Folding Cubanidad: a Deleuzian Approach to Contemporary Cuban Cinema

FOLDING CUBANIDAD: A DELEUZIAN APPROACH TO CONTEMPORARY CUBAN CINEMA Paola Monaldi A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of MPhil at the University of St. Andrews 2012 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3322 This item is protected by original copyright Folding Cubanidad: A Deleuzian Approach to Contemporary Cuban Cinema Paola Monaldi A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of MPhil at the University of St. Andrews 2012 Dept. of Film Studies Supervisor: Dr David Martin-Jones June 26, 2012 I, Paola Monaldi, hereby certify that this dissertation, which is approximately 43,000 words in length, has been composed by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. This project was conducted by me at the University of St Andrews from November 2009 to June 2012 towards fulfilment of the requirements of the University of St Andrews for the degree of MPhil under the supervision of Dr David Martin-Jones. Date 26/06/2012 Signature of candidate I, David Martin-Jones, hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of MPhil in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date 26/06/2012 Signature of supervisor In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Access to printed copy and electronic publication of thesis through the University of St Andrews. Date 26/06/2012 Signature of candidate Signature of supervisor Abstract In this thesis I look at the way in which Cuban cinema of the post-Cold War period re-envisions the image of the nation through a theoretical framework of Deleuzian extraction. In particular, I refer to Deleuze's philosophy of difference and multiplicity to explain how national difference can be produced by film narratives operating within given ideological boundaries, and national identity differentiated within a broader, socialist idea of society. A review of recent Cuban cinema reveals the emergence of intensive and crystalline regimes of narration in both fiction and documentary cinema. Chapters one and two will therefore examine the shift of Cuban fiction cinema towards forms of time-image (metanarrative and magical realism); chapter three will consider the affective turn of the new Cuban documentary. In both cases, the inclination of Cuban cinema towards affection- and time-image will appear motivated by a national need for self-revision. In particular I will argue that, by raising intensities and virtualities, contemporary Cuban cinema acts as modern political cinema. While Cuba is rethinking itself and its position in the wider world, Cuban cinema is reimagining the nation in terms of becoming-minoritarian, that is, as a transformative and multifaceted entity in which national contradictions can be reconciled and similarities with the outside world can be more easily found. By bringing together Deleuze and Cuban cinema, this research aims to contribute to the studies on cinema and national identity through the case study of Cuba, and to the field of Deleuzian studies by presenting a new application of Deleuze’s philosophy in a socialist context. i Acknowledgments First of all I wish to thank my supervisor (David Martin-Jones) for always giving me constructive feedbacks and helping me complete this work. Special thanks also go to Ana Maria López and Antoni Kapcia for helping me arrange my research trip to Cuba, Maria Eulalia and Eduardo Douglas for letting me be part of their family, Estela María Martinez and Daymar Valdes for their help at the ICAIC, Luciano Castillo for his help at the School of Cinema of San Antonio de Los Baños, Paco Bao for all his kind words, Fernando Pérez, Alejandro Brugués, Lester Hamlet, Esteban Insausti and Enrique Pineda Barnet for the interviews and conversations about their work. Also thanks to Patricia Pisters for sending me her paper the time I got stuck in the snow, Ann Marie Stock for the chats on gmail, and Bernard Bentley for his interest in my work. And thanks to all my friends in Glasgow (and surroundings) for accepting me as I am and making me feel at home. ii List of Figures 1.1 Free indirect vision in Life is to Whistle: Julia’s recollection of the past 24 1.2 Free indirect vision in Madrigal [1/2]: Javier’s literary imagination 28 1.3 Free indirect vision in Madrigal [2/2]: The paradoxical trespassing of Madrigal-book 30 into Madrigal-film 1.4 Havana Suite: Affection-image and the affirmation of the principle of individuation 84 iii Table of Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements ii List of figures iii INTRODUCTION How Deleuze and Cuban Cinema Came Together 1 CHAPTER 1 The Cuban Time-Image: Free Indirect Vision in Life is to Whistle (1998) 12 and Madrigal (2007) 1.1 Time-Image and Free Indirect Vision: Disclosing the Being’s Potential of Becoming 13 1.2 Life is to Whistle and Madrigal: Metanarrative, Free Indirect Vision and the Issue 18 of Subjectivation in Present-day Cuba 1.2.1 Free Indirect Vision in Life is to Whistle (1998): Healing the Cuban Conscience 20 from Post-Traumatic Syndrome 1.2.2 Free Indirect Vision in Madrigal (2007): Giving History a Second Chance 26 1.3 Life is to Whistle and Madrigal as Modern Political Cinema: Reimagining 32 Cubanidad from the Future 1.4 Conclusion 42 CHAPTER 2 The Magical Fold of Reality: Magical Realism in Guantanamera (1995) 44 and The Waiting List (2000) 2.1 Magical Realism: Examples, Definitions, Implications 45 2.2 Magical Realism in Contemporary Cuban Cinema: Guantanamera and The Waiting 52 List 2.2.1 Guantanamera (1995): Magical Realism, Marvellous Real and National Rebirth 53 2.2.2 The Waiting List (2000): Reconstructing the Socialist Utopia 60 2.3 Conclusion 68 iv CHAPTER 3 Documentary of Intensities: Havana Suite (2003), They Exist (2005) 70 and the Becoming-minoritarian 3.1 New Aesthetics/Politics for Cuban Documentary: Affects and Neo-reflexivity 71 3.2 Havana Suite and They Exist: Documenting Being Cuban as Becoming-minoritarian 78 3.2.1 Havana Suite (2003): The Community as a Mosaic of Individualities/Dreaming 79 Multitude 3.2.2 They Exist (2005): The Discourse about the Nation as a Discourse of Delirium 89 3.3 Conclusion 95 CONCLUSION The New Cuban Revolutionary Cinema 96 Select Bibliography 97 Select Filmography 106 v Introduction How Deleuze and Cuban Cinema Came Together In this thesis, the shift of contemporary Cuban cinema towards affect- and time-image (Deleuze) will be regarded as indicative of a national process of transformation. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba entered a deep economic and ideological crisis which forced it to reinvent itself and its own image. Through the 1990s, in the world on screen, we can trace the emergence of a hybrid form of Cubanidad which combines socialist and western traits. As the film analyses will demonstrate, Cuban cinema does not just reflect a historical phase of transition, but actively contributes to it by invoking a fluid image of the nation where change can be better negotiated. The establishment of the Revolution in 1959 marked the beginning of Cuban cinema’s Golden Age. One of the first decrees of the new government concerned the creation of the ICAIC (Instituto Cubano de arte e industria cinematográficos), a centralised body based in Havana which has ever since been responsible for the film production and distribution across the island. For decades Cuban cinema was entirely state-funded and conceived of as a fundamental tool for the construction of the new sense of nationhood. The main genres of Cuban Revolutionary cinema were documentary, social comedy and drama, historical films and biopics representing struggles and liberations. Over the years, a group of filmmakers (all state employees) established their reputation. Among the documentarists prominent names include Santiago Álvarez, Oscar L. Valdésar, Sara Gómez, Guillén Landrián and Octavio Cortázar. Among the directors of fiction, renowned authorial figures are Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Humberto Solás, whose works span the decades from the Revolution to the present.1 At the turn of the 1990s, the collapse of Soviet socialism caused a deep gulf in the history of the Cuban Revolution. During the first thirty years of the Revolution, Cuba had relied upon preferential trade relationships with the Soviet Union, from which it imported oil, 1 Well known films by Alea are: History of the Revolution (1960), The Twelve Chairs (1962), Death of a Bureaucrat (1966), Memories of Underdevelopment (1968), A Cuban Fight Against the Demons (1971), The Last Supper (1976), The Survivors (1978), Up to a Certain Point (1983), Strawberry and Chocolate (1993) and Guantanamera (1995); by Solás: Lucía (1968), A Day in November (1972), The Ballad of Chile (1975), Cecilia (1981), A Successful Man (1986), The Century of Lights (1992), Honey for Oshún (2001) and Barrio Cuba (2005).

Load more