida is concerned, whatever is a product of language, and language is only limited to dictionary descriptions and that code of meanings, is something without substance and that is because it is created through culture and imposed on the author since the beginning of time. Therefore, for Derrida, subjectivity does not really exist as the subject itself is a “product of culture” (Polihronis : 2016 : 3). On these terms, the author as a producer loses power in the creation of meanings and ultimately, as Roland Barthes argues, its intentions do not matter and what actually counts is what meaning is found on the reader that is the destination of the text. Thus, “the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the author” (Barthes : 1977 : 148).
Essentially, Postructuralism aims at showing the lack of truth that lies within the text by deconstructing it and, in a sense, it can be compared to Laura Mulvey’s aim to destroy visual pleasure by analysing it when discussing patriarchy in Hollywood films. (Mulvey : p 835). Certainly, all the above theories show how the authorial society in which we live influences us everyday. Either implicitly with subliminal messages or explicitly with advertisement and other sorts of visual content, culture aims at triggering within us the desire to conform within its contour, making us believe that we need to buy certain things, imposing dress codes, associate a certain thing to a set name through language, believe in those pre-selected meanings chosen for us by society so that to a certain extent we all lose our individuality and become part of the mass.
One of the most influential and studied French theorist of the Postmodern conditions that relates specifically to the role of cinematic images and related meanings in our capitalist society is Jean Baudrillard. In “The Evil Demon of Images” (1987) he aims and demonstrating how images are nowadays used and misused in order to impose on masses ways of thinking and behaving and the way images “appropriate of reality for their own ends and anticipate it to the point that the real no longer has time to be produced as such”(Baudrillard : p 16) . According to Baudrillard, because most images, either photographic, cinematic or televisual are “thought to bear witness of the world” and , therefore, represent what is real, we tend to fall into their diabolical conformity that is essentially a bait for the masses of people that come across them everyday and that are taught to believe in what they see by society. Simulacra, or images within the cinematic form, are the ideological tools through which society reproduces what we are meant to believe is the real as, in their depthlessness they have the power to incorporate the real, distort it, and ultimately produce a simulation of it. In reality, however, what we believe is real is just a simulation and, therefore, a continuous “implosion of simulacra” (Baudrillard : p 21). Similarly, in case of television it often happens that we come across people, places, advertisements of products etc on the screen before even seeing them on reality and this is why events, for example, tend to no longer have meaning and this is not because they are insignificant themselves, but instead because “they have been preceded by models with which their own process can only coincide” (Baudrillard : p22). This is also to explain how, indeed, images contribute in spoiling reality to us for the sake of imposing a certain meaning and influence our interpretation of it. Baudrillard also argues that this concept can similarly be applied to war and how films such as Apocalypse Now (1979) about the Vietnam War or the TV series Holocaust (1978) about the Jewish genocide, by being such a “loyal” and conformed simulation of those realities, they keep those events alive and are essentially their mediatised representation and ultimate interpretation for masses if we think that most people in the westernised world are not likely to have witnessed these events themselves. This is to demonstrate how images can be diabolical in that who manoeuvres them, has a certain power over the naivety of masses that are, again, taught to believe whatever they see. For Baudrillard, then, simulacra show how the real has been replaced by superficial signs to which are attributed monological interpretations. As a matter of fact, the lack of difference between imagery and reality yet leaves no room for further representation and therefore interpretation. (Baudrillard : p 27). The effacement of boundaries between forms of art, mostly those that serve of images, and everyday life is also one of the most discussed features of the Postmodern condition as illustrated by Featherstone. (1991 : 7-8).
The interpretation of any form of art involves by all means the attempt to attribute a meaning to it. In these terms, the attempt to analyse art makes it lose its ethereal power and therefore its purpose of stimulating an inner reaction in people. In fact, as Sontag argues, if interpretation of art in the past was respectful although insistent, today’s interpretation “excavates, and as it excavates, destroys, it digs behind the text to find a sub-text which is the true one” (Sontag : p4). In accordance to this statement, art gets completely dismantled and deprived of its ability to triggers a reaction of our senses. As discussed earlier, a feature of postmodernism includes the refusal of any sort of explanation as these are reflections of the authorial power of our capitalist and commercial society. Similarly, by trying to give the most detailed interpretation to the content of art, the outcome would be showing the arrogance of a rational explanation that aims at killing, or perhaps, “influencing” those very own thoughts that the viewer may have because these set meanings, or interpretations, aim essentially at conforming masses at the cost of individuality. Postmodern theory suggests that artforms may find a way to escape interpretation by playing with the depthlessness of signs in ways such as assuming parodial traits or become abstract and suggest no content and, “ since there is no content, there can be no interpretation” (Sontag : p7) . An example of so could be the Pop Art works by Andy Warhol as discussed above. On the other hand, Sontag confers upon the fact that because of its relative newness, cinema as a form of art has suffered interpretation less than art or architecture because,for example, the first Hollywood films were considered just entertainment for masses rather than being intellectually appealing. (Sontag :p 8).
In a cinematographic context however, Zelig (1983) is one of the films that best explore the Postmodern condition as it shows most of the features that characterise this movement as illustrated above. Throughout the film, which is essentially a mockumentary, we come across the events of the life of Leonard Zelig, an American of Jewish descent and how he becomes a phenomenon thanks to his ability to resemble people around him simply by hanging around them. The fact that Zelig resembles people reflects a person’s desire to be liked by others and therefore conform to the group one wants to fit in and this happens at the cost of the person’s subjectivity. As we can see in the film for example, If Zelig hangs around obese people he will progressively start to put on weight, or if he spends time with doctors he will suddenly act like one and so on. Most of us would sympathise with Zelig as the desire to conform and be accepted is a need imposed on us by society and the pungent irony use by Allen to demonstrate it through parody certainly works. This “modern behaviour of masses” is a conditions that, agreeably, Baudrillard also names as “diabolical conformity” (Baudrillard : p14). Because of his ability of mutating into other people, Leonard earns himself the nickname of Chameleon and the parodial trait of the movie gets enriched by the fact that gadgets and songs are made in honour of this phenomenal mutating man which renders the film hilariously pleasant whilst still raising awareness of Zelig’s “ultimate conformity” as commented by Bruno Bettelheim in the film ( 22:00 min). Whilst the commentators of the mockumentary are contemporary to the time in which Zelig was made (1983), nostalgia is also a recurring theme since the beginning as a voiceover sets the movie in the American landscape of the 1920s and with 20s style dancing featured throughout the film under the notes of the Chameleon’s song, keeping it faithful to the Postmodern condition seeking originality in past styles. At some point in the movie, doctors begin to think that Zelig has some sort of medical condition and begin to offer scientific explanations for his behaviour to the point that he comes subject to experiments. For example, Dr Bersky discusses publically the possibility that Zelig has brain tumour and that he does not have much to live. However, the doctor dies himself within weeks and perhaps this subtle metaphor reflects the postmodern condition of non acceptance of explanations coming from culturally inflicted knowledge such as the one of a doctor ( 11:00 min). After being treated for his “disease” by his psychiatrist and soon wife to be Eudora Fletcher, Zelig disappears to be eventually spotted on TV by her as he joins the German SS. As Eudora flyes herself to Germany with the hope of finding Zelig, the two finally meet during a public speech given by Hitler and manage to run away from the SS as their act of love upsets the dictator. The fact that Allen included this historical event in the film is also another way to condemn the social conformity that happened during the Third Reich when the Germans and also the Italians fascists, as he explains on an interview, “(they) gave up everything to be led by that hypnotic leader and be liked” (Woody Allen: A Life in Film).
Nonetheless, even if the principal aim of the film is to explore the postmodern condition, it falls into the pattern of a classic story as Zelig and Eudora get married and essentially he finds treatment for his illness, or desire to conform, in love and this trait contradicts the overall spirit of the film. Despite what just considered, however, Baudrillard stated that Zelig is remarkable as ”it leads astray to all possible interpretations” (Baudrillard : p16). Considering Baudrillard’s point of view on the existence of a singular, monologic meaning in texts or images and applying it to Zelig, what he says is limitative because all interpretations do not exclude each other. The fact that the film touches different areas of the postmodern condition, the different reactions that it could rise make it actually a richer text and together with its parodial trait it allows flexibility of interpretation, even though it features a classic closure. Even Allen himself had a different opinion of his own movie as he explains that ”Some people who have seen the film think Zelig was better off when he could change into other people and perform miraculous acts…But the price he paid was being an unhappy, empty human being. In the end, he settles down to a kind of middle road in life.. Some people say they wouldn’t want to trade the excitement and the creativity for that. I don’t happen to agree.” (N.Y.Times : 1983). Certainly, Zelig is one of the most witty and, to a good extent, self explanatory film that successfully showcases the Postmodern condition.
Bibliography
Baudrillard, J ‘The Evil Demon of Images’ , Sydney : Power Institute of Fine Arts, 1987, pp 13- 34
Featherstone, M ‘Consumer Culture & Postmodernism’ , London: Sage, 1991, pp 7-8
Jameson, F ‘Postmodernism, Or the late logic of Capitalism’ , Durham: Duke University Press, 1991, pp 1-6 (Article originally published in New Left Review, no 146, July/August 1984)
Collins, J ‘Uncommon Cultures: Popular Culture and Postmodernism’, London: Routledge, 1989, pp 114-115
Sarip, E ‘Culture, Language and Personality’ , Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 1958, p 69
Lyotard, JF ‘The Postmodern Condition: A report of knowledge’ , Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984, intro p XXIV
Derrida, J (trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak), ‘Of Grammatology’, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976, p 158
Sarup,M ‘An Introductory |Guide to Poststructuralism & Postmodernism’, New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993, p. 132
Barthes, R, (trans. Stephen Heath), ‘The Death of the Author,’ in ‘Image, Music, Text’, London: Fontana Press, 1977, p. 148
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” in ‘Film Theory and Criticism : Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: pp 833-44
Sontag, S, ‘Against Interpretation’ , USA : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1966, pp 1-10
Lecture Notes
1 - Polihronis, A “Quantum Physic”, lecture notes distributed for module ”Film, Narrative and Genre” at Birkbeck University of London, June 2016
2 - Polihronis, A “Postmodernism”, lecture notes distributed for module ”Film, Narrative and Genre” at Birkbeck University of London, June 2016
3 - Polihronis, A “Derrida”, lecture notes distributed for module ”Film, Narrative and Genre” at Birkbeck University of London, June 2016
Filmography
“Zelig” (1983) Directed by Woody Allen [Documentary]. USA : Warner Bros, Orion Pictures
“Apocalypse Now” Directed by Francis F Coppola [Feature Film]. USA: American Zoetrope, United Artists
“Holocaust” Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky [Tv Series]. USA : NBC
Web Sources
Kakutani, M “How Woody Allen’s Zelig was born in anxiety and grew into comedy’ , 1983, New York : New York Times - Article
(Last accessed July 11th, 2016)
‘Woody Allen: A Life in Film’ - Documentary extracthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSU9OyWtjUk
(Last accessed July 11th, 2016)