The article explores the role played by moral categories in the assessment of an artwork’s overall aesthetic value. By means of close analysis of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 There Will Be Blood, the work maintains an immoralist approach, where an artwork’s unethical attitude may yield cognitive gain to its receiver—or perhaps unsettle their moral compass in an unusual, pleasant way. There Will Be Blood is considered a cinematic masterwork; yet, the viewing experience is complicated by the film’s greedy and self-obsessed protagonist, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis). The article scrutinizes the film’s most notable sequence—the explosion of the oil derrick—to formulate an aesthetic evaluation that manages to assess, simultaneously, formal and moral aspects.
{"title":"Ethical Criticism and There Will Be Blood: Autonomism, Moralism, and Immoralist Perspectives","authors":"Giulia Tronconi","doi":"10.1386/fm_00209_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00209_1","url":null,"abstract":"The article explores the role played by moral categories in the assessment of an artwork’s overall aesthetic value. By means of close analysis of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 There Will Be Blood, the work maintains an immoralist approach, where an artwork’s unethical\u0000 attitude may yield cognitive gain to its receiver—or perhaps unsettle their moral compass in an unusual, pleasant way. There Will Be Blood is considered a cinematic masterwork; yet, the viewing experience is complicated by the film’s greedy and self-obsessed protagonist,\u0000 Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis). The article scrutinizes the film’s most notable sequence—the explosion of the oil derrick—to formulate an aesthetic evaluation that manages to assess, simultaneously, formal and moral aspects.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"133 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132539253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores the symbolic connotations of cigarettes in Orson Welles’s The Lady from Shanghai (1947). Although a common theme in film noir, the act of smoking can become a dynamic component of cinematic narrative. My work argues that Elsa Bannister’s use of cigarettes in the film reinvents the object’s role within the genre, as cigarettes move from being a “thing” to embodying Elsa’s power. The article demonstrates this by examining valuable scenes through shot-by-shot analysis and thus challenging the characters’ agency in relation to Elsa.
{"title":"“I’m Learning to Smoke Now”: The Evolution of Cigarettes in Orson Welles’s The Lady from Shanghai","authors":"Francesca Iucci","doi":"10.1386/fm_00205_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00205_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the symbolic connotations of cigarettes in Orson Welles’s The Lady from Shanghai (1947). Although a common theme in film noir, the act of smoking can become a dynamic component of cinematic narrative. My work argues that Elsa Bannister’s use\u0000 of cigarettes in the film reinvents the object’s role within the genre, as cigarettes move from being a “thing” to embodying Elsa’s power. The article demonstrates this by examining valuable scenes through shot-by-shot analysis and thus challenging the characters’\u0000 agency in relation to Elsa.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"16 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134090116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
“Getting Tested for Monsterdom: Frankenstein and Ex Machina” advances our understanding of what it means to be a monster. We might conceive of monsters as beings that look grotesque and/or that act maliciously with intent. However, there is a vast gray area as to why one should or should not be labeled a monster. This article will discuss the unjust physical expectations leveled toward “monsters” and give a new line of application to the nature vs. nurture theory.
{"title":"Getting Tested for Monsterdom: Frankenstein and Ex Machina","authors":"Chris Van Green","doi":"10.1386/fm_00220_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00220_7","url":null,"abstract":"“Getting Tested for Monsterdom: Frankenstein and Ex Machina” advances our understanding of what it means to be a monster. We might conceive of monsters as beings that look grotesque and/or that act maliciously with intent. However, there is a vast gray area\u0000 as to why one should or should not be labeled a monster. This article will discuss the unjust physical expectations leveled toward “monsters” and give a new line of application to the nature vs. nurture theory.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121443935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article will plot and examine the spiritual progression of protagonist Sebastiao Rodrigues from “blind faith” to a fuller awareness of his spiritual self. Endo’s narratives will be seen to eschew allegorical readings in favor of presenting the importance of the spiritual journey for the individual. In the face of extreme violence, Rodrigues will be seen to develop from a position of aspiration toward honorable martyrdom to one of disillusion and disconnection from institutions that obfuscate the clarity of his personal relationship with Christ. The conclusion Endo will be seen to arrive at is that this is the true potential of a spiritual life, that the individual might find affirmation of their own belief in spite of persecution and judicial torture.
{"title":"The Internal Journey Toward Spiritual Self-Recognition in Shūsaku Endō’s Silence","authors":"Elijah Young","doi":"10.1386/fm_00213_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00213_7","url":null,"abstract":"This article will plot and examine the spiritual progression of protagonist Sebastiao Rodrigues from “blind faith” to a fuller awareness of his spiritual self. Endo’s narratives will be seen to eschew allegorical readings in favor of presenting the importance of the\u0000 spiritual journey for the individual. In the face of extreme violence, Rodrigues will be seen to develop from a position of aspiration toward honorable martyrdom to one of disillusion and disconnection from institutions that obfuscate the clarity of his personal relationship with Christ. The\u0000 conclusion Endo will be seen to arrive at is that this is the true potential of a spiritual life, that the individual might find affirmation of their own belief in spite of persecution and judicial torture.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114184284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Interviews with Jacqui Fifer and Tom Cronin, makers of The Portal.
采访《传送门》的制作人Jacqui Fifer和Tom Cronin。
{"title":"Interview with the Makers of The Portal","authors":"Nicholas Mahoney, Leigh Ann Vicoli","doi":"10.1386/fm_00216_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00216_7","url":null,"abstract":"Interviews with Jacqui Fifer and Tom Cronin, makers of The Portal.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115890494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the character of Dounia from the 2016 film Divines through different facets of her identity. As a North African girl living in a Roma camp outside of a Parisian banlieue, Dounia faces a multitude of challenges if she wishes to not only survive, but ultimately escape her socio-economic position. To do so, Dounia must enter the banlieue’s male-dominated economy by masquerading in a male role. This performance of gender exposes other pieces of her identity as performed, and performance itself is exposed as her most powerful tool toward escape.
{"title":"Divines and the Constructed Self","authors":"Sophie Barbour","doi":"10.1386/fm_00200_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00200_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the character of Dounia from the 2016 film Divines through different facets of her identity. As a North African girl living in a Roma camp outside of a Parisian banlieue, Dounia faces a multitude of challenges if she wishes to not only survive, but ultimately\u0000 escape her socio-economic position. To do so, Dounia must enter the banlieue’s male-dominated economy by masquerading in a male role. This performance of gender exposes other pieces of her identity as performed, and performance itself is exposed as her most powerful tool toward escape.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"178 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116064541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article assesses the spiritual journey of a Christian priest in seventeenth-century Japan in Masahiro Shinoda’s 1971 film, Silence. With a specific focus on cinematic elements like soundscapes and themes, it evaluates how the director utilizes filmic features to establish and heighten prevalent motif’s such as religious boundaries and apostasy. Furthermore, it strives to understand how the film reflects its contemporary sociopolitical climate and aims to explore any authorial influences.
{"title":"The Sound of Silence: Spiritual Struggle and Apostasy in Masahiro Shinoda’s Film","authors":"Alison Parmenter","doi":"10.1386/fm_00214_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00214_7","url":null,"abstract":"This article assesses the spiritual journey of a Christian priest in seventeenth-century Japan in Masahiro Shinoda’s 1971 film, Silence. With a specific focus on cinematic elements like soundscapes and themes, it evaluates how the director utilizes filmic features to establish and heighten prevalent motif’s such as religious boundaries and apostasy. Furthermore, it strives to understand how the film reflects its contemporary sociopolitical climate and aims to explore any authorial influences.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125145652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article considers the construction and reimaging of the Banlieue space in Olivier Babinet’s 2016 film, Swagger. It is informed by Homi Bhabha’s concept of Third Space, and explores the ways in which the film challenges reductive representations of the Banlieue and its inhabitants, the violent rhetoric of French Universalism, and the myth of national identity. Swagger employs reflexive strategies that challenge dominant notions about the Banlieue space and population that are rooted in colonialism and White supremacy. In doing so, it reveals the connections between cinematic representation, systemic violence, and spatial transformation.
{"title":"Reflexivity, Third Space, and Representation: Radical Reimaginings of the Banlieue in Swagger (2016)","authors":"Jacqueline Brady","doi":"10.1386/fm_00202_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00202_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article considers the construction and reimaging of the Banlieue space in Olivier Babinet’s 2016 film, Swagger. It is informed by Homi Bhabha’s concept of Third Space, and explores the ways in which the film challenges reductive representations of the\u0000 Banlieue and its inhabitants, the violent rhetoric of French Universalism, and the myth of national identity. Swagger employs reflexive strategies that challenge dominant notions about the Banlieue space and population that are rooted in colonialism and White supremacy.\u0000 In doing so, it reveals the connections between cinematic representation, systemic violence, and spatial transformation.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"98 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129859858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
9/11 became the cursor in converting millions of Muslims into one homogeneous society ‐ what Edward Said describes as the “Christian picture of Islam.” This ongoing process scrutinized mainstream Muslims irrespective of their context/origins. Practicing Muslim women who adorned a headscarf, popularly known as hijab, came to be interpreted as being oppressed, irrespective of their social-economic or ethnic status since it went against the notions of western feminism, which extensively preached the idea of being liberal and free in all senses. This article attempts to discuss the obsession with the “unveiling of the veil” through the movie Hala (Baig, 2019) and explores how the degradation of Islam produces smeared representations, thereby justifying and glorifying western ideals and civilization as whole.
{"title":"Western Modernism and the Fetishization of the Hijab: Deconstructing the Movie Hala","authors":"Aatika Fareed","doi":"10.1386/fm_00203_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00203_1","url":null,"abstract":"9/11 became the cursor in converting millions of Muslims into one homogeneous society ‐ what Edward Said describes as the “Christian picture of Islam.” This ongoing process scrutinized mainstream Muslims irrespective of their context/origins. Practicing Muslim women\u0000 who adorned a headscarf, popularly known as hijab, came to be interpreted as being oppressed, irrespective of their social-economic or ethnic status since it went against the notions of western feminism, which extensively preached the idea of being liberal and free in all senses. This article\u0000 attempts to discuss the obsession with the “unveiling of the veil” through the movie Hala (Baig, 2019) and explores how the degradation of Islam produces smeared representations, thereby justifying and glorifying western ideals and civilization as whole.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131692193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Martin Scorsese’s Silence depicts the relationship between man and God. In the atmosphere of seventeenth-century Japan, where Christians were persecuted as a consequence of their attempt to spread Catholic Christianity, the film follows the journey of Jesuit priest Father Rodrigues, who is sent to the country in search of his vanished mentor. Throughout, Rodrigues’s journey turns out to be external and physical as much as it is internal and, predominantly, spiritual. Found in a country and culture to which he doesn’t belong, and which are hostile to him, Rodrigues’s faith slowly undergoes a transformation. This article focuses on the way his relationship to God changes, and on how this delicate, yet powerful process is presented through the film.
{"title":"The Hope of the Cross in Martin Scorsese’s Silence","authors":"Costanza Chirdo","doi":"10.1386/fm_00215_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/fm_00215_7","url":null,"abstract":"Martin Scorsese’s Silence depicts the relationship between man and God. In the atmosphere of seventeenth-century Japan, where Christians were persecuted as a consequence of their attempt to spread Catholic Christianity, the film follows the journey of Jesuit priest Father Rodrigues,\u0000 who is sent to the country in search of his vanished mentor. Throughout, Rodrigues’s journey turns out to be external and physical as much as it is internal and, predominantly, spiritual. Found in a country and culture to which he doesn’t belong, and which are hostile to him, Rodrigues’s\u0000 faith slowly undergoes a transformation. This article focuses on the way his relationship to God changes, and on how this delicate, yet powerful process is presented through the film.","PeriodicalId":272564,"journal":{"name":"Film Matters","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130776210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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