Confusions over time and space.

“the growing immediacy of global space and time resulting from the dominance of the mass media means that our previously unified and coherent ideas about space and time begin to be undetermined.”

Within 24 Hour Party People it is difficult for the audience to understand the time or place of certain sequences, this is due to the reconstructions and recycled footage, because the film is very much an imagination, it makes it difficult for the viewer to identify the time or place however this is not vital to the script.

The film itself is based between 1976 – 1992, although it is quite linear it is difficult to determine what year(s) each scene is set. This is mainly down to the film being reconstructed with parody and recycled concert footage throughout the narrative of the film.

This clip shows a number of examples of scenes within the film “24 Hour Party People” where the 4^th wall has been broken.

As ‘Tony Wilson’ exclaims himself at the top of the film, it is constructed with rumors, urban legends and imagination, which add to the viewers difficulty to read and interpret timeframes due to all of these themes and plot lines being amalgamated into one film.

We are reminded of this confusion by the 4^th wall coming down a number of times throughout the film, this disengages the audience with the action within the film, creating a sense on unreality. With the use of the fourth wall, the narrator becomes part of the time in which we are watching, the sequence becomes disturbed which makes it difficult to interpret the space in which the action is in.

Post modern texts often feature elements outside of the real film world being portrayed, for example when in Pulp Fiction the character of Mia Wallace talks about someone being square and draws an imaginary box in mid-air only for it to actually be drawn onto the image. This shows how post modern texts don't feel the need to keep everything in a consistent world and instead can cross the boundaries of space and time.

The confusion over time and space creates a difficulty for the viewer, as they may get lost or puzzled with the movement of the film, this seems apparent within most postmodern cinema, audiences generally find it difficult to process time and space in a way they could in other types of film. For maximum enjoyment of this film the viewer needs to just accept the narrative and not be distracted by their own memory of that period or of iconic moments.

Many postmodern films illustrate confusion over time and space through the use of complex narratives. Many images and plots are recycled, therefore a complicated narrative is created.