<p>Plastic Recognition traces a critical genealogy of the human face in cinema and its afterlives. By rethinking the history of film theory through its various investments in the face, it seeks to intervene not only in the discipline of film studies but more broadly within contemporary political and scientific discourse. This dissertation contends that the face is a privileged site for thinking through the question of recognition, a concept that cuts across a range of aesthetic, political, philosophical, and scientific thought. Plastic Recognition examines this intimate link between the face and recognition through a return to "classical" film theory, and specifically to the first generation of European and Soviet film theorists' preoccupation with the face in silent cinema. In the process, it recasts the canonical debate over cinematic specificity between Béla Balázs and Sergei Eisenstein as an antagonism between two opposing conceptions of the face in film: transparent universalism versus plastic typicality. Of these two conceptions, this project contends that the "Balázsian" idea of a transparently expressive face assumes cultural dominance in the latter half of the 20th century by virtue of its essential commensurability with the political and social ideal of mutual recognition that has come to prevail in the United States and Western Europe in the context of neoliberalism. Alongside and against this dominant tendency, the "Eisensteinian" insistence upon the plasticity of aesthetic form provides a radical alternative to the idealist metaphysics of immediacy underlying both the "Balázsian" notion of the cinematic face and the ideal of mutual recognition it exemplifies. That insistence forces into view the ways that recognition itself is always contingent upon aesthetic and technological practices, even (or especially) when it is brokered by that seemingly most immediate of images--the human face. By adopting this approach as its basic critical orientation, this dissertation attempts to restage the problem of recognition as fundamentally about the historicity of plastic form. The project concludes by turning to a scientific scene of recognition in which the "Balázsian" conception of the face makes an uncanny reappearance. The final chapter examines several studies in contemporary neuroscience that use representations of the human face as experimental stimuli in an effort to establish a neurophysiological basis for the mutual recognition of empathy.</p> / Dissertation

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Theatre, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-137).

283f. / Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-05-24T14:30:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tese Guilherme de Jesus.pdf: 2582132 bytes, checksum: c3e339c0953f196539ee372258a63e1c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-24T14:30:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese Guilherme de Jesus.pdf: 2582132 bytes, checksum: c3e339c0953f196539ee372258a63e1c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Neste trabalho é examinada a hipótese de que os estudos fílmicos brasileiros pagam tributos altos demais a um determinado esquema conceitual de atribuição de valor à música dos filmes, esculpido no âmbito das grandes teorias gerais do cinema, com raízes mais profundas na declaração assinada por Eisenstein, Pudovkin e Alexandrov sobre o futuro do cinema sonoro, de 1929, e em um artigo escrito pelo compositor francês Maurice Jaubert, em 1937. Flagrando fragilidades conceituais e empíricas importantes no paradigma em questão, a pesquisa questiona a rentabilidade analítica deste modelo e propõe, como alternativa, uma base epistêmica construída a partir de um conjunto de pressupostos do campo da Estética, da Musicologia e dos estudos internacionais contemporâneos sobre a música do cinema, articulados no interior da matriz metodológica que orienta os trabalhos do Laboratório de Análise Fílmica – a ‘Poética do Filme’. O teste da metodologia, realizado nos filmes Ajuste final e O homem que não estava lá, sugere que a dimensão pragmática da análise torna-se acentuadamente mais dinâmica com a aplicação da matriz de raiz aristotélica aqui proposta - análise imanente com foco nos efeitos sensoriais, sentimentais e cognitivos que a obra produz sobre o apreciador -, do que com os esquemas conceituais dominantes no contexto dos estudos fílmicos brasileiros. Tudo indica que esta ‘poética da música dos filmes’, aplicada a uma determinada obra, constrói um território conceitual e analítico mais seguro e fecundo para ajudar a compreender por que algumas estratégias musicais têm grande potência de impressionar o gosto e a memória, enquanto outras são esquecidas ou guardadas nas subpastas das coisas corriqueiras e banais. / Salvador

This thesis addresses a methodological impasse within film studies which is of ongoing concern because of the way that it demonstrates the discipline’s conflicting approaches to ideology. This impasse arises because proponents of poststructuralism and cognitivism utilise methodologies which not only make internally consistent interpretations of films, but are also able to discount the theoretical criticisms of the rival paradigm. Attempts to debate and transcend these divisions have been unsuccessful. This thesis contributes to this gap in knowledge by arguing that both academic theories (such as poststructuralism and cognitivism) and filmmaking practice are influenced by the same historically contingent socio-cultural determinants. Academic claims about film’s effects can then be conceptualised as aggregates of thought which are analogous to the dramatic manipulations that filmmakers unconsciously work into their films, with both forms of cultural activity (academic theorising and filmmaking practice) influenced by the same diachronic socio-cultural contexts. The term that I use for these specific forms of filmmaking practice is writing formations. A filmic writing formation is a form of filmmaking practice influenced by the same cultural ideas which also inform academic hermeneutics. The thesis does not undertake a conventional extended literature review as a means to identify the gap in the literature. This is because contested theoretical discourses are part of the thesis’ subject matter. I analyse academic literature in the same way that I analyse film, conceptualising both 3 activities as being determined by the same specific historical and socio-cultural contexts. The thesis analyses Shakespearean films because they offer multiple diachronic texts which are foregrounded as interpretations, and in which different approaches to filmmaking can be clearly compared and contrasted across time. They clarify the complex and often unconscious relationships between academic theorising and filmic writing formations by facilitating an investigation of how the historic development of academic discourse relates to the historic development of filmmaking practice. The corpus of texts for analysis has been confined to Anglo-American realist film adaptations, and European and American debates about, and criticism of, realist film from the advent of poststructuralism in the late 1960s to the present day. The thesis is structured as an investigation into the current theoretical impasse and the unsatisfactory attempts to transcend it, the articulation of a new methodology relating to filmic writing formations, the elaboration of how different filmic writing formations operate within realist film adaptation, and a close case study of the unfolding historical processes whereby academic theory and filmmaking practice relate to the same socio-cultural determinants using four adaptations of Hamlet from different time periods. It concludes by explaining how filmmakers exploit and manipulate forms of filmic grammar which correspond to academic theories about those forms of filmic grammar, with both activities influenced by the same underlying diachronic culture. The thesis argues, then, that academic poststructuralism and cognitivism can be 4 conceptualised as explanations for different but contiguous aspects of filmmaking practice, rather than as mutually exclusive claims about film’s effects.

Orientador: Maria Clara Bonetti Paro / Banca: Adalberto Luis Vicente / Banca: José Garcez Ghirardi / Resumo: James Joyce configura-se como um dos autores mais importantes do século vinte, e suas técnicas inovadoras influenciaram diversos escritores e artistas por gerações. Contudo, apesar de seu evidente prestígio no campo literário e cultural, pouco são os trabalhos versando sobre suas adaptações para o cinema. A intenção do presente estudo é de analisar os implícitos sexuais marcados no conto Os Mortos de James Joyce e sua representação na adaptação cinematográfica de John Huston, de 1987. Será levado em conta, como abordagem teórica, as questões levantadas por Seymour Chatman e David Bordwell a respeito das relações existentes entre literatura e cinema, tais quais o narrador literário e cinematográfico. Segundo Chatman essas questões são de essencial importância para o estudo das relações entre os dois meios, porque possibilitam uma abordagem não baseada no biografismo. Também serão levados em consideração os trabalhos de Linda Hutcheon (Theory of adapatation, 2006) e de Robert Stam (Literature and film: a guide to the theory and practice of film adaptation, 2005) acerca da teoria da adaptação, teoria desenvolvida ao longo dos últimos trabalhos desses autores. O estudo, considerando tais argumentos, examinará um possível significado dessas relações sexuais implícitas no conto e em sua adaptação. Os Mortos compõe o último conto da coletânia intitulada Dubliners, de James Joyce, publicada em 1914 / Abstract: James Joyce is one of the most important twentieth century authors, and his cutting edge techniques influenced many authors and artists from his and subsequent generations. However, in spite of his prominent prestige on literary and cultural grounds, few works study the adaptation of his texts to cinema. The objective of this study is to analyze implicit sexual relations in Joyce's The Dead and in its representation in John Huston's cinematographic adaptation, 1987. This work will consider, as theoretical approach, the issues raised by Seymour Chatman and David Bordwell about the relation between literature and films, such as the literary and the cinematographic narrator. According to Chatman (1990) this questions are fundamental for this type of study due to the fact that they allow an approach not based on pure author's biography. This study will also take into account Linda Hutcheon's Theory of adaptation (2006) and Robert Stam's Literature and film: a guide to the theory and practice of film adaptation (2005) about the theory of adaptation, theory developed throughout these two author's last works In addition to that, this study will consider one way of regarding these implicit sexual relations in the short story and in its adaptation to the cinema. The Dead is the last short story from the collection entitled Dubliners, by James Joyce, 1914 / Mestre

Este trabalho relata aspectos do processo criativo da redação de um roteiro cinematográfico de longa metragem. Procurou-se investigar, durante o fazer do roteiro, o modo como a narrativa pode ser utilizada para despertar emoções e interesse no espectador. Através da revisão de obras de teóricos cognitivistas do cinema e de manuais de roteiro, levanta-se considerações sobre possíveis estratégias para se envolver emocionalmente o espectador. Para ilustrar estas estratégias, é apresentada uma análise da obra Aconteceu naquela Noite (1934). A partir destas considerações, realiza-se a descrição do processo de escrita do roteiro, procurando demonstrar de que forma as considerações teóricas influenciaram neste processo e no produto final, o roteiro completo. / This dissertation reports some aspects of the creative process on writing a feature movie script. During the screenwriting, it was attempted to investigate how the narrative can be used to elicit emotions and interest in the spectatorship. Through the review of Cognitivist Film Theory Scholars and Screenwriting Guides, considerations were raised on possible strategies to emotionally involve the viewer while telling the story. To elucidate these strategies, the analysis of the movie It happened one night (1934) follows. Having reached these considerations, the script is presented along with the trajectory of its writing.

In this project, I examine the relationship between female masochism, performance, and spectatorship in Michael Haneke’s film La Pianiste (2001). The film stages a relationship to sexuality that structures the subject’s excruciating negotiations with the other as always mediated by the law, the letter, or the body as instrument, which is allegorized by the protagonist’s occupation as a piano teacher. In my analysis, I identify the ways in which the film paradoxically offers a critique of mediation’s effect on the feminine position while encouraging viewers to confront the possibility that desire is only possible through these mediations. Contributing to feminist theory and psychoanalytic film theory, I foreground the way in which the film’s complex portrayal of female masochism produces indeterminacy via masochistic spectatorship. Ultimately, I argue that the unmarked position of feminine masochism, which is historically, psychoanalytically, and literarily reserved for male subjects, challenges the spectator to take enjoyment into account when approaching mediations of violence and sexuality.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine what facts the documentary 13th presents and how they are portrayed filmically. By conducting, both, a discourse analysis and a neoformalist film analysis those two factors can be fully examined. And by later adding the three theoretical perspectives of discourse analysis, hegemony, and neoformalist film theory, the results of the analyses can be discussed in a way that covers both the narrative part of the film and the aesthetic and stylistic ones.The result is that the discourse of the documentary concerns the American prison system and the resistance to it is the acknowledgement of the blatant racism within it. And this racism is what the leadership of the hegemonic dominance of that discourse is built upon.13th consists of interviews and voiceovers which present the facts. These are accompanied by video clips, graphics, and animations, and music, which are all in black and white, in order to strengthen the message of those facts. These elements of the film work together to convey a collective theme and emotion to the viewer.

No description available.

This study conducts a narrative analysis of the film Turist, in order to explore how its portrayal of a contemporary Scandinavian family could provide insight into how gender roles are constructed. Drawing on classical feminist theory, film theory and giving special focus to explore how masculinity and the father’s role is portrayed in relation to femininity this essay uses a theoretical angle that is less explored than others. In the methodology, this study examines both the film’s characters and the many technical aspects that a film is constructed from. When relevant to the analysis in its entirety the study will consider parameters such as dialogue, editing, camera movement, framing of scenes and music. The results of the research show that the film is self-aware when constructing stereotypical gender roles that aligns itself with classical feminist theories. In the end the film implies that the family is comfortable to return to the traditional family hierarchy, because this is something they believe is expected from them.