Experiencing the Films of Chris Cunningham
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I Want Your Soul: Experiencing The Films Of Chris Cunningham William Hughes – 26/06/2017 Student Number: 11312882 Media Studies: Film Studies MA Supervisor: Tarja Laine Second Reader: Emiel Martens 1 Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................... 6 The Visceral ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 24 The Uncanny and The Sublime ........................................................................................................ 25 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 44 Black Humour and the Absurd ......................................................................................................... 45 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 59 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 60 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 63 2 Introduction Chris Cunningham is a British video artist known primarily for his directorial work in the music video form for ambient electronic musicians such as Aphex Twin, Autchre, Squarepusher and Bjork, although his full videography extends further. He began his career working on prosthetics for Stanley Kubrick’s A.I., which was not finished until 2001, after being headhunted by the legendary director. He has also worked with filmmakers such as David Fincher on Alien 3. However, Cunningham began to pursue his own projects, beginning with a video for Autechre’s Second Bad Vibel (1996). Although unhappy with the final product1, in this video we do see glimpses of motifs that will recur throughout the director’s career. The televisual distortion, the stuttering editing, the deformed human figures and robotics all reveal Cunningham’s early interest in conflicts between biology and technology as an aesthetic obsession. This recurring theme of biotechnology can be considered to mirror the cultural trend of posthumanism, or even transhumanism, we see in contemporary media culture, such as in Black Mirror (2011-), Westworld (2016-) and Ex Machina (2015), as well as in the work of the musicians for whom Cunningham has created music videos for, such as Aphex Twin and Bjork. These elements are present throughout his consequent videography and often lead him to be considered one of the most important figures in the music video landscape, alongside other music video auteurs, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry, with whom he cofounded the Directors Label series of DVDs showcasing the work of significant music video directors. Unlike Jonze and Gondry however, Cunningham has never made a transition into the format of feature length films. Despite being linked to a screen adaptation of William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, which never came to fruition, Cunningham has instead created increasingly experimental music videos, short films and video installations which have forgone the mainstream yet remained in the mind of the viewer. His videos, particularly those that served as collaborations with musicians Bjork and Aphex Twin, have achieved notable critical and public acclaim. Many remember his videos for their disturbing nature and shocking break from the glamourous, sexy norm of the music video, when appearing on MTV broadcasts in the late 90s and early 1 Chris Cunningham, The Work of Director Chris Cunningham (Sheffield: Warp, 2003). 3 2000s. It is because of the notoriety his videos have garnered from their disturbing, strange and sometimes horrific content that there can be said to be fertile ground for analysis. The sounds, the images and the thematic content of Cunningham’s videography have a strange ability to shock, disturb and outrage. This essay will explore the different ways Cunningham’s work achieves this; through the visceral nature of his films, his deft employment of the emotional phenomena of the uncanny and the sublime, and his sensibility of black humour. First, will be an exploration into the sensory aspects of his work, primarily, the visceral qualities that many of his films exhibit and how these function towards the overall experience of spectatorship. This sensory element is not exclusive to the sense of seeing and hearing, but is also manifested through touch and the embodiment of the sounds and images themselves, working towards a wider synesthetic experience of viewing. This approach, which examines the ‘sensual status of cinematic perception and aesthetics’2, works on the basis that, ‘due to the contemporary culture of technologized body or ‘mediated sensorium’ (by the Internet, mobile phones, iPods, and other digital technologies), we are currently in the process of rediscovering or ‘turning to’ this necessary condition.’3 It is because of the highly visceral qualities of Cunningham’s output that this approach seems to be vital for an investigation into the sources of these feelings of viscerality. Much like the thematic focus of biotechnology, the embodiment of Cunningham’s work also consists of a somewhat paradoxical blend of the organic and the synthetic, utilising both the digital and analogue technology. The sensory aspect of touch can be seen in the strong emphasis on the disgusting in the imagery of his videos. Physical disgust, ’the most visceral of emotions’4, is achieved through the bodily nature of the images, which also contributes to their disturbing quality. These feelings of disgust are further heightened through the proximity of said images to the skin of the screen, and as a result, the viewer. 2 Tarja Laine, Wanda Strauven. “The Synaesthetic Turn,” New review Of Film And Television Studies 7, no.3 (2009): 254. 3 Tarja Laine, Wanda Strauven. “The Synaesthetic Turn,” New review Of Film And Television Studies 7, no.3 (2009): 254. 4 Carl Platinga, Moving Viewers (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009). 210. 4 The second chapter will focus on Cunningham’s use of horrific elements and how these function as a part of the overall experience. Perhaps more prominent than the explicitly horrific, however, is the more elusive and intangible emotional phenomena of the uncanny. The uncanny is a key concept and underlying in many aspects of Cunningham’s oeuvre. It is characterised by the feelings of discomfort that are experienced when something ‘gives us the creeps’, which is due to the object’s familiar unfamiliarity5. Common uncanny objects include, the automaton, a ventriloquist’s dummy, a poorly designed animated character, or a corpse. The uncanny valley refers to a point of lifelike humanity in a humanoid creation, that becomes close to appearing real, yet falls short, as a result, eliciting feelings of the uncanny in the observer.6 This occurs in Cunningham’s work frequently, however, unlike many cases of the uncanny valley, this deathly in between state of humanity is encouraged through much of Cunningham’s aesthetic. The uncanny, however, is not the only aesthetic phenomenon present in Cunningham’s work with the sublime also playing a significant role. The sublime is the feelings of beauty, awe and insignificance that one experiences when confronted with something greater than oneself. Although originally attributed to the divine power of nature we see, in Cunningham’s work, a shift towards the biotechnological sublime, an aesthetic in which technological control over nature, effaces nature itself in the production of the sublime phenomena. Thirdly, there will be an investigation into Cunningham’s use of black humour in his films, and the way this affects the viewer. Black humour is defined by Mark Polizzotti as ‘a partly macabre, partly ironic, often absurd turn of spirit that constitutes the “mortal enemy of sentimentality,” and beyond that a “superior revolt of the mind.”’7 The macabre sense of irony, along with the absurd sensibility, are important elements in Cunningham’s aesthetic. However, far from diminishing the disturbing effects of his work, they seem to exacerbate such elements through an odd and jarring tone. Particular attention will be paid to how this functions alongside the horrific elements established in the previous chapter, with a complex, troubling atmosphere emerging from the juxtaposition of the horrific and the humorous. Further attention will also be given to the absurd 5 Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny. Translated by David McLintock. (London: Penguin Books, 1899). 6 Angela Tinwell, The Uncanny Valley In Games & Animation (Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2015). 7 Andre Breton, Mark Polizzotti, Anthology Of Black Humour. (London: Museum Telegram, 2009). vi. 5 aspects of Cunningham’s work. Particularly, how the absurd breaks the expectations of the viewer and further develops a sense of the uncanny. Although the vast majority of Cunningham’s work can be said to utilise a certain degree of the uncanny in order to provoke