Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Zürich, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-236).

The contemporary era is dominated by an Apollonian visual language, i.e. the visual language of mainstream cinema and the mass media, and this study concerns the role that critical cinema, as Dionysian subverter, plays under such conditions. I argue that critical cinema should not be viewed as something completely ‘new’ but rather as a new, or at least the latest, manifestation of an older subversive ‘Dionysian’ voice that has made its presence felt since the dawn of the hegemony of an Apollonian disposition in Homeric epic. (I maintain that the history of western culture can be understood in terms of the persistent tension between Apollonian and Dionysian dispositions, and I use the distinction Derrida makes in Différance, between restricted and general economies, to distinguish between them, respectively.) I begin by considering the Dionysian echoes within Homer’s Iliad and then consider the way in which they became a ‘roar’ in the tragedies of Aeschylus. After Aeschylus a predominantly Apollonian voice asserted itself once again (to various degrees) through the work of Sophocles and Euripides. This was in keeping with the trend towards a more (Apollonian) restricted economy that is reflected in the writings of Homer’s literary successors, and which reached a crucial stage in Plato’s valorisation of ‘dialectics’, or what I term ‘dialecticis m’, which saw the birth of ‘dialectical language’. Through Plato dialecticism, or dialectical language, became instantiated as the ‘language’ of western philosophy and this predisposed western culture to develop along predominantly Apollonian lines. This continued from Plato, through the Middle Ages, until in the 17th century this Apollonian trend became manifest in the concept of the stable, integral, autonomous and self -transparent Cartesian ego, which is inextricably linked to dialectical language that promises certainty of ‘truth’ and maintains the possibility of representing the world in its entirety (as a system). In the contemporary ‘age of a world picture’, the hegemonic (Apollonian) visual language of mainstream cinema and the mass media propagates and perpetuates the belief in the possibility of representing the world in its entirety through the image, and insofar as it caters to audiences’ needs for stability and certainty (of ‘truth’) through providing such ‘complete’ representations, shapes their subjectivity along the lines of the Cartesian ego. According to Baudrillard, in contemporary society and culture the hyperreal realm of visual language has become far more significant for individuals than their immediate, empirical experiences, and that, as a result, they are far less predisposed to discussion and reflection and far more prone to passive ‘watching’. Also, Adorno maintains that it is impossible to have a form of critical cinema because of the way in which features inherent to cinema predispose it towards being an ideological apparatus. However, if both Baudrillard and Adorno are correct then the future appears increasingly bleak as it involves nothing other than the continuation and propagation of the hegemony of the visual language of mainstream cinema and the mass media, with no possibility for critical resistance. I argue instead that critical cinema is possible because the move towards a more restricted economy, motivated by an Apollonian disposition, did not develop from Homer to the contemporary era without meeting Dionysian resistance. I trace the presence of a subversive Dionysian voice through Homer’s Iliad, through Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, and through Plato’s Dialogues, where it echoes in the sentiments of some of Plato’s interlocutors, such as Callicles. In addition, I maintain that a ‘Dionysian’ voice resonates through both Nietzsche’s and Heidegger’s respective criticisms of ‘dialectical language’ and the ‘validity’ of the Cartesian ego. I argue that critical cinema, particularly Aronofsky’s postmodern critical cinema, parallels their similar epistemological and ontological perspectives in the way in which it engages with the (Apollonian) visual language of mainstream cinema and the mass media, and thereby, potentially, facilitates a more porous and protean subjectivity.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-07-25T11:56:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Gustavo Cardoso Silveira.pdf: 1062366 bytes, checksum: c0b06153cd7033e39be20ab8e3fcbbb5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-25T11:56:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gustavo Cardoso Silveira.pdf: 1062366 bytes, checksum: c0b06153cd7033e39be20ab8e3fcbbb5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The purpose of this master's dissertation is to compare the English-language original of A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, with the respective translation in Portuguese, Um bonde chamado Desejo, by Vadim Nikitin, in order to characterize the differences between the two versions based on the lexicographic choices made by these authors. Since the 1950s, the important work of linguistic-based translation scholars has done much to break the boundaries between different disciplines dedicated to it, and to draw their studies from a position of possible confrontation. The research has the support of Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL), a theoreticalmethodological proposal of Halliday (1985) and Halliday and Matthiessen (2004). The SFL states that the use of language is functional; that its function is to construct meanings; that meanings are influenced by the social and cultural context in which they are exchanged; and that the process of language in use is a semiotic process, a process of making meaning through choices. Researches show that this theoretical framework can be applied to the field of translation studies from several aspects involved in SFL: the transitivity system, the modality and the evaluation, as well as the notion of thematic structure. Other contributions help to understand the characteristics that mark a translation, such as the notions of linguistic determinism and relativity, as well as the question of linguistic typology. The present study seeks to answer the following questions: (a) what can the comparison of the original in English and the Portuguese translation of A Streetcar Named Desire reveal? (b) what consequences do these differences mean for the interpretation of the original text and its translation? The results show the impossibility of a literal translation, since several linguistic characteristics separate the two languages in terms of the specific typology of both English and Portuguese. This fact obliges the translator to make lexicographic choices, made possible by the target language, which may imply modifications in the interpretation of the drama from one language to another / O objetivo desta dissertação de mestrado é a comparação entre o original em língua inglesa de A Streetcar Named Desire, de Tennessee Williams, com a respectiva tradução em português, Um bonde chamado Desejo, de Vadim Nikitin, a fim de caracterizar as diferenças entre as duas versões com base nas escolhas lexicogramaticais feitas pelos referidos autores. Desde 1950, o importante trabalho de estudiosos da tradução baseada em linguística tem feito muito para romper as fronteiras entre diferentes disciplinas dedicadas a ela, e tirar seus estudos de uma posição de possível confronto. A pesquisa tem o apoio da Linguística Sistêmico- Funcional (LSF), uma proposta teórico-metodológica de Halliday (1985) e Halliday e Matthiessen (2004). A LSF estabelece que o uso da língua é funcional; que sua função é construir significados; que os significados são influenciados pelo contexto social e cultural em que são intercambiados; e que o processo de uso da língua é um processo semiótico, um processo de fazer significado por meio de escolhas. Pesquisas mostram que esse quadro teórico pode ser aplicável ao campo dos estudos da tradução a partir de vários aspectos envolvidos na LSF: o sistema da transitividade, a modalidade e a avaliatividade, além da noção de estrutura temática. Outras contribuições ajudam a entender as características que marcam uma tradução, tais como as noções de determinismo e relatividade linguísticos, bem como a questão da tipologia linguística. O presente estudo busca responder às seguintes perguntas: (a) o que a comparação do original em inglês e a tradução em português de A Streetcar Named Desire pode revelar? (b) que consequências essas diferenças significam para a interpretação do texto original e de sua tradução? Os resultados mostram a impossibilidade de uma tradução literal, já que várias características linguísticas separam as duas línguas em termos da tipologia específica seja do inglês, seja do português. Esse fato obriga o tradutor a fazer escolhas lexicogramaticais possibilitadas pela língua alvo o que pode implicar modificações na interpretação do drama de uma língua a outra