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The Autobiographical Films of Frampton, Tarkovsky, and Álvarez University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses March 2017 A Poetics of Subtraction: The Autobiographical Films of Frampton, Tarkovsky, and Álvarez Alexander B. Joy University of Massachusetts - Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Comparative Literature Commons Recommended Citation Joy, Alexander B., "A Poetics of Subtraction: The Autobiographical Films of Frampton, Tarkovsky, and Álvarez" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations. 883. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/883 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Poetics of Subtraction: The Autobiographical Films of Frampton, Tarkovsky, and Álvarez A Dissertation Presented By ALEXANDER B. JOY Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2017 Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Program in Comparative Literature © Copyright by Alexander B. Joy 2017 All Rights Reserved A Poetics of Subtraction: The Autobiographical Films of Frampton, Tarkovsky, and Álvarez A Dissertation Presented By ALEXANDER B. JOY Approved as to style and content by: _____________________________________ Catherine Portuges, Chair _____________________________________ James Hicks, Member _____________________________________ Anne Ciecko, Member _____________________________________ Boris Wolfson, Member __________________________________________ Edwin Gentzler, Program Director Comparative Literature __________________________________________ William Moebius, Department Chair Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend my gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee for their help, guidance, and patience with me throughout my years at UMass. Thank you, Dr. Catherine Portuges, for serving as the chair of my dissertation. You have made this long, involved, and challenging process significantly easier. I am also grateful to you for signing on to this project in the first place! I doubt I could have completed this last leg of the doctoral program without you. Thank you for your insight and encouragement, and for helping me across the finish line. Thank you, Dr. James Hicks, for serving on my committees throughout my time at UMass. You leaped into action to save me during my comprehensive exams – without my even having to ask – when ill health sidelined one of my original members, and have offered me invaluable commentary every step of the way. I am grateful for it. Thank you, Dr. Anne Ciecko, for being there throughout all the phases of my graduate studies. Your introductory classes on film theory (which you went out of your way to teach at a time convenient for me!) paved the way for my academic trajectory, and your service on my comps and dissertation committees has gone a long way toward strengthening my research and methods. You have my sincerest thanks. Thank you, Dr. Boris Wolfson, for having enough faith in me to volunteer for my comprehensive exams – and for sticking around for the dissertation, too. Learning enough Russian to study Soviet film has been an uphill battle, but you have equipped me well for it. For that, and for watching hours of Tarkovsky films on my behalf, cпасибо! iv ABSTRACT A POETICS OF SUBTRACTION: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FILMS OF FRAMPTON, TARKOVSKY, AND ÁLVAREZ FEBRUARY 2017 ALEXANDER B. JOY, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Dr. Catherine Portuges Contemporary critical discussions of autobiographical cinema have linked the theory, practice, and poetics of autobiographical filmmaking to those of self-portraiture. A Poetics of Subtraction complicates the dominant theoretical framework by advocating for the relevance of sculpture and its attendant poetics in the interpretation of autobiographical films. Through a thorough examination of Hollis Frampton's (nostalgia) (1971), Andrei Tarkovsky's Зеркало (Mirror, 1975) and Tempo di viaggio (1983), and Mercedes Álvarez's El cielo gira (2004), this dissertation argues that an understanding of sculpture's processes and poetics is essential for grasping the methods, materials, and meanings of autobiographical films. In particular, the sculptural approach to autobiographical cinema reveals new ways to represent memory, history, identity, and time through film. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………………………… iv ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER 1. TOWARD A POETICS OF SUBTRACTION.......................................................................1 A. Introduction.................................................................................................................1 B. Autobiographical Cinema: Definitions and Distinctions.............................................2 C. Theorizing Autobiographical Cinema: An Overview................................................14 D. The Self-Portraiture Paradigm: Motivations and Advantages...................................21 E. The Sculpture Paradigm: Motivations, Advantages, and Approaches.......................30 F. A Prospective Genealogy of Sculptural Autobiographical Films...............................51 2. HOLLIS FRAMPTON'S (nostalgia)...................................................................................59 A. A Hollis Frampton Renaissance.................................................................................59 B. A Structural Filmmaker?............................................................................................61 C. (nostalgia): A Brief Synopsis....................................................................................68 D. Frampton's Theory of Film........................................................................................71 E. Nostalgia Defined: What's in a Name?......................................................................79 F. The Question of Materiality in (nostalgia).................................................................92 G. (nostalgia): An Autobiographical Reading.............................................................104 H. Conclusion...............................................................................................................118 vi 3. ANDREI TARKOVSKY'S Зеркало AND Tempo di viaggio............................................120 A. A Portrait Without a Likeness: Tarkovsky's Autobiographical Films......................120 B. Tarkovsky's “Self-Less” Theory of Art and Sculptural Method..............................126 C. Communicable Memories and Time Beyond the Self: Зеркало.............................137 D. The Body as Obstacle: Tempo di viaggio................................................................163 E. Conclusion...............................................................................................................181 4. MERCEDES ÁLVAREZ'S El cielo gira...........................................................................183 A. “Un lujo del cine español”.......................................................................................183 B. El Cielo Gira: A Brief Summary.............................................................................186 C. An Autobiography of Many Genres........................................................................187 D. In Dialogue with the Arts: Álvarez's Move from Painting to Sculpture.................191 E. Sculpting in Memory: Empty Spaces Filled with Time...........................................215 F. Conclusion................................................................................................................236 5. CONCLUSIONS AND OTHER PARTING THOUGHTS................................................238 WORKS CITED....................................................................................................................249 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Maya Deren in Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)................................................................15 2. Carolee Schneemann's Fuses (1967).................................................................................17 3. Joyce Wieland's Water Sark (1965)...................................................................................24 4. The final image of Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929)..............................25 5. Caouette's self-portrait in Tarnation (2003).......................................................................28 6. Stills from the epilogue of Sink or Swim (1992)................................................................50 7. Still from Carrots and Peas (1969)...................................................................................62 8. Still from Lemon (1969).....................................................................................................63 9. Close-up of Frampton's appearance in Wavelength...........................................................64
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