"Postmodern media manipulates time and space."

Post-modern media, is media that originates from another time or existing piece, it defies the rules of context and meaning, by formulating creations that use any combination of components. Nothing can be wrong. Works can be full of depth and depth-less at the same time. They steal, change and warp current concepts. 

One example of a real media text that directly manipulates time and space, is the film Inception. Inception can be considered post-modern, as it changes the viewer's perceptions of reality, both within the film and their own life. The film is based on the ability to enter and share people's dreams and plant an idea. The film becomes complex and involves multiple layers. Although it is portraying a dream like world, most of the sets are actually based in real places or using real models. This in itself is an example of hyper-reality, as it is using a real place to create a fake reality intended to be fake. The characters within the film have times when they too struggle to separate the dream world from reality and this doubt is transferred to the audience with the end scene, in which the spinning top is left spinning and the audience is left in suspense as to if it falls (symbolising it's the real world) or if it spins forever (indicating a dream.) This scene of the film is an example of self-referencing, also post-modern, as inception means 'Planting an idea in someone's head without them realising.' And this very scene plants doubt in the audiences mind that at the end of the film they still haven't returned to reality. The ways in which inception manipulates time is with its warping of speed during each dream layer, time being variant and dependant on which layer they are in, something we do not experience in the real world. To reflect the change in the speed of time, the song 'Je ne regrette rien.' is played at different speeds within the film to signify whether it is real time or dream time. From doing this, the film presents time as something that is not constant, but changing. Inception also manipulates space within its Paris scene, where the city is seen to fold over and have two separate gravitational pulls in one area (people can walk upside down.) This warps the viewer’s perception of physical boundaries and limitations. This is continued in the second dream layer where the hotel experiences gravitational shifts and the corridor is seen to spin and have periods of zero gravity.  

A further film that warps space is 'Scott Pilgrim verses the world.' This film is post-modern as it uses constant referencing throughout, specifically of comic books and video games. With scenes appearing like a comic book strips,  such as words appearing in time with sounds and actions 'Kpow!.' It also uses game music, such as that of Zelda, and arcade game music as the Universal logo is introduced. Ways, in which this film manipulates space, is with its very unrealistic fight scenes that allow characters to fly through the air and fight viscously whilst remaining unscathed. One clear scene that also manipulates time, is one in which Scott is getting ready to leave his apartment, and a sped up montage of his actions are presented e.g. puts on hat and coat in a second each. However when he comes to tie up his shoes, they make a comedic point for it to be in real time, to emphasise the chance of pace. This also presents the possibility that time is not constant.

Further examples of time manipulation can be witnessed in Quentin Tarintino’s film ‘Inglourious Basterds.’ Most of Tarintino’s works are explicitly post-modern with frequent intertexual reference, such as to that of his past works e.g. within this film it references the high levels of gore within ‘Reservoir dogs.’ The specific element of the film that manipulates time is as the opening credits run, where Tarintino selects the background music to be that of a spaghetti western track, a piece of music created after the film is even set. This element is an example of Levi Strauss’ 'Bricolage', bringing separate material together and placing it in a new context with no consideration to its previous relevance. It also defies the laws of time, as it combines two separate time periods, this explicitly indicates that the film is not trying to be true to reality as it explores an impossible combination.

To conclude, many post-modern works can be seen to manipulate time and space, as the very nature of post-modernism is that it does not adhere to such rules or expectations. This is reflected in the fact that these seemingly essential components of most media texts, e.g. continuity and practicable patterns do not structure in such pieces. Post-modernism was criticises by Jameson to be vacuous and trapped in circular reference. Although these mentioned examples do feature such referencing. It can be argued that the post-modern approach also defies past preconceptions of how media should be presented e.g. with the presents of Bricolage and formulating unusual combinations of elements. And therefore the presents of time and space manipulation is an example of how post-modern media is full of possibilities.