Intertextuality

ESSENCE

Intertextuality

In my short film I make both visual and sound references to Richard Donner’s ‘Superman: The Movie’. This is because I feel the journey Clark Kent is similar to that of my main character, Ben #38. He begins as someone who is not truly at home in the world he lives in, but strives to find purpose. Similar to Superman: The Movie, the inciting incident is also that of a loved one dying.

There are two instances where Superman: The Movie is referenced in my short film: at the beginning of the film, Ben #38 is watching the film on an iPad, and this is where we first hear the line from Pa Kent, ‘you are here for a reason’. Later on in the short, Ben #38 finds a Superman-themed backpack in the bedroom, which he picks up. At this moment, my own original score ceases for a moment and we hear the Superman theme softly on piano; and Pa Kent’s voiceover returns once more to tell Ben #38 that ‘[he is] here for a reason’. This gives him the strength he needs to search out his purpose in life.

I find intertextuality to be important because it gives a wider context for Ben #38’s feeling and emotions, and it reinforces his motivations by comparing them to something else that the audience can recognise.