“Postmodernism and Sally Potter
Sally Potter’s costume drama Orlando is described in a review by James Berardinelli as a “lavish tour through 400 years of history” Berardinelli believed Orlando to be “thin on story”, this comment unintentionally concurs with the essay question; the visual nature of the film disrupts the story and draws the viewer away from the meaning created by Virginia Woolf in her book by the same name published in 1928. Woolf wrote Orlando for her close friend Vita Sackville-West. The text’s purpose was to satirize the dispossession of Vita, who being a women was unable to inherit her family seat of Knole. Much of Woolf’s meaning is present in Potter’s film however Potter has added a large amount of her own meaning intentionally or unintentionally, a common feature of postmodern texts, in doing so Potter has revealed much of herself in Orlando. This aspect of the film draws much attention, again, disrupting the viewing process. Orlando is a more modern text then postmodern, both the film and novel although criticizing the human condition appear to have faith in eventual redemption. Despite this, the film uses several postmodern techniques. Techniques present in Orlando like appropriation, gender confusion, fluid time barriers, looking at
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Some common words found in the essay are:
According Saussere, Virginia Woolf, Knole Woolfs, Death Birth, Crisp Potters, Sex Society, Italian Castrati, Shakespeare Quran, Tilda Swinton, James Berardinelli, lady orlando, section film, viewing process, virginia woolf, film obvious example, woolf wrote, postmodern texts, disruption viewing, jimmy somerville, somerville sings, reading process, obvious example orlandos, disrupting viewing process,
Approximate Word count = 1401
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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