Film || Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Definitions

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Metafiction - in which a piece of fiction is 'self conscious', and refers to that fact through its content.

Intertextuality - the relationship between texts, how the audience relates similar texts another piece of media. it could be in the form of a scene that subtly references other movies, Scream (1996) is a good example of this as it constantly utilizes tropes or cliches from older slasher movies.

Mise en abyme - Translation in English; 'to place in infinity' like an inception, a story within a story. A sort of underlying text that makes up the characters story,that is projected into the world around them.

The 4th wall - an invisible, intangible one sided wall that is placed between the actors and the audience, the viewers can see the actors, but the actors cannot see the audience. It is named after the theatrical convention that there are four walls in a set, including an invisible wall through which we watch fiction.

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5 Reasons why Dancer in the Dark (2000) is Postmodern;

1. Stylistically,but not physically, the plot operates with a found footage style, like the Blair Witch Project (1999). this could be because it has the effect of being more personal in this form in place of the more formal feeling of an everyday camera on a stand.
2. By satirizing and probing the qualities of the musical film, it has taken a core part of another piece of cinema to reapply it in a different fashion, to tell a more real story. To prove to the critics mind is an undertaking in a sort of thought provoking wit,whilst also maintaining a satisfactory production quality that aligns with other films. 
3. The backwards nature of defying audience expectation is a more popular stomping ground of the avant garde, and it is used because it reflective of real life situation more so than dramatized action. Unfortunately it also has the effect of a repulsive nature, when people let others know that is the worst possible tragedy they have seen. Tragedy seems to have fallen out of fashion in modern times, probably because it is depressing to watch, but it has been picked up by alternative directors. Such structure is similar to William Shakespeare's work, when the story hinges on a fatal flaw  that ultimately leads to the characters demise.
4. Use of the archetype of 'shapeshifter' would incline the film towards a more typical structure. Reinforcing this, we are only shown the parts of her life that lead to her ultimate downfall. Bill, the sheriff and landlord of Selma, is unusually inclined to ask for, and then steal her money despite her poor circumstances, leading to both their demises, although Selma does succeed to an extent. Use of systematic plot devices can take you out of the plot a bit.
5. It plays upon the american idea that communism=evil, when it stars Selma (Björk) a Czechoslovakian woman who saves up money for an operation for her son. This is utilized when she is analysed by the jury to be guilty based primarily on the offense of being a communist sympathiser. 

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Bibliography
fig 1. von Trier, L. (2000). Dancer in the Dark. [film still]
fig 2. von Trier, L. (2000). Dancer in the Dark. [film still]
fig 3. von Trier, L. (2000). Dancer in the Dark. [film still]