The Cinematic Wink: Representations of Winking in Screen Media
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THE CINEMATIC WINK: REPRESENTATIONS OF WINKING IN SCREEN MEDIA A thesis submitted to the faculty of As San Francisco State University £> 6 In partial fulfillment of The Requirements for aon- The Degree d lrtE • Master of Arts In Cinema Studies by Spencer William Harkness San Francisco, California October 2017 Copyright by Spencer William Harkness 2017 CERTIFICATION OF APPROAVAL I certify that I have read The Cinematic Wink: Representations of Winking in Screen Media by Spencer William Harkness and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfdlment of the requirements for the degree: Master of Arts in Cinema Studies at San Francisco State University. Aaron Kemer Professor of Cinema " 7 yi £ Bill Nichols Professor of Cinema THE CINEMATIC WINK: REPRESENTATIONS OF WINKING IN SCREEN MEDIA Spencer William Harkness San Francisco, California 2017 The cinematic wink is an investigation of how a human or metaphorical wink can shape the content of screen media. A human wink is performed by contracting an eyelid; a metaphorical wink is constructed with formal cinematic elements. Through examining a survey of wink examples, this investigation seeks to understand how cinematic winking operates as a phenomenon of screen media communication. The cinematic wink is separated into three categories: wink between characters, direct wink at the viewer, and wink by the director. The three categories allow for differentiation between human and metaphorical winks. Evaluation of the selected examples in each category reveals a cluster of similarities among the winks while offering specific discoveries unique to each example. This investigation suggests a framework for understanding how cinematic winks can operate as a phenomenon of screen media communication. I certify that the Abstract is a correct representation of the content of this thesis. Date ACKNOWLEDGMENT I want to thank Bill Nichols, Aaron Kemer, Jenny Lau, and Randy Rutsky for their assistance in the project. Also, this project would not have been possible without James, Bonnie, Chase, Rochelle, Everett, Conrad, Jeniffer and Skip (Billy Sr.). TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Wink Between Characters..............................................................................................................................7 Direct W ink at the V ie w e r............................................................................................................................19 Wink by the Director..................................................................................................................................... 28 C on clu sion .........................................................................................................................................................40 Bibliography.....................................................................................................................................................43 1 Introduction The cinematic wink is an investigation of how a human or metaphorical wink can shape the content of screen media. A human wink is performed by contracting an eyelid; a metaphorical wink is constructed with formal cinematic elements. The representation of a wink in screen media, which for this investigation include film, television, and music video, requires the locomotion of images to accomplish the physical act of both human and metaphorical winking. The cinematic wink, therefore, is dependent on the cinematic motion of images to produce the representational effect winking creates as an act of communication. The communicative messages found in a wink are determined by the recognition and understanding of what a wink is and how it can mean and not mean what it is nonverbally communicating. The cause of communicating a wink is first determined by a signaler. To wink involves deciding to send a message, and the signaler’s decision to wink must be determined before the wink is performed. Upon the decision to perform a wink, the signaler must wink at a recipient. The effect of the wink is determinant on whether the recipient understands the message of the wink. The causation of a wink thus involves many steps in the signaler’s performance and in the recipient’s comprehension of a wink. Comprehension of a wink requires an understanding of what the wink is doing. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines a wink as to “close and open one eye quickly, typically to indicate that something is a joke or a secret or as a signal of affection or 2 greeting.”1 The definition underscores several facets and meanings of a wink: movement of the eyelid, indication, joking, secrecy, signaling, affection, and greeting. In addition, winks can embody other aspects such as irony, parody, conspiracy, malice, commentary, and homage. The cinematic wink encompasses all these performable actions. Therefore, several primary questions are central to this investigation: How are winks performed? Who are the wink signalers and recipients? What formal cinematic qualities do winks have? How do winks function? What categorizations of winks can be formulated? What meaning can be derived from wink representations in screen media? Through examining a survey of wink examples, this investigation seeks to understand how cinematic winking operates as a phenomenon of screen media communication. Research on cinematic winking is limited, but winks have been studied as part of psychologist Paul Ekman’s medical research on facial expressions and emotion. Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen have determined the face creates three types of signals: static, slow, and rapid.2 Rapid signals are created by moving facial muscles to temporarily change the facial appearance by shifting the location and shape of facial features.3 These changes can 1 Oxford English Dictionary online, s.v. “wink,” https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wink [accessed June 6, 2017]. 2 Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen, Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions from Facial Clues (Cambridge: Malor Books, 2003), 10. 3 Ibid., 11. 3 take place in less than a second,4 and examples of rapid signals include raising the eyebrows and winking.5 The muscle involved with a wink is the orbicularis oculi.6 Ekman and Friesen further distinguish rapid facial signals as having the ability to send emblems, which are specific signals that have a nonverbal equivalent to a word or phrase such as nodding the head for confirmation or winking for agreement.7 Ekman has determined the emblem to be a facial movement that is as deliberate as choosing to use or not use a word when speaking.8 The emblem, for Ekman, has a verbal translation to a word, multiple words, or a phrase, and the emblem becomes evident when it could be replaced by words without altering the message.9 Ekman’s research is useful in many regards for understanding cinematic winks between humans, but the emblem does not cover circumstances when a wink is metaphorical. Research by Bill Nichols on winks in documentary film provides a pathway for understanding how winks can operate on a metaphorical basis within screen media. Nichols identifies irony as a key element of what documentary winks can communicate. An 4 Ibid., 11. 5 Ibid., 10. 6 Paul Ekman and Joseph C. Hager, “The Asymmetry of Facial Actions is Inconsistent with Models of Hemispheric Specialization,” in What the Face Reveals: Basic and Applied Studies o f Spontaneous Expression Using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), eds. Paul Ekman and Erika L. Rosenberg (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 44. 7 Ekman and Friesen, 12. 8 Paul Ekman, “Should We Call it Expression or Communication?” in Innovations in Social Science Research, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1997. 339. 9 Paul Ekman, “Cross-Cultural Studies of Facial Expression,” in Darwin and Facial Expression: A Century of Research in Review, ed. Paul Ekman (Cambridge: Malor Books, 2006), 181. 4 example from Luis Bunuel’s Land Without Bread—the sequence in which a goat accidentally dies, yet a gun firing suggests otherwise—demonstrates how the formal construction of the sequence by Bunuel provides for what Nichols argues is a wink from Bunuel that hints to the viewer the sequence is not a factual representation of the event.10 Moreover, Nichols finds Land Without Bread features other winks, ranging from the narration to soundtrack, which signal an ironic commentary on documentary form and convention by Bunuel.11 Nichols further evaluates the documentary wink in terms of irony by questioning the viewer’s role in the communication. Nichols argues, “Like a wink compared to a blink, or, even better for complex communication, a parody of a wink compared to a wink, irony arises when the viewer recognizes the play of frames that shift meaning to a different level.”12 The linchpin of accomplishing the communication is the viewer’s recognition of the differing levels of meaning produced by the irony. Nichols suggests an ironic wink message introduces doubt,13 because the viewer’s sense of balance is temporarily disturbed but restored if the viewer grasps the irony embedded in the wink.14 Although the critical 10 Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010), 49-50. 11 Bill Nichols, Speaking Truths with Film: Evidence, Ethics, Politics in Documentary (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016), 168. 12 Bill