Postmodernism

Postmodernism

Intertextuality; explicit specific reference to another media product or genre 

Parody and pastiche ; whole scene or settings in the style of another media product or genre

Bricolage; the idea that the entire meaning of a media text is  totally created by  the fragments and references that make it up

Irony; less serious in tone, moral/social issues not explicitly discussed in text

Ambiguity; no single meaning or message 

Fragmented narrative; nonlinear or confusing narrative elements and structure

Reflexivity; drawing attention to itself as a media text , deliberately artificial, breaking the fourth wall

Hyper reality; an artificial reality made up of layers of media representations that Baudrillard claimed we are all now  living in 

Simulacra ; the artificial objects, people and  settings that make up an artificial hyperreality 

In Life on Mars, the protagonist lives in a hyperreality through narrative, rather than the audience experiencing it . This is portrayed through the use of mise-en-scene, iconography and costume. When the protagonist first time travels to the 1970's one of the first things we see as change is the IPOD which is playing "Life on mars' by David Bowie change to a cassette of the song, this is because the car has also changed through the time travelling. Another major thing we establish as the demographic, is the change of clothes that the protagonist is wearing. He swaps from a suit and shirt, to a brown blazer, flared jeans and cowboy boots (which is another staple from the 1970's). As the main character ventures out of the car and into the street, the camera uses a lot of tracking shots to follow his journey in discovering where he is. This means that the narrative is restricted as nothing is revealed to the audience before he discovers it for himself and we take the journey with him. The narrative also isn't fragmented as it follows the story in a linear manner, however the events that take place are confusing for him as he only learns fragments of information along the way. In a scene from the episode, Sam ( the protagonist) , is sitting in his room and is watching TV, Sam then starts speaking to the tv presenter, through the television and he starts to reply, this is deemed as breaking the fourth wall between them both BUT the fourth wall is not broken focus, the audience as the program specifically doesn't draw attention to itself as a media product.