This dissertation centres on an examination of Gummo, the provocative directorial debut by filmmaking enfant terrible, Harmony Korine. While largely dismissed by critics who were put off by the film's visceral intensity, unconventional narrative structure and unsentimental depictions of marginality, I want to counter such criticism by arguing that Gummo in fact offers a refreshingly new approach to cinematic representations of white poverty in the United States. While U.S. cinema has often furnished us with representations of poverty, the majority of these ï¬ lms have tended to focus on characters' economic hardships. By contrast, Gummo is almost unique in privileging the cultural and ideological dimensions - concerns with weight and sporting success, attaining and retaining certain norms of masculine strength and appearance, repeated references to celebrity culture, to name but a few examples - while locating such normative dimensions within the bleak material realities that mark life on the breadline. In so doing, Gummo draws attention to the paradoxical cultural question of poverty in the so-called First World: How does one engage with the daily barrage of ideologically imposed social and cultural norms when one's basic living conditions are diametrically opposed to such norms? While most films tend to treat the poor as always outside and in binary opposition to the normative order, I want to propose that we re-think poverty and marginality's cultural identity as always hybrid and in-between the margin and the norm. Such an interstitial position is articulated by Gummo's highlighting of two very different representational approaches: one based on an abject materiality that is often framed in an almost tactile and disconcertingly visceral manner, the other relying on the maintenance of a plastic or surface aesthetic through which symbolic cultural norms and ideals are semiotically conveyed. Rather than seeking to resolve such approaches' contradictions to one another, Gummo gives cinematic expression to the ambivalent position that results when one occupies both spaces simultaneously. This encourages us to think of marginality interstitially, rather than conceiving of it as merely 'other' to what is considered normative or mainstream. In theorising Gummo's representation of white marginality as an interstitial phenomenon, I have drawn primarily on the work of three quite different thinkers: post-colonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha, gender theorist Judith Butler and film theorist Vivian Sobchack. Chapter one engages with Bhabha's ideas about cultural hybridity, seeking to demonstrate how Gummo represents marginality as a decidedly heterogeneous affair, one that blurs all clear notions of centre and margin. Chapter two explores this breaking down of binary value further by investigating how, through subversive acts of re-signification, the norm or centre can become 'contaminated' by the margin. Here I employ Butler's notion of performativity and citation, which demonstrates how norms can be materialised and cited in non-normative circumstances that challenge the validity of the dominant discourse. Such 'non-normative' materialisation blurs the boundary between that which is normative and that which is 'other'. Chapter three expands this notion of re-signiï¬ cation and hybridity still further. Drawing upon the phenomenology-based theory of Vivian Sobchack, I explore those aspects of Korine's film that - like Sobchack's theory - privilege materiality and the body as sites of experience. I then proceed to read Sobchack in relation to Butler and Bhabha, arguing that the manner in which Korine almost tactically frames the harsh, abject materiality of Gummo's setting plays off and meshes with the presence of symbolic norms and ideals. Gummo and its characters are thus ï¬ rmly lodged in a hybrid Third Space; in-between the cultural signs of 'normalcy' and a materialised space of messy abjection. It is between these two seemingly incompatible dimensions that the film and its characters make meaning and forge a sense of cultural identity.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis examines cinematic depictions of traumatic loss and mourning, with particular focus on representation. My study merges a theoretical and analytical investigation. I aim to defend cinema against the wider post-structuralist claim that trauma refutes the possibility of representation and argue, instead, that an increasing array of filmic examples demonstrate cinema's potential to provide valuable insights into the complexities of the subject. I use Freud's discussion of trauma as a belated, repetitious experience as an entry point to illustrate the ways in which cinema, a medium bound to temporality, can develop a relationship between linear and traumatic time...

Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation takes theories of voice-over narration that are typically applied to fiction film and applies them to documentary film. It looks at issues of representation and truth values in the documentary films of Werner Herzog, John Marshall, Luis Buñuel and Karin Jurshcick. It argues that the choices filmmakers make regarding types of voice-over affect these issues and are therefore worthy of study. It argues that the unconventional story-weavers in documentaries like those of Marshall and Herzog‘s can inadvertently marginalise their subjects. It looks at Buñuel‘s Land Without Bread as an extreme example of an (intentionally) manipulative narrator. It suggests that a voice-over narrator that follows Chion‘s conceptualisation of the complete acousmêtre encourages audiences to engage on a more critical level. Finally, it argues that even a seemingly traditional narrator as seen in Jurshick‘sIt Should Have Been Nice After That can be unconventional and reveal an - ecstatic truth.

Includes bibliograpical references. / This dissertation investigates the filmic representation of surrealism in the films of Jan Švankmajer between 1964 and 2010. These films were analysed in light of two key areas expressed in recent literature regarding the representation of surrealism in film. The first key area is the complicated relationship between surrealism, film, and fantasy film, which has resulted in misconceptions about surrealism and its relationship with reality. This was examined with regard to the misconception of surrealism equating to fantasy and escapism. The second key area is how the filmic representation of surreality by the surrealist filmmaker Švankmajer supports the relationship of the movement with reality. This is analysed in terms of Švankmajer’s filmic engagement with the socio-political context at the time of production and his beliefs regarding a civilisation in crisis. Contingent to Švankmajer’s filmic representation of surreality is an examination of his style, aesthetics and techniques used to convey surreality or the notions of surrealism in his films to depict the affinity of the movement with reality. The main issue addressed in relation to all his films is the narrative on repression. This dissertation examines his narrative on repression, its dimensions and its role in reaffirming the affinity of surrealism with reality. The examination in this study of the subject matter included a diverse field of relevant sources, which was necessitated by the status of the surrealist movement as a belief rather than a formal theoretical framework. This includes, but is not limited to, surrealism and its main considerations and the relationship between surrealism and film compared to fantasy and film with regard to their relationship with reality. This was extended to include significant theoretical considerations with regard to Švankmajer’s filmic representation of surreality, including the representation of loss, the significance of childhood, the presence of objects and the role of tactility. The study entailed an analysis of his films within the ideas expressed in Švankmajer’s filmic representation of surreality. The films were then analysed within the context of the socio-political atmosphere at the time of their production, specifically during the former Czechoslovak communist oppression, followed by the emersion of the Czech Republic into the global consumerist market. The findings of the study indicate that the filmic representation of surreality in Švankmajer’s films portrays a heightened awareness of the socio-political reality of the former Czechoslovakia as well as the current Czech Republic, while resonating universal truths on civilisation. The films challenge the misconceptions on surrealism and its filmic representation as equating to fantasy and escapism. The findings further revealed that Švankmajer’s filmic representation of surreality counters such misconceptions, with the films reflecting Švankmajer’s experiences in Czechoslovakia as well his intimate account of the destructive nature of civilisation.

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