The Dysphoric Style in Contemporary American Independent Cinema David C

Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 The Dysphoric Style in Contemporary American Independent Cinema David C. Simmons Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THE DYSPHORIC STYLE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN INDEPENDENT CINEMA By DAVID C. SIMMONS A Dissertation submitted to the Program in the Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2005 Copyright (c) 2005 David C. Simmons All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of David C. Simmons defended on April 11, 2005. ____________________________________ Karen L. Laughlin Professor Co-Directing Dissertation ____________________________________ Mark Garrett Cooper Professor Co-Directing Dissertation ____________________________________ Valliere Richard Auzenne Outside Committee Member ____________________________________ William J. Cloonan Committee Member Approved: ___________________________________ David F. Johnson Director, Program in the Humanities The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the assistance of Sandefur Schmidt and my mother, Rita Simmons. I gratefully acknowledge both of them for the immense kindness and help they’ve provided me. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................... v INTRODUCTION: THE DYSPHORIC STYLE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN INDEPENDENT CINEMA ................. 1 1. TRYING TO HOLD ONTO A PIECE OF PI: THE DYSPHORIC STYLE’S STRUCTURING OF CAUSAL RELATIONS ......... 7 2. FACT OR PULP FICTION: THE DYSPHORIC STYLE AND TEMPORAL RELATIONS .................... 26 3. “THE COOKIE STAND IS NOT PART OF THE FOOD COURT”: THE DYSPHORIC STYLE AND SPATIAL RELATIONS ....................... 56 4. OUT OF THE PAST: THE DYSPHORIC STYLE COMES OF AGE ................................. 91 CONCLUSION: THE VALUE OF A STYLISTIC ACCOUNT .................. 134 APPENDICES ........................................................... 141 WORKS CITED .......................................................... 173 FILMOGRAPHY ......................................................... 183 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................... 193 iv ABSTRACT This dissertation argues that contemporary American independent cinema needs to be theorized in a new way. Film criticism has traditionally defined independent film in one of two ways: financing (which, as we see by George Lucas’ independently financed Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith [2005], is not an adequate approach) or anti-Hollywood content (which is problematic because it only explains what this cinema is not, rather than what it is). Instead, I argue that contemporary American independent cinema is best defined in terms of style. This style may best be described as dysphoric (a state of anxiety or restlessness specifically constructed for the spectator). Building from David Bordwell’s analysis of film form, I show how the dysphoric style structures the aspects of 1) narrative causality; 2) temporal relations; and 3) spatial relations. Such a style arises from and conveys the nihilistic themes that characterize contemporary American independent cinema. Chapter 1 examines narrative, arguing that the dysphoric style constructs narratives with loose causality, ambiguity, unresolved gaps, an open ending, and passive characters devoid of clear goals. Looking closely at the film Pi (Darren Aronofsky, 1998), I explicate how its narrative is distinct from a film with similar themes, but which arises from a completely different group style, A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard, 2001). Comparing and contrasting the pair of films in this and subsequent chapters allows for greater illumination of the distinct nature of the dysphoric style. I also provide additional examples of independent films in this and the following chapters to substantiate my argument. Chapter 2 examines the realm of temporality, arguing that Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2001) constructs time in a way that heightens ambiguity and leaves unresolved narrative gaps, something quite different than Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) which I show to be a mainstream film, despite its reputation. Chapter 3 looks at space, while providing a critique of Bordwell’s account using more recent scholarship. I argue that dysphoric space is fragmented, unstable, unclear, metaphoric, and subjective. Here SLC Punk (James v Merendino, 1998) is revealed as being spatially dysphoric, while Mallrats (Kevin Smith, 1995), a film often considered independent, is really only performing the same old classical maneuvers. Chapter 4 describes the evolution of the dysphoric style, presenting a case about how it morphed from the existential styles of film noir and European Art Cinema of the 1960s. I also demonstrate how the dysphoric style in turn influences its own neighboring contemporary cinemas. This dissertation provides a new way to conceptualize, theorize, and discuss the phenomenon I am calling contemporary American independent cinema. It enables a more nuanced understanding of its films. It provides an opportunity to notice how contemporary American independent cinema intersects, informs, is distinguished from, and is influenced by other cinemas. Most importantly, it allows us to understand U.S. culture in a more complex manner by seeing how this cinema not only reflects nihilism, but produces it. vi INTRODUCTION: THE DYSPHORIC STYLE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN INDEPENDENT CINEMA What is “independent cinema”? Most answers to this question take one of two approaches. Greg Merritt, in his work Celluloid Mavericks: A History of American Independent Film, believes that what constitutes an independent film comes down to its mode of production. He defines an independent film as one “financed and produced completely autonomous of all studios regardless of size. Such films do not have a prior distribution arrangement” (xii). Yet, under Merritt’s definition, George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith (2005) would be an independent film.1 Few would agree with this classification. Emanuel Levy, in his book Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film, presents the second approach: an independent film is one with content that stands in direct opposition to Hollywood cinema. He quotes director James Mangold who believes in “a good, healthy, anti-Hollywood sentiment, working outside the system . trying to make movies free of a certain Hollywood aesthetic” (3). Yet this anti-Hollywood approach fails to explain what unifies the type of “opposition” these films present. Even further, the opposition thesis typically ends up recapitulating the first, production-oriented approach I’ve mentioned (as Levy himself clearly does [6].) In contrast to these points of view, I propose that what sets this cinema apart from other cinemas is its discernible style. The neglect of stylistic issues has prevented prior criticism from understanding this cinema. Whereas Merritt gets stuck using financial data to place films in categories (independent, semi-independent, and studio), examining style will allow us to look critically at common elements that transcend budget or genre. This will exclude certain films made on low budgets without secure distribution deals and include some larger-budget films with 1Even George Lucas himself, speaking of his six Star Wars films, declares, “My movies have always been independent movies” (qtd. in Rich 8). 1 such prior distribution commitments. And whereas Levy gets distracted over how this cinema is anti-Hollywood, by turning to style, we can account for the “oppositional” features of independent cinema in positive terms. We can say what these features are rather than what they are not. Examining style will provide a clearer view of what allows an independent film to be recognized and marketed as such. It will allow us to raise crucial questions about its history, politics, and social concerns that would not be possible by the two standard approaches. Most importantly, it will allow us to understand how this cinema intervenes in a culture. According to David Bordwell, a “group style” is a set of paradigms or norms governing aesthetic choices among a group of filmmakers (Classical 3-5). This does not preclude exceptions within individual films; it simply means that certain stylistic choices can be discerned as having preeminence within a particular cinema. This group style generally remains consistent regardless of differing genres or modes of financing. Like the classical Hollywood cinema described by David Bordwell, Kristen Thompson, and Janet Staiger, contemporary American independent cinema is also predominantly structured by a distinct group style. That style seeks to place the spectator in a state of anxiety, confusion, or restlessness—in a word, dysphoria. This dysphoric style both reflects and produces the nihilism that characterizes this cinema. Nihilism is a particular world-view in which one believes that nothing (religion, government, philosophy, language, cinematic narrative systems, etc.) can ground truth or provide absolute values of any kind. It is accompanied by a distrust of all such systems that attempt to show absolutes and works to annihilate

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