Scream - Why it's Postmodern

Is Scream Postmodern?

1) Pastiche. The film follows the same plotline on purpose so it replicates past slasher films.

2) Parody. The film plays on the idea of it being a slasher film and predictable like all the ones before and mocks it, for example, when the main character Sidney states “They’re all the same - some stupid killer stalking some big breasted girl who can’t act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out of the front door. It’s insulting.”

3) Appropriation. The use of the killers mask is replicated/influenced by the famous painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. 

4) Irony. Throughout the film, the characters will mock a scenario, and then moments later it’ll happen to them, such as when Randy shouts “Look behind you” when the killer is right behind him.

5) Intertextuality. The film references multiple films such as “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Halloween.”