Hyperartifical cinema and the art of cool

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:In this thesis, an ontology of contemporary cinema is developed using the position assumedby postmodern thinkers (notably Jean Baudrillard) and contemporary filmmakers. UsingBaudrillard's perspective it is argued that the cinematic apparatus is an expression of bothhuman curiosity and a desire to place reality at a distance. While the spectator seeksinvolvement with the viewed subject, he or she remains detached from the images whichsimulate the various realities in which he or she becomes involved through the act ofviewing.The contemporary Western subject is said to crave meaning in a universe which isincreasingly secular, materialistic, individualistic and, to a certain extent, virtual. Life is alsosaid to be more ironic, providing illusory concessions such as communication in lieu ofinteraction, information instead of knowledge, choice in favour of quality, surfaces ratherthan depth, and images which ultimately extinguish the real. Moving images may be said toallude to the artificial nature of a reality which is itself a human construction. This suggeststhat the role of the camera is to place both the world and human subjects at a distance,thereby objectifying (and potentially dehumanising) the subject-objects of the gaze.Many postmodern films are concerned with the functioning of the cinematic apparatus itself,and these films - implicitly and explicitly - deal with the way in which subjectivity isestablished through the cinematic gaze. Realism in the cinema has to a large extent shiftedfrom the documentation of the world, to techniques which problematise the viewer'sexperience of reality. Interactivity, faux-verité and the hyperrealism of computer graphicimaging, have contributed to the confusion of various forms of screen realism, arguablyimpacting on the viewer's experience of reality.In another sense, reality has been transformed by the blurring of distinctions between highand low cultural paradigms, increasingly evident in work that privileges the showing ofperverse, profane, grotesque, vulgar and explicit realities. Boundaries betweenprivate and publiC spaces are eroded as the cinematic apparatus takes spectators intoincreasingly intimate personal spaces, demystifying and popularising the unknown andpreviously hidden.Considering the influence of commercial and socio-economic factors on the development ofcontemporary cinema (emphasizing Hollywood), the thesis looks at the aesthetic, thematicand narrative concerns of both mainstream and niche-market films. Focus is given to the socalled postmodern aesthetic which is closely linked to what some critics call recycling (aninability to say anything new), some label empty (meaningless) and many see asschizoid (able to be read in various, often contradictory, ways).The thesis proposes that contemporary (postmodern) cinema is a pure form whichincreasingly sets reality at a distance so that it's illusory nature is emphasised. It alsodemonstrates how contemporary films serve as reflections of a world which is itself nothingbut a reflection (artificial construction). Like dreams, fantasies and other virtual realities,the cinema represents a form of remembering which is detached from any particular timeor space. In this sense, cinematic moving images enable viewers to engage with aspects oftheir own humanity which may be quite independent of the reality status of the world.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University