Postmodernism in Jarman's Edward II

Peter Brooker's article on Postmodern Adaptation discusses how we look at authorship in literature versus films. The auteur theory is really interesting since it becomes a term we can use in identifying common themes, personal view of the world, and part of the soul of a director's human nature in a body of works, and especially in one's filmography. It brought to mind an auteur who definitely works within a certain branch of style, has consistent themes and political expressions-- Derek Jarman.

Rebellion is thematically apparent in all of director Derek Jarman’s works. The film Edward II (1991) uses postmodernism to its advantage in contextualizing queerness, in the context of postmodern art as a rejection and response to modernist trends, such as formal purity, medium specificity, authenticity, and originality. A characteristic of postmodern art in this sense is its conflation of high and low culture through the use of industrial materials and pop culture imagery, which Edward II captures in its content and form. Visually it juxtaposes traditional sixteenth-century and modernist styles of costumes, settings, props while language, actors’ performances, and narrative elements accomplish similar feats. It is truly unique in its critique of the sixteenth-century history from its source material and modern-day English society through the parallels it draws. Because of the traditional approach to period pieces in cinema, Edward II stands out as a unique postmodern-style adaptation as it speaks to contemporary concerns. The viewer ends up recognizing points of contrast between how little things have changed in history. As a side-note, Lady Gaga's music video for "Alejandro" seems to be a direct homage to Jarman's Edward II. And interestingly enough, the music video has probably been seen by more people in the world by now than Jarman's film on which it is deriving visual style and elements from. So it begs the question (if we are to play into the definitions of postmodernism in the article) of which one is more "postmodern".