Post Modernism
...alking to a man (presumably a psychiatrist). In the next moment David is seen him awakening next to Julie after a suggested night of sex, or perhaps with Sophia in a bar. The viewer never really knows if the character is dreaming or not. A good example of Post-Modernism in "Recitatif" is how, at the beginning of the story, the two girls, Roberta and Twyla (who are in an orphanage), are visited by their mothers. When Roberta introduces her mother to Twyla and her mother, Roberta’s mother looks down at them with a disgusted look and walks away without so much as a hello. Though it is not stated, the suggestion is that this is because of the color of her skin. Then the story moves into the next moment, which is years later when the girls meet again. At this time, Roberta snubs Twyla because she does not know about Jimi Hendrix. Although the mannerism was not in the exact style as her mother, Roberta laughs at Twyla and pokes fun at her. Again, the suggestion implied is that the color of Twyla’s skin is the excuse for her ignorance of Jimi Hendrix. In the prose, the reader never knows if the characters are improving in life or just trying to live the best way they know how. In Vanilla Sky and "Recitatif," the fragmented themes consist of incidents that offer no motivation for goal setting or living a moral or ethical life. Both the film and the prose use fragmentation through suggestion to gather information but never complete the information for the audience. As the film and the prose progress, both show the complexity of life through the series of continuously fragmented segments. Another dominant theme of Post-Modernism using suggestion rather than explanation throughout Vanilla Sky and “Recitatif” is how the traditional values of life are pushed beyond the limits of reality. For example, in Vanilla Sky the traditional sense of life-values assume that a person dies because death is by accident or natural causes. Though not portrayed in the film, the suggestion is that once David recovers from his life altering accident, which deformed his perfect face, he decides to go to a center which allows one to be put in a state of Cryogenic Freezing with a choice of what dream format one prefers. Years ago, this was a crazy idea, but today it opens one’s eyes to what scientists call the future. At this point, what one thinks has happened throughout the film has totally changed because in Post-Modernism what is happening can immediately change from one fragmented suggestion to another. Another good example of Post-Modernism in "Recitatif," though not stated but implied, is the traditional values of life consists of the white man being superior to the black man. Many years later, these traditional values went beyond reality. This was discussed when Roberta and Twyla meet again a few years later during a “racial strife” in the school system their children attend. They not only had different view...