Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012. / Humanity’s relationship with nature has, in recent years, undoubtedly been one of contention and turmoil, an issue whose drama is gaining popularity in popular culture and, especially, film. In this dissertation I examine how these challenging human-nature relationships play out in Terrence Malick’s The New World, Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, and the Jon Krakauer book, of the same title, upon which Penn’s film is based. As one’s views on nature (like all else) are mediated through language, using ecocritical principles slanted towards filmic, as opposed to written, texts, I provide a close examination of the ways in which these artists portray the relationship between language and nature, and the impact this has on our cultural and individual identities. I will also show how these primary texts make use of centuries-old Romantic aesthetics in order to humanise nature for moral ends. The primary texts agree that a large part of the problem in the poor relationship between humanity and nature is due to inadequate metaphors with which humanity views the earth. Thus, each artist promotes a certain kind of anthropomorphic understanding of nature which he believes is pivotal in encouraging better interconnections between humanity and nature. As a result, I provide a critique of the kinds of metaphors used by each respective artist, where some metaphors of nature may support or contradict a certain artist’s aims in his portrayal of human-nature relationships.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:11:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paola Prestes Penney.pdf: 2036011 bytes, checksum: 1d5bd18e2d7c9989e5ca7f25f460e4ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study investigates the processes through which poetic narratives are constructed in documentary cinema and their results. In order to do so, the question of the audiovisual poetry that is formed through images, sounds, and words will be analyzed. In its turn, this analysis will serve as the basis of the proposition of this study, the creation of poetic languages, and the mapping of new discernible frontiers of communication and perception in the context of the production of documentary cinema. Three documentaries by the German filmmaker Werner Herzog are analyzed Fata Morgana (1971), Lessons of darkness (1992), and The wild blue yonder (2005) which, in the context of this dissertation, constitute a poetic trilogy. Based on these works and documental material on the director, this project aims to elucidate Herzog s creative processes and their transformations in each phase of realization of those films, from the choices in conceptual approach to the editing, by comparatively analyzing the way text, image, and sound are worked together. To this end, the study of these three works is founded in two moments: the realization (technical analysis) and the result (analysis of the poetic or artistic language). This methodology satisfies technical criteria as much as it does sensibility criteria, and when combined with Gaston Bachelard s, Arlindo Machado s, and Gilles Deleuze s concepts of image, this study reveals the processes of audiovisual language creation in documentary cinema that transcend the limits of the genre / Este estudo investiga os processos de construção de narrativas poéticas em cinema documentário e seus resultados. Para tanto, será analisada a questão da poesia audiovisual que é construída por meio de imagens, sons e palavras. Esta análise servirá como base para se estabelecer a questão proposta neste estudo, a criação de linguagens poéticas e o mapeamento de novas fronteiras de comunicação e percepção sensíveis no contexto da produção de cinema documentário. Três documentários do cineasta alemão Werner Herzog são estudados: Fata Morgana, de 1971, Lições da escuridão, de 1992 e Além do azul selvagem, de 2005, que, no contexto desta dissertação, compõem uma trilogia poética do diretor. Com base nessas obras e material documental sobre o diretor, a pesquisa procura trazer um entendimento dos processos criativos de Herzog e as transformações desses processos, em cada etapa de realização dos filmes, da escolha de dispositivos à montagem, analisando comparativamente de que maneira são articulados texto, imagem e som. Para tanto, o estudo destas três obras está estruturado em dois momentos: a realização (análise técnica), e o resultado (análise da linguagem poética ou artística). A metodologia de análise adotada atende a critérios técnicos sensíveis. A fundamentação teórica engloba Gaston Bachelard, Arlindo Machado e Gilles Deleuze, com o objetivo de revelar os processos de criação de linguagem audiovisual em cinema documentário que transcende os limites do gênero

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:21:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rita de Cassia da Silva Leao.pdf: 5297903 bytes, checksum: 365d1ce161ffb73142a6ebc13ab0e302 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / All movie-making has an anthropological character, as it is as open-ended as humankind itself. The works of Werner Herzog run parallel with fundamental anthropology, which seeks to understand the process of penetration of man into the world and the inseparable process of penetration of the world into man. The first movie that is analyzed, Wodaabe: Herdsman of the Sun, deals with love of beauty among beings who feel despised by neighboring peoples. The second, Grizzly Man, is about a man who wanted to be a bear, as he could not stand living among humans. The third, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, tells us how humankind dreamed 32 thousand years ago; how it projected its double on cave walls and small statues. Paintings and statues feature at the same time a penchant for both the fantastic and the reality of shapes and forms. It is not Herzog´s movie settings or themes which are anthropological; it is his view of the world and his way of making movies, which transmutes real into imaginary, and imaginary into real / Todo cinema contém um caráter antropológico, por ser aberto como a própria humanidade. A obra de Werner Herzog é contigua à antropologia fundamental, que busca compreender o processo de penetração do homem no mundo e o processo inseparável de penetração do mundo no homem. O primeiro filme analisado, Wodaabe: Os pastores do sol, trata do amor à beleza entre seres que se sentem desprezados pelos povos vizinhos. O segundo, O homem urso, de um humano que queria ser urso e não suportava o mundo dos humanos. O terceiro, A caverna dos sonhos esquecidos, conta como sonhava a humanidade há 32 mil anos, como projetava seu duplo nas paredes das cavernas e nas pequenas estátuas. Nas pinturas e estátuas estão presentes, ao mesmo tempo, uma tendência para o fantástico e para a realidade das formas. Não são os locais de filmagem e tampouco os temas de Herzog que são antropológicos, mas sim a sua visão de mundo e o modo de fazer cinema, que transmuta o real em imaginário e o imaginário em real

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:55:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rita de Cassia da Silva Leao.pdf: 5297903 bytes, checksum: 365d1ce161ffb73142a6ebc13ab0e302 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / All movie-making has an anthropological character, as it is as open-ended as humankind itself. The works of Werner Herzog run parallel with fundamental anthropology, which seeks to understand the process of penetration of man into the world and the inseparable process of penetration of the world into man. The first movie that is analyzed, Wodaabe: Herdsman of the Sun, deals with love of beauty among beings who feel despised by neighboring peoples. The second, Grizzly Man, is about a man who wanted to be a bear, as he could not stand living among humans. The third, The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, tells us how humankind dreamed 32 thousand years ago; how it projected its double on cave walls and small statues. Paintings and statues feature at the same time a penchant for both the fantastic and the reality of shapes and forms. It is not Herzog´s movie settings or themes which are anthropological; it is his view of the world and his way of making movies, which transmutes real into imaginary, and imaginary into real / Todo cinema contém um caráter antropológico, por ser aberto como a própria humanidade. A obra de Werner Herzog é contigua à antropologia fundamental, que busca compreender o processo de penetração do homem no mundo e o processo inseparável de penetração do mundo no homem. O primeiro filme analisado, Wodaabe: Os pastores do sol, trata do amor à beleza entre seres que se sentem desprezados pelos povos vizinhos. O segundo, O homem urso, de um humano que queria ser urso e não suportava o mundo dos humanos. O terceiro, A caverna dos sonhos esquecidos, conta como sonhava a humanidade há 32 mil anos, como projetava seu duplo nas paredes das cavernas e nas pequenas estátuas. Nas pinturas e estátuas estão presentes, ao mesmo tempo, uma tendência para o fantástico e para a realidade das formas. Não são os locais de filmagem e tampouco os temas de Herzog que são antropológicos, mas sim a sua visão de mundo e o modo de fazer cinema, que transmuta o real em imaginário e o imaginário em real