Flight of the Conchords is an American television comedy series that premiered in 2007, though it began as a radio show two years earlier. It follows the attempts of the band Flight of the Conchords – “New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy-folk-duo" – to make it New York City. The band exist in real-life and the show features much of their award-winning music, with the characters Bret McClegnie and Jemaine Clemaine played by Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. The rest of the main cast is made up of the band’s hopeless but enthusiastic manager Murray (Rhys Darby), their sole fan and stalker Mel (Kristen Schaal) and their best friend Dave (Arj Barker). The show was critically acclaimed and ran for two series but in 2009 the writers, directors and performers McKenzie and Clement announced that it would not be returning for a third series.
One of the main ways in which Flight of the Conchords can be seen as postmodern is its sense of surrealism. Whilst the characters’ lives are relatively mundane and ordinary, the show contrasts this with bizarre surrealist comedy. From the opening sequence the sense of bizarre is established by the cut-and-paste animation and the use of animation of ordinary inanimate objects, such as dancing salt and pepper pots, trees, park benches, and mugs. This is enforced further by the mix of standard sitcom style and music video sequences used when the characters spontaneously break into song. For example, at the end of ‘Bowie’ (series one, episode six), Bret and Jemaine perform a song in the style of David Bowie accompanied by a music video set in space. Additionally throughout the episode Bret is plagued by vivid dreams where David Bowie (played by Jemaine Clement) visits him with bizarre advice: “oh the media monkeys and their junkie-junkies will invite you to the plastic pantomime, throw their invites away!” and “get an eyepatch, man.” The show can further be seen as a mix of styles through the hybrid of genres it falls into: it is at once comedy, structured reality, musical series, etc. The overt surrealism and contrast in styles are characteristic of postmodern media.
Another way the text features postmodern themes is through self-referentiality. This is most obvious in the fact that the band in the TV show exist in real life, and Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement play these fictionalised versions of themselves. Moreover within the music video scenes of the show, the characters use direct address when talking to the camera, something which can also be seen in the ‘Bowie’s in Space’ song from the episode ‘Bowie’. In fact when David Bowie – who is actually just Jemaine in a Bowie costume – first appears to Bret in a dream, there is more self-referencing evident in his reaction: “Bret: Jemaine? What are you doing? / ‘David Bowie’: It’s not Jemaine. It’s 1972 David Bowie from the Ziggy Stardust tour. / Bret: Wow. You look a lot like Jemaine.” This comment, along with the tongue-in-cheek comedy and music video scenes, create a sense of self-awareness that runs through both series of the show.
As well as referencing themselves, the characters often make references to other media, with episodes sometimes focusing on one particular celebrity or style of music, for example the references to Yoko Ono through the character of Coco in ‘Yoko’ (series one episode four), Daft Punk in ‘Sally’ (series one episode one), the rap/hip-hop style of music in ‘Mugged’ (series one episode three). This use of pastiche also connotes the idea of celebrity culture, which is further evoked in the character of Mel, who although married follows Bret and Jemaine regularly and sometimes describes sexual fantasies involving the two of them. The adoption of different musical styles from episode to episode allows the band to play with the conventions of different musical genres, which is another feature of postmodern texts. For example, in the episode ‘Sally’, Jemaine sings the song ‘The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)’, which parodies love songs by taking a more realistic approach to the lyrics: “you’re so beautiful, you could be a part-time model... but you’d probably still have to keep your normal job,” describing Sally as “the most beautiful girl I have ever seen with a kebab.” Throughout the episode ‘Bowie’, both Bret and Jemaine make references to different points in David Bowie’s career, including: Jemaine appearing as “1972 David Bowie from the Ziggy Stardust tour”, “1982 David Bowie from the music video Ashes to Ashes”, and “1986 David Bowie from the movie Labyrinth”; the Space Oddity style video and lyrics to ‘Bowie’s in Space’; the mention of Changes in ‘Bowie’s in Space’ when Bret says, “hey Bowie, do you have one really funky sequined spacesuit or do you have several ch-changes?”
The pastiche used also suggests more of a concern for style than substance, which is reflected in the simple plot lines of the show. For example in ‘Bowie’, Bret becomes image conscious after a band photoshoot, but gains his confidence in time to mess up an interview for a musical greetings card. Although the narrative may not be complex, the visual style of the episode, particularly the dream sequences and music video scene, are where most of the focus is. Furthermore the fact that Bret becomes so concerned with the way he looks also conforms with the ‘style over substance’ aspect of postmodernism, and this is a theme which reoccurs throughout the programme: in ‘Bret Gives Up the Dream’ (series one episode two) the band are upstaged by a flashier Australian stall at a gig at a travel expo; the band try to get a rockstar image in both ‘What Goes on Tour’ (series one episode nine) and ‘New Fans’ (series one episode ten); they become addicted to hair gel when trying to look cool in ‘New Zealand Town’ (series two episode eight).
The comedy in Flight of the Conchords overall is very dry and tongue-in-cheek, with parts that could be interpreted as ironic, such as the mocking of the band’s homeland New Zealand through the posters in Murray’s office, and Australian stereotypes in the episode ‘Unnatural Love’ (series two episode five). This ironic, playful sense of humour conforms to the style of comedy usually associated with postmodern media. Additionally it has some elements of dark humour, which is characteristic of postmodernism. For example, in ‘Bowie’, when Bret becomes body conscious, Jemaine and Murray both repeatedly insist that he is bulimic much to Bret’s annoyance, and at the end of the episode when Bret has apparently resolved his issues, he gives his biscuit to Jemaine, stating “yeah, help yourself – I’m not eating anymore, I’m a bit too fat”. As well as this, in the episode ‘Drive By’, the band watch a cartoon featuring ‘Albi the Racist Dragon’. This lighthearted approach to serious issues such as eating disorders and racism could be interpreted as offensive, but like postmodernism the intention is to be playful and provocative.
To conclude, although it may not display every aspect of the theory, there are many conventions of postmodernism to be found throughout both series of Flight of the Conchords, with most exhibited in the episode ‘Bowie’. These features include surrealism, pastiche, parody, self-referentiality, intertextuality, ironic/black humour, and playfulness.
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