Postmodernism - Film Case Study

 Maleficent, a film about the untold story of the villain in Sleeping Beauty, is an example of a postmodern film due to many factors. Maleficent includes many intertextual references which is a main convention within postmodernity. For example, it is based on the famous Disney Film Sleeping Beauty although it focuses in on a completely different character. This portrays how the film is using past ideas to create a new story and in some way has recycled the fairy-tale to produce a new film. Maleficent can also been seen as pastiche for similar reasons as it imitates the work of another Disney film; clearly it uses the same or similar characters from the original Sleeping Beauty as well as locations and buildings.

 The film also includes a sense of hyper reality through the way it is presented. This is another well-known convention of postmodernity and refers to the inability to distinguish between what is real and what is not. The film is based on a myth created in a realistic landscape however the landscape is in fact not real and is magical made-up land. These specific scenes in the movie have been edited in order to appear real to the view, therefore creating the sense of hyper reality.

 More obviously Maleficent is also very artificial. This is because it uses CGI in order to create mystical characters that the viewer would never see in real life. For example, Maleficent herself is very mystical due to her features including her stunning black wings. This also emphasises the fact it is a fairy-tale as sometimes postmodern films like to draw attention to the fact that they are fictitious. However, the use of CGI is to make fairy tales such as these look believable to the audience – making the audience engage more with the characters and what is happening in the film. This describes how technology in particular is important within the world of postmodernity.

 One of the other main conventions of postmodernism is that is questions any claim to moral truth. This is cleverly expressed within Maleficent as it is somewhat harder to identify the hero and villain than it was in the original tale. In a way, the movie producers are attempting to subvert objective moral categories, highlighting how postmodern films can be challenging. Compared to Sleeping Beauty where the audience easily recognises Maleficent as the evil and heartless villain, in Maleficent they see much more complicated approaches towards the character. For example, in the scene where her wings are taken from her by her own childhood friend, the viewer automatically sympathises with the character suggesting that in fact she is the victim, not the villain.  Throughout the film the audience is urged to witness the story from a different perspective to understand why Maleficent went ahead with the things she did. In the end, she is seen as both a hero and a villain; this also explains a character who appears to be disconnect from their environment – another convention of postmodern films.