In Source Code by Duncan Jones (2011), there are clear examples of how digital aesthetics are reshaping the way that audiences perceive narrative and sensory experiences. Steven Shaviro highlights that the changes to traditional linear editing and a rise in more fragmented editing within 21st century film. These new styles are what adapt cultural and technological shifts from traditional style forms of post cinema.

Within Source Code, the audience is left to feel confused at times due to the post-continuity style throughout the film. This is created with disjointed editing, lopping narrative and most importantly digital effects. The protagonist is constantly reliving the same moments of his life in a loop, therefore, the audience engage with fractured reality and editing and might find it harder to differentiate differences within the timeline of the film and reality. Within Shaviro’s Post-Continuity: An introduction’, Post-Cinema: Theorising 21^st Century Film, he argues that films and narratives such as this one are pushing the audience towards a kaleidoscopic perception that mirrors the fractured nature of digital culture.

Furthermore, Bukatman, S, ‘The Ultimate Trip: Special Effects and Kaleidoscopic Perception’, in Matters of Gravity: Special Efffects and Supermen in the 20th Century mentions that special effects can immerse the viewer in a disorientated state. This is true as in Source Code there is fast paced non-linear editing and rapid cuts between reality and simulation. These effects combined make the viewer lose the reality between simulation and material reality, supporting Shaviro’s view that post-cinema media forms work in boundaries between abstraction and representation.

Source Code overall shows the effects of post-cinematic form, through digital realism, kaleidoscopic perception and post-continuity. Thus creating an immersive and sensory challenges for the viewer as they are understanding the storyline and what is real and what is a simulation.

Bibliography:

Shaviro, S., 2011. Post-Continuity: An introduction. In: T. de Marinis, P.L.A. Verstraten & S. Shaviro, eds. Post-Cinema: Theorising 21st Century Film. London: Wallflower Press, pp. 51-64.

Bukatman, S., 2003. The Ultimate Trip: Special Effects and Kaleidoscopic Perception. In: Matters of Gravity: Special Effects and Supermen in the 20th Century. Durham, NC: Duke University Press

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