Moulin Rouge (2001) - Postmodernism

Figure 1. Movie poster

Non-linear narrative - The film starts by Christian explaining that the love of his life has died. The film then cuts back to before she has died and what has happened up to the first scene that we see is shown.

Figure 2. Christian and Satine dancing on clouds above Paris

Hyper realism - Throughout the film characters interact with the surrounding set in ways that would be impossible in reality. One example of this is when Christian (Ewan McGregor) and Satine (Nichole Kidman) step out onto clouds and begin to dance above the city of Paris.

Mashup - As the film is a musical different songs are heard throughout the film. Each of the songs used were modern for the time the film was released but did not relate to 1899 which was the year that the movie was set. Due to this, the modern songs had been adapted to make them suit the time period but they are still very noticeable by the audience.

Creativity - During the first 15 minutes or so of the film, director Buz Luhrmann, makes the cameras cut quickly between close ups, long distance shots and between different characters to show the pace of the scene and to also disorientate the audience, which seems to work effectively.

Figure 3. Green fairy scene

Intertextuality - A mixture of film genres are shown throughout the film. An example of this is towards the beginning of the film where a fairy (played by Kylie Minogue) looks very similar to Disney's Tinkerbell and follows certain characteristics of the character. Another example is that the film is a hybrid of both a romantic genre and a drama.





Illustrations:

Figure 1. (2001) Movie poster. https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/moulin_rouge_movie

Figure 2. (2001) Christian and Satine dancing on clouds above Paris. https://cinematicheavenandhell.wordpress.com/tag/moulin-rouge/

Figure 3. (2001) Green fairy scene. http://www.boozemovies.com/2010/09/review-moulin-rouge-2001.html