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CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS THESIS SIGNATURE PAGE THESIS SUBMITTED FOR PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS IN LITERATURE AND WRITING STUDIES THESIS TITLE Film Lumi~re: New Genre or New Look at an Old Genre? AUTHOR: Margie Garrett DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: May31,2001 THE THESIS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE THESIS COMMITTEE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LITERATURE AND WRITING STUDIES. s-h~ Dr. Oliver Berghof Ql l THESIS COMMITTEE CHAIR (TYPED) SIGN~ TUR DATE Dr. Yuan Yuan THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER (TYPED) SIGNATURE Professor Brandon Cesmat -'-ifl/of THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER (TYPED) ~wSIGNATURE DATE' - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- FILM LUMIERE: NEW GENRE OR NEW LOOK AT AN OLD GENRE? A Thesis for the Master of Arts Degree in Literature and Writing studies by Margie Garrett May 31, 2001 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Filmography 4 Dedication and Acknowledgments 5 Chapter 1 What is Lyricism? 7 Chapter 2 A Preliminary Look at Lyrical Film 28 Chapter 3 Narrative and Lyric: Natural Enemies or Marriage of Convenience? 38 Chapter 4 The Psychology of Lyricism: Kristeva•s Chora 46 Chapter 5 The Fusion of Lyric and Epic in Film 51 Chapter 6 Lyrical Film as Objective Correlative: Music, Poetry, and Film 61 Chapter 7 The Lyrical Pattern and Film Lumiere 67 Chapter 8 Film Lumiere and its Relatives: A Continuum 82 Chapter 9 Film Technology and the Lyrical Pattern 85 Chapter 10 An In-depth Look at Several Lyrical Films 99 Chapter 11 The Major Films Compared and Contrasted 119 Chapter 12 Music of the Spheres: The Value of the Lyrical Universe 126 Works Cited 132 4 FILMOGRAPHY Films About Music and Poetry: The Piano (1993) Il Postino (1994) Blue (1993) The Double Life of Veronique (1991) Non-narrative Films: Koyaanitsqatsi (1983) Microcosmos (1996) Epics: Dr. Zhivago (1965) Gladiator (2000) Ran (1985) Far and Away (1992) Empire of the Sun (1987) Films with Epic Qua~ities: The Thin Red Line (1998) The Searchers (1956) ' Persona~ Stories.: Wings of Desire (1987) The Double Life of Veronique (1991) Blue (1993) American Beauty (1999) Films in Lyrica~ Settings: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990) Days of Heaven (1978) Burnt by the Sun (1994) Examp~es of Pure Film Lumiere: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, Vignettes 1 and 2 (1990) Days of Heaven (1978) Burnt by the Sun (1994) Dr. Zhivago, Part 2 (1965) Koyaanitsqatsi, Part 1 (1983) 5 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to Hany Elwany, Ph. D., coastal engineer, oceanographer, and best friend, whose support has made this possible. His generosity and loyalty are, in my experience, unparalleled. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Besides Dr. Elwany, I would like to thank the professors on my thesis committee. In particular, I would like to thank Oliver Berghof and Brandon Cesmat, without whose support and enthusiasm this project might not have been completed. Professor Berghof not only chaired my committee, but also shared his knowledge and experience with me in the form of feedback, advice, and constructive criticism. A heartfelt "thank you" also goes out to Professor Cesmat, who generously shared his knowledge of and passion for music, poetry, and film with me, and in doing so, made the writing of this paper easier and more pleasant. My sincere thanks also go out to Professor Yuan Yuan, whose extensive knowledge of the fields of literature, film, and psychoanalysis were indispensable. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the countless other friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and family members with whom I have had conversations on this topic, and whose film recommendations have played a crucial role. I only wish that I could remember every single conversation I have had on this subject during the past two years, so that I could thank all of you individually. For now, I must be satisfied with saying that the writing of this thesis, like most writing, was a collaborative effort. 6 All is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod. And for all this, nature is never spent; There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; And though the last lights off the black West went Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs - Because the Holy Ghost overt the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings. - God's Grandeur, Gerard Manley Hopkins 7 CHAPTER ONE WHAT IS LYRICISM? This chapter will begin by referring to pre-existing scholarly definitions of lyricism in order to create a synthesis which I will use as a working definition for this paper. All prospectively lyrical works will be looked at through this lens (films, novels, stories, poems, works of visual art, and possibly, natural phenomena). While all of the previous definitions limit lyricism to poetry, or at most, to the arts, this paper will end with my own expanded and refined definition, one which will be applicable to the entire spectrum of human experience. My hypothesis is that lyricism is an affective state that can and does exist both inside and outside of the artistic realm whenever certain essential factors coexist. The exploration and establishment of the identities of these factors will be one important purpose of this paper. Although lyricism cannot be reduced to poetry, music, or any other art form, it is most often found in these places. And while it is not synonymous with beauty, strong feeling, or metaphor, it is intimately related to all these things. For a basic definition of the word "lyric," I would like to quote M. H. Abrams, from his Glossary of Literary Terms, although his definition appears to be limited to poetry: 8 Any fairly short poem, consisting of the utterance by a single speaker, who expresses a state of mind or a process of perception, thought, and feeling. Many lyric speakers are represented as musing in solitude .•.. Among the lyrics in a more private mode, some are simply a brief, intense expression of a mood or state of feeling .... But the genre also includes extended expressions of a complex evolution of feelingful thought, as in the long elegy and the meditative ode (Abrams 146). This definition at first glance seems to have limited applicability. However, portions of it will be useful for this paper. Furthermore, Abrams goes on to expand it slightly: "The adjectival form 1 lyrical 1 is sometimes applied to an expressive, song-like passage in a narrative poem .•.. " (Abrams 147). If we leave off the last four words, we can find a useful definition here for our purposes, that is, "lyrical" refers to "an expressive, song-like passage." We can postulate that anything which is expressive and song-like is lyrical. We certainly know of passages in films which are expressive in this song-like way. Some of them are even accompanied by actual music, music which is barely noticeable, because it fits the mood of the passage so well. But such passages can and do exist in movies even where actual music does not exist. Examples can even be found in documentary films. For example, in his book, Documentary: A History of the Non-fiction Film, Erik 9 Barnouw writes of "sudden lyrical cadenzas" in the documentary film, Farrebique, a film which ... follows farm life through the seasons, with minute observation of detail: movements of insects and lizards, the daily journey of shadows, the decay and growth of living things .... (Barnouw 191-192). A recent documentary about the natural world which shares the lyrical quality of Farrebique is the film Microcosmos, which uses a special lens to allow us to experience an entire summer day and evening in a meadow from the point of view of those living on the surface of the earth. The only sounds heard are those intrinsic to the meadow. No music was added. And yet this film, too, is filled with "sudden lyrical cadenzas". How do we explain this? Perhaps it is partially due to the fact that "movies have the special ability to give magnitude to the events of everyday life" (Peacock 11). And perhaps it is also due in part to some inherently lyrical quality in nature. I will return to this idea soon. So, the "lyrical" element does not rely on poetry or even on music. A passage may be "song-like" without involving song. Otherwise, there would be no need for the special phrase "song-like." If we need to say that something is "like" a song, then it must not be a song. So have we arrived at a definition prematurely? Is it enough to say that "lyrical" means expressive in a song-like way? 10 It seems seductively simple and clear, but several problems emerge from this definition. First, "song-like" is a very subjective evaluation. It is not something upon which all persons can agree. Therefore, it will not work in rational discourse. Second, songs exist which are not the least bit lyrical. Some rock­ and-roll songs are pleasant, but far from lyrical. Third, I will argue that other necessary factors must be present for "lyricism" to exist, and certainly to arrive at a comprehensive definition of lyricism. We have only to look at Barnouw•s description of Farrebique above to see that other factors are involved. Returning to Abrams' first definition, other parts of it are also useful for this paper. In particular, his use of the word "brief" is something which we will see over and over again in discussions of the lyrical. He writes that a lyric is often "simply a brief, intense expression of a mood or state of feeling." According to Abrams, a lyric is not only brief, but also simple.

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