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Post-Deleuzian Investigations of U.S. Avant-Garde Film, 1943–81

Mendelyte, Atene LU (2017)
Abstract
The aim of this dissertation is to investigate a number of U.S. avant-garde films using Deleuzian film-philosophy in order to describe their thought. I develop the taxonomy of cinematic images created by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze by introducing a new type of image. The notion of the sobjective image I conceptualize points to the immanent semiosis that characterizes certain films. The sobjective image describes the individual images and the entire films that objectify subjectivity and create idiosyncratic mental film-worlds. These films shape individual realities according to a single subjective mode. I also introduce the conceptual cartography of film-worlds, an analytical tool intended to help define the... (More)
The aim of this dissertation is to investigate a number of U.S. avant-garde films using Deleuzian film-philosophy in order to describe their thought. I develop the taxonomy of cinematic images created by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze by introducing a new type of image. The notion of the sobjective image I conceptualize points to the immanent semiosis that characterizes certain films. The sobjective image describes the individual images and the entire films that objectify subjectivity and create idiosyncratic mental film-worlds. These films shape individual realities according to a single subjective mode. I also introduce the conceptual cartography of film-worlds, an analytical tool intended to help define the ontology of various filmic wholes (film-worlds) in order to highlight their distinctness. The cartography aids in explaining how films dominated by different Deleuzian and post-Deleuzian image types differ in their film-worlds, ontology, and metaphysics. Furthermore, I coin the concept of the metaphysics of technique and subsequently argue that various cinematic techniques (montage, mise-en-scène, framing, costuming, lighting, superimposing, sound editing, etc.) do not only serve to create the physics of a given film-world (the extended phenomena), but define the metaphysics (the nature) of that reality. I then proceed to close-read fourteen avant-garde films by describing their sobjective principles and by bringing out their bearings on a number of important philosophical problems. These films cluster around four philosophical themes, which are shaped into four chapters focusing on childhood, selfhood, sexuality, and ritual and art. (Less)
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author
supervisor
opponent
  • professor Stavning Thomsen, Bodil Marie, Aarhus Universitet
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
U.S. avant-garde film, Gilles Deleuze, film-philosophy, sobjective image, metaphysics of technique, conceptual cartography of film-worlds, transcendental empiricism, film semiotics, postmodernism
pages
254 pages
defense location
B152, LUX, Helgonavägen 3, Lund
defense date
2017-12-16 10:15:00
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ce95aedf-4d84-4536-8e9f-aab9562cfaee
date added to LUP
2017-11-05 13:44:15
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:35:51
@phdthesis{ce95aedf-4d84-4536-8e9f-aab9562cfaee,
  abstract     = {{The aim of this dissertation is to investigate a number of U.S. avant-garde films using Deleuzian film-philosophy in order to describe their thought. I develop the taxonomy of cinematic images created by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze by introducing a new type of image. The notion of<em> the sobjective image</em> I conceptualize points to the immanent semiosis that characterizes certain films. The sobjective image describes the individual images and the entire films that objectify subjectivity and create idiosyncratic mental film-worlds. These films shape individual realities according to a single subjective mode. I also introduce <em>the conceptual cartography of film-worlds</em>, an analytical tool intended to help define the ontology of various filmic wholes (film-worlds) in order to highlight their distinctness. The cartography aids in explaining how films dominated by different Deleuzian and post-Deleuzian image types differ in their film-worlds, ontology, and metaphysics. Furthermore, I coin the concept of<em> the metaphysics of technique</em> and subsequently argue that various cinematic techniques (montage, mise-en-scène, framing, costuming, lighting, superimposing, sound editing, etc.) do not only serve to create the physics of a given film-world (the extended phenomena), but define the metaphysics (the nature) of that reality. I then proceed to close-read fourteen avant-garde films by describing their sobjective principles and by bringing out their bearings on a number of important philosophical problems. These films cluster around four philosophical themes, which are shaped into four chapters focusing on childhood, selfhood, sexuality, and ritual and art.}},
  author       = {{Mendelyte, Atene}},
  keywords     = {{U.S. avant-garde film; Gilles Deleuze; film-philosophy; sobjective image; metaphysics of technique; conceptual cartography of film-worlds; transcendental empiricism; film semiotics; postmodernism}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Post-Deleuzian Investigations of U.S. Avant-Garde Film, 1943–81}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}