The Coen Brothers

Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers, who write and direct their films jointly. The pair have written and directed numerous successful films, ranging comedies (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy) to thrillers (Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country for Old Men), to postmodern movies where the genres blur together (Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Burn After Reading, and A Serious Man).

Combining eccentricity, humor, irony, and often brutal violence, the films of the Coen brothers are still a style of filmmaking that pays tribute to classic American movie genres, especially film noir, while sustaining a postmodern feel. An example of one of their postmodern films is Barton Fink:



- This film is seen as postmodern because it crosses genres, fragments the characters' experiences, and doesn't have straightforward narrative.

-It's described as a "postmodern pastiche" which closely examines how past eras have represented themselves. It's an ironic reexamination of history as it is both a critique of the Hollywood system then and now, but also a reworking of the myth of the leftist artist in the 1930s.

It contains a mix of history and pure fiction. A similar methodology is adopted for 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' which offers a precise recreation of 1930s deep-south America but frames the narrative using Homer's The Odyssey. The mixture of historical detail with fiction narrative is incredibly postmodern as it's playing with conventions.

Hyperreality

Hyperreality is an inability to distinguish between what is real and what is not. I can often be described as enhanced reality. For example in the film Genova, the use of a hand held camera, increases the afeect that it is a real recording of a real family. The gritty story line and believable characters makes the film seem real enough, but the camera eccentuates this to a new level.

Some people become more engaged with the hyperreal world than with the real world. More and more people in today’s culture are thought to exist in a state of hyperreality. For example the virtual world of Second Life had become something that many poeple take incredibly seriously, many spending more time on there than living their own lifes. For example some people may believe that they can be rock stars or celebrities just by acting as if they are on second life, or a profile that they have set up. Aswell as this there are media images, the Internet and computer games that are taking people out of the real world more often and for longer periods of time than ever before.

Hyperreality is thought to be a consequence of the age that we live in, which links it nicely to postmoderism as this is a new age where things are being presented differently, and are getting more and more advanced. An excuse for many media texts using intertexuality or pastiche could be due to the fact in this age some theorist's say that all our stoeries have been told. Creating a cyle of things just being told over and over again. Therefore to make these things new and exciting, postmodern elements are introduced.

An example of hyperreality can be when somebody takes someone else's version of reality on board as his or her own. Some people may watch a soap opera and develop a view of interpersonal relationships that is determined by the writers of the soap.
Relationships in soaps are a heightened form of reality that some people relate to as being real, therefore they begin judging relationships by this hightened reality.

Other examples of hyperrealities are Theme parks such as Disney Land were people can get lost in for as long as they like (or till realistic things such as work and money intefere). These fairytale lands have been made in to real locations, tunring it inot something thing that no longer exists just in out heads. This makes it harder to distinguish or understand whether it's real or not.



I think this picture is a good example of Hyperreality as it shows an illusion of a picture on a canvas that looks so similar to what is outside the window that it is difficult to distinguish what is real and what's not

Michael Winterbottom

Michael Winterbottom is a filmmaker who has directed sixteen films in the past thirteen years. Many of his films are incredibly postmodern, for example the film A Cock and Bull Story:



Just watching the trailer for this film you can see how post modern it is..
-Talking to the camera (self referntial) breaking the 4th wall and acknowledging the audience.

-Parody and pastiche of other Victorian dramas and actors.

-Playing with all the conventions of the genre 'You want realism, i'm a grown man in a womb!' This is also self referential as they are refering to the aims of their production on screen.

-You get too see the camera set ect, making it hyperreal as you are not sure what is part of the film and what is not. Along with this they talk about how they are going to edit the film, maing you believe you are really there.

-It's Nihilistic in a sense that it doesn't stick to any rule that film making should have, at times it seems a bit of a shamble.

-It draws apon many different genres and styles, for example it's a comedy as well as a victorian drama. It also has a documentary feel to it as well as they directly talk the camera as if they are having an interview. It also follows the prgress of the film, something many documentaries do. All these things make it quite an eclectic film to watch.

-There are reference to other texts, for example a shot of Steven Fry on the TV making it seem even more hyper real. This sort of intertexuality, using a very famous person is incredibly affective.

-Aesthetics include the contrast of Victorian to mordern day costumes.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is the cultral and social conditions which have replaced earlier forms of modern 20th century life. Many media texts that are said to be postmodern in style often mix irony, parody and pastiche across conventional genres. It will often refer to itself, is transparent in its constuction and blurs the boundaries between reality and representation. It's an approach to culture which sees all texts as being intertexual and meaning is mediated, rather than representative of a state of original reality.

A way to remember the coventions of postmodernism is the anagram of PAINPIPES:
Play-plays with the genre conventions etc. Also a sense of play, makes it quite funny, they do not take themselves seriously.
Aesthetics- They way it looks. Could look different or similar to another production as if it is mimicing it.
Intertexuality-referencing other texts or media forms to enable meaning to be made.
Nihilistic- total rejection of established laws and institutions.
Parody-A text which doesn't simply imitate the style of another, but instead mocks or shifts the original texts conventions in some way.
Irony- Presenting something to mean something very different from what they appear on the surface to mean. This is used homourously.
Pastiche- Directly imitating a style of another text.
Eclectism- Drawing apon multiple style or genres. Often contrasting.
Self-referential- Refers to themself.

Along with these Postmodernism often uses Hyper-reality, this characterizes the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy.It makes things seem more than real.

How do moral panics form a fragment of cultural identity?

A moral panic is the increased concern about something by a population that appears to be a threat to social order. The concern about the negative impact this group may have on society increases the hostility towards them, thus making a clear division between ‘them’ and ‘us’, and looking at them as ‘folk devils’. This divides the collective cultural identity our country might have had, leaving fragments of different groups holding their own ideologies and opinions on the matter. These fragments may then form their own cultural identity as they may feel collectiveness in this group, through similar ideas and morals, thus forming a part of his or her personal identity too.

Raving and ecstasy is a perfect example of how something seen initially as harmless can then be blown up by the media into a huge moral panic. It emerged in the late 80s/early 90s when all non-stop dancing and clubbing, in places such as Ibiza was getting increasingly popular. The younger generation were getting immersed in it, with huge secret raves were being organised on fields, miles away from towns and cities. Partying and drinking was one of the main ingredients for enjoying and rave and the third, becoming more and more popularly used, was ecstasy.

Ecstasy was being used frivolously within the younger people, as the rave craze grew larger it was known as the defining feature to rave culture. The media could be partly to blame for it’s huge popularity after commercialising the rave subculture, for example when the newspaper The Sun discovered rave, they even marketed their own smiley faced t-shirt, a logo that was becoming well known as a symbolism for rave. The fact ravers now even had their own iconic symbol increased the collective identity of this subcultures fragment. If they wore this symbol it made them feel like they belonged. Rave formed a part of these peoples personal identify too. The Sun newspaper soon became hostile when the moral panic was uncovered.

The emergence of the moral panic came to it’s highest peak when Leah Betts collapsed in her home on her eighteenth birthday after taking an ecstasy tablet, and subsequently went into a coma. Pictures of Leah on a life support machine where plastered all over the newspaper headlines. For the media her death was ‘ a potent image of innocence corrupted by a dangerous and malevolent subculture.’ From here the subculture of people involved in raves were seen as folk devils and threats to society, along with this they were seen as ‘wrong and foolish’ victims to the mythical drug dealers. This hostility grew, forming fragmentation in the British culture. Many of the younger generation were feared and seen as foolish and putting them selves at danger, whether any one knew they were attending the raves or not. Young people, or ravers were stereotyped as dangerous along with raves too, being deemed responsible for all deaths like Leah Betts’.

As a result of this moral panic, and an attempt as resolution, drug education was increased, such as the national strategy ‘Tackling Drugs Together’. Along with this the Public entertainments (drug misuse) act passed with out opposition. The police were given more power and new age travellers were attempted to be suppressed.

Although this moral panic eventually faded away, it had persisted for almost ten years, with volatile outbreaks within it. Generally the raves moved to clubs and media interest soon disappeared, but the stereotype and fear of the younger person who likes to party, still lives today, causing a separation in within our culture, particularly between ages.

Another moral panic that formed a fragment of cultural identity was the Aids epidemic. It was fist discovered by gay men in San Francisco and spread across the globe. This then caused the public perception to turn on homosexuals, prostitutes and drug users. The media made these groups, particularly homosexuals, seem like ‘folk devils’, along with their other label as a deviant minority. People began to view it as a gay plague and a majority in a poll were in favour of compulsory testing and the isolation or sterilisation of those infected.

This view of Homosexuals was incredibly wrong. Many became scared to socialise with gay people and there was an awful lot of prejudice against them. What had stemmed from a disease common in homosexuals was now completely their fault in some people’s eyes. This formed a fragment of cultural identity with Homosexuals being seen as folk devils. At this point they could have found a collective identity together, thriving on the fact only they could understand the prejudice each other were going through, as the thing that bought them together.

Aids faded as an issue and became a cultural and health related issue, people presume that if it does heighten again, the media will not be reporting it as an epidemic, as compared to when it was first discovered. It is now taught about in most schools and people now know about things like contraception that can help prevent it. Although the moral panic has faded away it has still given long-term implications for discourses about homosexuality and if still a key point of debate for those with homophobia.

The Boat that Rocked

To what extent is the film based on real events?

While the story does have some relationship to real events it neither pretends to be or is hitorically accurate. It does not represent any specific station that was broadcasting to Britain in 1966, but it is most likely representing the very well known station, Radio Caroline. The even film uses a ship that is similar to that used by Radio Caroline from 1983 to 1990.

The film presents a group of DJs in 1966 who are battling against the traditionalist idea held by the British government that only broadcasts 45 minutes worth of pop music a day. It gives the impression that the only type of music being played is that of the classical genre, when infact the BBC at the time was very big on broadcasting Jazz. Instead it compares the restricted and very limited non-recorded music output of the British Broadcasting Corporation's three radio services of 1966, with a very liberal station.

Not only this, but the musical output and style of presentation of the first station (Radio Caroline), was very similar to the BBC Light Programme. This programme is not mentioned in the film as it would take away the emphasise of the need for Radio Rock.

There are similarities between many of the presenters. For example Chris O'Dowd plays a DJ called Simon, the station's fictitious breakfast DJ. "The breakfast jock on Radio Caroline at the time was Tony Blackburn, so there's definitely an element of him in it," says O'Dowd of his character.

Tony Benn, the Postmaster General, responsible for the enactment of the Marine Offences Act that was responsible for the closure of the off-shore stations. Minister Dormandy is a loose parody of this, he is stereotyped as a homourless austere minister, creating binary oppostion to the DJs, getting you on the DJs sides. This character is portrayed as very conservative in the film, when infact in real life Tony Benn was part of Labour. Although the chacacter is never explicitly branded Conservative, the representation of the character in this way, fits well with the 'evil' character, typically needed in a Richard Curtis film.

By the 1960s Briton's were available to a whole host of media, yet the film depicts a collective identity of naive britons huddled around a radio to listen to Radio Rock. This gives a mythological image of 2nd world war populations, when in fact they could actually be watching TV.

We never know what really happens to the DJs in the end of the film, we just know they go off their separate ways. Yet in the real era the BBC hired most of the out of work pirate radio DJs, for example Tony Blackburn, became one of the longest serving Breakfast presenters on Radio 1 (only just over taken by Chris Moyles this year.) and Philip Birch who was Managing Director of Wonderful Radio London became the founding managing director of Piccadilly Radio.

Folk devils and Moral Panics

A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue which appears to be a threat to the social order.

According to the Attributional model, characteristics of a moral panic are generally:

>Concern - There must be awareness that the behaviour of the group or category in question is likely to have a negative impact on society.
>Hostility - Hostility towards the group in question increases, and they become "folk devils". A clear division forms between "them" and "us".
>Consensus - Though concern does not have to be nationwide, there must be widespread acceptance that the group in question poses a very real threat to society. It is important at this stage that the "moral entrepreneurs" are vocal and the "folk devils" appear weak and disorganised.
>Disproportionality - The action taken is disproportionate to the actual threat posed by the accused group.
>Volatility - Moral panics are highly volatile and tend to disappear as quickly as they appeared due to a wane in public interest or news reports changing to another topic.

Another model, the Processual Model, claims there are some other factors too:

>Emergence
>Media inventory- Where the media exaggerates and symbolizes the problem as an even bigger threat than it is. Creating dispropotionality and increasing hostility and 'Folk devil' representation of the situation.
>Moral entrepreneurs- Groups or organisations speaking out about it, to influence a concensus.
>Experts- Socially accredited experts who pronounce their diagnoses and solutions.
>Resolution and coping- Reaction. If laws are insufficiant, demands for legal reform will follow.
>Fading Away- The condition dissapears, sunmerges ot deteriorates.
>Legacy- May have little or long term lasting effect. Could also produce bg changes.

We did a presentation on Moral panics in relation to raving and ecstacy:

Raving and Ecstasy

View more presentations from Helenaiscool.

We then linked the this moral panic with the processional and attributional model...

Processual model:
Emergence: Rose in late 80’s. seen as initially harmless, but then as a threat to young people. The police were initially not bothered.
Media Inventory: Raves began to be stereotyped as dangerous and causing vulnerable deaths such as Leah Betts. The dangers were exaggerated, but the media did not go into prediction and symbolism. Ecstasy was the real focus, which the police seemed initially recipient on, as they found the raves more of a threat.(caused reform?)Drug dealers were the folk devils.
Moral entrepreneurs: These were not evident in the drug rave. There were no campaign groups.
Experts: Few of these. Most who knew a lot about the drug culture were close to the pleasures themselves, and so they relied on drug minimization. The popular press condemned this.
Resolution and coping: Legal responses in 1990,1994,1997- giving police powers, increasing drug education, suppressing new age travellers etc. Debatable as to this effectiveness, as it in fact made the drug industry more lucrative and encouraged more to be aware of drugs.
Fade away: raves moved into clubs, the media interest disappeared, ecstasy declined in its consumption.
Legacy: Laws seemed not much used, and although drugs are still well known and established as a British problem.

Attribution model:
Concern: The police and media express concern about raves but the political parties are slow to act. However, unknown general concern.
Hostility: Participants were seen as folk devils and threats, and also as victims to the mythical “drug dealers”. They were portrayed as wrong and foolish.
Consensus: The politicians, media and police began to try to suppress the movement and ambiguity BUT drug and health educators saw the measures as harsh and exaggerated, and the youth media and clubbers persisted. Therefore, the consensus was fragile.
Disproportioanlity: There were 42 to deaths from ecstasy in the moral panic such as Leah Briggs, which were held up as examples. BUT these were also caused by health problems of the teenagers. Really raves and ecstasy posed a health risk. Ecstasy is not physically addictive and more likely to cause psychological than physical harm, such as panic attacks. Some of the 42 deaths associated with ecstasy up to 1995 had other causes. Most were caused when inadequate intake of fluids produced excessive body temperatures. Compared with other risks to young people or other drugs, including tobacco and alcohol, ecstasy did not warrant such a reaction. (Saunders 1995)
Volatility: Length; speed of emergence and decline. Each episode expanded and contracted rapidly but the issue as a whole persisted for nearly ten years, suggesting a serial panic, with volatile outbreaks within a longer period. Claims makers: principal claims and counter clams makers; motives and strategies; degree of success. The principal claims makers were the police, some parts of the press and politicians. Counter claims came from drug educationalists and youth culture itself. The contest was uneven when it came to passing laws but the obduracy of participants forced considerable concessions.

Stereotypes

Traditionally stereotypes are meant reflect culture, but often they are exaggerated to generate a prefrered reading of a type of person. These are known as Intentional Stereotypes, this often leads to a negotiated reading of the group. This can come from a Constructed Stereotype, where a group is represented to the reader in a way that the person who is telling it has effected and contructed how we think of them.
To be expanded....?