Death in Classical Hollywood Cinema PDF
Preview Death in Classical Hollywood Cinema
Death in Classical Hollywood Cinema Boaz Hagin Death in Classical Hollywood Cinema AlsobyBoazHagin MEMORY, TRAUMA, AND FANTASY IN AMERICAN CINEMA (with Thomas Elsaesser–forthcoming) Death in Classical Hollywood Cinema Boaz Hagin ©BoazHagin2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-23622-6 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6-10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2010by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-31439-3 ISBN 978-0-230-27507-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230275072 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Hagin,Boaz,1973– DeathinclassicalHollywoodcinema/BoazHagin. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. 1. Deathinmotionpictures. 2. Motionpictures—UnitedStates— History—20thcentury. I. Title. PN1995.9.D37H342010 791.43(cid:2)65480973—dc22 2010002689 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 For Oded This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix 1 TheMeaningofDeathinClassicalHollywood 1 PracticingFilmTheory 1 DeathontheLine 3 APoliticsofDeath 8 2 TwoPlatos:Death,Truth,andKnowledge 11 ARehearsalforDeath 11 Access,Authority,andTests 12 TheSuperfluityofaTruth-RevealingDeath 19 TheMiseryofTruth 21 3 EmbodyingthePast 26 TheKillabilityTest 26 ALogicofSingularEvil 29 4 MelodramaandtheShapingofDesirestoCome 45 SublatingDeath 45 ObstaclesandGoals 46 DesiringDeath 53 ImpossibleLegacies 61 5 CultsoftheDeadandPowersoftheFalse 66 RetainingtheDead 66 WesternsandFalsehoods 70 TheFormingofaCult 77 ABrandthatSticks 81 6 APerpetualPresent:DeathandtheWarFilm 86 AnAbsurdDeath 86 TheHollywoodWarMachine 88 TheExceptionofState 93 vii viii Contents 7 Conclusions:TheEndsofClassicalDeath 107 BillyWilderandHollywood’s“Auschwitz” 108 TheVicissitudesoftheKillabilityTest 120 TheVirtualFrankenstein 134 Notes 151 Index 194 Acknowledgments This book is part of my ongoing work on death and moving images, which was made possible by scholarships from the Cohn Institute for theHistoryandPhilosophyofScienceandIdeas,thefacultyofHuman- ities, a fellowship at the Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Tel Aviv University, a Wolf Foundation scholarship, and a Dan David Prize postdoctoral scholarship. I am grateful to the Anda Zimand Film ArchivesatTelAvivUniversity,toitsmanager,LiviuCarmeli,andtoits staff,fortheirassistanceandrecommendationsovertheyears. Manyofthefilmsdealtwithinthefollowingpageswerefirstviewed withothersandfrequentlyfollowedbylivelydiscussion.Forthecount- less hours, before, after, and in movie theaters, I am indebted to my parentsandsister,toItayHarlap,LihiNagler,DanaZimmerman,Doron Galili,AsherLevy,andRonTirosh. I would like to thank Christabel Scaife and the team at Palgrave Macmillanfortheirhelpinpreparingthemanuscript.Ihavebenefited greatly from the stimulating discussions and suggestions by teachers, colleagues,andstudentsattheDepartmentofFilmandTelevisionatTel AvivUniversity,particularly,JuddNe’eman,IlanAvisar,AlinaBernstein, Nurith Gertz, Odeya Kohen-Raz, Sandra Meiri, Gal Raz, Inbar Shaham, YaelBenTzvi,PabloUtin,RazYosef,andAnatZanger.Thepatienceand knowledge of researchers at the Cohn Institute were of great help, and I am particularly indebted to Snait Gissis, José Brunner, Eva Jablonka, Leo Corry, and Miriam Greenfield. For reading previous versions of this text and for their very generous comments and advice, I would liketothankAlexandreMétraux,ThomasElsaesser,PhilipRosen,Tony Kaes,OrlyLubin,andAdiOphir.Icannotexpressinwordsmydebtto Régine-MihalFriedman,whoisagreatsourceofinspirationandsupport. Finally, for being there with me daily, as I was writing and rewriting, IwouldliketothankMikaandherfriends,andaboveallOded. ix
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