THE PHILOSOPHY of STEVEN SODERBERGH the Philosophy of Popular Culture
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF STEVEN SODERBERGH The Philosophy of Popular Culture Th e books published in the Philosophy of Popular Culture series will illuminate and explore philosophical themes and ideas that occur in popular culture. Th e goal of this series is to demonstrate how philosophical inquiry has been reinvigorated by increased scholarly interest in the intersection of popular culture and philosophy, as well as to explore through philosophical analysis beloved modes of entertainment, such as movies, TV shows, and music. Philosophical concepts will be made accessible to the general reader through examples in popular culture. Th is series seeks to publish both established and emerging scholars who will engage a major area of popular culture for philosophical interpretation and examine the philosophical underpinnings of its themes. Eschewing ephemeral trends of philosophical and cultural theory, authors will establish and elaborate on connections between traditional philosophical ideas from important thinkers and the ever-expanding world of popular culture. Series Editor Mark T. Conard, Marymount Manhattan College, NY Books in the Series Th e Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick, edited by Jerold J. Abrams Football and Philosophy, edited by Michael W. Austin Tennis and Philosophy, edited by David Baggett Th e Philosophy of the Coen Brothers, edited by Mark T. Conard Th e Philosophy of Film Noir, edited by Mark T. Conard Th e Philosophy of Martin Scorsese, edited by Mark T. Conard Th e Philosophy of Neo-Noir, edited by Mark T. Conard Th e Philosophy of Horror, edited by Th omas Fahy Th e Philosophy of Th e X-Files, edited by Dean A. Kowalski Steven Spielberg and Philosophy, edited by Dean A. Kowalski Th e Philosophy of the Western, edited by Jennifer L. McMahon and B. Steve Csaki Th e Philosophy of Science Fiction Film, edited by Steven M. Sanders Th e Philosophy of TV Noir, edited by Steven M. Sanders and Aeon J. Skoble Basketball and Philosophy, edited by Jerry L. Walls and Gregory Bassham Golf and Philosophy, edited by Andy Wible THE PHILOSOPHY OF STEVEN SODERBERGH Edited by R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Copyright © 2011 by Th e University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Th e Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offi ces: Th e University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com 15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Th e philosophy of Steven Soderbergh / edited by R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders. p. cm. — (Philosophy of popular culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8131-2662-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Soderbergh, Steven, 1963—Criticism and interpretation. I. Palmer, R. Barton, 1946– II. Sanders, Steven, 1945– PN1998.3.S593P55 2010 791.4302’33092dc—22 2010036022 Th is book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. Member of the Association of American University Presses For Christeen and Carla CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders Part 1. Knowledge, Truth, Sexuality Knowledge, Truth, and Th ought Experiments in Schizopolis and sex, lies, and videotape 13 David Rodríguez-Ruiz Love, Truth, and the Medium in sex, lies, and videotape 29 Yannis Tzioumakis Amplifi ed Discourse and Desire in sex, lies, and videotape 51 Murray Pomerance Part 2. Temporality, Intertextuality, Genre Alain Resnais Meets Film Noir in Th e Underneath and Th e Limey 69 R. Barton Palmer Consciousness, Temporality, and the Crime-Revenge Genre in Th e Limey 91 Geoff King Intertextuality, Broken Mirrors, and Th e Good German 107 Andrew deWaard Remade by Steven Soderbergh 121 Aaron Baker Part 3. Self-Refl exivity, Self-Centeredness, Autobiography Philosophical Refl ections on Steven Soderbergh’s Kafk a 145 Ivo Ritzer Responsibility and Self-Centered Narration in Erin Brockovich 159 Andrew Patrick Nelson Schizopolis as Philosophical Autobiography 173 Drew Morton Part 4. Politics, Morals, Methodology Mr. Soderbergh Goes to Washington 197 Steven M. Sanders Schizoanalyzing the Informant 213 David Sterritt Competing Modes of Capital in Ocean’s Eleven 231 R. Colin Tait An Ethical Analysis of Traffi c 247 Shai Biderman and William J. Devlin Part 5. Simulacra, Space, Solaris Th e Philosophy of Space and Memory in Solaris 267 Douglas McFarland Solaris, Cinema, and Simulacra 281 Michael Valdez Moses Contributors 305 Index 309 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Th is volume of original essays on the philosophy and fi lms of Steven Soder- bergh is the fi rst systematic treatment of a gift ed and acclaimed artist. We want to thank our contributors who have written so well on a body of work that defi es easy categorization even as it refl ects enduring preoccupations and themes. We are grateful to Anne Dean Watkins, acquisitions editor for the University Press of Kentucky, and Mark T. Conard, editor of the Philosophy of Popular Culture series, for their encouragement and support. We are also grateful to the anonymous peer reviewers for their incisive comments and suggestions. Jen Huppert produced a philosophically allusive dust jacket cover that is highly appropriate for this study of the work of a self-refl exive fi lmmaker. RBP would like to thank Carla and Camden Palmer for their interest in, and always tolerant endurance of the inconveniences caused by, his devotion to scholarly projects such as this one. His endowment, furnished by the Calhoun Lemon family, made possible the purchase of research materials and travel to the Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles, where he benefi ted, as always, from the kindness and competence of Barbara Hall and her staff . SMS would like to thank Christeen Clemens for her research assistance with the manuscript, her help in obtaining many of Steven Soder- bergh’s fi lms, and for the engrossing discussion that followed viewing them. ix INTRODUCTION R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders Not Orson Welles Redivivus Orson Welles was twenty-six when, having given himself a crash course in fi lmmaking, he directed and starred in Citizen Kane (1941). If its peculiar artistry and penetrating dissection of American culture went underap- preciated at the time, the fi lm has long since been recognized as one of the masterpieces of the national cinema. Steven Soderbergh was the same age when his initial directorial eff ort, sex, lies, and videotape (1989), for which he also wrote the script, received, among other accolades, the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Even at twenty years remove, Soderbergh’s fi rst fi lm arguably remains the most infl uential independent fi lm ever made. Because it is in many ways a minimalist production, however, it seems un- likely to rival Citizen Kane in the pantheon of greatest American movies. But, much as Citizen Kane did for Welles, slv established Soderbergh as a wunderkind whose writing and directing talents were already fully formed. Also like Welles, Soderbergh seemed in no need of a lengthy apprenticeship in the business. Both directors instead began their careers at the top, a mixed blessing that in each case created expectations that, as subsequent events have proved, were diffi cult to fulfi ll. But there the comparison between Welles and Soderbergh, made by many during the height of slv’s popularity, begins to break down. Unlike Citizen Kane, slv aroused no controversy within the industry; its politics were interpersonal, not national, and its stylizations were subtle, not os- tentatious, suiting a limited budget form of cinema more dependent on talk than spectacle. Following the commercial/independent (or, in the now popular expression, Indiewood) model established earlier in the decade by fi lmmakers such as the Coen brothers and Jim Jarmusch, slv combines an intelligible, essentially melodramatic narrative with art house themes. Th e 1 2 R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders fi lm is especially marked by a deeply probing approach to complex char- acter that uncovers at least partly unfathomable motivations, the result, in large part, of Soderbergh’s enthusiasm for the international art cinema of the postwar era in general and for French New Wave director Jean-Pierre Melville in particular. Th e fi lm’s critical and commercial success, moreover, meant that Soderbergh was not an enfant terrible who would bear watch- ing and close handling. He was instead established as a major player in the expanding commercial/independent sector of American fi lmmaking (slv was not, as is commonly thought, a true independent fi lm since it received preproduction fi nancing from Point 406, the home video and independent production unit of Columbia Pictures). Perhaps more important, the release of slv inaugurated a distinct and enduring phase in New Hollywood fi lmmaking. Its distribution by then fl edgling Miramax established that company as a force to be reckoned with, while Soderbergh, it quickly became apparent, was the advance scout for an emerging second wave of independent-minded fi lmmakers, who, it was widely (and, as it turns out, correctly) thought by many industry execu- tives, could exploit the huge box offi ce potential exposed by the theatrical exhibition of slv (which earned more than $100 million by the middle 1990s). Th is group of writer-directors comprises many who are now famous and established Hollywood insiders, including Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher, Paul Th omas Anderson, David O.