5 reasons why scream is postmodern

1.      The film scream is arguably original for owning its unoriginality. Much of the film contains intertextual references to other works of art and these allusions give the film a postmodern self-awareness.

2.      To further demonstrate its postmodern sensibility, the film contains allusions to other works of visual culture. For example, the white mask Ghost face wears pays homage to Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” an expressionist horror painting from 1893.

3.      Another postmodern reference is the plot of Scream as it is not unlike other slasher films: An unknown killer who goes by the name of Ghost face terrorizes the suburban town of Woodsboro, California.

4.      One of the ways Craven and the screenwriter Kevin Williamson display the self-referential nature of their film is through the characters’ knowledge of slasher film clichés.

5.      It is also about the countless slasher films to have come before Scream. When the main role (Sydney) calls attention to the slasher clichés, it might appear that the director is mocking the genre, until Sidney is attacked by Ghost face a few moments later and she comically runs up the stairs to find safety in her bedroom.