POETRY and REASON: MEANS and MEANINGS of the MOVING IMAGE by Iona Pelovska MFA in Film Production, Concordia University, Montrea
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POETRY AND REASON: MEANS AND MEANINGS OF THE MOVING IMAGE by Iona Pelovska MFA in Film Production, Concordia University, Montreal, 2001 BFA in Film Production, Concordia University, Montreal, 1994 A dissertation presented to Ryerson University and York University in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Program of Communication and Culture Toronto, Ontario, Canada 2015 © Iona Pelovska 2015 i I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this dissertation. This is a true copy of the dissertation, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this dissertation to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this dissertation by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my dissertation may be made electronically available to the public. ii (NOTE: the poem below is derived from the text of the Abstract by cutting out openings on the blank page preceding the Abstract.) Poetry and Pornography departs from the question of cinema as industrial technology and as artistic language. The prosthetic relationship of industrial technologies to the body, unlike the contingency of traditional art technologies on the body, problematizes the question of cinema as art. φinema‟s capacity to render thought-like environments allows its trans-mediumatic abstraction. This extends its questioning beyond the technologically cinematic, into the pre-technological moving image that animates perception, thought and dream. In scanning the field that makes cinema possible, this work questions the possibilities cinema opens as a way of knowing and assembling realities. The interpolation of language, thought and embodiment reveals a view of language as mediumatic, and of cinema as a linguistic medium that can simulate a cognitively faithful dream (the original disembodied moving image) as sensory experience. Thus cinema re-enacts a pre-technological environment while advancing the language of technology embedded in the cinematic machine. The libidinal ways solar and chthonic energies, the symbolic and the physical, interpolate in mytho-poetic thought, art and science culminate in the ways these energies unfold in the experience of the movie theatre and illuminate human hybridization, from ancient anthropo-bestiality to the techno- human condition. Poetry and reason as the two ways of language, outline an epistemology that foregrounds the primacy of poetry in symbolic and physical being. This work aims to resolve tensions between the symbolic and the material both theoretically and methodologically, proposing an integration of rational and poetic (artistic) techniques. The methodological intervention brings divergent approaches into tensional dynamic that sculpts a mobile structure, necessarily open-ended and imperfect to allow for further development of the research questions. Theoretically, it delves into the movements of poetry and reason as ways to meaning, and investigates their destination in cinema. iii Poetry and Reason , PhD 2015, Iona Pelovska, Communication and Culture, Ryerson/York University Abstract Poetry and Reason departs from the question of cinema as industrial technology and as artistic language. The prosthetic relationship of industrial technologies to the body, unlike the contingency of traditional art technologies on the body, problematizes the question of cinema as art. φinema‟s capacity to render thought-like environments allows its trans-mediumatic abstraction. This extends its questioning beyond the technologically cinematic, into the pre-technological moving image that animates perception, thought and dream. In scanning the field that makes cinema possible, this work questions the possibilities cinema opens as a way of knowing and assembling realities. The interpolation of language, thought and embodiment reveals a view of language as mediumatic, and of cinema as a linguistic medium that can simulate a cognitively faithful dream (the original disembodied moving image) as sensory experience. Thus cinema re-enacts a pre-technological environment while advancing the language of technology embedded in the cinematic machine. The libidinal ways solar and chthonic energies, the symbolic and the physical, interpolate in mytho-poetic thought, art and science culminate in the ways these energies unfold in the experience of cinema and illuminate human hybridization, from ancient anthropo-bestiality to the techno-human condition. Poetry and reason, as the two ways of language, outline an epistemology that foregrounds the primacy of poetry in symbolic being. This work aims to resolve tensions between the symbolic and the material both theoretically and methodologically, proposing an integration of rational and poetic (artistic) techniques. The methodological intervention brings divergent approaches into tensional dynamic that sculpts a mobile structure, necessarily open-ended and imperfect. Theoretically, it delves into the movements of poetry and reason as ways to meaning, investigating their destination in cinema. The vocabulary of reason prompts cinema to advance a technological intent to colonize reality while poetic language destabilizes that movement. Reason and poetry as the two ways of language are thus actualized in the ways cinematic language interpolates mental and sensory experience. iv Acknowledgements This work is a labour of tenacious research, merciless questioning and unconditional love. It had to be sustained through the onslaughts of reality and life's turbulence, and this is why it would not have been possible without the support of the people who stood by me during this process. I would like to begin from the beginning by thanking Bruce Elder for inspiring me to embark on this journey and for his guidance in the early stages of my work. As a Rogers Fellow, I would also like to acknowledge the generous financial support of the Ted Rogers family. Motivation is hardest to sustain during such a long process and for this my deepest gratitude goes to my committee. I feel extremely fortunate to have had such remarkable scholars overlook my work. Being guided by three people who embody their intellectual commitments, who walk their talk, gave me no excuse for abdication. I would like to give heartfelt thanks to my Supervisor, Caitlin Fisher, for having the courage to trust my process when I was doubtful and the vision to dispel my fear when I was stuck. My special gratitude goes to Steven Bailey for his unwavering presence in answering any question I would have with staggering erudition, kindness and precision. And finally, I am indebted to Michael Prokopow not only for his rigour and sense of beauty, but also for applying them to my text in a meticulous final edit that helped me submit this work as glitch-free as time would afford me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Lost in thought and time, it was the Department Secretary, Jo Ann Mackie, who helped me keep my life on track when I had wandered off in the wilderness of my mind. I would like to thank her for her endless kindness and ruthlessness in kicking me in action at the exact moment of need. I would also like to acknowledge the Department Chairs Paul Moore and Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof for their invaluable administrative and time management support. The trepidation I felt during this journey was immense and I wouldn't have made it without the emotional support of family and friends. Many heartfelt thanks go to Anne Wordsworth for her v beautiful friendship, for making her house my home and for bringing Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project to my attention. Special thanks to Aileen Weaver for her graceful touch, her unwavering emotional support and for driving all the way from Arizona to see me during the last stretch of the marathon. Many thanks to Christine Korte for the inspiring conversations and the sense of wonder and joy with which she imbued my academic life. Finally, I would like to thank Lyuba Encheva who has been my co-conspirator in tackling life's mysterious meanderings through academic work. I would like to give special thanks to my ex-husband, Grigor Kuzmanov, who threw a few wrenches in my wheels early in the research process, allowing my work to mature and deepen in the delay. He has been my intellectual companion for years and he continues to be one of the most insightful critics and supporters of my thought. He showed me how to think with my heart and for this I will always be grateful. Elizabeth Trott has helped me survive not only financially, by repeatedly employing me as her Assistant, but also mentally, by offering her wise council, warm friendship and remarkable sense of humour whenever I needed them. Thank you for sharing your brilliance so generously! Finally, my deepest thanks go to my partner Thibaud De Corta who has been my rock during the last two years of intense writing. Without his loving patience and unwavering support I wouldn't have had the conditions to finish this work. He provided me with the peace and stability needed for uninterrupted discent into thought, while making sure I didn't lose myself in the process. His belief in my work, his emotional and intellectual insight, and above all, his selfless presence have made the successful completion of my dissertation the only option. Thank you! vi In memory of my grandmother and namesake, Iona Pelovska, a