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Ethics and Politics in New Extreme Films

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Ethics and Politics in New Extreme Films View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Queen Mary Research Online ETHICS AND POLITICS IN NEW EXTREME FILMS Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Oliver Kenny Department of Film Queen Mary University of London I, Oliver Kenny, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other Intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the elec- tronic version of the thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information de- rived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: Date: 20th December 2017 2 Abstract This thesis investigates a corpus of controversial, mainly European films from 1998 to 2013, to determine which features have led to their critical description as ‘new extreme’ films and according to what ethical framework ‘new extreme’ films operate. These films feature provoc- ative depictions of sex and violence, and have been decried as misogynistic, homophobic and racist. I contend, firstly, that the extremity in ‘new extreme’ films is best understood as an unresolved tension between opposites such as inside/outside and convention/transgression. This definition draws on work on the ‘extreme’ by sociologist Patrick Baudry and art historian Paul Ardenne. Secondly, I argue that these films employ an ethical framework based on con- frontational aesthetic strategies which challenge dominant interpretations of images of sex and violence, a framework similar to the image-based ethics of Kaja Silverman, Petra Kuppers and Wendy Kozol. In this way, ‘new extreme’ films destabilise interpretations of images of women, pornography, nationhood, sex, violence, race and sexuality. This thesis contends that a definition of extremity based on unresolved tensions elucidates the specificity of ‘new extreme’ films whose opposites manifest themselves on formal, aesthetic, narrative, generic and political levels. I argue that these opposites can be linked to an image- based ethical framework, both of which are best understood by examining what is visible or obscured, how close to or distanced from the images we feel and for how long we endure the images. Exploring visibility and obscurity (Krzywinska, White), haptics and sensation (Beug- net, Marks), and ‘processive’ duration (Keeling), I contend that particular strategies of visibil- ity, proximity and duration provoke visceral reactions of disgust, arousal, nausea and shock. Using shocking visibility and undecipherable obscurity, haptic close-ups and distanced long shots, rapid editing and extended takes, new extreme films undermine stable viewing positions thereby challenging our interpretations of images of sex and violence. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 6 Author’s note ............................................................................................................................. 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 9 Critical approaches to new extreme films ............................................................................ 12 Delimiting new extreme films ............................................................................................. 18 Boundaries, limits and extremity in other scholarship ......................................................... 23 Extremity and new extreme films ........................................................................................ 25 Visibility, proximity, duration ............................................................................................. 30 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 35 Chapter summaries ............................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 1 – Extremity .............................................................................................................. 46 Extremity – Ardenne and Baudry ........................................................................................ 58 The Extreme Image .............................................................................................................. 63 The New Extreme Image ..................................................................................................... 68 Film and Ethics .................................................................................................................... 76 New Extreme Films and Ethics ............................................................................................ 83 General methodological notes .............................................................................................. 90 Chapter 2 – Visibility ............................................................................................................... 94 Visibility – extremity – ethics .............................................................................................. 97 Modal ambiguities – Intimacy ........................................................................................... 102 Disgust – A Hole in my Heart ............................................................................................ 106 Authenticity – Baise-moi ................................................................................................... 114 Irreconcilable contradictions – The Idiots .......................................................................... 126 Obscurity ............................................................................................................................ 132 Subjective Authenticity – Irreversible ............................................................................... 138 Exaggeration – A New Life ................................................................................................ 143 Plural perspectives – Sombre ............................................................................................. 149 New extreme visibility ....................................................................................................... 156 Chapter 3 – Proximity ............................................................................................................ 158 Proximity – extremity – ethics ........................................................................................... 161 The close-up ....................................................................................................................... 164 The caress – 9 Songs .......................................................................................................... 172 Perforation – In My Skin .................................................................................................... 178 Productive bodies – Romance and Anatomy of Hell .......................................................... 183 Penetration and perforation – Trouble Every Day ............................................................. 194 Problems connecting proximity with truth ........................................................................ 202 Pornography and national politics – A Serbian Film ......................................................... 206 Extirpation – Taxidermia ................................................................................................... 217 New extreme proximity ..................................................................................................... 223 Chapter 4 – Duration .............................................................................................................. 225 Duration – Extremity – Ethics ........................................................................................... 227 Processive duration – The Tribe ........................................................................................ 231 Authenticity – Irreversible ................................................................................................. 234 Grief – The Brown Bunny .................................................................................................. 236 Rape – Free Will ................................................................................................................ 242 4 Ethical witnessing .............................................................................................................
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