Auteur and the Film Text in Audience Experiences : Ingmar Bergman – a Case Study
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SCENES FROM AN AUDIENCE THE AUTEUR AND THE FILM TEXT IN AUDIENCE EXPERIENCES : INGMAR BERGMAN – A CASE STUDY 1 For my family, may we continue to inspire each other. 2 List of figures and tables Table 1: social statistics on divorce from scb.be - p. 19 Table 2: number of participants in Sweden according to gender and date of birth - p. 76 Table 3: number of participants in Belgium and Sweden according to gender and date of birth - p. 76 3 Table of Contents List of figures and tables 3 Table of Contents 4 Acknowledgments 8 Abstract English 9 Summary Dutch 10 Summary Swedish 12 one Introduction 14 1. Goals 15 2. Why Bergman? Spatial and temporal motivations. 20 3. Chapter breakdown 21 two Theory 24 1. New cinema history studies 24 1.1. The audience in focus 24 1.2. Janet Staiger 26 1.3. Annette Kuhn 28 1.3.1. Cinema memory 29 1.3.2. Memory and identity 31 1.3.3. Identity and the cinema 33 1.3.4. Memories and emotions 34 2. Traces of texts and authors in new cinema history studies 38 2.1. Exhibition, space, and place 39 2.2. Programming, admissions, and economic analysis 41 2.3. Distribution and circulation 43 2.4. Audience Reception studies 44 2.4.1. Texts 44 4 2.4.2. The auteur coming up 48 3. Revisiting auteur theory 49 4. Bergman-studies 53 4.1.1. Overview 54 4.1.2. Bergman-studies in Belgium 55 4.1.3. Reception studies on Ingmar Bergman 58 5. Enter: the film text? 59 5.1. Texts and emotions 60 5.2. How does the audience come in, then? 63 6. Conclusion 64 three Methodology 67 1. Triangulation and choice of methods 67 2. Samples, methods, and limitations 68 2.1. Textual analysis 68 2.2. Archival research 69 2.2.1. Archival samples 69 2.2.2. Limitations 71 2.3. Interviews 72 2.3.1. Interview sample 72 2.3.2. Mining memories and oral histories 81 3. Methodological remarks per empirical chapter 87 3.1. Methodological choices for chapter four 87 3.2. Methodological choices for chapter six 89 4. Comparability of the design 90 4.1. The status of comparisons in film studies 90 4.2. Methodological questions on operationalization of the comparative setup 91 4.3. Exhibition circumstances in Sweden and Belgium 92 4.4. Release dates and screenings in Sweden and Belgium 94 5. Publications of this dissertation 95 four Re-constructing the auteur Ingmar Bergman and his reception by the audience 97 1. Introduction 97 5 2. The construction of the auteur-persona 99 2.1. Women and love: Bergman's side 100 2.2. Women and love: the press' side 102 2.3. Bergman's demon personality 108 3. Audience reception: auteurism as central to the interpretation 110 3.1. Paradoxical recognition 114 4. Conclusion 117 five Remembering Bergman's canon? 119 1. Introduction 119 2. All kinds of memories 120 2.1. Another type of place memory: the Swedishness of the films 124 2.2. Scenes, images and situatedness 127 2.3. Type B memories 131 3. Bergman's persona as part of the films 133 4. Conclusion 140 six A case of viewing: Scener ur ett äktenskap 142 1. Introduction 142 2. Love as socially codified 143 2.1. The power and outcomes of gender roles in heterosexual relationships 147 3. Changing love 149 4. Depictions of love 151 5. Analysis 154 5.1. Scener in society 154 5.2. Love, identity, and sexuality in Scener 157 5.2.1. Identity-building and -crumbling 158 5.2.2. Components of love in ‘Scener’ 160 5.3. Mapping audience responses 162 5.3.1. Participants, love, and sexuality in general 163 5.3.2. Societal images of love in interpretations of Scener 171 6. Conclusion 173 6 seven General Conclusion 176 1. Summary of the findings 176 2. Achievements 179 3. Reflections on limitations and possibilities 181 Bibliography 184 appendix 1 Filmography 219 appendix 2 Questionnaire 221 appendix 3 Drop-off 230 appendix 4 About Ingmar Bergman 173 7 Acknowledgments One always forgets to thank someone in a section like this, because a project like this spans many years and, thereby, directly and indirectly touches many lives. I would like to dearly thank my very complementary promoters, Stijn Joye and Maaret Koskinen, for their belief in me and my sometimes voluminous ideas about this project. Based on the empirically grounded research of talking to my peers, I can safely say I have found the two best people in academia to guide me along this journey. Stijn, I am smiling when I think about all the years that I had the pleasure of working with you. You have given me plenty of opportunities and at the same time always respected my steps of development. Whether late at night or early in the morning, a supportive email was never far away. I cannot express how valuable that has been. Maaret, your structural insights have made this path an easier one. Every meeting I had with you solved all hurdles at that point. I hope that one day I can guide someone like you guided me. I also want to thank the evaluation committee, Anu Koivunen, Daniel Biltereyst, and especially Åsa Jernudd, for their invaluable remarks on this dissertation. I would like to thank CIMS, for the feedback and bonding opportunities, as well as my colleagues in Ghent and Stockholm. I am very grateful to all of my wonderful friends both at work and in the real world: Eva, Emiljano, Lennart, Susan, Eduard, Sofia, Burcu, Eveline, Larissa, Nikitas, Gertjan, Sander, Jonas, Lies, Sara, Mario, Kim, Jose, Jasper, Gerwin, Toekie, Teun Poppe, Teun Pulles, Stijn C., Jens, Bjorn, Joey, Jelle, Lander, Leslie, Rudi, Olivier, Benny & Melissa, Stijnie, Jozefien, Lyssa, Jochem, Ruben, Jasmina, Hanna, Teresa, Nazeer, Lieve, Coralie, and Maxine. My participants, and Aina Bellis in particular, have been invaluable to this research but also to my life. It has been an honor to talk about Bergman, love, and life. Every conversation will remain with me. Last, my family. Thank you Guy, Jacek, Steffi, Biwi, Moeke, Vake, my uncles and aunts, Inger, and svärfamiljen. I dedicate this dissertation to my two absolute heroines, Jeanne and Nuna; my partner and love of my life, Andreas; and my darling children, Oskar and Viktor. You are my inspirations, my warm nest, my intellectual safe haven. I cherish every moment with you. 8 Abstract English Over the last decades, the new cinema history (NCH) strand has developed within film studies. This new strand moves away from the traditional focus on film texts and instead focuses on cinemagoing as social and cultural phenomenon, and the cinema as a social institution. Although identifying with this strand, the central claim of this doctoral dissertation is that the radical move away from film texts and authors has obscured their relevance in audience experiences within NCH studies. Using the case of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, this dissertation first aims to re-integrate the text and auteur into historical reception studies. Second, making use of audience interviews, the aim is to re- write Bergman's canonical position through these audience accounts. Following Staiger (1992; 2000), the auteur is considered to be context-dependent, where societal discourses give rise to specific reception conditions and interpretations. Staiger further claims that the text is important in that it provides "sense-data", but remains rather vague on this point. In this dissertation, the text will be taken into account through the concept of cueing: how certain formal characteristics likely give rise to particular interpretations. The audience interviews were conducted in Sweden and Belgium. Kuhn's work on cinema memory (e.g. 2002) is crucial here. These interviews are triangulated with archival research and textual analysis. The consequences of the comparative setup, Sweden vs. Belgium, is critically considered in the empirical chapter. Key findings are that Bergman's unusual love life and his own persona-building are crucial in the reception of his films. The different national contexts play a role in how participants identify with both the auteur Bergman and the characters in his films. Sweden as a socio- cultural construct returns throughout participants' accounts, illustrating that "place" is relevant to cinema memory in other ways as well. Via the case study on Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage (1973), the dissertation illustrates how audience conceptions of heterosexual love (and marriage) play a fundamental role in the emotional experience of the series/film, and in the memories of that experience too. Considering historical film reception as a complex phenomenon, this dissertation provides a more comprehensive approach to that reception by considering the text and the auteur alongside NCH's traditional focus on context. 9 Summary Dutch New cinema history (NCH) is de laatste jaren als nieuw domein binnen de filmstudies opgekomen. Waar eerder de nadruk vooral lag op film als tekst, gaat de aandacht nu meer naar het bioscoopbezoek als ervaring, met focus op de sociale en culturele dimensies ervan, en ruimer, naar cinema als instituut. Als meest belangrijke auteurs - voor mijn eigen onderzoek maar ook het domein in het algemeen - volg ik vooral Janet Staiger en Annette Kuhn. Het centrale argument van dit doctoraal proefschrift is dat deze radicale breuk met filmstudies niet alleen is onderbelicht, maar soms zelfs weerzin opwekt tegenover film als tekst binnen NCH. Daardoor is de tekst slechts marginaal of impliciet aanwezig binnen dit gebied. Desondanks kan duidelijk worden gesteld dat ook de tekst, en bij uitbreiding de maker ervan, invloed heeft op de cinema-ervaring van het publiek.