Truman has spent his entire life in a constructed reality, which he firmly believes is real, disregarding all signs that the space around him isn't real, until a certain point. The end of the film, when Truman ascends the stairs and walks through the door, could be considered to be Truman leaving behind this hyperreal space and transitioning into what could be considered the 'real world'.
Simulacra -
The world in which Truman lives is a simulation of the 'real world', however it has its limits. These limits are what cause Truman to try and leave in the first place as all of his experiences were on a rotation, and he could never stray too far away from his home, nor could he speak to those who were not part of the main narrative of Truman's story.
The 4th Wall -
The fourth wall is broken a number of times during 'The Truman Show' as the viewer is made to feel just like the audience members within the film. One seen in particular that breaks the fourth wall is the moment before Truman steps through the doorway at the end of the film, and says "In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight" right into the camera, then he turns and the screen fades to black.
Parody -
The town in which Truman lives is an exaggerated parody of suburban America, and so are the people, including Truman himself.
Metanarrative -
While Truman has his own life and all of the actors around him have to play to his narrative, there is an overarching story of a TV show, which everything is based around. Even if Truman wanted to do something, if it won't make for good TV or fit into the creator's story, then it won't happen just so everything fits to the metanarrative.
Hyperrealism - Something that is 'more real that reality' or 'more true than truth'
Simulation - An imitation of a situation or process
Simulacra - An image or representation of someone or something; an unsatisfactory imitation or substitute
'Fake News' - The posting of news that is 'not true'. However, this truth can be subjective
Simulation - An imitation of a situation or process
Simulacra - An image or representation of someone or something; an unsatisfactory imitation or substitute
'Fake News' - The posting of news that is 'not true'. However, this truth can be subjective
Metafiction - Fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a work by parodying or departing from novelistic conventions and traditional narrative techniques
Intertextuality - The relationship between texts, especially literary ones
Mise-en-Abyme - Self-reflection within the structure of a literary work; a work employing self-reflection
The 4th Wall - The space which separates a performer or performances from an audience
Intertextuality - The relationship between texts, especially literary ones
Mise-en-Abyme - Self-reflection within the structure of a literary work; a work employing self-reflection
The 4th Wall - The space which separates a performer or performances from an audience
Every song in this musical, apart from one, already existed, meaning Luhrmann decided to use popular songs from different periods in time and genres to craft his film, instead of creating new ones
Pop -
This film, especially in terms of music, features a lot of pop culture, and is clearly designed for the masses, as opposed to only those who are already fans of musicals
Flippant -
While the overarching story does feature quite a heavy tone as two young people's love is destined to fail, the film goes out of its way to create a feeling of joy and eccentricity even during the hardest of scenes. For example, when an attempt is being made on Christian (Ewan McGregor), there are a huge amount of cutaways to something funny, such as the hitman dancing onto the stage in order to retrieve his lost gun
Pastiche -
The film features music and visuals that don't at all match the setting. Luhrmann drew from many existing visuals and sounds to create an extremely intriguing blend that feels unexpected and strange, yet somehow manages to work very well, conveying a feeling of wonder that an otherworldly and esteemed cabaret should
Non-linear Narrative -
Moulin Rouge begins with Christian writing on a typewriter, with his narration giving the viewers an idea of the overarching story, even notifying that his lover is dead, giving away the entirety of the film in a matter of words, with his typing then seamlessly transitioning into the main story. And then, at the end of the film, we are greeted with the same reality we saw at the beginning of the movie; Christian typing on his typewriter in order to tell his sad love story
The Canon - A general law, rule, principle or criterion by which something is judged
D.W.E.M. - Stands for Dead White European Male. A type of person viewed as unjustly dominant in language and culture, and hence archetypally despised by feminists, multiculturalists, etc.
Phallocentrism - A doctrine or belief centred on the phallus, especially a belief in the superiority of the male sex
Eurocentrism - A tendency to interpret the world in terms of European or Anglo-American values and experiences
Post-Colonialism - Beginning in the mid 20th Century, post-colonialism was created as colonial countries became independent. Nowadays, aspects of post-colonialism can be found not only in sciences concerning history, literature and politics, but also in approach to culture and and identity of both the countries that were colonised and the former colonial powers
Multiculturalism - The presence of, or the support for presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society
Feminism - The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes
D.W.E.M. - Stands for Dead White European Male. A type of person viewed as unjustly dominant in language and culture, and hence archetypally despised by feminists, multiculturalists, etc.
Phallocentrism - A doctrine or belief centred on the phallus, especially a belief in the superiority of the male sex
Eurocentrism - A tendency to interpret the world in terms of European or Anglo-American values and experiences
Post-Colonialism - Beginning in the mid 20th Century, post-colonialism was created as colonial countries became independent. Nowadays, aspects of post-colonialism can be found not only in sciences concerning history, literature and politics, but also in approach to culture and and identity of both the countries that were colonised and the former colonial powers
Multiculturalism - The presence of, or the support for presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society
Feminism - The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes
Avant-garde - Something that is very original or modern and experimental in comparison to the time period of it's creation
Nostalgia - An urge to return to a former time in one's life; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time
Appropriation - The act of taking something that belongs to someone else; often without having the right to do so
Pastiche - An artistic work that imitates that of another work, artist or period
Parody - An imitation of a specific person or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comedic effect
Irony - A situation that was intended to have a certain result has the opposite or very different outcome
Ideology - The set of beliefs characteristic of a social group or individual
Genre - A style or category
Sherrie Levine - Sherrie Levine is an American photographer, painter, and conceptual artist. She is best known for her "almost indistinguishable" copies of other artists' work. She appropriates others' works to emphasise that nothing is inherently unique. Levine has previously stated that her work revolves around the concept of fetishism; as she creates works that are based on the viewers' own desires.
Nostalgia - An urge to return to a former time in one's life; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time
Appropriation - The act of taking something that belongs to someone else; often without having the right to do so
Pastiche - An artistic work that imitates that of another work, artist or period
Parody - An imitation of a specific person or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comedic effect
Irony - A situation that was intended to have a certain result has the opposite or very different outcome
Ideology - The set of beliefs characteristic of a social group or individual
Genre - A style or category
Sherrie Levine - Sherrie Levine is an American photographer, painter, and conceptual artist. She is best known for her "almost indistinguishable" copies of other artists' work. She appropriates others' works to emphasise that nothing is inherently unique. Levine has previously stated that her work revolves around the concept of fetishism; as she creates works that are based on the viewers' own desires.
Pastiche -
David Lynch took reference from multiple genres while creating Mullholland Drive, almost creating what, at times, feels more like a parody; especially the opening section of the film in which Betty first arrives in Hollywood, creating a feeling reminiscent of romantic comedies. Many of the scenes in which Betty is not present feel extremely pastiche, especially the one in which a hitman makes comical mistakes, resulting in him having to kill multiple people and setting off the fire alarm. This particular scene feels very separate from the rest of the film and rather odd, as it carries itself much differently from the rest of the mostly serious and confusing film (bar the odd moment).
Hyper-Reality -
The whole premise of Mulholland Drive revolves around the idea of the reality shown actually being false. The film begins with a heavily dramatised introduction to Hollywood, and Betty being portrayed as immensely talented (to the point of leaving people lost for words) and prepared to help a woman in need at the drop of the hat. And this narrative continues until, towards the end of the film, it is revealed to all have been a dramatised set of events, taking place within Betty/Diane's head as she distorts her memories and reality to better cope with her spiralling life/career.
Fragmentary -
The story is incredibly fragmented as is portrays what are essentially multiple realities within a single character, causing great confusion among the viewers. On top of this, David Lynch uses techniques to break the immersion, reminding the viewers that they are watching a film rather being allowed to become engrossed in the narrative.
Unreliable Narrator -
The narrative is told from the perspective of Betty/Diane for the most part, and the viewer is permitted to follow her story as they would any other movie except, towards the end, when it is revealed that everything the viewer has been told before that point was a total lie, causing the audience to feel extremely confused and lost as they try to piece everything together to understand the real narrative. The viewer feels the same emotions as Betty/Diane as we originally perceived her reality to be the truth when, in fact, it is not.
Simulacra -
The opening section of the film is a simulacrum of cheesy 'going to Hollywood to become a star' movies, with everything happening to fall right onto Betty/Diane's lap and all the city's inhabitants having a happy-go-lucky demeanour.
Metanarrative - An overarching narrative that provide a structure for beliefs and gives meaning to their experiences - eg. religion
Essentialism - A belief that things have a set of characteristics which make them what they are, and that the task of science and philosophy is their discovery and expression; the doctrine that essence is prior to existence
Utopian - A state in which everything is absolutely perfect
Axiomatic - Self-evident or unquestionable
Dystopian - A state in which everything is unpleasant or bad
Scepticism - Being doubtful of something
Relativism - The idea that truth, knowledge and morality are all directly related to culture, society or historical context, and it not absolute
Pluralism - A system in which two or more states, groups, principles, sources of authority, etc., coexist
Essentialism - A belief that things have a set of characteristics which make them what they are, and that the task of science and philosophy is their discovery and expression; the doctrine that essence is prior to existence
Utopian - A state in which everything is absolutely perfect
Axiomatic - Self-evident or unquestionable
Dystopian - A state in which everything is unpleasant or bad
Scepticism - Being doubtful of something
Relativism - The idea that truth, knowledge and morality are all directly related to culture, society or historical context, and it not absolute
Pluralism - A system in which two or more states, groups, principles, sources of authority, etc., coexist
The dream world hides a lack of reality, as is shown when Cobb first takes Ariadne into a dream, as she has a conversation with Cobb without realising they appeared at the cafe or how they got there.
Architects -
Postmodernism's foundation is the idea that everyone has their own idea of what reality is, and Inception's Architects are the physical form of this, as they can bend reality, changing what they want as long as the individual's subconscious can recognise it as being part of their own reality.
Fragmentary Story -
For the most part, the story follows a direct (although confusing) path apart from a small number of exception, namely the beginning and end. In the beginning of the film, Cobb infiltrates Saito's dream in order to get a safe code, waking up on shore and being dragged to Saito's table; while at the end of the film, Cobb is shown waking up on the same beach and being dragged to the table in the same way, with Saito looking old and 'full of regret', much like in the beginning of the film, with the only difference being a change of circumstances.
Time -
Time plays a major role in Inception as each layer deeper you go within a dream, time in the real world is slower, so five minutes in the real world equalled about 40 minutes in the first dream layer when Cobb was teaching Ariadne. This is explained as the subconscious is able to think faster than time goes by in the real world, although that is a hard claim to make as time is relative to an individual's perception, as someone who is having an enjoyable time watching a film might feel as though 2 hours has gone by quickly, someone else who dislikes it might believe that it felt like significantly longer than only 2 hours.
Ending -
When Cobb wakes up in the plane after escaping Limbo and arrives back home to see his children, the viewer is left wondering whether what is being shown on-screen is reality or just another dream, as the spinning top is never outright shown stopping. But, this also causes the viewer to ask 'what is the difference between a dream and reality?' as your world is filled with your own perceptions that define your interpretation of what reality really is.
Ahistorical - A lacking of interest for tradition and history/historical development
Irreducible - Something that either cannot or should not be reduced or simplified in any way
Objective - The ability to view something while disregarding your own biases
Universal - If something is 'universal', it can be seen, felt and understood by everyone around the world, no matter their background, as it transcends language and culture
Definitive - The final iteration of something as it can no longer be improved due to having reached an absolute peak
Post-Structuralism - A critique on Structuralism, especially in regards to how it claims to study the truth but is heavily influenced by biases and the structuralists own thoughts
Reflexivity - The idea that a person's own thoughts and behaviours are biased, meaning their values and thoughts will be portrayed within their work
The Unreliable Narrator - A narrator or character within a story who feeds the viewer/reader with a story that shouldn't be taken at face value. An unreliable narrator can also be used as a plot point within the story as the viewer/reader becomes aware of the falsities they've been told
The Enlightenment Project - The 'enlightenment project' is reflected in 'positivism'; the importance of scientific methodology. It is the belief that human rationality is the source of knowledge, leading to the encouragement of the rejection of past authorities such as the Church. This led to an increase in belief that rationality can be applied to all aspects of life and the world, resulting in all problems faced by humans being solved.
Genre -
Throughout the film, Tarantino takes inspiration from a variety of different genres, including horror, action and Japanese cinema, never sticking to one and instead meshing them all together to create an original melting pot.
Animated Scene -
Perhaps the most immediately noticeable example of disjointedness in Kill Bill (2003), is the heavily Japanese-inspired animated scene which introduces O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu). While it still maintains the same directed style and over-the-top gore with a sense of humour as the rest of the film, the fact that one section suddenly switches to being animated feels very strange, both while watching and after the fact.
Music -
The clearest examples of this are all in the final act, when The Bride (Uma Thurman) goes to the Japanese inn to confront O-Ren Ishii. When the viewer is first introduced to the historical and very traditional inn, all that can be heard is a small Japanese band performing songs in a modern Western style. Then, a while later during the final confrontation between The Bride and O-Ren, where you might again expect traditional Japanese music, Tarantino chose to use an upbeat Spanish-style soundtrack instead, almost creating the feeling that the visual style is butting heads with the audio.
Discontinuity -
Tarantino frequently delivers a discontinuous narrative as he not only stops the film to label what Act the viewer is witnessing, but he also shows the story in a disjointed way, as the film starts with The Bride killing Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox), the second planned kill on her list. After which, Tarantino switches to show how The Bride was almost killed a number of years ago and her waking from a coma, before progressing with the first kill on her list, O-Ren Ishii.
Humour Within the Gore -
Kill Bill (2003) is a bloody and gory film throughout, with the vast majority of the scenes featuring blood spraying from someone's lost limb. In fact, it's so gory that Tarantino had to make the Crazy 88 fight scene black and white as a means to censor it. But despite this, Tarantino gave the gore a comedic quality with how excessive it is, even including lines of dialogue in an attempt to give the scenes comedic effect, like this for example: https://youtu.be/NJbo_8mKG-c
Capitalist - A system in which those in control of production, distribution and exchange of wealth largely consists of private individuals or corporations
Superabundance - An excessive amount of something or excessively abundant
Disconnected - Not coherent or irrational
Pop - 'Pop Culture' references something that is aimed directly towards the tastes of the general masses
Fragmentary - Broken; disconnected; incomplete
Simulacra - A slight or superficial likeness
Eclectic Nostalgia - Various causes of a nostalgic feeling towards something in the viewers' past
Superficiality - Insubstantial, insignificant or shallow
Flippant - Not being serious, despite the subject perhaps being serious, in an attempt to appear funny or clever
Depthless - A lack of depth; insubstantial
Fabulation - To tell invented stories
Pastiche - A piece of art that was made to resemble artwork from another period of time or artist
Bricolage - Something created using diverse variety of things
Aleatory - A random events or something relying on chance
