Wes Craven's Scream (1997) is a Slasher film that follows the lives of a group of teenagers while they are brutally tormented by a masked killer. Although the film has a layer of simplicity to it, there is a dense amount of postmodernism that lies behind that.
To start, the film has a lot of self awareness and irony, as the characters frequently mock the Slasher genre, while also being the victims that meet gory fates due to it. This adds humour to the experience, but still manages to throw in a frightening aura that creeps throughout. At points, characters will mock or laugh about the genre as if it is overestimated and harmless to them in their reality. This is a change from the traditional approach, where a lot of characters might spend the whole film terrified or making stupid decisions that get them killed. Ironically, the teenagers in Scream have the benefit of knowing this and what to expect or not to do, yet they still get caught out as if it is karma for their mockery.
This film references a whole bunch of previous Horrors, in conversations about the genre where characters give their thoughts and opinions on the movies. They mention these films constantly to suggest that they share the same reality as us more than them. Excluding all of these films from their reality means we can expect anything to happen at any given time. It also contributes to character background, as now we know that the characters have seen the Horrors we have seen, familiarizing our subconscious with theirs when it comes to how to react or decision making during the attacks. As well as just mentioning them, the film also shows a part where the characters are watching Halloween, (1978) which is the film that brought the Slasher genre to life. In the school, the principle interacts with a character called Freddy, who is a janitor wearing a red and black striped sweater and hat, which is exactly what Freddy Krueger wears in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Drew Barrymore plays Casey, the first character we meet at the start of the film. At the time of this film, she was the most famous member of the cast. As she's the first character we meet and the most well known, it implies that she is the heroin and we can't expect anything bad to happen to her, at least not for a while. Instead, she is brutally slaughtered by the murderer in less than the first 15 minutes of the film. This breaks audience expectation and tells us that anything is possible in the story. This is also a departure from the traditional routes, allowing us to realize that what we're watching is supposedly fresh and unseen.
Edvard Munch's painting; The Scream, (1893) is one that stood out tremendously in its time. There was a large contrast between this and other paintings, which traditionally tackled realism beautifully. The Scream is a painting of a man screaming near the sea. The style though, is very expressionistic and the lines/colours are what tell the story in the painting. It is not realistic at all, and it was Avant Garde in this time for Art culture. Instead of sticking to creating a traditional painting that follows all of the rules that others follow, it experimented and excluded itself from them. This is exactly what the Scream film does in its approach, disobeying the rules and trying something new. Scream uses the mask that looks very similar to the face in the painting, while also sharing the same title. While the film appears Avant Garde as it steps away from the typical approaches, it also reads as the failure of the new. This is due to the fact that in order for this film to be Avant Garde, it has strongly imitated the old painting that was very Avant Garde in its time.
Scream highlights the conventions of Horrors, where a character expresses to the others that they're not allowed to have sex, drink or do drugs, or say "I'll be right back" if they want to survive. Once again, this mocks the genre and pokes at the expectations, while letting the audience know that these characters are aware of what to do. It also points out that everyone is in danger, as they're literally all breaking them rules during this moment.
To start, the film has a lot of self awareness and irony, as the characters frequently mock the Slasher genre, while also being the victims that meet gory fates due to it. This adds humour to the experience, but still manages to throw in a frightening aura that creeps throughout. At points, characters will mock or laugh about the genre as if it is overestimated and harmless to them in their reality. This is a change from the traditional approach, where a lot of characters might spend the whole film terrified or making stupid decisions that get them killed. Ironically, the teenagers in Scream have the benefit of knowing this and what to expect or not to do, yet they still get caught out as if it is karma for their mockery.
This film references a whole bunch of previous Horrors, in conversations about the genre where characters give their thoughts and opinions on the movies. They mention these films constantly to suggest that they share the same reality as us more than them. Excluding all of these films from their reality means we can expect anything to happen at any given time. It also contributes to character background, as now we know that the characters have seen the Horrors we have seen, familiarizing our subconscious with theirs when it comes to how to react or decision making during the attacks. As well as just mentioning them, the film also shows a part where the characters are watching Halloween, (1978) which is the film that brought the Slasher genre to life. In the school, the principle interacts with a character called Freddy, who is a janitor wearing a red and black striped sweater and hat, which is exactly what Freddy Krueger wears in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Drew Barrymore plays Casey, the first character we meet at the start of the film. At the time of this film, she was the most famous member of the cast. As she's the first character we meet and the most well known, it implies that she is the heroin and we can't expect anything bad to happen to her, at least not for a while. Instead, she is brutally slaughtered by the murderer in less than the first 15 minutes of the film. This breaks audience expectation and tells us that anything is possible in the story. This is also a departure from the traditional routes, allowing us to realize that what we're watching is supposedly fresh and unseen.
Edvard Munch's painting; The Scream, (1893) is one that stood out tremendously in its time. There was a large contrast between this and other paintings, which traditionally tackled realism beautifully. The Scream is a painting of a man screaming near the sea. The style though, is very expressionistic and the lines/colours are what tell the story in the painting. It is not realistic at all, and it was Avant Garde in this time for Art culture. Instead of sticking to creating a traditional painting that follows all of the rules that others follow, it experimented and excluded itself from them. This is exactly what the Scream film does in its approach, disobeying the rules and trying something new. Scream uses the mask that looks very similar to the face in the painting, while also sharing the same title. While the film appears Avant Garde as it steps away from the typical approaches, it also reads as the failure of the new. This is due to the fact that in order for this film to be Avant Garde, it has strongly imitated the old painting that was very Avant Garde in its time.
Scream highlights the conventions of Horrors, where a character expresses to the others that they're not allowed to have sex, drink or do drugs, or say "I'll be right back" if they want to survive. Once again, this mocks the genre and pokes at the expectations, while letting the audience know that these characters are aware of what to do. It also points out that everyone is in danger, as they're literally all breaking them rules during this moment.
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