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Treating the Abstract of Capital Concretely : Films Against Capitalism

Melanie, Gilligan (2022)
Abstract
This practice-based PhD, Treating the Abstract of Capital Concretely:
Films Against Capitalism, looks at how film can oppose the prevailing ideas
of capitalist systems.

The research asks: What qualities do films have that can be used as
strategies against capitalism and what knowledge do these films produce? In
an understanding that capitalism projects concepts onto the world, and that
mainstream film can frame people’s lives through a reductive capitalist
understanding, the research suggests that more politically powerful moving
images need to be the focus to create societal change.

Treating the Abstract of Capitalism Concretely: Films Against Capitalism,
includes six... (More)
This practice-based PhD, Treating the Abstract of Capital Concretely:
Films Against Capitalism, looks at how film can oppose the prevailing ideas
of capitalist systems.

The research asks: What qualities do films have that can be used as
strategies against capitalism and what knowledge do these films produce? In
an understanding that capitalism projects concepts onto the world, and that
mainstream film can frame people’s lives through a reductive capitalist
understanding, the research suggests that more politically powerful moving
images need to be the focus to create societal change.

Treating the Abstract of Capitalism Concretely: Films Against Capitalism,
includes six aesthetic, political and conceptual video works, and an
accompanying written handbook, that together consider capital as the
relation between abstract laws of accumulation and concrete lived
situations.

Making moving image works against the capitalist system necessarily
involves knowledge about capitalism, however, the research charts how the
knowledge most central in filmmaking is often associative, affective and
combines knowledge with practice. A variety of methodological approaches
are pursued through practical and theoretical research about how films can
oppose capitalism. This investigation is explored materially, through video
projects that interrogate capitalist abstraction from inside social processes,
in realities that people live. The video works present a critique of racial and
patriarchal capitalism, while the written component presents a contextual
discussion about films against capitalism.

The PhD submission consists of six video projects: The Common Sense, The
Bay Area Protests, Parts-wholes 2, Crowds, Home Together, and Health as
Individual vs. Health as Social and a PDF handbook, Treating the Abstract
of Capital Concretely: Films Against Capitalism. The written text puts forth
theoretical and practical proposals for films against capitalism as well as a
3 script. Connections are here made between different understandings of
abstraction, while bringing in ideas from political theory, as well as
demonstrating allegory as a technique against capitalism in film.

The video works and handbook are accessed via: https://www.films-against-capitalism.com (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
opponent
  • Professor Dr Jonsson, Stefan, Linköping University
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
artistic research, Video, moving image, Film, Narrative, capitalism, Theodor Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Karl Marx, Marxism, Racial Capitalism, Social Reproduction, Octavia Butler, Ursula Leguin, Stuart Hall, Jean Epstein, Evald Ilyenkov, Christopher Arthur, I.I. Rubin, Ousmane Sembène, Walter Benjamin, Cartographies of the Absolute, Allegory, form-determination, film
pages
248 pages
defense location
Kungl. Konsthögskolan / Royal Institute of Art
defense date
2022-11-09 14:00:00
ISBN
978-91-89490- 05-5
978-91-89490- 05-5
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
a2ffae32-f124-43c5-9a22-5284651e40bf
alternative location
https://www.films-against-capitalism.com/
date added to LUP
2022-10-07 16:04:58
date last changed
2024-04-19 11:46:14
@misc{a2ffae32-f124-43c5-9a22-5284651e40bf,
  abstract     = {{This practice-based PhD, <i>Treating the Abstract of Capital Concretely:<br/>Films Against Capitalism</i>, looks at how film can oppose the prevailing ideas <br/>of capitalist systems. <br/><br/>The research asks: What qualities do films have that can be used as<br/>strategies against capitalism and what knowledge do these films produce? In <br/>an understanding that capitalism projects concepts onto the world, and that <br/>mainstream film can frame people’s lives through a reductive capitalist <br/>understanding, the research suggests that more politically powerful moving <br/>images need to be the focus to create societal change.<br/><br/><i>Treating the Abstract of Capitalism Concretely: Films Against Capitalism</i>,<br/>includes six aesthetic, political and conceptual video works, and an <br/>accompanying written handbook, that together consider capital as the <br/>relation between abstract laws of accumulation and concrete lived <br/>situations.<br/><br/>Making moving image works against the capitalist system necessarily <br/>involves knowledge about capitalism, however, the research charts how the <br/>knowledge most central in filmmaking is often associative, affective and <br/>combines knowledge with practice. A variety of methodological approaches <br/>are pursued through practical and theoretical research about how films can <br/>oppose capitalism. This investigation is explored materially, through video <br/>projects that interrogate capitalist abstraction from inside social processes, <br/>in realities that people live. The video works present a critique of racial and <br/>patriarchal capitalism, while the written component presents a contextual<br/>discussion about films against capitalism.<br/><br/>The PhD submission consists of six video projects: <i>The Common Sense, The <br/>Bay Area Protests, Parts-wholes 2, Crowds, Home Together</i>, and<i> Health as <br/>Individual vs. Health as Social</i> and a PDF handbook, <i>Treating the Abstract <br/>of Capital Concretely: Films Against Capitalism</i>. The written text puts forth <br/>theoretical and practical proposals for films against capitalism as well as a <br/>3 script. Connections are here made between different understandings of <br/>abstraction, while bringing in ideas from political theory, as well as<br/>demonstrating allegory as a technique against capitalism in film.<br/><br/>The video works and handbook are accessed via: https://www.films-against-capitalism.com}},
  author       = {{Melanie, Gilligan}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-89490- 05-5}},
  keywords     = {{artistic research; Video; moving image; Film; Narrative; capitalism; Theodor Adorno; Negative Dialectics; Karl Marx; Marxism; Racial Capitalism; Social Reproduction; Octavia Butler; Ursula Leguin; Stuart Hall; Jean Epstein; Evald Ilyenkov; Christopher Arthur; I.I. Rubin; Ousmane Sembène; Walter Benjamin; Cartographies of the Absolute; Allegory; form-determination; film}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  title        = {{Treating the Abstract of Capital Concretely : Films Against Capitalism}},
  url          = {{https://www.films-against-capitalism.com/}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}