THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA® University Libraries Toward a Theory of Cinematic Style: The Remake Jeremy Butler – Northwestern University Deposited 12/18/2017 This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) . NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY TOWARD A THEORY OF CINEMATIC STYLE: THE REMAKE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of Radio, Television and Film: Film BY JEREMY GAYLORD BUTLER Evanston, Illinois June 1982 ABSTRACT Toward a Theory of Cinematic Style: The Remake Jeremy Gaylord Butler The history of cinematic stylistic analysis has been marked by evasions, mysticism, intellectual appre- hension and other scholarly ills and evils. The influx of semiotics into cinema studies (ostensibly dealing with the "how" rather than the "what") has offered some mostly unrealized potential for remedying this state of affairs. Still, no one has particularized how style operates in the process of cinematic signification. This study, therefore, constructs a model of film style's position within the semiotic process. (Style as elicitor of emotion or as "signature" of the auteur does not enter into the discussion.) After surveying the writings on style in literary studies, art history and film analysis, I provisionally conceptualize a signifier, a signified and a sign for style in narrative film. Specifically, the stylistic signifier is the patterning of technique. The stylistic signified (the "meaning" of style) is produced by this patterning. The stylistic sign, then, is the correlation of signifier and signified--in other words, the signified as apprehended through a specific signifier (as concep- tualized by Roland Barthes). This stylistic signified may be grouped into three large categories: (1) style as abstract graphic, (2) style as narrative expression (either "echoing" or undercutting the denotation) and (3) style as thematic expression (signifying an idea or concept). Working from these premises, the styles of a film and its remake (Imitation of Life [John Stahl, 1934] and Imitation of Life [Douglas Sirk, 1959]) are analyzed. These films share a similar denotation, differing most significantly in terms of style. Hence, a close comparison can illustrate the material of style and its functioning. Absolute conclusions elude this study. One cannot predict how a particular viewer will interpret the style of a particular film. One can, however, trace the route by which he or she arrived at that stylistic interpreta- tion, a posteriori. This is the purpose of the present model of stylistic semiosis in the cinema. PREFACE In any endeavor such as this, one inevitably exploits the resources of one's friends and colleagues. I consider myself particularly fortunate to have been encouraged by several persons who were both generous with their time and genuinely concerned with my project (and at critical times when my own interest flagged), Chuck Kleinhans (chairperson), Stuart Kaminsky and Paddy Whannel, my original committee members, provided early guidance by commenting on a substantive preliminary paper. Jack Ellis graciously joined the committee after Professor Whannel's death--a loss we all still feel. Blaine Allan, Dave Kehr and Patrick Leary also read early drafts. I owe much of the following's lucidity to them; the obscurities remain my own. Financial aid was lent to this study by Northwestern University and the University of Alabama, School of Communication, through a Dissertation Year Fellowship and a Research Grant, respectively. The Society for Education in Film and Television provided material from an S. E. F. T. weekend seminar on mise-en-scene. Final preparation of the manuscript entailed the work of many, and the proper payment of few. Christine iv V Miller unselfishly lent her typewriter and made numerous typographical and editorial suggestions, Helen Rogers performed the odious chore of proofreading. Charles Groover and William C. Rogers furnished equipment and expert advice in photographic matters, The difficult task of transcribing the musical score from the analyzed seg- ment of Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life was executed by Andrew Wells; Lori Richards developed the final form of the transcription--which appears as appendix D. My support was not all technical or scholastic, however. The Lyon family (Elliott, Miriam, Michael and Julie) warmly accepted me, sight unseen, into their home in Evanston, providing many convivial holiday dinners. Finally, I must thank Valentin Almendarez for insisting that I watch Sirk's Imitation of Life on WGN late one winter's night, He is right: life is melodrama. For all of the teachers in my life--especially, Chuck Kleinhans, Michael Silverman, and Penelope and Jeremy E. Butler --and in memory of Paddy Whannel. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . 1 PART I. STYLE AND THE RELATED ARTS Chapter I. STYLE AND THE VISUAL ARTS ........... 6 II. STYLE AND THE STUDY OF LITERATURE ....... 22 PART II. STYLE AND FILM III, THE STYLISTIC SIGNIFIER . 35 Technique in the Cinema Style and Techniques of the Image Style and Cinematic Sound Technique Summary IV. THE STYLISTIC SIGNIFIED . 60 The Beginings of Film Theory: Russia in the 1920s The Formalist Tradition: Rudolf Arnheim The Realist Challenge: Andr é Bazin The Continuing Influence of Bazin: Auteur Criticism Contemporary Trends in the Writings on Cinematic Style Representation of the Stylistic Signified Style as Technology or Technique Style as Abstract, Non-Representational System Style as Narrative or Thematic Metaphor Summary V. THE STYLISTIC SIGN . 151 The Barthesian Model of the Chain of Signification vii viii A Model of Signification in Narrative Film The Work of Style in the Signification Model The Paradigms of Cinematic Style PART III. APPLICATION VI. STYLE AND IMITATION OF LIFE . 186 Imitation of Life: Denotation, Narrative, Theme Imitation of Life: A Segmental Analysis, Introduction Imitation of Life: Style and Meaning Imitation of Life: Stylistic Meaning and Narrative Imitation of Life: Stylistic Meaning and Theme VII. SOME CONCLUSIONS . 240 . APPENDIX A. "KISS ME DEADLY: EVIDENCE OF A STYLE" . 262 APPENDIX B. IMITATION OF LIFE: SEGMENT DESCRIPTIONS . 270 APPENDIX C. IMITATION OF LIFE: SUPPLEMENTAL FRAME ENLARGEMENTS . 297 APPENDIX D. IMITATION OF LIFE: SEGMENT MUSICAL SCORE . 309 APPENDIX E. IMITATION OF LIFE: FANNIE HURST'S ORIGINAL . 320 APPENDIX F. IMITATION OF LIFE: RACE-DENIAL PARADIGM . 328 APPENDIX G. IMITATION OF LIFE: FILMOGRAPHY . 331 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 332 VITA . 349 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. A Basic Model of Communication . 36 2. Citizen Kane, Frame 1 . 90 3. Citizen Kane, Frame 2 . 90 4. Citizen Kane, Frame 3 . 91 5. Schematic Representation of Formalism, Bazinian Realism and Classicism in Terms of Space and Time............... 95 6. Three-Point Lighting Scheme . 121 7. Barthes' Signification Model . 155 8. A Model of Cinematic Signification . 162 9. A Man's Castle . 171 10. A Model of the Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Axes 178 11. The Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Axes: Revised Model . 180 12. Paradigms of Technique . 182 13. Imitation of Life: Character Name Changes . 194 ix INTRODUCTION Thoughts on style dot the history of cinema theory and critical practice. At times style has even become the major topic of discussion. One can picture Eisenstein at Kuleshov's Workshop, castigating the teacher for his "brick- by-brick" editing practice, or Godard and Truffaut mounting their assault on the "Tradition of Quality" through a flanking maneuver, defending Nicholas Ray on the basis of his visual style. The haphazard and sometimes volatile development of stylistic writing has left a significant gap: no one has explained what style is. Some have described a particular instance of it, but none has provided a systematic theory of what style is and how it works. Obviously, there are reasons for this theoretical inadequacy. Style, as Peter Wollen has pointed out, is one of those concepts whose meaning seems self-evident, but when one attempts to articulate that meaning it becomes suddenly insubstantial. The pages that follow attempt to make style's functioning concrete, or, at least, to investigate some of the conundrums surrounding it. There are many things that a theory of style could provide which I have excluded from the present paper. I have not tried to assign responsibility for any particular 1 stylistic element. In direct contrast to the auteur critics, I do not pursue a theory of style to validate their conten- tion that the director is the person responsible for a film's style and that that style is therefore an expression of his or her personality. That endeavor seems to me to be doomed from the outset, coming afoul, as it does, of the intentional fallacy. Neither does the following theory of style propose a structure for the evolution of style. I feel this would certainly be a worthy project, but its scope is much too large for the present paper. A comprehensive theory of stylistic evolution must entail the systematic analysis of thousands of films' styles. Finally, I have chosen to ignore consideration of style as elicitor of emotion, as "mood-setter." This last approach to style dominates the slight consideration that style is granted by journalistic critics, but it is much too elusive for a systematic theory. What then does this theory of style explicate? I have limited myself to a theory of style as a producer of meaning. Which is to say, style in every film text creates meaning. There are no films without style and there is no style that is completely meaningless or decorative --as one may think of the style in Rococo paintings. These are my basic axioms. From them I construct a theory of how style produces meaning in narrative film. My procedure is, in part 1, to turn to the related fields 3 of literature and the visual arts and briefly explore the conceptual models they have applied to style. Part 2 arises from Roland Barthes's model of the sign as the associative total of signifier and signified; this part comprises the heart of the study.