Mon Oncle Post Modernism

Jacques Tati was a French filmmaker, actor, and director in the twentieth century. He has released six feature films, the most successful of which is “Mon Oncle.” It is a guided tour of the effects and experiences of post modernism on a world which is not quite ready for it. Tati himself stars as Monsieur Hulot the protagonist, an adventurous and quirky role model for the sheltered and squelched Gerard. Gerard lives with his chic, yet traditionally robotic materialist parents on the Villa Arpel. The Villa Arpel is the antithesis of a home, although it serves as a place of residence it is fashioned superficially, sacrificing every function of a home for its cold aesthetics. Tati uses “Mon Oncle” to address post modernism and define as well as critique its effects on all society, whether that part of society is contributing or not.
The widespread changes to the experience of everyday life that have occurred in the last fifty years have been reflected in the American culture various ways. The political, technological, and social changes of this time period are representations of how major cultural products have altered their aesthetics due to the rise of postmodernism. Therefore, postmodernism can be undoubtedly seen as a widespread movement linked to the political and economic extremities of everyday cultures and not only a shift in cultural nature. Postmodernism can be expressed as an ideology fueled by post World War II American consumerism that separates the modern man from his ancestors. Even cultures who do not engage in consumerist practices as egregiously as American’s still feel the impact and are thus impacted by the postmodern experience. Tati’s film has as an underlying theme of an exploration of the links between an economic system which is idealized to produce profit incorporating a structural hierarchy and the lives and routines of everyday people coexisting in a community. Tati mounts a criticism of an environment subdued to the crippling