The Magnified Reflection: Art, Sincerity, and Identity in Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York

Abstract

The American cultural thought of the 1990s appeared to withdraw from the previous postmodern paradigm. New Sincerity and post-postmodernism advocated for a change that, in contrast to the external attitude of irony, was rooted in a sense of sincerity and compassion for the drama of the human condition. The American cinema of the late 1990s was also affected by this trend, best represented by the films of Sofia Coppola, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, and Charlie Kaufman. This essay examines the ways Synecdoche, New York—Kaufman’s 2008 auteur film—explores the duties and challenges of the post-postmodern artist through the character of Caden Cotard. Although the film’s conclusion states that the ideal of the magnum opus and complete cognizability is illusory, only that can lead the artist to the sincerity of human connections—the sole reality of the contemporary simulated world.