The Film Basic Instinct as an Allegory of Postmodernity

Abstract

The Film Basic Instinct as an Allegory of Postmodernity Many contemporary film theorists believe that the Hollywood cinema of visual pleasure tends to put women in a position where they helplessly become victims of voyeurism and fetishism. If treated fairly and properly, however, Basic Instinct can be a compelling example of a postmodernist text that well explains the position of a contemporary writer and his/her basic human desires. We are able to see the film as a multi-coherent and nonbinary object, which defies the traditional regime of Western metaphysics as well as any single coherent definite interpretation. Any single attempt to deconstruct the text should begin by seeing Catherine, the protagonist, as a deconstructive character, who vehemently challenges the very traditional notion of binary oppositions and seeks for various possible differences of meaning. In short, Catherine appears as a post-structuralist who struggles in an invisible war between the tradition of binary oppositions and her non-binary logic of multiplicity.