The purpose of this thesis is to offer a better understanding of some contemporary French films, whose aesthetics result from the borrowing of visual and/or technical elements pertaining to the genres of horror or pornography. To do so, I adopted an inductive approach, based on a semiotic analysis of the film image. My goal is to unearth some patterns that would allow us to have a better comprehension of the image, as filtered through the process of borrowing. Throughout the six films I offer to analyse, I wish to come up with a visual typology of the different forms of borrowing, in order to see how the latter operates, and to comment on the repercussions it has, on the level of the image itself as well as on the audience who has to integrate these images and make sense of them. My analyses are centered around the reexamination of five concepts that are instrumental to the organisation of this thesis ; I will first observe how the process of borrowing calls for a redefinition of the concept of film genre , where the latter has to be understood, not as the sum of immutable visual and thematical elements, but rather as an ever-changing concept whose meaning always has to be redefined. I will then reevaluate the concept of hybridity , as the result of the combination of two different film genres (i.e. the genre of horror or pornography and the genre of the film where the hybridization process takes place). This will lead me to analyse the role of the spectator, when confronted to this new type of images. I will demonstrate that the redefinition of the image operated by these films calls for a different kind of spectatorship, whose role is to actively participate in the meaning-making process of these films. I will finally see that the process of borrowing from another film genre, whether it be horror or pornography, is always concerned with the human body. I will show that each one of the films of my corpus revolves around the desire to subvert traditional representations of the body. / French Language, Literatures and Linguistics

No description available.

Diss.--Freie Universität--Berlin, 1992. / Bibliogr. p. 327-356.

This study focuses on the trilogy of Yolande Mukagasana, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda: La mort ne veut pas de moi (1997), N'aie pas peur de savoir (1999) and Les Blessures du silence (2001). The reading of Mukagasana's works about genocide raises the question of the unspeakable. On the one hand, the language struggles to express the witness’s suffering. On the other hand, the experience of the genocide does not have landmarks for the witness who undertakes the task to tell her story. The topic addressed in the second chapter of this thesis is about the difficulty and the urgency to testify which prompt the witness to use different discursive strategies to approach the horror and convince the reader of the truth of her story. The analysis confirms with examples that the literary testimony does not use less literary devices than fictional texts. The third chapter addresses the preservation of the memory of the genocide and its victims. It also talks about justice that has to punish the perpetrators of the greatest crime against humanity. The thesis wraps up by looking at the cathartic function of the testimony. / Thesis (Master, French) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-14 11:13:17.318

Ce mémoire s'inscrit dans un ensemble d'études portant sur l'activation physiologique par des médias d'horreur. Par la comparaison de réactions du corps de huit sujets en laboratoire écoutant deux films d'horreur et jouant à deux reprises à un jeu vidéo d'horreur, cette recherche a été menée pour répondre à deux questions : « Est-ce que les jeux vidéo d'horreur sont plus effrayants que les films d'horreur? » et « Est-ce que les mesures physiologiques nous permettent de répondre à cette question? »

Notre thèse se penche sur les tragédies créées entre la retraite professionnelle de Racine (1677) et l’amorce d’un renouvellement de la poétique tragique vers les années 1730, marquées par une interruption des carrières de Crébillon et de La Motte, la publication, notamment, des Discours de ce dernier et du Théâtre des Grecs du Père Brumoy, et le retour d’Angleterre du jeune Voltaire. Nous y interrogeons dans un premier temps la sclérose qui gagne la scène et la poétique tragiques en rapport avec les premiers essais de définition de l’élégie, qui mettent en évidence la porosité des deux genres, et un retour en force de l’esthétique de l’horreur occasionnée par la concurrence directe entre la Comédie-Française et le succès des tragédies lyriques du Palais-Royal. Nous étendons ensuite nos conclusions à l’étude des composantes poétiques et dramaturgiques des tragédies de l’époque, où nous analysons les inflexions élégiaques et horrifiques qui se dégagent des effets de structure dus à des interprétations opposées de la notion de simplicité ; dans la même perspective, nous examinons les inflexions qui gagnent la typologie des personnages et les rapports entre les intrigues amoureuse et politique. Enfin, nous abordons le rôle des motifs élégiaques et horrifiques dans la recherche de l’effet tragique, plus particulièrement en ce qui concerne les larmes et l’effroi, ainsi que la transposition sur la scène française du modèle antique des Héroïdes, où ces deux tendances sont réunies. / This thesis investigates tragedies written between Racine’s retirement (1677) and the beginnings of a renewal of the poetics of tragedy in the 1730s, a period marked by the interruption of the careers of Crébillon and La Motte, the publication of La Motte’s Discours and Père Brumoy’s Le Théâtre des Grecs as well as young Voltaire’s return from England. First, it examines the ossification of the theatre and the poetics of tragedy in connection with early attempts to define the genre of elegy that highlight the porosity of the two genres, along with a revival of the aesthetics of horror arising from direct competition between the Comédie-Française and the successful lyrical tragedies of the Palais-Royal. Conclusions are subsequently applied to a study of the poetic and dramaturgical components of the era’s tragedies, based on an analysis of the modulations of elegy and horror that emerge from structural effects created by conflicting interpretations of the concept of simplicity. The modulations that permeate the character typology and the relationships between political plots and love plots are then analyzed from the same angle. Lastly, the thesis concludes with an exploration of the role of the motifs of horror and elegy in the pursuit of tragic effect, more specifically with regard to tears and fright, and the adaptation of the ancient model of the Heroïdes for French theatre, in which these two trends are combined.

Texte remanié de: Habilitationsschrift--Fachbereich 14, Philologie II--Mainz--Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, 1988.

<p>The purpose of this essay is to investigate the melancholic, poetic language in Bübins unge (Bübin´s brat) by Mare Kandre (1962 – 2005). In my opinion the novel, which is about a teenage ritual, also gives an imaginary arena for archaic and unmentionable experiences of the libido. It is therefore a witness to the truth of the subjects complex mind. To my assistance I have Julia Kristeva´s theory on the abjection, the successful melancholia and her concepts of the outsider and the catharsis. The method I use in my investigation is an interpretation, which is both an analytic and a hermeneutic process, i.e. a deconstructive, analytic operation based on a theory on the language and the subject and a construing, hermeneutic movement. In my pursuit I investigate structures, which make the intermittent fragmented language readable and coherent. From this point of view I study words and effects (sensations) that relate to the contrast semiotic-symbolic in Bübins unge, and disentangle energy of the affect.</p><p>Mare Kandre, Bübins unge (1987). Julia Kristeva, Pouvoirs de l´horreur (1980) and Soleil noir (1987).</p>

Cette thèse se propose d’étudier les enjeux et les stratégies à l’œuvre dans l’apparition de la peur dans les œuvres littéraires et vidéoludiques. Il s’agit de théoriser, dans une démarche comparatiste, le rapprochement des deux médiums ainsi que les paradigmes structurant les fictions horrifiques. La capacité du jeu vidéo et de la littérature à produire de l’incertitude et de l’étrangeté à partir d’un code rigoureux (textuel, informatique, ludique) durant son actualisation en œuvre par l’interaction du lecteur/joueur et l’interdépendance conflictuelle entre mimesis (mise en forme du réel) et phantasia (résurgence d’un réel défiant la rationalité) forment les fondations de ce travail.En tant que catalyseur de la peur, le monstre constitue le point central de l’analyse formelle des œuvres étudiées. La synthèse d’un large corpus permet d’identifier quatre archétypes à partir desquels se déploient les multiples actualisations de la monstruosité : le Barbare, la Gorgone, le Revenant et la Chimère. Ces figures incarnent les zones d’ombre de la culture occidentale. Le Barbare exprime la confrontation à une étrangeté envahissant l’environnement familier mais aussi le soubassement violent et chaotique de la civilisation. La Gorgone représente l’Autre radical, fascinant et terrifiant. S’en approcher suppose de s’aventurer hors du monde et de courir le risque d’être contaminé par la monstruosité, incapable de regagner la demeure. Le Revenant figure les enjeux de la hantise, d’un passé qui, constitutif du présent, reste vivant. Fruit d’une rupture de la continuité temporelle, il ne peut qu’y être réintégré par la résolution de l’énigme qu’il pose. La Chimère est, quant à elle, celle qui transgresse les catégories. Monstre aux multiples visages, elle défie l’organisation rationnelle du réel.Enfin, une étude de la figure de l’auteur, des processus d’adaptation et d’extension des univers fictifs permet d’aborder la mobilité des figures monstrueuses et leur capacité à franchir les frontières, qu’il s’agisse des intentions de création, des cadres médiatiques ou des mondes fictionnels. Ces conclusions s’appuient sur une mise en dialogue d’œuvres littéraires et vidéoludiques sélectionnées dans un corpus varié visant à concilier rigueur de l’analyse et vision englobante. / The aim of this thesis is to study the stakes and strategies behind the apparition of fear in novels and video games. Through a comparative approach, I intend to theorize the bridging of these mediums and the paradigms structuring scary fictions. At the core of this work lie the ability of video games and literature to create uncertainty and strangeness from a rigorous code (be it textual, digital or game rules) during the interaction with the reader/gamer and the conflicting interdependence between mimesis (as a shaping of reality) and phantasia (as a resurgence of a reality that defies reason).As fear’s catalyst, the monster is at the heart of my formal analysis. The synthesis of a large corpus allows for an identification of four archetypes from which the various manifestations of monstrosity spread: the barbarian, the gorgon, the phantom and the chimera. These figures personify the dark corners of western culture. The barbarian embodies the confrontation with an alien whom invades a familiar environment as well as the violent and chaotic base upon which rests civilization. The gorgon represents the radical otherness, fascinating and terrifying. To go near it is to venture out of the world and to run the risk of being contaminated by the monster, becoming unable to go back home. The phantom conveys the stakes of the haunting, of an undead past that is still part of the present. As the baring of a tearing in time continuity, it is to be reintegrated through the solving of the enigma it poses. Ultimately, the chimera is the one who transgresses categories. With its numerous faces, it defies the rational organisation of reality. Finally, a study of the author’s figure, of the adaptation process and of the fictional worlds extensions offers an outlook on the mobility of monsters and their capacity to cross borders, whether they are creative intents, mediatic frames of worlds of fiction.These conclusions are based on a dialogue between literary works and video games selected in a diverse corpus that aims to merge analytical thoroughness and an encompassing vision.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the melancholic, poetic language in Bübins unge (Bübin´s brat) by Mare Kandre (1962 – 2005). In my opinion the novel, which is about a teenage ritual, also gives an imaginary arena for archaic and unmentionable experiences of the libido. It is therefore a witness to the truth of the subjects complex mind. To my assistance I have Julia Kristeva´s theory on the abjection, the successful melancholia and her concepts of the outsider and the catharsis. The method I use in my investigation is an interpretation, which is both an analytic and a hermeneutic process, i.e. a deconstructive, analytic operation based on a theory on the language and the subject and a construing, hermeneutic movement. In my pursuit I investigate structures, which make the intermittent fragmented language readable and coherent. From this point of view I study words and effects (sensations) that relate to the contrast semiotic-symbolic in Bübins unge, and disentangle energy of the affect. Mare Kandre, Bübins unge (1987). Julia Kristeva, Pouvoirs de l´horreur (1980) and Soleil noir (1987).