[<<] July 2006 Jahsonic (02) magazine [>>]
advanced search - previous issues - links - index - home
Current topics by medium: architecture - art - cinema - design - literature - media - music - photography
Current topics by concept: counterculture - culture - fantastic - fiction - genre - popular - modernism - philosophy - postmodernism - list of sensibilities - subculture - taste - theory
Current research interests: realism in literature - experimental literature - irrationalism
Currently reading: The Poetics of Space (1957) - Gaston Bachelard
2006, July 10; 19:05 ::: Anaďs Nin on the cult of uglinessI think that natural truths will cease to be spat at us like insults, that aesthetics will once more be linked with ethics, and that people will become aware that in casting out aesthetics that they also cast out a respect for human life, a respect for creation, a respect for spiritual values. Aesthetics was an expression of man's need to be in love with his world. The cult of ugliness is a regression. It destroys our appetite, our love for our world. --The Novel of the Future (1969) - Anaďs NinSee also: Anaďs Nin - cult of ugliness - ugly - French literature
2006, July 10; 19:05 ::: L'Absinthe (1876) - Edgar DegasIn search of the cult of ugliness.
L'Absinthe (1876) - Edgar Degas
L’Absinthe - also known as The Absinthe Drinker or Glass of Absinthe, is a painting by Edgar Degas. Originally titled "A sketch of a French Café" Later in 1893 it was changed to "L’Absinthe."
Painted in 1876, it depicts two figures, a woman and man, who sit in the center and right of this painting, respectively. The man, wearing a hat, looks right, off the canvas, while the woman, dressed formally and also wearing a hat, stares vacantly downward. A glass filled with the titular greenish liquid, absinthe, sits before her.
In its first showing in 1876 it was panned by critics, who called it ugly and disgusting. It was put into storage until an 1892 exhibit where it was booed off the easel.
It was shown again in 1893 in England, this time titled "L'Absinthe" where it sparked controversy. The persons represented in the painting were considered by English critics to be shockingly degraded and uncouth. Many regarded the painting as a blow to morality; this was the general view of such Victorians as Sir William Blake Richmond and Walter Crane when shown this painting in London. The reaction is an instance of the deep suspicion with which Victorian England had regarded art in France since the early days of the Barbizon School and the need to find a lesson at all costs that was typical of the age. Many English critics viewed it as a lesson against absinthe and the French in general. George Moore described the woman in the painting: "What a slut!" He added, "the tale is not a pleasant one, but it is a lesson." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%E2%80%99Absinthe [Jul 2006]
Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834 – September 27, 1917) was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpting, and drawing. He is also regarded as one of the fathers of impressionism.
He was born on July 19, 1834, in Paris, to the de Gas family who was moderately wealthy.
Degas began to paint seriously early in life; by eighteen he had turned a room in his home into an artist's studio, but he was expected to go to law school as were most aristocratic young men. Degas, however, had other plans and dropped out of law school in 1854, at age 20.
He lived a mostly uneventful life until 1865 when some of his works were accepted in the Paris Salon. During the next five years, Degas had additional works accepted in the Salon, and gradually gained respect in the world of conventional art.
In 1874, Degas helped to organize an art show that became known as the First Impressionist Exhibition. The Impressionists held seven additional shows, the last in 1886, and Degas showed his work in all but one. Also showing works in these exhibitions was Degas's "friend and rival", Édouard Manet, who helped shaped the works of Degas.
Degas also had the opportunity, or perhaps curse, of living without monetary security. This occurred after the death of his father, when various debts forced him to sell his collection of art, live more modestly, and depend on his artwork for income. As the years passed, Degas became isolated due, in part, to his belief "that a painter could have no personal life.". As a result of this, he also never married and spent the last years of his life "aimlessly wandering the streets of Paris" before dying in 1917.
Degas is often identified as an Impressionists, an understandable, but erroneous belief. Degas was different from the impressionists in that he "never adopted the Impressionist color fleck" and "disapproved of their work".
By the late 1860s, he began to paint women at work, milliners, laundresses, opera performers, and dancers. Degas began to paint café life as well. He also asked other artists to paint about real life instead of traditional mythological or historical paintings
In the late years of his life, Degas began, controversially, to draw women drying themselves with towels, combing their hair, and bathing. At the same time, Degas began to use pastels rather than paint to create his works.
The works of Degas were received in varied ways throughout his life, from admiration to contempt. His career as that of a promising artist in the conventional school of art, and in the several years following 1860, Degas had a number of paintings accepted in the Salon. These works received praise from Pierre Puvis de Chavanes and Castagnary, a critic, demonstrating his success in conventional art. -- adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar Degas [Jul 2006]
Trivia
Edgar Degas was a realist who despised the term "Impressionist" but is considered one due to his loyalty to the group.Edgar Degas, the dandy male bourgeois, painted rehearsals of the ballet, horse races, and nude women in apartments (rather than studios). --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthe_Morisot [Jul 2006]
Upon seeing pastels by Edgar Degas in an art dealer's window, though, Mary Cassatt knew she was not alone in her rebellion against the Salon. "I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could of his art," she wrote to a friend. "It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Cassatt [Jul 2006]
Edgar Degas was a collector of ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock prints.
See also: realism in the visual arts - 1876 - French art
2006, July 10; 19:05 ::: La Frileuse (1879) - William A. Bouguereau
La Frileuse (1879) - William A. Bouguereau
William Adolphe Bouguereau (November 30, 1825 - August 19, 1905) was a French academic painter.
William-Adolphe Bouguereau was born in La Rochelle.
A student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he won the Prix de Rome in 1850 and his realistic genre paintings and mythological themes were exhibited in the annual exhibitions of the Paris Salon for his entire working life. Although he fell into disregard in the early 20th century, due perhaps to his staunch opposition to the Impressionists, there is a new appreciation for his work. In his lifetime, Bouguereau painted eight hundred and twenty-six paintings.
In his own time, Bouguereau was considered to be one of the greatest painters in the world. In 1900, his contemporaries Degas and Monet reportedly named him as most likely to be remembered as the greatest 19th century French painter by the year 2000, according to chairman Fred Ross of the Art Renewal Center. Although with Degas' famous trenchant wit, and the aesthetic tendencies of the two Impressionists, it is possible the statement was meant as an ironic comment on the taste of the future public. Bouguereau's works were eagerly bought, at high prices, especially by American millionaires.
After about 1920, Bouguereau fell into a curious disrepute. Some assert this may have been consciously engineered by the new "art expert establishment", who resented his former opposition to new developments in painting, but it is likely that more profound societal factors were instrumental to this enormous shift in taste and sensibility. For decades, his name was not even mentioned in encyclopedias. Today, over one hundred museums throughout the world exhibit his works. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William-Adolphe_Bouguereau [Jul 2006]
See also: 1879 - French art - academic art
2006, July 09; 19:05 ::: Syd Barret (1946 - 2006)In search of "nun shall pass" André
Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (January 6, 1946 – July 7, 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, guitarist and artist.
Best remembered as one of the founding members of the group Pink Floyd, Barrett was active as a rock musician for only a few years, before
mental instability forced him into seclusionhe went into seclusion. His creative legacy and quintessentially English vocal delivery have since proven to be remarkably influential. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_Barrett [Jul 2006]See also: Pink Floyd - 2006
2006, July 09; 19:05 ::: Baudelaire and PoeBaudelaire and Poe, these two men who had often been compared because of their common poetic strain and predilection for the examination of mental maladies, differed radically in the affective conceptions which held such a large place in their works; Baudelaire with his iniquitous and debased loves—cruel loves which made one think of the reprisals of an inquisition; Poe with his chaste, ćrial loves, in which the senses played no part, where only the mind functioned without corresponding to organs which, if they existed, remained forever frozen and virgin. This cerebral clinic where, vivisecting in a stifling atmosphere, that spiritual surgeon became, as soon as his attention flagged, a prey to an imagination which evoked, like delicious miasmas, somnambulistic and angelic apparitions, was to Des Esseintes a source of unwearying conjecture. But now that his nervous disorders were augmented, days came when his readings broke his spirit and when, hands trembling, body alert, like the desolate Usher he was haunted by an unreasoning fear and a secret terror. --Ŕ Rebours (1884) - J. K. HuysmansSee also: Ŕ Rebours (1884) - J. K. Huysmans - Charles Baudelaire - Edgar Allan Poe
2006, July 09; 19:05 ::: This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) - Kirby Dick
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) - Kirby Dick [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
This Film Is Not Yet Rated is an independent documentary film about the Motion Picture Association of America's secretive rating system and its effect on American culture. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and will air on the Independent Film Channel in fall 2006.
The MPAA gave the original cut of the film an NC-17 rating for "some graphic sexual content" during scenes showing what actions a film would include to garner an NC-17 rating, although the current film is not rated.
Topics in the film include disparities in ratings and feedback between Hollywood and Independent films, gay and straight sexual situations, and between violence and nudity.
The Independent Film Channel plans to air the documentary uncensored and uninterrupted. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated [Jul 2006]
See also: 2006 - film censorship - American censorship
2006, July 08; 19:05 ::: Anémic cinéma (1926) - Marcel DuchampAnémic cinéma (1926) - Marcel Duchamp
Posted to Youtube by vacaloca
The music by Donald Sosin on this video is not original.
See also: 1926 - Marcel Duchamp
2006, July 08; 19:05 ::: Abstraction () - Oskar FischingerAbstraction () - Oskar Fischinger
Abstraction () - Oskar Fischinger
Abstract film by Oskar Fischinger (1900 - 1967)
Posted to Youtube by vitruvius
See also: abstract film - Oskar Fischinger (1900 - 1967)
2006, July 08; 19:05 ::: Black Girl (1870s) - anonymousIn search of covers lacking originals.
Lyrics
Black girl, black girl, don't lie to me
Where did you stay last night?
I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines
And shivered when the cold wind blows"Where Did You Sleep Last Night," also known as "In The Pines" and "Black Girl," is an American folk song which dates back to at least the 1870s, and is believed to be Southern Appalachian in origin. The identity of the song's author is unknown, but it has been performed by a number of artists, including Leadbelly, Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Chet Atkins, The Grateful Dead, Connie Francis, Mark Lanegan, Nirvana, Dolly Parton, and Smog.--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Did_You_Sleep_Last_Night [Jul 2006]
See also: 1870s - American music - cover
2006, July 08; 19:05 ::: Can't Hardly Stand It (1956) - Charlie FeathersIn search of originals.
Listen to an excerpt of Charlie Feathers's Can't Hardly Stand It (1956) here, via here.
From a 1985 Cramps-inspired American compilation called Monster A Go-Go JM 13 that was issued in the UK as Born Bad (1985). It was subtitled Songs We Taught The Cramps: 16 Cramps Classics By The Original Artists and that's what they were: all the old rockabilly, surf rock etc that makes up The Cramps oeuvre. The Born Bad album turned into a series.
Via Boing Boing
The stand-out track on the Kill Bill 2 soundtrack is Charlie Feathers's "Can't Hardly Stand It, a song best known today as a standard of the Cramps, the greatest sludge-a-billy act of all time. It's expecially keen to hear this old, unironic rockabilly version performed, and realize that this was indeed "bad music for bad people."
Enter the Born Bad CD series, from Australia. These (screamingly expensive, hard-to-find) discs consist of nothing but originals of songs that Cramps later covered, including classics like "The Crusher," "Goo-Goo Muck" and "Her Love Rubbed Off." I've put together a little Amazon list with the SKUs of the five discs in Amazon's catalogue. --Cory Doctorow via http://www.boingboing.net/2004/05/05/songs_the_cramps_cov.html [Jul 2006]
Example of lurid sleeve art
Image sourced here.1980s Feathers recordings:
New Jungle Fever (1987) - Charlie Feathers
He released his New Jungle Fever album in 1987 and Honkey Tonk Man in 1988, featuring the lead guitar work of his son, Bubba Feathers. These later albums of original songs penned by Feathers were released on the French label New Rose Records, whose other 1980s releases included albums by cult music heroes like Johnny Thunders, Alex Chilton, Roky Erickson, The Cramps, The Gun Club, and others. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Feathers [Jul 2006]New Rose Records was later acquired by Fnac records but closed in 1994. The previous owner and founder of New Rose founded Last Call records and has rereleased New Jungle Fever and Honkey Tonk Man on CD.
New Jungle Fever and Honkey Tonk Man [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
See also: The Cramps - trash - music
2006, July 08; 19:05 ::: Foute cd, foute muziekIn search of bad taste.
The Belgian radio station Q-music, a subsidiary of the Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij has launched a new trend in Belgium: foute muziek. In English, foute muziek translates literally as "bad music" but it is probably much better to translate it as "bad taste" music or "guilty pleasures". Most foute muziek appears to be popular music. There is a significant overlap with kermis-muziek (funfair music) as can be heard on local funfairs such as the Sinksenfoor here in Antwerp.
A typical selection of this genre:
Papa Chico - Tony Esposito * The Carribean Disco show - Lobo * De allereerste Keer - Rita Deneve * That's The way I like it - KC & The Sunshine Band * Rock You World - Weeks & Company * American generation - Ritchie Family * Follow me - Amanda Lear * Verdammt ich lieb'Dich - Matthias Reim * You're the greatest lover - Luv * Can't Take my eyes off you - The boys town gang * Una Paloma Blanca - George Baker Selection * Que sera mi vida - Gibson Brothers * Born To Be alive - Patrick Hernandez * Your love - Lime * Do ya Wanna funk - Sylvester * Disco Samba - Two Man Sound * So Many Men, So Little Time - Miquel Brown * San Salvador - Azoto * Happy Station - Fun fun * Please Don't go - Double You * Dolce Vita - Ryan Paris * Tarzan Boy - Baltimora * You're My Heart. You're My Soul - Modern Talking * You're a Woman - Bad Boys Blue * Yes Sir I Can boogie - Baccara * I'm In The Mood For Dancing - Molans * I Will Survive - Hermes House Band * Live is Life - Opus * Gigi L'Amoroso - Dalida * J'aime la vie - Sandra Kim * Together We're Strong - Mireille Mathieu & Patrick Duffy --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jahsonic/Foute_CD [Jul 2006]See also: popular music - bad taste - music
2006, July 08; 19:05 ::: Pump Up the Jam (1989) - TechnotronicIn search of popular house music.
Pump Up the Jam (1989) - Technotronic
The year is 1989, the place is Antwerp south, the bar is called the Blue Moon. Ya Kid K performs, this is not the girl in the video above.
See also: 1989 - Eurodance - Belgian music - techno - house
2006, July 08; 19:05 ::: The Art of Travel (2002) - Alain de BottonIn search of the armchair traveller.
The Art of Travel (2002) - Alain de Botton [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
From the publisher:
Aside from love, few actvities seem to promise us as much happiness as going traveling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather, customs, and landscapes. But although we are inundated with advice on where to travel, few people seem to talk about why we should go and how we can become more fulfilled by doing so. In The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton, author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, explores what the point of travel might be and modestly suggets how we can learn to be a little happier in our travels.The book starts with the concept of the armchair traveller, a concept that was first brought to my attention in David Toop's excellent Ocean of Sound (1995). In Toop's book, the armchair traveller is linked to Henri Michaux, but to most its spiritual father is J. K. Huysmans with his Against the Grain (1884).
Q: Your book comprises not only your thoughts, but also those of ancient and modern philosophers, writers and thinkers: did you find anyone with particularly useful things to say about how to be happier on our travels?
A: One insight is that it may be useful to accept that the anticipation of travel is perhaps the best part about it. Our vacations are never as satisfying as they are when they exist in an as-yet unrealised form; in the shape of an airline ticket and a brochure. In the great 19th century novel, Against Nature, by the French writer J.K.Huysmans, the narrator goes on a few holidays which go wrong and then decides never to leave home again. He remains in his study and surrounds himself with a series of objects which facilitate the finest aspect of travel, its anticipation. He reads travel magazines, he has coloured prints hung on the walls, like those in travel agents’ windows, showing foreign cities and museums. He has the itineraries of the major shipping companies framed and lines his bedroom with them. He fills an aquarium with seaweed, buys a sail, some rigging and a pot of tar and, with their help, is able to experience the most pleasant sides of a long sea-voyage without any of its inconveniences. --http://randomhouse.com/pantheon/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375420825&view=qa
Aside from the aesthetics of de Botton - which can be dreary - his corpus is entertaining: he picks guides ranging from Edward Hopper, Baudelaire, Flaubert, von Humboldt, van Gogh, to Wordsworth and Ruskin. [Jul 2006]
2006, July 08; 19:05 ::: The Sultan's Elephant by Royal de luxe
This video by wowflow was added to YouTube on July 07, 2006, it is from the first day of its visit to Antwerp, filmed at the Sint-Jansplein, the square that used to host Playground for Children van Dan Graham.
Over the course of the last three days, Fee, Fara and I have been following the elephant and giantess created by Royal de luxe. Marvelous. The footage above gives you some idea of this attraction, an elephant built two to three times actual size, mechanically, hydraulically mimicking a real elephant. The elephant sprays water at the crowd, makes dust when putting its feet down and makes sound using air-powered "vocal chords". Everyone in Antwerp was enthralled. In a bit of over-enthoused, I bought the soundtrack to the event by the Balayeurs du désert and was disappointed with the CD. Live though, it was strong, dubby, Fela-esque groove with live keyboards, drums, bass and guitars.
The elephant moves its feet, wags its tail, waves and squirts water from its trunk, flaps its ears, blinks, and can even open its mouth to reveal a moving tongue. The girl marionette is held on a big frame, and was given a ride on the elephant's trunk using a crane. The girl has been seen licking a giant lollipop, and even do a wee on the road.Royal de luxe is a French mechanical marionette street theatre company. They were founded in 1979 by Jean Luc Courcoult. The company has performed in Europe, Korea, China, Vietnam, Chile and Africa. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_de_Luxe
The Sultan's Elephant
The Sultan's Elephant is a show created by the Royal de luxe theatre company, involving a huge moving mechanical elephant and other associated public art installations. In French it is called La visite du sultan des Indes sur son éléphant ŕ voyager dans le temps (literally, "Visit From The Sultan Of The Indies On His Time-Traveling Elephant").The elephant is made mostly of wood, and is operating by over ten puppeteers using a mixture of hydraulics and motors. It weighs 42 tons, as much as 7 African elephants. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sultan%27s_Elephant [Jul 2006]
Excerpt from an interview by Jean-Christophe Planche. This bit is about tax money to pay for popular culture:
Royal de Luxe’s giant family shows take place in the street and are free. Why have you made this choice?
Jean Luc Courcoult (of Royal de luxe): I am proud that the shows we produce are financed by taxes. It seems fitting and beautiful that some tax money is dedicated to popular culture. By putting on the show in the public arena and free of charge I can reach people as they are whereas in traditional theatres you only meet those who have dared cross the threshold. I want to contact everyone, adults and children, whatever their socio-cultural milieu. This is a mythical story and it concerns everyone. Over three or four days I try to tell a whole town something intense which will be talked about everywhere, be it in the bakery or the bar, on the pavement or in the office. I try to move people and this ambition will not be restricted by financial means or the audience’s culture. Therefore, I make attempts at popular theatre in the sense that I seek to gather together these people to tell them something poetic. I have seen adults crying as the giant leaves. They have obviously lived other things, sometimes difficult, and yet this makes them cry. I don’t believe they are crying because he is leaving but because of the loss of their imagination. Over several days, they have dreamt as adults and now it’s finished. Most adults have difficulty dreaming. When you are a grown-up, you weigh things up, you don’t dream. --http://thesultanselephant.com/assets/downloads/pdf/Interview.pdf [Jul 2006]
2006, July 07; 19:05 ::: Jour de fęte (1949) - Jacques TatiJour de fęte (1949) - Jacques Tati
See also: 1949 - Jacques Tati
2006, July 07; 19:05 ::: Good Life and Big Fun
Big Fun (1988) - Kevin Saunderson
Good Life (1988) - Kevin Saunderson
See also: 1988 - Kevin Saunderson
2006, July 07; 19:05 ::: Derrick May - NYE 2006 SkopjeDerrick May - NYE 2006 Skopje
See also: Derrick May
2006, July 07; 19:05 ::: History of House tv documentaryHistory of House documentary tv documentary
3 x 1 hour series for Channel 4 that aired in November 2001. A comprehensive look at the history of House music from its roots in Chicago to the current Garage scene. A CD and book were launched off the back of the series.
See also: house music
2006, July 07; 19:05 ::: Laisse Tomber Les Filles (1964) - France GallLaisse Tomber Les Filles (1964) - France Gall
See also: 1964 - French music
2006, July 07; 19:05 ::: Spinal Tap vs Phantom of the ParadiseSaw Phantom of the Paradise (1974) by Brian De Palma yesterday.
Phantom of the Paradise (1974) - Brian De Palma
The Phantom of the Paradise (1974): Also called The Phantom of the Fillmore; a rock musical directed by Brian De Palma
Phantom of the Paradise is a 1974 cult film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The story is a loosely adapted mixture of Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Faust. The film's tagline is He's been maimed, framed, beaten, robbed and mutilated. But they still can't keep him from the woman he loves. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_the_Paradise [Jul 2006]
Phantom of the Paradise (1974) is a much better rock 'n' roll spoof than the to be avoided Spinal Tap (1984).
Trivia: Towards the end of the film, there is a concert by The Undeads with a set that pays homage to The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari and the German Expressionist films.
See also: glam rock
2006, July 05; 19:05 ::: David Bordwell and Slavoj ŽižekDavid Bordwell and Slavoj Žižek criticize each other. David Bordwell rejects hermeunetic (interpretive) approaches such as structuralism and Lacanian psychoanalysis in film theory. and proposes a different approach: neoformalism. Slavoj Žižek dislikes neoformalism. Judging by the meaning of formalism in literary theory which by its very nature focuses more on form and style rather than content and context, and the fact that formalism somewhat parallels the theories of cultural pessimist F. R. Leavis I'm inclined to dislike neoformalism as well. But it is to soon to judge David Bordwell, from what I've read of him on genre theory he seems well-informed and spoken.
One can understand David Bordwell in his criticism of some of the language used by those he rejects.
In this article which reviews Slavoj Žižek's The Fright of Real Tears: Krzysztof Kieslowski between Theory and Post-Theory (London: BFI, 2001), Bordwell attacks the opaqueness of Screen Theory's 1970s Marxist film theory, of which I quote:
The problem is to understand the terms of the construction of the subject and the modalities of the replacement of this construction in specific signifying practices, where "replacement" means not merely the repetition of the place of that construction but also, more difficultly, the supplacement-the overplacing: supplementation or, in certain circumstances, supplantation (critical interruption)-of that construction in the place of its repetition. --Ben Brewster, Stephen Heath, and Colin MacCabe, "Comment," Screen 16, 2 (Summer 1975), 87.Try wikifying that!
But my defense here is for Slavoj Žižek. The documentary which I've mentioned in a previous post is interesting. And the best bit about Žižek is that he uses films as examples of his theories. I know of no other philosopher or cultural critic that uses films to the extent that he does. Other scholars stick to books to explain the human condition. And today, how sad that may be for the book world, if you want to refer to common fictional experiences, you almost have to use films rather than books. How many people all over the world have seen Psycho, or at least the shower scene? How many people have read American Psycho? Much less. How many have seen it? A lot more. It makes you wonder whether there is a case to be made for the hegemony of visual culture.
Trying to analyze the differences between Bordwell and Žižek, would it be possible that Bordwell represents the "analytical" side of film theory and film philosophy and Žižek the "continental philosophy" side? [Jul 2006]
Or is this conclusion untenable in the light that:
many now claim that the distinction [between analytical and continental philosophy] is worthless: that the subject matter of continental philosophy is capable of being studied using the now-traditional tools of analytic philosophy. If this is true, the phrase "analytic philosophy" might be redundant, or maybe normative, as in "rigorous philosophy". The phrase "continental philosophy", like "Greek philosophy", would denote a certain historical period or series of schools in philosophy: German idealism, Marxism, psychoanalysis qua philosophy, existentialism, phenomenology, and post-structuralism. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytic_philosophy#Relation_to_continental_philosophy[Jul 2006]See also: Slavoj Žižek - Marxist film theory - psychoanalytical film theory - David Bordwell - Noël Carroll - structuralist film theory - film theory
2006, July 05; 19:05 ::: Dead of Night (1945) - VariousIn search of the doppelgänger trope.
Dead of Night (1945) - Various [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
One segment [directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, starring Michael Redgrave and written by John Baines] of this film concerns the story of a demonically possessed ventriloquist's dummy.
There is an episode in the wonderful British horror classic Dead of Night, in which Michael Redgrave plays a ventriloquist who gets jealous of his puppet. In an outburst of violence he destroys the puppet, then breaks down, and then in the very last scene in the film we see him in the hospital slowly regaining consciousness, coming back to himself. First his voice is stuck in the throat, then with great difficulty, finally he is able to talk, but he talks with the distorted voice of the dummy.
And the lesson is clear: the only way for me to get rid of this autonomous partial object is to become this object. --Žižek via The Pervert's Guide To Cinema (2006) - Sophie Fiennes
Dead of Night (1945) is a British portmanteau (or anthology) horror film, rare for the period, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. The film stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Michael Redgrave. The film is probably best-remembered for the "ventriloquist's dummy" episode starring Redgrave. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_of_Night [Jul 2006]
Dead of Night stands out from British film of the 1940s, when few genre films were being produced, and it had a huge influence on following British horror films most particularly the anthology films produced by Amicus in the 1960s and early 1970s. Both of the segments by John Baines were recycled for later films, and the possessed ventriloquist dummy episode served as the basis for the William Goldman scripted film Magic.
See also: doppelgänger trope - Amicus - horror cinema - British cinema - 1945
2006, July 05; 19:05 ::: Žižek on cinema via YoutubeYoutube has the first part of a documentary film by Sophie Fiennes on the work of Žižek in relation to cinema:
Part 1.a - Part 1.b - Part 1.c - Part 1.d - Part 1.e - Part 1.f
The Pervert's Guide To Cinema (2006) is a two-hour documentary by Sophie Fiennes, scripted and presented by Slavoj Žižek. It explores a number of films from a psychoanalytic theoretical perspective. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pervert%27s_Guide_To_Cinema [Jul 2006]
Structured in three parts, the film is a journey through cinema presented by philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek - well known for his use of the works of Jacques Lacan in a new reading of popular culture.
And Padraig at the Subject-barred blog has the edited transcription [with notes and cross-media re-formatting] of the documentary.
Having received its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in February, a one-hour version of Sophie Fiennes' two-hour documentary, The Pervert's Guide To Cinema, scripted and presented by Slavoj Zizek, was broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 this as the fourth and final installment of ArtShock, the contemporary art series. --Padraig via subject-barred.blogspot.com
K-punk has the following on Padraig of subject-barred:
I'm delighted to announce the arrival of another high-quality, high-concept weblog. Subject Barred is the new blog of my long-time net pal and alt.movies.kubrick veteran Padraig L Henry. Padraig's consistently brilliant posts at amk, often corruscating, always ridiculously well-informed, reference-glutted and insight-heavy, but delivered in a style that was stiletto-sharp and quicksilver limpid, were an inspiration in my dark days and a major reason why this blog exists. As I think the rash of early posts at Subject Barred amply demonstrates - image-rich micro-essays on Gaelic Gothic, Kapital's [hysterical] Obstacles to the Impossible and The Real as Cute Little Girl - Padraig is a natural for the blog format. $ is already plugged directly into current discussions at Lenin's Tomb, Le Colonel Chabert and elsewhere in the weblog matrix. Expect the best. --http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/007058.html [Jul 2006]See also: psychoanalytical film theory - cinema - Slavoj Žižek
