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Postmodern Philosophy and the Impact of the Other in Jim Jarmusch's Films

Postmodern philosophy is one of the vital influences on literature, film and other aspects of modern life. Although postmodernism embraces a wide array of sometimes incommensurable theories, it has had a profound impact on the modern film theory. Broadly speaking, film styles may be divided into the classical, modern and postmodern, and the notion of the postmodern style has equally been refuted and sustained. Modern American independent film has often been depicted as a sort of variation of the Hollywood classical style, and its leading representatives (Jarmusch, Tarantino, Lynch, Hartley, the Coen brothers) have been associated with the postmodern approach to filmmaking. This paper will analyse the most important films of Jim Jarmusch applying the set of theoretical tools used by Lyotard, Jameson and other leading postmodern philosophers. Although he is one of the most distinguished American modern auteurs, Jim Jarmusch's films have been deeply influenced by European culture and its impact upon America. His films depict a bleak and desolate American post-industrial landscape populated with sad losers and lonely outsiders. Moving through the featureless Beckettian landscape, his characters lead pessimistic lives devoid of hope, and the only ray of light is brought through the influence of European immigrants. The impact of the other is mostly felt on the personal level. While America has had a profound influence on the world through its pervasive popular cultural forms, on the individual level Americans are deeply disoriented and lost in the complex modern world. The most vital and optimistic characters in Jarmusch's films are those of European immigrants (Italian Roberto in Down by Law, Hungarian Eva in Stranger Than Paradise), while American characters are deeply rooted in other traditions (Japanese culture in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, poetry of William Blake in Dead Man). Featuring the latent subtext of the modern clash of civilizations, Jarmusch's films show us the hybridity of cultures and a subtle interplay of multicultural values in a globalscape.

postmodern philosophy ; modern American independent film ; pessimism ; disorientation ; hybridity

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