University of Huddersfield Repository El Madawi, Stefanie Approaching Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing Original Citation El Madawi, Stefanie (2020) Approaching Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/35250/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ Approaching Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing Stefanie El Madawi A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Huddersfield with the North of England Consortium for Arts and Humanities (NECAH) April 2020 Copyright Statement: i. 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Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions. Notice of Publication: An article entitled ‘Telling Tales: Bearing Witness in Jennifer Fox’s The Tale’ was published in Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies in March 2020. The article was based on an early draft of my analysis of The Tale (Fox, 2018) in Chapter Two: Autofilmic Advocacy: Testimonial Remembering and Not Forgetting in Jennifer Fox’s The Tale and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. 2 Abstract: In this thesis, I theorise Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing as a critical approach to the production and viewership of autobiographical experience on film. The analysis utilises autobiography, film, and adaptation studies to develop an ethical framework that considers the representation of autobiographical experience on film as a form of testimony. The research reveals the codes and conventions of the autobiographical ‘I’ on screen, to identify and interrogate the cinematic and empathic strategies that invite the viewer to bear witness. Fundamentally, Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing describes the unspoken agreement between subject and viewer, underpinned by a singular shared objective: to bear witness to the subjective truth of a life. I argue that the subjective truth of autobiographical experience is conveyed on screen along a continuum of representation. The project begins by exploring self- reflexive film as self-witnessing, or autofilmic testimony, in the analyses of Arirang (Kim, 2011), Tarnation (Caouette, 2003) and Blue (Jarman, 1993), by mapping the first-person modes of address and documentary practices used in these films. The analysis moves on to explore The Tale (Fox, 2018) and Persepolis (2007) as narrative films that further constitute self-witnessing, whilst expanding the critical scope of autofilmic testimony to include the representation of traumatic memory and collective identity as advocacy. The thesis goes on to propose the cinematic adaptation of a literary autobiography as a secondary witnessing project, or auteurbiography, addressing questions of ethics, authorship, and fidelity. Using The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Schnabel, 2007) to advance the notion of an ethical ‘pact’ between the filmmakers and the autobiographical subject, I argue that fidelity is crucial to the testimonial tone of auteurbiography. The analysis develops to consider issues of cinematic construction, creative authority, and relationality, exploring the hierarchies of authorship, ownership and representation that emerge throughout the adaptive process. The thesis concludes with a comparative case study of Being Flynn (Weitz, 2012) and Julie & Julia (Ephron, 2009), which exposes the limitations imposed by gender, genre, and commercial concerns, and the ways these issues can compromise the testimonial agenda of Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing. Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing draws together and builds upon existing scholarship within autobiography and film studies, to advance an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of autobiographical and testimonial subjectivity on screen. 3 Contents: Copyright Statement p. 2 Notice of Publication p. 2 Abstract p. 3 Contents p. 4 Acknowledgements p. 6 List of Figures p. 7 Introduction p. 9 Literary Approaches to Autobiography and Testimony p. 11 Filmic Testimony and Autobiographical Film: Documentary Evidence p. 14 Adapting the Invitation p. 19 Approaching Empathy p. 24 Overview of the Chapters p. 26 Section One: Autofilmic Testimony p. 29 1. Asserting the Testimonial I/Eye: Self-Witnessing as Autofilmic Testimony in Arirang, Tarnation, and Blue p. 30 Artistic Agency in Arirang p. 31 Testimonial Textures in Tarnation p. 44 Hearing the Body in Blue p. 55 2. Autofilmic Advocacy: Testimonial Remembering and Not Forgetting in Jennifer Fox’s The Tale and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis p. 66 Telling Tales: Mediating Memories p. 68 Graphic Content: Representing Repression p. 84 Section Two: Auteurbiography p. 105 3. Auteurbiography as Secondary Testimony: Adapting Self-Witness in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly p. 106 Adaptation as Auteurbiography p. 107 Vulnerable Subjectivity and Embodied Witnessing p. 110 Secondary Witnessing: The Amanuensis and The Auteurial Équipe p. 114 In/Fidelity: Empathy and Ethics p. 131 4 4. Adapting Auto/Biography: Approaching the Limits of Auteurbiography in Being Flynn and Julie & Julia p. 142 Auto/Biography and Relationality p. 146 Adapting Auto/Biography p. 148 Being Flynn: Explicitly Embedded Auto/Biographical Testimony p. 150 Julie and Julia – and Nora (and Meryl): Which Chick’s Flick? p. 168 Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing – To What Ends? p. 188 Works Cited p. 195 Bibliography p. 195 Primary Filmography p. 211 Additional Filmography p. 211 Source Texts p. 213 5 Acknowledgements: To the many willing witnesses, without whom, there would be no thesis: thank you. I owe a debt of gratitude to some very special people. To Dr. Sarah Falcus: your patience and belief in my work are the reasons this project is complete. I cannot imagine anyone more capable of my ‘supervision’. It has been so much more than that. To my friend and confidante, Dr. Nic Stavris: you have been my guide at every stage, and it is indeed fine. To my mum, for knowing exactly what I need, even when I don’t. This project is as much yours as mine. To my extra mums, Dimps and Sue, and the many nurturing and loyal friends who have allowed me the space to get here, and still know where I came here from, thank you too. And Glenn, my living dock leaf, my joy – in cups and everywhere – I could not have done this without you. This, like everything, for Thea. 6 List of Figures: Chapter One: 1.1 The subject Kim faces the second Kim in the ‘interview’. p. 33 1.2 The second Kim faces the subject Kim in the ‘interview’. p. 33 1.3 The viewing Kim watches the subject Kim on a monitor. p. 35 1.4 The subject Kim acknowledges the camera/viewer. p. 37 1.5 Caouette performing ‘Hilary’ in a home-video. p. 51 1.6 Caouette delivers his final confessional address to the camera. p. 53 1.7 Jarman’s blue screen. p. 56 1.8 Jarman’s ‘Morphine’. p. 58 Chapter Two: 2.1 Jenny (Flaum) atop her horse with Mrs. G and Bill. p. 72 2.2 Jennifer speaks to Jenny (Nélisse) in the mirror. p. 75 2.3 Marji at the centre of her classmates and the merging of their veils. p. 93 2.4 ‘Photos’ of Marjane at her wedding. p. 100 2.5 Marjane leaves the airport as the unified testimonial ‘I’. p. 102 Chapter Three: 3.1 The stitching closed of Jean-Do’s eye from his subjective perspective. p. 123 3.2 Jean-Dominique Bauby at Berck-sur-Mer in Assigné à Résidence (Beineix, 1997). p. 129 3.3 Mathieu Amalric as Jean-Do in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Schnabel, 2007) p. 130 3.4 Jean-Do shaves Papinou. p. 133 Chapter Four: 4.1 Jonathan sleeps on the steam grate, from above. p. 159 4.2 Nick and Jonathan come face-to-face at the shelter’s cage. p. 160 4.3 Julie writing her blog. p. 171 4.4 Julie Powell’s first blog post. p. 179 7 Autobiography might be best thought of as a thing made out of a thing done. Timothy Dow Adams Approaching Contemporary Cinematic I-Witnessing From The Truman Show (1998) to ‘True Crime’, Pariah (2011) to Periscope, the contemporary cultural landscape is replete with videographic attempts to bear witness to subjectivity on screen, with notions of autobiographical portraiture evolving in line with technological advancement and increased accessibility to filmic forms.