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The Skewed Subject a Topological Study Of THE SKEWED SUBJECT A TOPOLOGICAL STUDY OF SUBJECTIVITY IN BOLLYWOOD FILMS By SOUMITRA GHOSH Bachelor of Arts in English University of Calcutta Kolkata, India 2001 Master of Arts in English University of Calcutta Kolkata, India 2003 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY July, 2012 THE SKEWED SUBJECT A TOPOLOGICAL STUDY OF SUBJECTIVITY IN BOLLYWOOD FILMS Dissertation Approved: Dr. Martin Wallen Dissertation Adviser Dr. Brian Price Dr. Brian Jacobson Dr. Jennifer Borland Outside Committee Member Dr. Sheryl A. Tucker Dean of the Graduate College . ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page INTRODUCTION: LACANIAN FILM THEORY AND POST-THEORY ................ 1 Section I: The Excision ........................................................................................... 1 Section II: Many Lacans: A Review of Psychoanalytic Film Theory .................. 10 Section III: Argument and Chapter Overview ...................................................... 31 Section IV: Chapter Overview .............................................................................. 34 I. THE SUBJECT’S TEMPORALITY: RETROACTION AND ANTICIPATION IN THE DESIRE FOR HISTORY ............................................................................. 36 Section I: Three Temporal Lines .......................................................................... 48 Section II: The Error that Binds ............................................................................ 51 Section III: Uneasy Collapse—“The Time for Unrest Is Here” ........................... 54 Section IV: Untimely History of the Popular ....................................................... 61 Section V: The Popular ......................................................................................... 63 Section VI: The Impossible History ..................................................................... 70 II. THE SUBJECT’S SPACE: FIELD OF SPEECH AND THE ARTICULATION OF DESIRE ................................................................................................................. 72 Section I: Terror in the Space of Desire ................................................................ 82 Section II: The Truth of Desire ............................................................................. 85 Section III: Substitution One—“Walk in the Shadow of Love” ........................... 92 Section IV: “A Heart’s Only a Heart”; or, Why the Letter Kills .......................... 99 Section V: Unmoored Subjects ........................................................................... 106 iii Chapter Page III. THE SUBJECT AND THE GAZE: AN INTIMATE EXTERIOR .................... 114 Section I: Lack in the Other ................................................................................ 117 Section II: Without You (I Am Nothing) ............................................................ 122 Section III: The Other’s Eyes (That I Do Not See) ............................................ 126 Section IV: Bi-univocal Identification; or, A Good-looking Jackass ................. 134 Section V: The Other’s Lack .............................................................................. 143 Section VI: A Doubly-deceptive Disclaimer ...................................................... 151 IV. THE SUBJECT AND THE OBJECT VOICE ................................................... 154 Section I: Sound and Voice in Cinema ............................................................... 154 Section II: Between the Voice and the Face ....................................................... 166 Section III: In the Rear View Mirror .................................................................. 168 Section IV: The Conjeevaram Incident ............................................................... 173 Section V: All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing .............................................. 175 Section VI: Basanti, what is your name? ............................................................ 179 Section VII: Song for the Self, Sung for the Other ............................................. 185 Section VIII: Gyrating Bodies ............................................................................ 190 CONCLUSION: LACANIAN FILM THEORY BEYOND THE SYMBOLIC AND THE REAL .................................................................................................................. 193 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 197 FILMOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 202 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1 ................................................................................................................. 56 Figure 2 ................................................................................................................. 58 Figure 3 ................................................................................................................. 59 Figure 4 ................................................................................................................. 60 Figure 5 ................................................................................................................. 73 Figure 6 ................................................................................................................. 80 Figure 7 ................................................................................................................. 87 Figure 8 ................................................................................................................. 90 Figure 9 ................................................................................................................. 92 Figure 10 ............................................................................................................... 94 Figure 11 ............................................................................................................... 95 Figure 12 ............................................................................................................... 96 Figure 13 ............................................................................................................... 97 Figure 14 ............................................................................................................... 98 Figure 15 ............................................................................................................. 101 Figure 16 ............................................................................................................. 103 Figure 17 ............................................................................................................. 104 Figure 18 ............................................................................................................. 106 Figure 19 ............................................................................................................. 107 Figure 20 ............................................................................................................. 109 Figure 21 ............................................................................................................. 110 Figure 22 ............................................................................................................. 118 Figure 23 ............................................................................................................. 119 Figure 24 ............................................................................................................. 120 Figure 25 ............................................................................................................. 130 Figure 26 ............................................................................................................. 131 Figure 27 ............................................................................................................. 132 Figure 28 ............................................................................................................. 133 Figure 29 ............................................................................................................. 135 Figure 30 ............................................................................................................. 136 Figure 31 ............................................................................................................. 138 Figure 32 ............................................................................................................. 140 Figure 33 ............................................................................................................. 141 Figure 34 ............................................................................................................. 142 Figure 35 ............................................................................................................. 144 Figure 36 ............................................................................................................. 146 v Figure 37 ............................................................................................................. 147 Figure 38 ............................................................................................................. 148 Figure 39 ............................................................................................................
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