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Media Series - TV
Post modernism
Media language - Page 12
How far is ‘The Jinx’ a post-modern text?
Elements of bricolage and “borrowing” from other texts (docudrama, “true crime”, other HBO shows – high production values)
Relies on audience understanding of conventions to decode it. Give examples.
Narrative is contradictory, ambiguous and fragmented with temporal distortion. Questions the idea of absolute truth by offering a plurality of perspectives (e.g. the conflicting testimonies of Durst and others)
Highly self-reflexive –acknowledges and comments on its own processes of construction including the documentary-maker’s role, Durst’s fixed stare at the cameras, Durst’s request to Jarecki
Uses intertextuality (crime drama, docudrama, news reporting, cinematic style and techniques) and cultural codes to create audience appeal. Give examples.
Post-modern themes such as the relationship between the individual and the constructed “persona”
Social, cultural and historical context: the current trend for “real crime” – “Making a Murderer”, “Serial”; Obama’s US and perceptions of class divide
How could we apply the concept of “simulacra” to ‘The Jinx’? Is what we are seeing hyperreal?
Durst himself may be seen as simulacra – a fabricated persona constructed by the media (and by himself?)
Durst’s world is a hyperreality – it is re-presented from a mediated perspective. Consider how this is constructed.
The programme blurs the boundaries between the real and the fictional (e.g. the highly stylized montage of archive images and reconstructions in the opening title sequence)
It may be argued that the series itself is a comment on the fascination of audiences for the hyperreal over the real – e.g. the archive and home movie footage, the newspaper and photo stills, the reenactments. Jarecki’s own response to Durst reflects this.
