Who Framed F.W. Murnau’s Faust? Intertextuality, Discourse & the Historical Film on DVD Abstract: This thesis examines the ways in which the historical (or ‘old’) films are presented on extended DVD editions, taking its examples primarily from The Criterion Collection and Eureka! Masters of Cinema. It deconstructs the DVD as an object immersed in a set of social practices and conventions. It analyses the intertextual processes at work, assessing them with theories on intertextuality and framing them through the work of Gerard Genette, Roland Barthes, Jonathan Culler and Jacques Derrida. The second part looks at how specifically situated discursive frameworks are utilised in order to promote certain notions of cinema and culture. Its focus is primarily on how these DVDs can be seen to promote notions of authorship and are actively engaged in processes of canon formation. Masters thesis Gijs van Wiechen (studentno. 0000531) [email protected] RMA Media Studies -University Utrecht August 31st 2008 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. William Uricchio 2nd Reader: Dr. N. Verhoeff Words: 40.384 1 Contents Preface.....................................................................................................................4 I: THE THRESHOLD..................................................................................................5 1.1.The DVD is Dead, Long Live Blu-Ray? .............................................................5 1.2.The Historical Film on DVD.............................................................................7 1.2 Objections no. 1: Hollow Discourse? .............................................................10 1.3 Text/Discourse - Knowledge/Structure.........................................................11 1.4 Objection no. 2: What about the digital?........................................................14 Exergue...The historical DVD and the global market a selective overview...............16 E.1 The DVD. ....................................................................................................16 E.2 The Studio’s. ...............................................................................................17 E.3 The Independent and the Local......................................................................20 II: D_V_D & Inter_Para_Text ...................................................................................24 2 Open Structuralism: Genette and the Paratext.................................................24 2.1 The Poetic of Transtextuality ........................................................................24 2.2 Paratextual Faust .........................................................................................26 2.2.1 The Peri- and Epitext and its Author.............................................................27 2.2.2The Titles..................................................................................................29 2.2.3 The Chapters............................................................................................30 2.2.4 The Extras ................................................................................................31 2.3 Hypertextual Faust ........................................................................................33 2.4 The Problem of the Text ...............................................................................35 3 The Insecure and (Un)bound Text ....................................................................37 3.1 ”Post”Structuralism?....................................................................................37 3.2 Barthes: From Work to Text and Text to Work. ..............................................39 3.3 The Frame ....................................................................................................44 3.3.1 The Tourist Frame .....................................................................................45 3.3.2 The Frame and the Dangerous Supplement ..................................................49 3.4 In Conclusion: The (Be)coming of the Discursive Frame ...............................53 III: DVD: Knowledge & Discourse...........................................................................56 5. Validated Intentions........................................................................................56 5.1 A Lovers’ Quarrel: Cinephilia & the Critic .....................................................56 5.1.1.The Good Object.......................................................................................58 2 5.1.3 The Loving Critic.......................................................................................60 5.2 The Author & the Cinema..............................................................................62 5.2.1 The Death of the Author?............................................................................62 5.2.2 Cinema & Authorship.................................................................................66 5.2.3 The Criterion Collection & The Status of the Auteur .....................................71 6. Cultural value and Good Knowledge: the Canon. .............................................75 6.1 Canon-formation: Canonical Objects, Canonical Knowledge..........................75 6.2 Canonising Film ............................................................................................79 IV. Conclusion ........................................................................................................86 Bibliography ..........................................................................................................94 3 Preface I believe the statement that you do not choose an object of research, but rather an object chooses you. I interpret this in the sense that certain objects reflect, bring to the surface and can help to crystallise the interests, qualities and problems that linger in the mind of the researcher. A moment of actual research is thus a moment of self-realisation and confrontation. Indeed I was a collector first and a researcher only after the admiration of my own small collection of Criterion DVDs started to produce cracks. And shortly after, I found the DVD to question me as much as I was questioning it. When studying culture, moreover, it is so very difficult to banish the arbitrariness that sometimes determines the choices of object and theory or quotes and examples. Who am I to judge the producers of these high profile DVDs then? Eight years of studying Academic texts have made it difficult to locate them as separate entity, as appropriation is the strongest tool of any Academic. The similarity also produced serious questions on a more political level. The thing that attracted me to the high profile DVD in the first place was its use of serious knowledge. Despite that I’ve always been very conscious of the elitism and colonialism of these impulses, I cannot not argue that thought and hard work is needed to say something sensible (which is lacking in 95 % of all talk). And while I desperately want to be progressive and aspire to do something new, I cannot but be confronted over and over with the vast knowledge of the past that always pushes one towards conservatism. But perhaps the most important of all is the fact that I realised a cinephile will never kill another cinephile. While my purchases have dwindled, as every DVD either posed new questions or reinforced my critique, I am sure we settle our differences. I feel the urgent need to thank some people. First and foremost there is William Uricchio, whom I cannot thank enough for agreeing to supervise this thesis, in spite of his busy schedule. His drive, enthusiasm and great coffee fill me with jealousy and admiration at the same time. Nanna Verhoeff, who I strangely never met during my studies, took it onto herself to be the second reader, which made me quite nervous. I also want to thank Babs Boter and Jim Hurley, their suggestions and comments were invaluable to this thesis. Frank Kessler deserves mention for being so supportive as tutor and teacher. Also the people at MuHKA_media in Antwerp for showing me what’s in store in the real world. My long life as a student has brought me into contact with so many interesting and inspiring people, students and teachers. I want to thank especially my fellow students and friends from Amsterdam (RMA Cultural Analysis 2005-2006) and Utrecht (RMA Media Studies 2006-2008). I’ve also always been blessed with a network of very close friends, each doing their own thing so beautifully. The many years with them have convinced me that love is not merely a Hollywood-made cliché. Then there are my parents, who allowed me to pursue the path of my choice. I guess I’ll dedicate this thesis to Henk, my cat, whose mesmerised or bored looks and background purrs have accompanied this thesis every step of the way. 4 I: THE THRESHOLD That’s what I love about Criterion: Those guys can take a perfect film and make it perfect-er. - Peter Debruge 1 1.1.The DVD is Dead, Long Live Blu-Ray? Despite the recent arrival of the next generation, this thesis is not a eulogy for the DVD, one of the most successful ‘new’ media to emerge in the 1990s. To be sure, the upgrade is here to stay. After a format war of just two short years, Toshiba has thrown the towel in the ring and Sony’s Blu-ray can finally be hailed as the newest and best commercial format for the storage of audiovisual data. Sony’s Blu-ray offers almost two and half times bigger storage capacity than the DVD, allowing for a significant