In his chapter Smiling with Regret, Douglas Morrey confronts
the classification of Godard as a postmodern filmmaker. As we have increasingly
seen after his film "Weekend", Godard style undergoes a drastic
transformation. As he because more enamored of video we see techniques such as
freeze frame slowly leak into his cinematic form. Morrey also identifies the
significant increase and change in Godard's citational style. This movement
away from a traditional narrative, combined with experimental elements of
montage, and quotation support the claim that Godard is a postmodern filmmaker.
Jean-Francois Lyotard defined postmodernism as the crisis of
narrative, particularly in reference to the narratives inherited from the
pervious generation of storytellers. Godard works hard to confront the
traditions of narrative, even from his early works. Remember the appearance of
title cards in Vivre sa Vie. He is interested early on in the organization of
stories and the conventions of organization found in cinema at the time. As
Godard career progresses we can see his evolution of narrative exploration. I
agree with Lyotard that this period does confer a crisis in narrative, but the
crisis is not destruction. His approach to his later films still employs
narrative through experimental political, cultural, and social critique.
Morrey acknowledges that some commentators paint
postmodernists as surrenders of political questions by citing the realization
of a perfect political system in liberal democracy. It is true that Godard's
more overtly political films like La Choinoise stand is stark contrast to more
experimental films like King Lear, but to suggest as Robert Stam does that
Godard's later work is only radical "in an aesthetic nature"
completely misses the deep philosophical questions Godard raises about the
nature of post industrial capitalism. Though Godard is not the only filmmaker
to address concerns about the rapidly rising consumer culture, few filmmakers
address this problem with such zeal.
Stam's critique accuses Godard of technical and aesthetic
tricks, while challenging the narrative as something banal. I couldn't disagree
more. It is through his expanded use of montage, citation and juxtaposition in
his later work that becomes this political component. I think that we have seen
that Godard is a filmmaker who consistently challenges assumptions of political
organization and the culture industry throughout his entire career. But there
is a danger of, as Terry Eagleton says of allowing postmodernism to become a
"catch all term for board cultural phenomena". Here we can see that
Lyotard's definition is too broad. Without specific criteria, we find that the
term "postmodernism" loses all meaning. Lyotars definition is too
broad and does not adequately address our concerns here. Morrey then suggests
Frederic Jameson as an alternative to Lyotard with his definition of postmodern
culture as a critique of multinational capitalism and one that is overtly
political.
In this sense, we can see that Godard clearly fits this
definition. His use of citation and montage are explicitly directed to counter
what he sees as the capitalist invasion of the daily life of people. One of my
favorite examples of this is in the film where Godard juxtaposes clippings from
magazines onto of dialogue of girls talking about sexual intercourse. What can
be read as a innocent scene between two friends sharing their fears and
questions about the intimate details of their sex lives, takes on a darker
meaning when rapidly cut with images of products aimed at women to feel more
beautiful.
Morrey suggests that the borrowing of forms without regard
to their content is a characteristic of postmodernism. We can see this in
Godard's use of quotation. Sometimes the quotations are used out of context, or
as Morrey suggests " isolating a single thought, image, or observation
that pleases him or that fits into the associative schema of the film".
Some quotations can be seen as more significant than others. But, like his use
of montage, this use of quotation is not postmodern in and of itself. Many
filmmakers refer to other works, but do not fit within the confines of
postmodern. But it is Gordard's use of quotation that is significant. It is his
skill in juxtaposition both of references and montage that gives Godard this
postmodernist label.
I argue that it is his use of quotation in combination with
his use of montage creates a unique narrative progression where Godard attempts
to incorporate ideas, motifs and symbols that exist outside of the narrative
structure of his films. But this incorporation attempts to enhance rather than
to distract or deconstruct the narrative. Those looking to reconcile Godard's
narrative approach with that of a traditional 3 or 5 act structure will be
disappointed. His approach delivers a story that the viewer must actively
engages with to construct. It is this shifting of responsibility from the
filmmaker to the viewer that gives these later films their style, and counts
them among postmodern cinema.
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