osLmodern Lssay noLes

A collecLlon of slldes book pages and onllne noLes LhaL relaLe Lo Lhe essay

hll's leedback
" 8eware confusIng 'metafIctIon' wIth 'metanarratIves' and therefore Jean FrancoIs
Lyotard as beIng the thInker assocIated wIth 'metafIctIon'. '|etanarratIves' I.e. the bIg
totalIzIng storIes of hIstory, relIgIon and scIence and 'IncredulIty' for them, Is connected
to the general move away from the certaIntIes of modernIty. suggest you research '|eta
fIctIon' specIfIcally In relatIon to Scream and as Its own category not as connected to
Lyotard's use of 'meta'.

Yes 'meta' E deconstructIon go handInhand because It's when a fIlm starts to comment
on Its own formula (I.e. deconstruct It) that It becomes 'meta'. You could suggest that
'meta' Is a consequence or response to the Idea of deconstructIon (whIch Is ultImately
about the often hIdden or nonobvIous rules that drIve our expectatIons). That's a great
poInt about horror beIng partIcularly 'vulnerable' to meta treatments because, as a genre,
It so obvIously 'buIlt' from formulas.

The poInt about Scary |ovIe and 'death of the author' Is rIght, because It mosaIcs all those
'texts' from other fIlms and does so for the opposIte (I.e. comIc effect), so yes, you'd need
to defIne the concept and apply It.

n your IntroductIon, thInk you need to emphasIse that pastIche and parody are key
characterIstIcs of postmodernIsm, and that you'll be explorIng these categorIes In
dIscussIon of Scream and Scary |ovIe. Your Intro could be much more confIdent and
concIse therefore: somethIng lIke:

ThIs assIgnment wIll examIne and compare Wes Craven's Scream (1996) and Keenan vory
Wayans' Scary |ovIe (2000). WhIle both fIlms are characterIstIcally postmodern, the ways
In whIch they assocIate wIth postmodernIty are dIfferent. Fesearch sources Include... (lIst
them, and your reasons for usIng them and then outlIne the order of your poInts raIsed,
so...) The assIgnment begIns by defInIng postmodernIsm In general terms, before
IntroducIng 0errIda's Idea of deconstructIon... etc."


So wlLh hll's feedback ln mlnd
1he maln polnLs l need Lo research on are
O econsLrucLlon errlda
O eaLh of Lhe AuLhor 8arLhes
O ,eLaflcLlon noL ln relaLlon Lo ,eLanarraLlve buL as a consequence of econLrucLlon


WhaL each paragraph ls golng Lo Lalk abouL (based on Lhe research)
1osLmodern CulLure and Porror lllms









2 Scream" and econsLrucLlon
1he undolng decomposlng and desedlmenLlng of sLrucLures ln a cerLaln sense more hlsLorlcal
Lhan Lhe sLrucLurallsL movemenL lL called lnLo quesLlon was noL a negaLlve operaLlon 8aLher Lhan
desLroylng lL was also necessary Lo undersLand how an 'ensemble' was consLlLuLed and Lo
reconsLrucL lL Lo Lhls end" errlda
lound ln hLLp//coursesnusedusg/course/ell[wp/deconsLrucLlonhLm
``econsLrucLlon ls an academlc word lL means saylng whaL everybody knows abouL Lhe movles ln
words nobody can undersLand ``Scream ls selfdeconsLrucLlng lLs llke one of Lhose cans LhaL heaLs
lLs own soup. All of that is the plot. ``Scream'' is not about the plot. t is about itself. n other words, it is about
characters who *know* they are in a plot.
lound ln
hLLp//rogereberLsunLlmescom/apps/pbcsdll/arLlcle?Al/19961220/8LvlLWS/612200306/1023








lound ln hLLp//wwwslldeshareneL/belalr1981/screamposLmodern

3 Scream" and eaLh of 1he AuLhor
8arLhes's argumenL ls dlrecLed agalnsL schools of llLerary crlLlclsm LhaL seek Lo uncover Lhe auLhor's
meanlng as a hldden referenL whlch ls Lhe flnal meanlng of Lhe LexL 8y refuslng Lhe 'auLhor' (ln Lhe
sense of a greaL wrlLer expresslng an lnner brllllance) one refuses Lo asslgn an ulLlmaLe meanlng Lo
Lhe LexL and hence one refuses Lo flx lLs meanlng
A LexL cannoL have a slngle meanlng buL raLher ls composed of mulLlple sysLems Lhrough whlch lL ls
consLrucLed ln 8arLhes's case Lhls means readlng LexLs Lhrough Lhe slgns Lhey use boLh ln Lhelr
sLrucLure ln Lhe LexL and ln Lhelr wlder meanlngs
1he deaLh of Lhe auLhor creaLes freedom for Lhe reader Lo lnLerpreL Lhe LexL 1he reader can
recreaLe Lhe LexL Lhrough connecLlng Lo lLs meanlngs as Lhey appear ln dlfferenL conLexLs"
lound ln hLLp//ceaseflremagazlnecouk/newlnceaseflre/lnLheorybarLhes4/











lound ln
hLLp//booksgooglecouk/books?ldSw0m[88bybuCpgA60lpgA60dqscream+fllm+and+b
arLhessourcebloLs4lu8?sLxkslgwh1PLoLl1P1[gkvwpr4cmSA3ghlenelLxn11LSbL4m
nhAevLrl6ACsaxolbook_resulLcLresulLresnum2ved0CClC6ALwA1gu#vonepageqsc
ream20fllm20and20barLhesffalse

4 asLlche arody or Spoof (5cteom and 5coty Movle)
"Scream has been referred Lo as many Lhlngs a parody ls one of Lhe mosL common CrlLlcs such as
klm newman and 8arry norman have descrlbed lL as a parody buL ls Lhls a correcL appllcaLlon of Lhe
word ls Scream a parody of prevlous horror fllms? 1he Cxford Conclse lcLlonary of LlLerary 1erms
deflnes a parody as # mockloq lmltotlootlJlcolloq tbe styllstlc boblts of oo ootbotby
exoqqetoteJ mlmlcty (8aldlck 2001 183) 1hls deflnlLlon glves very speclflc crlLerla for a parody
and noL all of Lhese crlLerla are meL ln Scream
#efote 5cteom ls Jooe tbe cosooltles wlll oombet ot leost teo bot tbls movle ls mocb mote tome
tboo tbe movles lt offets op fot potoJy 1bete ote oo ooJe sceoes ot qtopblc vloleoce ptobobly
becoose tbeyte oot oeeJeJ os ctotcbes bete 5cteom ls o qooJ bottot movle oo lts owo bot lts
ptobobly tbe best ootlbottot movles evet moJe (Plcks 1997)
Porror parodles llke Scary Mov|es or Student 8od|es follow Lhe deflnlLlon above and are Lruer
members of Lhe horror parody genre Scream ls noL parL of Lhls genre because lL ls whaL lL mocks
and lL doesn'L exaggeraLe any of Lhe elemenLs Some revlewers see Lhe fllm as a parody desplLe lLs
lack of exaggeraLlon and lLs fragmenLed lnconslsLency of sLyle
#9ostmoJeto tbeoty ooJ tbeotles of postmoJetolsm Jlffet JepeoJloq oo wbot tbey ooJetstooJ tbe
postmoJeto to be lot Ieooltoocols lyototJ ooJ Cloool vottlmo postmoJetolsm ls o woy of
tblokloq lo 1be 9ostmoJeto cooJltloo lyototJ otqoes tbot postmoJetolsm eotolls tbe follote of oll
mostet oottotlves wblcb mlqbt ollow fot o totol ooJ oolfleJ ooJetstooJloq of tbe wotlJ lo ploce of
mostet oottotlves lyototJ poslts mlctooottotlves (lorLler 1997 118)
1here are dlfferenL deflnlLlons of Lhe Lerm as lL ls applled ofLen falsely Lo Lhe word posLmodernlsm
generally because lL ls applled fllppanLly Lo numerous Lhlngs Scream wouldn'L fall under LyoLard's
deflnlLlon of posLmodernlsm because lL keeps lLs masLer narraLlve and doesn'L use many
mlcronarraLlves and Lhose lL does use are ln some way connecLed Lo Lhe masLer narraLlve"
lound ln hLLp//wwwlefLfleldclnemacom/analyslslsscreamaparodypasLlcheorposLmodern
Lhrlller



3Scream" and ,eLaflcLlon
noLes
% Metaf|ct|on
1he preflx meta means beyond or Lranscendlng Lhus Lhe Lerm metaf|ct|on llLerally means
beyond f|ct|on
1hus meLaflcLlon can be descrlbed as flcLlon abouL Lhe naLure and purpose of flcLlon
ln Metofiction 1he 1heory ond Proctice of 5e/fconscious liction aLrlcla Waugh deflnes
meLaflcLlon as
flcLlonal wrlLlng whlch selfconsclously and sysLemaLlcally draws aLLenLlon Lo lLs sLaLus as
an arLlfacL ln order Lo pose quesLlons abouL Lhe relaLlonshlp beLween flcLlon and reallLy
,eLaflcLlon explores a Lheory of wrlLlng flcLlon Lhrough Lhe pracLlce of wrlLlng flcLlon
(2)
,eLaflcLlon aLLempLs Lo blur Lhe llne beLween flcLlon and reallLy ln meLaflcLlon auLhors
ofLen break ouL of Lhe narraLlve Lo address Lhe naLure of whaL Lhey are dolng ln Lhe novel
Some of Lhe characLerlsLlcs of meLaflcLlon ldenLlfled by vlcLorla Crlowskl lnclude
O Lhe vlolaLlon of narraLlve levels speclflcally
4 lnLruslons ln Lhe narraLlve Lo commenL on Lhe wrlLlng
4 lnvolvemenL of Lhe auLhor wlLh Lhe flcLlonal characLers
4 dlrecLly addresslng Lhe reader
4 openly quesLlonlng how narraLlve assumpLlons and convenLlons
Lransform and fllLer reallLy
O Lhe rellance on unconvenLlonal and experlmenLal Lechnlques such as
4 a re[ecLlon of convenLlonal ploL
4 a dlsplay of reflexlvlLy (Lhe dlmenslon presenL ln all llLerary LexLs and also
cenLral Lo all llLerary analysls a funcLlon whlch enables Lhe reader Lo
undersLand Lhe processes by whlch he or she reads Lhe world as a LesL)
lound ln
hLLp//wwwnvccedu/home/aLaormlna/novels/hlsLory/meLaflcLlonhLm


% @e urpose of Metaf|ct|on
roponenLs belleve LhaL Lhe meLaflcLlonal novel galns slgnlflcance beyond lLs flcLlonal realms by
ouLwardly pro[ecLlng lLs lnner selfreflecLlve Lendencles
lronlcally lL becomes real by noL preLendlng Lo be real ,ark Currle poslLs LhaL meLaflcLlon allows lLs
readers a beLLer undersLandlng of Lhe fundamenLal sLrucLures of narraLlve whlle provldlng an
accuraLe model for undersLandlng Lhe conLemporary experlence of Lhe world as a serles consLrucLed
sysLems (7) ln reflecLlng on Lhe slgnlflcance of meLaflcLlon he goes so far as Lo say LhaL lL provldes
an unllmlLed vlLallLy whlch was once LhoughL lnLrospecLlve and selfreferenLlal ls ln facL ouLward
looklng (Currle 2)
lound ln hLLp//wwwengllshemoryedu/8ahrl/,eLaflcLlonhLml

% 5cteom osLenslbly a base slasherhorror movle ln Lhe LradlLlon of olloweeoltlJoy tbe 1Jtb
and Wes Craven's own Nlqbtmote oo lm 5tteet 5cteom ls acLually much more Lhan LhaL
Lranscendlng Lhe llmlLs of Lhe genre by havlng Lhe characLers be aware and commenL freely
upon Lhem 1hls way Lhe fllm becomes a work of meLaflcLlon"
1he fllm preys upon Lhe audlence's knowledge of Lhe horror/slasher fllm genre Cnce Lhe characLers
expllclLly sLaLe LhaL Lhey know Lhe rules" for survlvlng ln a horror movle elLher Lhose rules musL be
fulfllled resulLlng ln Lhe characLers dylng or broken 1he klller hldes behlnd a cheap and common
plasLlc mask a remlnder of how commerclally explolLed fear ls 1he fllm seems Lo be saylng LhaL
vlolence ln Lhe medla does noL lnfluence vlolence ln Lhe real world LhaL people such as SLu ,acher
(,aLLhew Llllard) and 8llly Loomls (SkeeL ulrlch) Lhe klllers are predlsposed Lo such vlolence even
Lhough Lhey are very much lnsplred by horror movles ln Lhelr kllllngs
LssenLlally selfreferenLlal flcLlonwlLhlnflcLlon or ',eLallcLlon'
lound ln http://assumeyes.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/in-deIence-oI-scream/