The Aesthetics of Absence and Duration in the Post-Trauma Cinema of Lav Diaz

The aesthetics of absence and duration in the post-trauma cinema of Lav Diaz Nadin Mai Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film Studies The University of Stirling, Division of Communication, Media and Culture July 2015 Table of Contents DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................................ 6 NOTES ON TRANSLATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 8 1. INTRODUCTION - A HAUNTING ABSENCE ............................................................................ 11 A JOURNEY INTO THE PAST ............................................................................................................................... 11 LAV DIAZ’S RUBBER HOUR(S) .......................................................................................................................... 19 THE TRAUMATIC HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES ........................................................................................... 25 DIAZ’S CONCENTRATIONARY UNIVERSE ......................................................................................................... 33 THIRD CINEMA .................................................................................................................................................... 38 OUTLINE OF CHAPTERS ...................................................................................................................................... 41 2. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................ 51 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ........................................................................................................................ 51 CHOICE OF FILMS ................................................................................................................................................ 52 THE GLOBAL STAGE ............................................................................................................................................ 56 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................. 60 TRAUMA CINEMA ................................................................................................................................................ 60 EARLY CINEMA, CINEMATIC TIME AND SLOW CINEMA ................................................................................ 71 DURATION, MEMORY, DEATH ........................................................................................................................... 77 SLOW CINEMA’S CULTURAL ROOTS ................................................................................................................. 79 SLOW CINEMA AND THE FILM FESTIVAL ........................................................................................................ 82 VIOLENCE AND THE ETHICS OF FILMMAKING ................................................................................................ 85 THE CASE OF LAV DIAZ ...................................................................................................................................... 94 TRAUMA IN PHILIPPINE LITERATURE AND CINEMA ..................................................................................... 97 4. THE DESAPARECIDOS OF THE PHILIPPINES – MELANCHOLIA (2008) ..................... 110 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 110 PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE AND MENTAL WARFARE .................................................................................. 116 SUFFOCATING MISE-EN-SCÈNE ....................................................................................................................... 128 MELANCHOLIC THERAPY ................................................................................................................................. 137 LIMINAL SPACES ................................................................................................................................................ 147 DIGGING UP THE DEAD ..................................................................................................................................... 156 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 167 5. THE GHOSTS OF ACTIVISM – DEATH IN THE LAND OF ENCANTOS (2007) .............. 171 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 171 FROM DOCUMENTARY TO FICTION ................................................................................................................ 175 TILTED LANDSCAPES ........................................................................................................................................ 177 CHARACTERS AS DOTS ..................................................................................................................................... 188 TERROR AND THE LOSS OF AGENCY ............................................................................................................... 191 OF MEMORIES, GHOSTS AND PRINCES ........................................................................................................... 193 TORTURED SOULS ............................................................................................................................................. 212 THE DIRTY WAR IN FILM ................................................................................................................................. 224 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 227 6. INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE TRAUMA - FLORENTINA HUBALDO, CTE (2012) .. 229 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 229 THE CHRONIC TRAUMA OF COLONIALISM ..................................................................................................... 233 REPETITIVE TRAUMA AND THE SLOW IMPACT ............................................................................................ 236 POST-TRAUMATIC SOUND ............................................................................................................................... 248 SONIC RUPTURE ................................................................................................................................................ 256 2 DEATH TIME AND TIME TERROR .................................................................................................................... 265 PERSONALITY SPLIT AND THE LOSS OF CHILDHOOD .................................................................................. 267 RAPE TRAUMA AS METAPHOR ........................................................................................................................ 272 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 276 7. CONCLUSION: DIAZ’S (SLOW) POST-TRAUMA CINEMA ................................................ 278 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 289 FILMOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................ 311 3 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has been composed by me. No parts of it have been included in another thesis. 4 Abstract Aiming to make an intervention in both emerging Slow Cinema and classical Trauma Cinema scholarship, this thesis demonstrates the ways in which the post- trauma cinema of Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz merges aesthetics of cinematic slowness with narratives of post-trauma in his films Melancholia (2008), Death in the Land of Encantos (2007) and Florentina Hubaldo, CTE (2012). Diaz has been repeatedly considered as representative of what Jonathan Romney termed in 2004 “Slow Cinema”. The director uses cinematic slowness for an alternative approach to an on-screen representation of post-trauma. Contrary to popular trauma cinema, Diaz’s portrait of individual and collective trauma focuses not on the instantenaeity but on the duration of trauma. In considering trauma as a condition and not as an event, Diaz challenges the standard aesthetical techniques used in contemporary Trauma Cinema, as highlighted by Janet Walker (2001, 2005), Susannah

Load more