AN OVERVIEW of FEMINIST FILM THEORY 1. See for Short And
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Notes 1 WHAT MEETS THE EYE: AN OVERVIEW OF FEMINIST FILM THEORY 1. See for short and excellent introductions to psychoanalytic notions in film theory New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics (Starn et al. 1992) and for psychoanalytic notions in feminist (film) theory, Feminism and Psycho analysis. A Critical Dictionary (Wright 1992). 2. See Stacey (1995) on the popular lesbian romance Desert Hearts (Donna Deitch, USA, 1985) which, surprisingly, did not receive much academic attention (nor was it followed by other successful lesbian romances). 3. The work of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze is acquiring more relevance in film theory, although significantly not so much for his cinema books (1986, 1989) as for his theories of embodiment and desire and his critique of representation (Boundas and Olkowski 1994). In her study, Studlar re fers to Deleuze's critique of Lacanian psychoanalysis, in which he op poses the notion of desire as lack and alternatively proposes the productivity and positivity of desire (Deleuze 1971 ). 4. This special issue of Camera Obscura (1989, no. 20-21) contains an inter national survey of research on and theories of the female spectator in film and television studies. 5. Scholars have generally focused their empirical studies more on television than on cinema. Such studies tend to concentrate on a specific problem atic, especially the influence of violence. See for example Schlesinger et al. (1992) who carried out empirical research in relation to women watch ing violence on television. They included one film in their study, the American court drama on rape, The Accused (Jonathan Kaplan 1988). (See note 9 in Chapter 3). 6. De Lauretis has the tendency to substantialize 'narrative' and 'desire' to such an extent that these concepts become personalized agents. This at times gives an almost mythical and universalized aspect to the very terms that she set out to untangle from mythology (i.e. from Propprian folk mythology). 7. Towards the end of the 1980s two anthologies of feminist film theory tes tify to this paradigm (Penley 1988; Erens 1990). In the 1990s, however, the dominance of psychoanalysis and semiotics is supplemented if not re placed by new perspectives, most notably by cultural studies, multiculturalism and lesbian studies. This approach is echoed by the title of a 1990s anthol ogy, Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism (Carson et al. 1994). 8. A new approach to the study of culture and society was developed at the University of Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in the 1960s and 1970s. Stuart Hall is one of the leading figures here (Hall et al. 1980). See for readers on cultural studies During ( 1992) and Grossberg, Nelson and Treichler (1992). 188 Notes 189 9. Postmodernism is often understood to be a cultural practice (as witnessed in popular culture) as well as to be a theoretical practice, closely linked to poststructuralist thought. For an example of the latter view on postmodernism, see Docherty 1993. 2 IN PURSUIT OF THE AUTHOR: ON CINEMATIC DIRECTORSHIP I. Halpern Martineau 1991 (1973): 36. 2. Kobena Mercer 1991: 181. 3. I use gender here as the equivalent of sexual difference, understood as the asymmetrical relation between the men and women. 4. Much of my ideas on auteurism in this chapter are shaped by the excel lent reader Theories of Authorship (1981), edited by John Caughie. 5. The new emphasis on the text and on textual analysis underscore how heavily film theory is indebted to and influenced by literary theory; struc turalism itself was of course inspired by linguistics (see Silverman 1983b and Andrew 1984). 6. This lecture was printed by Helke Sander herself as a pamphlet in 1981, Basis-Film-Verleih GmbH, Giintzelstr. 60, 1000 Berlin 31. I thank Annette Forster for the material she has given me about Helke Sander and Der subjektive Faktor. 7. Rudi Dutschke was a student leader who figures prominently in the his torical film footage in Der subjektive Faktor. He was shot by a neo-fascist in 1968 but survived the assassination attempt. He finally died of compli cations related to his injuries in 1980. In the final scene of the film Helke Sander pays a visit to the graves of Meinhof, Baader and Dutschke on the Berlin cemetery. 8. Dutschke (1968) quoted in Rentschler's article 'Life with Fassbinder', 1983: 75. 9. The Oberhausen Manifesto was written and published during the eighth Oberhausen Short Festival in 1962, in which a group of twenty-six film makers, writers and artists condemn West German films and plead for a new cinema and a new film language to replace Papas Kino, 'daddy's cinema' (Elsaesser 1989: 20-5; Knight 1992: 29). I am struck here by the oedipal notion of 'killing the father', which might be seen as an inherent feature of auteurism: each new author has to react against his predecessors. 10. More recently, the balance has been somewhat redressed by film scholars such as Elsaesser and McCormick who discuss feminist film as an inte gral part of German culture, and Knight who addresses the position of women in the New German Cinema. 11. The metaphor of the 'empty field' echoes his earlier figuration of the 'Absent One' theorized in his work on suture (Oudart 1977-8). The im portant point here is the changing notion of cinematic authorship in psycho analytic film theory. 12. The subject position within the cinematic scene of desire does not neces sarily coincide with the biological gender of the author outside the film. Silverman urges us to read libidinal masculinity or femininity in relation to the biological gender of the author, because these positions have different 190 Notes social and political implications. Another important point that Silverman puts forward, is that the fantasmatic can absorb new material and is sub ject to change. It can therefore be relevant to look into the role of history in representations of a particular authorial desire. 13. Hoogland (1994) explicitly links narratology to Silverman's psychoana lytic framework. She discusses Silverman's model of the author 'inside' and 'outside' the text in relation to the concept of the female author in literature, in casu the works of Elizabeth Bowen. Although Hoogland does not problematize her use of different discourses such as psychoanalysis and narratology, her analysis convincingly suggests a possible intersection. 14. Surprisingly, Branigan criticizes Browne for revealing a 'rationalistic' approach to narration (169). In accusing 'rationalistic' theories such as psychoanalysis of being abstract and metaphysical, Branigan suggests his own approach to be more 'empirical', i.e. less hypothetical. I find Branigan's use of these terms somewhat obscure: he counts most structuralists, such as Barthes, Heath and Metz, but also the linguist Noam Chomsky, among 'rationalists,' whereas Benveniste and Wittgenstein are ranged as 'empiri cists,' (171 ). It remains unclear where Branigan stands himself vis-a-vis these opposing theoretical systems. His claim to have 'attempted to avoid drawing a hard line between classical and modern' sounds rather vague and unconvincing (175), because it is by no means clear how terms like 'rationalist' and 'empiricist' relate to the adjectives 'classical' and 'mod ern'. It seems to me that a concealed and unresolved polemic underlies Branigan's Point of View in the Cinema: although he appears indebted to structuralist theories throughout his book, Branigan's tone is often depre catory of structuralism. It therefore comes as no surprise that in his next book on film narratology (1992) Branigan shifts his theoretical position more explicitly in the direction of linguistics and cognitive science. 15. To enable quick reference I will render Branigan's hierarchical topology of narration in a scheme: I. Historical author/director: biographical person, cultural legend. 2. Implied author/director: selection and arrangement of film narration; frame of reference is the entire text. 3. Extra-fictional narrator: statements or appearances, usually by the director, about or in an embedded fiction. 4. Non-diegetic narrator: extra-fictional film elements in story: film music, titles. 5. Diegetic narrator: pictorial equivalent of subjunctive conditional, that is, spectator as bystander 'if I had been present ... I would have seen ... and would have heard ... '; frame of reference is the fictional story world. 6. Non-focalized narration: depiction of character as agent, defined by actions. 7. External focalization: reflection; character experiencing through seeing or hearing; semi-subjective. 8. Internal focalization: character experiencing, private and subjective. a. surface: perception, e.g. POV shots. b. depth: dreams, hallucinations, memories. Notes 191 16. The term 'implied author' was first introduced for literary studies by Wayne Booth (1961). 17. The term 'subjective' here is meant as the opposite of 'objective' rather than as an adjective of 'subjectivity'. Its literal meaning does nonetheless refer to focalization as a narrational process that gives a character a higher degree of subjectivity. 3 SILENT VIOLENCE: ON POINT OF VIEW 1. Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems, 1991: p. 648, nr. 1559. 2. I use 'fantasy' here in the colloquial sense of the word and not in a psy choanalytic meaning. Fantasy refers to the scenes that reflect Magda's daydreams, dreams, thoughts, visions and hallucinations. 3. Literary narratologist Mieke Bal (1985, 1991) has further developed the notion of focalization, especially as a tool for a critique of ideology in both literature and art. I restrict myself here to film theoretical elaborations of focalization in cinema. 4. To my knowledge Jost's work has not been translated into English; there fore I discuss his theory of 'point of view' in more detail. See for a concise introduction the section on film narratology in New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics (Starn et al. 1992). 5. This dialogue is taken from the film Malina (1991) directed by Werner Schroeter.