Perspectives | Why Is "Funny Games" Postmodern

"Funny Games" Poster

Funny Games is a 2007 psychological thriller film written and directed by Michael Haneke, and a remake of his own 1997 Austrian film of the same name. It contains the story of a three-headed family which experiences pain and torture through two seemingly innocent guys dressed in white. But why is this film postmodern?

1. Stereotype of a Killer -  “Funny Games“ challenges the stereotype of a “killer”. Usually a “classic horror” creates a monster-type character with scary appearance and cruel intentions as an antagonist for example Freddie Krueger from “A Nightmare on Elm St.”. Obviously the outer appearance of such “classic killer” is rather dull, dark and aggressive. Haneke breaks this stereotype by introducing the villains/killers with the appearance of a classic American “good guy”: dressed in white with white gloves symbolizing gentleness.  

2. Horror Music - Not only is the stereotype of the “classic killer” reformed, but also the usage of “traditional” music for horror movies. While it is typical to use creepy music to build up the tension for murder scenes Haneke utilizes classic music for these instead. However, the “happy” classic music continues throughout the movie even outside of murder scenes which gives the audience the impression that it is living in the mind of the villains since nobody else (the family) in the movie seem to be “happy”.

3. Fourth Wall - Michael Haneke utilizes the break of the fourth wall in the movie “Funny Games” by letting the antagonist glare, wink and throw questions at the audience. The use of this technique especially in this film makes the audience uncomfortable since it is not the protagonist (the good), but the antagonist (the evil) asking what next bad thing will happen to the family.

4. Real or Fiction - The setting, dialogue and characters are very plausible and believable. The lack of “spectacular” scenes such as chasings, explosions or unrealistic fighting sequences and instead having the events revolve around everyday matters such as cleaning, cooking, etc. makes the movie very realistic and believable. Haneke intentionally uses the majority of the time for detailed description of for example how the character cleans the phone after it fell into the sink to highlight/enhance the realism of the movie. At the same time “Funny Games” is supposed to be a fictional horror movie and therefore the audience might be confused and questions whether it is real or fiction after all.

5. Non linear - In some scenes of the movie one can detect non-linearism. The most obvious one is when the mother Ann shoots Peter/Toby/Tom and afterwards Paul picking up the remote control for the TV rewinding the scene to the point before she grabs the gun, but this time knowing how to react to the situation “correctly” and saving Peter/Toby/Tom.