Intertextuality: Creating Meaning

Everything we know is shaped and formed by the things that come before. Our current cultural context is made up of the reinvention, evolution, sometimes rejection, of the previous iterations of society. We can see tangible examples of this in action through film. The movies we see today are just the next stage in what's come before. The technical aspects have evolved over the years: the introduction of sound, colour film, and most recently, the development of CGI. Stories recycle and re-imagine character archetypes. Many of the best directors take inspiration and reinterpret filmmaking tricks created by the past. Meanwhile, new tricks are developed as the old ways are fought against.

This is intertextuality.

First coined by Bulgarian-French writer and literary critic Julia Kristeva, the term has evolved into meaning many things. Broadly, it can be defined as the shaping of one text's meaning by another. The term is a complex one that covers things like allusion, quotation, plagiarism, pastiche, parody, and other related ideas. It is usually not necessary to know the text that is referenced to understand the new one, however knowing the original will make the new one far easier to understand.

Intertextuality can be found everywhere, whether accidental, purposeful, or otherwise. It's an inevitability. It's how language, story, and culture are formed. The things we do now are informed by things of the past.

Shakespeare used it when he made allusions to Biblical events in his plays. Alt-rock band Mumford & Sons use it when they reference Shakespeare in their music. In Star Trek II, the villain, Khan, references quotes and excerpt from Moby Dick. The Biblical New Testament can be read intertextually, as its main ideas are often shaped by the what's come before. Sam Esmail takes familiar story beats from his favourite movies and uses them in new, subversive ways his TV series Mr. Robot. Austin Powers, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and The LEGO Batman Movie all use the intertextual idea of parody to both make fun of and celebrate their respective genres.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens uses intertextuality at every tern to sell itself. Moments like the reveal of the Millennium Falcon, or the return of Han and Chewie to that same ship later on. How about when Maz gives Rey Luke's lightsaber? These moments are all references to earlier works that deepen the meaning of The Force Awakens.

Stranger Things, one of the most popular TV shows in recent years, uses intertextuality heavily throughout the series. It uses references to Dungeons & Dragons to describe the many monsters that appear in the small town in which the series is set. The forest that the town borders the town is nicknamed Mirkwood, named after the fictional forest from The Hobbit, by the series main characters. The characters use references to Star Wars in order to communicate emotions to each other.

It's not an uncommon fact that the series lives and breathes 80s pop culture. It shows this in many different ways. It uses allusion in its many references to pop culture. Our main characters use literary and cinematic references all the time in order to better communicate with each other and interpret the world around them. The characters use terms from

The series doesn't stop there. It uses a heavy amount of subtle pastiche that any fan of 80s movies will appreciate. Many shots in the series pay visual homage to the films that inspired the Duffer Brothers, the shows creators. Tropes and character archetypes are all taken from the films of the 80s. The way the character Eleven is portrayed visually comes from two other contrasting characters. In some ways she is portrayed like the eponymous character from E.T., whereas she is portrayed in a way reminiscent of Carrie, from, well, Carrie. These two ideas are are present in her characterization. Sometimes she is shown as a helpless creature on the run from the government like in E.T.. At other times, she is like Carrie. She has dangerous telekinetic abilities which could cause great harm to the other characters.

Stranger Things uses intertextuality very effectively. While it is not necessary to understand any of the films, novels, and games that the show references, it will help your understanding of the world. I am not a huge 80s movie fan, but thanks to a large assortment of online resources, I've learned about the references in the show and now understand it better. Unlike Stranger Things, many modern films fail to use intertextuality in a smart way.

Far too often, modern films, most commonly remakes and sequels, will use intertextuality in a bad way and opt to rely on it to create dramatic tension instead of relying on their own strengths. This is best illustrated by 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness. The film's big twist reveals that Benedict Cumberbatch's character John Harrison is in fact Khan. This reveal is played up as a big deal in the story, however, based purely on Into Darkness' story, the twist means nothing to the plot or characters. It only works if you've seen the original Star Trek II, which you can't expect most casual viewers to have seen.

Another bad example of intertextuality comes from the Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy. Jackson abuses the iconic status of the The Lord of the Rings in the Gandalf-centric subplot that runs throughout the three films. Jackson throws some supporting characters from the original trilogy together to create some sort of tie between the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. This subplot ultimately just serves as a time-killer and does little to expand the central story of The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings.

Carrying on from the points made by Star Trek and The Hobbit, we get to a modern intertextual concept: accidental internal intertextuality. We're in the age of franchises. As the same characters are recycled through countless films and television series based around them, the characters become intertextual themselves.

Batman and Superman, for example, are the ultimate intertextual characters. There is so much mythology and history built around those characters that when you see them again all of the feelings surrounding those characters comes flooding back. Remember the cartoons you watched as a kid? Remember the movies you watched as a kid? Remember that old comic book? The very image of these iconic characters have all of these feelings.

DC Comics recently premiered a new TV series entitled Titans, a modern reimagining of the Teen Titans. One of the central characters in the series is Robin, the protege of Batman, who, after falling out with Batman, sets out to define himself free of the shadow of the Bat. Despite how heavy the presence of Batman is in the series, the Bat is never actually shown, simply because you don't have to show him. A silhouette, or a shot of the Batmobile, or even a reference to the names Batman or Bruce Wayne, conjure up all of the feelings deeply associated with the character. Showing Batman would be too much of a distraction, but those familiar images of him do service enough within the series simply because Batman is so well known and so well explored. We can pick up intertextually who Batman is.

Despite being around forever, intertextuality is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the modern film scene. Filmmakers are using more heavily than ever in their work. We just have to remember to use it in ways that add to the film and not damage it. If we use it to pay tribute to our inspirations, to infer some deeper meaning or feeling, or to quickly establish a larger world, then it intertextuality can be a brilliant thing. However, if we use it to replace actual dramatic tension or substance within a work, then it can be one great danger. Intertextuality is unavoidable. However, we have to be mindful not to use it in a wrong way, or use it instead of creating something new.

The weaponization of intertextuality in mainstream media in recent years is worrying. Studios are afraid of making anything remotely new and solely rely on rehashing elements of the past. Now sequels and shared universes, the major culprits of intertextual crimes, are not a bad thing by any means. They can be amazing things. The have the ability to tell long sweeping epics and complex stories that can only be rivaled in scope and scale by the mythologies of old. The over reliance on copy-pasting from the past will ultimately spell trouble for storytellers.


Image Credits
Image 1 - Julia Kristeva.
Image 2 - Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) in Stranger Things 2.
Image 3 - Peter Jackson directs Cate Blanchett.
Image 4 - Brenton Thwaites as Robin in Titans.