Hyper-Extensionality and the Return of Three-Dimensional Media Justin Alan Brecese University of South Florida, [email protected]
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School January 2012 Out of Our Depth: Hyper-Extensionality and the Return of Three-Dimensional Media Justin Alan Brecese University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Other Communication Commons, and the Other Sociology Commons Scholar Commons Citation Brecese, Justin Alan, "Out of Our Depth: Hyper-Extensionality and the Return of Three-Dimensional Media" (2012). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3990 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Out of Our Depth: Hyper-Extensionality and the Return of Three-Dimensional Media by Justin Alan Brecese A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Liberal Arts Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Scott Ferguson, Ph.D. Amy Rust, Ph.D. Margit Grieb, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 9, 2012 Keywords: 3-D, Digital Media, Neoliberalism, Film, Augmented Reality Copyright © 2012, Justin Alan Brecese Dedication To my family, who always stood by me and supported my academic endeavors. To my friends, who were always patient when I did not have time to spare. To Yvonne, my wife-to-be, who gives me the strength to achieve my goals. And to my amazing professors and mentors, who believed in my project from the very beginning, and selflessly dedicated so much of their time and expertise to help me along the way. Without you, I would not be where I am today. Table of Contents List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Re-Theorizing 3-D ...................................................................................................4 Related Rhetorics: 3-D as Cultural Logic .............................................................11 Theoretical Grounding ...........................................................................................20 Analytical Process ..................................................................................................23 Chapter One: It Looks So ―Real‖: 3-D Cinema and the Promise of Spectacular Immersion ....................................................................................................................28 A New World, Part One: Digitizing Life ..............................................................28 Selling It .................................................................................................................45 Epilogue: From 3-D Cinema to Cultural Logic .....................................................52 Chapter Two: Deep Pictures, Deep Pockets: Augmented Reality and the Economics of Three-Dimensional Media ....................................................................55 A New World, Part Two: Digitizing Space(s) ......................................................55 Neoliberalism, Photorealism, and the Return of Three-Dimensional Media.........72 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................86 Works Cited .......................................................................................................................91 i List of Figures Figure 1: Advertisement for a Palm Centro2 smartphone created by a marketing student .................................................................................................................6 Figure 2: Jake Sully, currently ―plugged into‖ his avatar body, connects to the Tree of Souls ......................................................................................................34 Figure 3A: Jake‘s initiation into the Na‘vi clan ................................................................36 Figure 3B: The Na‘vi unite to perform a ritual .................................................................36 Figure 4: ―Paddle-ball man‖ in action, House of Wax (1953) ..........................................47 Figure 5A: House of Wax (1953) ......................................................................................48 Figure 5B: My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009) ....................................................................48 Figure 5C: Poster for Avatar (2009) .................................................................................49 Figure 5D: Poster for Tron Legacy (2010) .......................................................................49 Figure 6: SAR Samsung advertisement for 3-D television projected onto the façade of the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam (May 2010) ............................58 Figure 7: Advertisement for Nintendo 3DS AR Cards .....................................................58 Figure 8A: Hand imprint in building ................................................................................62 Figure 8B: Crack in façade beginning at base and moving upward .................................62 Figure 8C: Bricks crumbling and falling out of front of building from crack ..................62 Figure 8D: Crack in façade becoming trunk of tree with leaves and flowers growing out from ―branches‖ .........................................................................62 Figure 8E: After filling with water and fish, water drains out of the windows onto the steps in front of the building .....................................................................62 Figure 9: René Magritte, The Human Condition I (1933) ................................................64 ii Figure 10: Nintendo 3DS AR card; Mario standing on my laptop ...................................66 Figure 11A: Posters exaggerating the ―shock‖ of the 3-D effects: Comin’ at Ya! ..........75 Figure 11B: Friday the 13th Part 3 ...................................................................................75 Figure 11C: Jaws 3-D .......................................................................................................75 Figure 11D: Amityville 3-D ...............................................................................................75 iii Abstract This work theorizes the contemporary attraction to three-dimensional media. In doing so, it reframes ongoing debates surrounding digital three-dimensional media in order to critique the neoliberal social relations such media engender. I argue that the contemporary interest in dimensionality, especially regarding digital media, is symptomatic of a broad cultural shift, wherein millions of lives are now essentially being lived through two-dimensional, ―flat‖ media, which have consequently generated a lack of spatial relationships and a craving or desire for ―depth.‖ This ―desire for depth‖ has arisen in contemporary society because people are being ―spread too thin‖ through a combination of the radical connectivity afforded by digital technology and the demand for limitless flexibility imposed by the market: a condition I call hyper-extensionality. My work examines how neoliberal capitalism necessitates the individualized, radical connectivity now experienced by millions of people, and subsequently generates our attraction to three-dimensionality in digital media. Through analyses of select, prominent forms of three-dimensional media, I show that commercial three-dimensional media largely functions to maintain the status quo by helping alleviate the feeling of ―depthlessness‖ in the social unconscious. iv Introduction The true stereoscopic effect will add a mighty force to motion pictures. It will make them beyond any comparison the most powerful medium of expression of which anyone has dreamed. -D. W. Griffith, 1922 If your inclination is to champion lost causes, the case of stereo photography is ready-made for you. This lost pup, with us since the very beginnings of photography, continues to occupy a third-rate position in the photographic scheme of things. -Paul Farber, 1966 3-D is a waste of a perfectly good dimension. Hollywood‘s current crazy stampede toward it is suicidal. It adds nothing essential to the moviegoing experience. -Roger Ebert, 2010 Since the early years of cinema there has been much debate over stereoscopic films. Such discourse commonly revolves around whether the effect is a valuable, artistic endeavor, or merely a trite gimmick. The notion that 3-D is nothing more than a ―gimmick‖ has been pervasive since the 1950s, and has successfully overshadowed the importance of stereoscopy in the history of photography and cinema. In fact, the history of stereoscopy is largely repressed in the field of film studies. The question that needs to be asked, though, is not whether 3-D has value or significance in cinema‘s history. The answer to that question is ―yes.‖ Regardless of how repressed 3-D has been in film studies discourse, stereoscopy has been an integral part of cinema‘s history since before