A Homage to Intertextuality

MS Word desperately wants to change it to intersexuality. If there's any of those in this post, apologies. You get what I mean.

The week was about Intertextuality – links (conscious or unconscious) between two different films or other media product.

The first thing that sprang to mind was a nice little example of conscious Intertextuality I found years ago, and documented (to prolong the sense of smugness I gained from noticing). Picture the scene: I walking along in Bioshock, shotgun at the ready, in preparation for some hardcore splicer slaughter. Instead I notice a little homage on the floor, no doubt put in by the game artists.

Ring any bells?

What it is: Most of a full piece of mouldy cheese and some bullet holes.

What I saw: Clearly Pac Man.

So there you have it. If you find yourself playing through the first Bioshock. Look out for the little fella.

The second thing I thought of, was a collection of intertextual references to famous serial killers Bonnie and Clyde, both in Bethesda’s Fallout 3, and the 1994 film Natural born killers Dir: Oliver Stone

Fallout 3 dedicates a whole museum to a pair of characters called Vickey and Vance. A Male/Female killing duo who went on a murderous rampage and received media attention. This in turn is an allusion to the lives of the fictitious characters Mickey and Mallory, in Natural Born Killers, which in turn loosely references infamous crime couple Bonnie and Clyde

As for the subconscious end of the intertextuality spectrum, No examples sprung to mind. I might have a think and get back to that one.

Natural Born Killers

IMDB Rating : 7.1/10

My Rating: 8/10

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Wilhelm scream! How could I forget.

The Wilhelm scream is possibly the most famous example of intertextuality within film. The Wilhelm Scream was first used in the 1951 film Distant Drums, which featured a scene where a cowboy is chomped on by an alligator after venturing too close to a swamp. The resulting sound effect was an over-the-top, slightly comical sounding wail that would go on to be one of the most highly referenced sounds in Hollywood.

Here is a brief timeline of the famous scream in “big” films after its debut in 1951

1953

Charge at Feather River

-        Although not a particularly well known film, this Warner Bros film gave the famous sound its name.  The clip was used when a character, Wilhelm, is shot in the leg with an arrow and falls. Warner Brothers liked the sound and used in in subsequent films, which spread the word.

1977

Star Wars

Time : 01:28:35

1981

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Time: 01:23:57

1988

Willow

Time: 00:53:18

1992

Reservoir Dogs

Time: 00:20:29

1995

Toy Story

Time 00:27:14

1998

Lethal Weapon 4

00:05:06

2002

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Time: 02:15:11

2007

Transformers

Time: 00:53:31

2007

Lifted

Time 00:04:55

2009

UP

Time 01:02:50

The scream has been used in over 130 feature films, and is still a popular addition to modern film, as deference to its rich history.

Cue Compilation - 

Also, I found a great bit of intertextuality a while ago, I've dug up the link. It's about a recurring prop newspaper.

http://www.slashfilm.com/lol-the-reoccurring-prop-newspaper/

It's become a fairly well known example and has certainly done the rounds on the internet, but I remember being amazed at the diversity of the prop newspaper's implementation.

Bibliography / further reading

http://youtu.be/_PxALy22utc - History of the Wilhelm scream

Lee James (2007) Wired Magazine: Issue 15.10