Le genre filmique – moteur par excellence de la cinématographie hollywoodienne – s’est imposé, au cours des dernières décennies, comme un champ théorique à part entière des études cinématographiques. Or, sa reconnaissance tardive au sein de la recherche universitaire témoigne du paradoxe structurant le champ cinématographique hollywoodien. En effet, la tension qu’entretient Hollywood entre l’industrie du divertissement et le cinéma d’art se révèle d’une façon particulière à travers la notion de genre cinématographique, qui s’avère à la fois un canevas de fabrication et un espace de création. Ce mémoire vise l’étude du genre filmique selon trois articulations : d’un point de vue institutionnel, d’abord, en questionnant les enjeux du champ cinématographique hollywoodien ; d’un point de vue théorique, ensuite, au moyen d’une plongée au sein des conventions et des procédés de trois genres filmiques ; et finalement, à travers l’analyse d’un corpus de films du réalisateur David Lynch. Ainsi, l’œuvre de Lynch, par son caractère marginal, inclassable et profondément étrange, donnera lieu à un parcours, certes, atypique, mais néanmoins significatif de ces trois niveaux de l’étude du genre filmique, dictant par le fait même une division en deux parties du travail. Dans un premier temps, le mémoire s’attardera à mettre en perspective la définition du champ hollywoodien et la trajectoire de Lynch, ce qui nous permettra d’identifier trois genres filmiques qui présentent un ancrage particulier au sein de la filmographie lynchienne, soit le thriller, le film noir et l’horreur. Dans un deuxième temps, nous procéderons à l’analyse filmique de Blue Velvet (1986), Lost Highway (1997) et Mulholland Drive (2001), trois films qui adoptent la logique de la trilogie en proposant, reprenant, puis aboutissant à un certain nombre de motifs issus des conventions génériques. Ainsi, les grilles de lecture des genres filmiques explorés par le cinéaste permettront d’observer la dimension à la fois classique et expérimentale de l’œuvre lynchienne par rapport à la cinématographie hollywoodienne tout en exposant les innovations du cinéaste à l’égard d’éléments génériques spécifiques. / The film genre – the driving force par excellence of Hollywood cinematography – has established itself in recent decades as a theoretical field in its own right in Film Studies. However, its late recognition within academia testifies to the paradox underlying Hollywood cinematography. Indeed, the tension that Hollywood maintains between the entertainment industry and art cinema is revealed in a particular way through the concept of cinematographic genre, which turns out to be both a canvas for production and a space for creation. This thesis aims to study the film genre according to three articulations: first, from an institutional perspective by questioning the challenges within the Hollywood cinematographic field from a theoretical point of view; second, by exploring the conventions and processes of three film genres; and thirdly, through the analysis of a corpus of films by director David Lynch. Thus, Lynch's work, by its marginal, unclassifiable and profoundly strange character, will lay the foundation for an admittedly atypical, but nevertheless significant analysis of these three levels of study of the film genre, thereby dividing this work in two parts. Initially, the thesis will focus on putting into perspective the definition of the Hollywood field and Lynch's trajectory, which will allow us to identify three significant film genres within Lynch’s filmography, namely the thriller, film noir and horror. In a second step, we will proceed with the filmic analysis of Blue Velvet (1986), Lost Highway (1997) and Mulholland Drive (2001), three films which adopt the logic of a trilogy by proposing, summarizing then culminating in a certain number of motifs from generic conventions. Thus, the analytical perspectives from the film genres explored by the filmmaker will allow us to observe both the classical and experimental style of the Lynchian work in Hollywood cinematography while exhibiting the filmmaker's contribution to certain elements of filmic genre.

The films of David Lynch are full of ambiguities that derive from his habitual distortion of time, inversion of characters, and creation of ironic, dreamlike worlds that are mired in crisis. While these ambiguities have been explored from numerous angles, scholars have only recently begun to closely examine music's role in Lynch's cinematic imagination. This dissertation explores the relationship between music and fantasy through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis where fantasy plays a crucial role in helping psychoanalytical subjects work through their psychical crises. In particular, I look at Blue Velvet (1986), Lost Highway (1996), and Mulholland Drive (2001), showing how Lynch employs music to manage and, in the case of Mulholland Drive, move beyond the particular crises of jouissance experienced by the Characters--and also the viewers. Before engaging in my analysis of Lynch's film music, however, I begin with an extended discussion of what Kevin Korsyn describes as the current crisis of music scholarship, examining how this crisis manifests itself in recent "postmodern" interpretations of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Few works are invested with as much cultural capital as this one and arguably the discourse around it exhibits the crisis more acutely than any other. Korsyn restricts his analysis to the fields of musicology and music theory, but I approach the crisis of music scholarship obliquely, through my Lacanian reading of Lynch's film music. This dissertation, then, has two goals. On one hand it attempts to examine music's role in Lynch's films, and on the other, it explores how Lynch's use of music might aid us in navigating and moving beyond the institutional crises of music scholarship. This Lynchian solution to our crisis provides a glimpse of what might lie beyond postmodernism, a new philosophical movement some are calling the "New Sincerity." This term covers several loosely related cultural or philosophical movements that have followed in the wake of postmodernism, the most notable being what Raoul Eshelman and Judith Butler refer to as "performatism." Finally, I return to Beethoven's Ninth to offer a second, performative reading, demonstrating how Lynch's use of music can be translated into current musical discourse. / text

The design of the new stage of the Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana adheres to, among other things, the motto of the “TACE” (Theatre Architecture in Central Europe) project, i.e. a search of forms and types of buildings for the "New Theatre for the 21st Century". Therefore, I confront three topics: 1/ the conventional binocular conception for the drama chorus of the National Theatre, 2/ the unconventional solution of the "TACE" and 3/ the urban conception of the location, the so-called "Southern Square", designed by Josip Plečnik. Ad1/ The serious and classical feeling of the conventional form of the theatre hall is required, for this is the National Theatre. Slovenia, as a relatively young state, strives to build and strengthen its historical and national existence; therefore, the classical conception should be preferred because most plays dealing with the national identity are written for this type of theatre. Unlike the unconventional type of “performance” theatres that tend to present international rather than national art. Ad 2/ The search for spatial forms of unconventional and interactive staging of traditional types, such as ballet, opera, musical or drama as well as new forms such as “performance” resulted in a clear conclusion - “black box”. The ideal theatre of the future is infinitely multifunctional neutral space equipped with technologies that enable using the area for virtually any purpose. The principle comes very close to that of film studios, yet equipped with theatrical and other technologies. Ad 3/ A controversial location in the centre of Ljubljana, which has been waiting for an urban conception since the 1930s. It is situated at the end of Plečnik’s “Ljubljana diameter”, with the obelisk in the French Revolution Square as the opposite pole. The unfinished axis obelisk-square-theatre is quite apparent. The location features a clearance and an inner block with a poor urban development; yet it also features the so-called Knafijev prehod, a socially well functional part. The building is divided into 2 functional units - the theatre with its halls, lounge, gallery and cafe, and a commercial passage with the theatre’s administration. The facade of the theatre is a composite of several elements: From left, a decoration consisting of a ruptured pillar with a statue of an actor with a background of the fly, as we move to the right, a “curtain” going down in a curve from a glass “heaven” of the theatre’s hall towering over the passage, out of which rises the solid pylon of the gallery made of half-transparent material LitraConTM. This composition shifts the axis of the lounge beyond the axis of the park to the axis of the diameter and makes thus room for service access. The theatre’s area with the passage beneath is linked by a number of newels which can spin and thus close and in this way enable changing the mode of the passage from a lounge to a public area. The conception of the theatre's area combines sections 1/ and 2/ mentioned above. It consists of the classical stage with a trap cellar, portal and fly, which can be used a classical opera-glasses theatre for as many as 800 persons in the audience and/or, if the iron curtain is closed, as a small scene with approximately 100 seats. The remaining area functions as experimental and consists of a revolving auditorium and 4 stages whose back walls feature panorama windows.

The desire to enhance and make ourselves better is not a new one and it has continued to intrigue throughout the ages. Individuals have continued to seek ways to improve and enhance their well-being for example through nutrition, physical exercise, education and so on. Crucial to this improvement of their well-being is improving their ability to remember. Hence, people interested in improving their well-being, are often interested in memory as well. The rationale being that memory is crucial to our well-being. The desire to improve one’s memory then is almost certainly as old as the desire to improve one’s well-being. Traditionally, people have used different means in an attempt to enhance their memories: for example in learning through storytelling, studying, and apprenticeship. In remembering through practices like mnemonics, repetition, singing, and drumming. In retaining, storing and consolidating memories through nutrition and stimulants like coffee to help keep awake; and by external aids like notepads and computers. In forgetting through rituals and rites. Recent scientific advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology, molecular biology, neuroscience, and information technologies, present a wide variety of technologies to enhance many different aspects of human functioning. Thus, some commentators have identified human enhancement as central and one of the most fascinating subject in bioethics in the last two decades. Within, this period, most of the commentators have addressed the Ethical, Social, Legal and Policy (ESLP) issues in human enhancements as a whole as opposed to specific enhancements. However, this is problematic and recently various commentators have found this to be deficient and called for a contextualized case-by-case analysis to human enhancements for example genetic enhancement, moral enhancement, and in my case memory enhancement (ME). The rationale being that the reasons for accepting/rejecting a particular enhancement vary depending on the enhancement itself. Given this enormous variation, moral and legal generalizations about all enhancement processes and technologies are unwise and they should instead be evaluated individually. Taking this as a point of departure, this research will focus specifically on making a case for ME and in doing so assessing the ESLP implications arising from ME. My analysis will draw on the already existing literature for and against enhancement, especially in part two of this thesis; but it will be novel in providing a much more in-depth analysis of ME. From this perspective, I will contribute to the ME debate through two reviews that address the question how we enhance the memory, and through four original papers discussed in part three of this thesis, where I examine and evaluate critically specific ESLP issues that arise with the use of ME. In the conclusion, I will amalgamate all my contribution to the ME debate and suggest the future direction for the ME debate.