The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded (Amsterdam University Press - Film Culture in Transition)

464 Pages·2007·3.26 MB·English

by  Wanda Strauven

HC omslag Cinema Attractions 19-09-2006 11:42 Pagina 1
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Twenty years ago, Tom Gunning and André Gaudreault
introduced the concept of attraction to define the quin-
tessence of the earliest films made between 1895 and
T
1906. As “cinema of attractions” this concept has become H
widely adopted, even outside the field of early cinema. CCUULLTTUURREE E CCUULLTTUURREE

Ranging from the films of the Lumière brothers to The C
I
Matrixby Andy and Larry Wachowski, from trains rushing N
IN TRANSITION E IN TRANSITION
into the audience to bullet time effects, the “cinema of
M
attractions” is a cinema that shocks, astonishes and A
directly addresses the film spectator.
O
F

This anthology traces the history of the “cin- A
T
ema of attractions,” reconstructs its conception T
and questions its attractiveness and useful- R
A
ness for both pre-classical and post-classical C
cinema. With contributions by Christa Blüm- T
I
linger, Warren Buckland, Scott Bukatman, O
N
Donald Crafton, Nicolas Dulac, Thomas
S
Elsaesser, André Gaudreault, Laurent Guido,
R
Tom Gunning, Malte Hagener, Pierre-Emma- E
nuel Jaques, Charlie Keil, Frank Kessler, Ger- L
O
main Lacasse, Alison McMahan, Charles A
Musser, Viva Paci, Eivind Røssaak, Vivian D
E
Sobchack, Wanda Strauven, Dick Tomasovic. D

Wanda Strauven teaches Film Theory and Media Archae-
W
ology at the University of Amsterdam. She is the author
A
of Marinetti e il cinema: tra attrazione e sperimentazione N
(Udine: Campanotto, 2006). D
A

S
T
R
A THE CINEMA OF
U
V
E
N

[ ATTRACTIONS
E
D
.
]
RELO ADED
EDITED BY
WANDA STRAUVEN
9 789053 569450
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AAmmsstteerrddaamm UUnniivveerrssiittyy PPrreessss Amsterdam University Press
WWW.AUP.NL
TheCinemaofAttractionsReloaded

The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded
Edited by Wanda Strauven
Coverillustration:Carrie-AnneMossinTheMatrix().Directors:Andyand
CarryWachowski.©Photos
Coverdesign:KokKorpershoek,Amsterdam
Lay-out:japes,Amsterdam
Production:Textcase,Hilversum,theNetherlands
isbn- (paperback)
isbn- (paperback)
isbn- (hardcover)
isbn- (hardcover)
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©AmsterdamUniversityPress,Amsterdam
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system,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans(electronic,mechanical,
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Contents
Acknowledgments 
IntroductiontoanAttractiveConcept 
WandaStrauven
Theory Formation
[“The Cinema of Attractions”]
Attractions:HowTheyCameintotheWorld 
TomGunning
ARationalReconstructionof“TheCinemaofAttractions” 
WarrenBuckland
TheCinemaofAttractionsasDispositif 
FrankKessler
Spectacle,AttractionsandVisualPleasure 
ScottBukatman
Attraction Theories and Terminologies
[“Early Film”]
From“PrimitiveCinema”to“Kine-Attractography” 
AndréGaudreault
From“PrimitiveCinema”to“Marvelous” 
WandaStrauven
TheAttractionoftheIntelligentEye:ObsessionswiththeVisionMachine
inEarlyFilmTheories 
VivaPaci
RhythmicBodies/Movies:DanceasAttractioninEarlyFilmCulture 
LaurentGuido
6 TheCinemaofAttractionsReloaded
Audiences and Attractions
[“Its Spectator”]
ACinemaofContemplation,ACinemaofDiscernment:Spectatorship,
IntertextualityandAttractionsinthes 
CharlesMusser
TheLecturerandtheAttraction 
GermainLacasse
IntegratedAttractions:StyleandSpectatorshipinTransitionalCinema 
CharlieKeil
DisciplinethroughDiegesis:TheRubeFilmbetween“Attractions”and
“NarrativeIntegration” 
ThomasElsaesser
Attraction Practices through History
[“The Avant-Garde”: section 1]
CircularityandRepetitionattheHeartoftheAttraction:OpticalToys
andtheEmergenceofaNewCulturalSeries 
NicolasDulacandAndréGaudreault
Lumière,theTrainandtheAvant-Garde 
ChristaBlümlinger
ProgrammingAttractions:Avant-GardeExhibitionPracticeinthes
ands 
MalteHagener
TheAssociationalAttractionsoftheMusical 
Pierre-EmmanuelJaques
Digital Media and (Un)Tamed Attractions
[“The Avant-Garde”: section 2]
ChezlePhotographec’estchezmoi:RelationshipofActorandFilmedSubject
toCamerainEarlyFilmandVirtualRealitySpaces 
AlisonMcMahan
TheHollywoodCobweb:NewLawsofAttraction 
DickTomasovic
FiguresofSensation:BetweenStillandMovingImages 
EivindRøssaak
Contents 7
“CuttingtotheQuick”:Techne,Physis,andPoiesisandtheAttractions
ofSlowMotion 
VivianSobchack
Dossier
PieandChase:Gag,SpectacleandNarrativeinSlapstickComedy 
DonaldCrafton
EarlyCinemaasaChallengetoFilmHistory 
AndréGaudreaultandTomGunning
TheCinemaofAttraction[s]:EarlyFilm,ItsSpectatorand
theAvant-Garde 
TomGunning
RethinkingEarlyCinema:CinemaofAttractionsandNarrativity 
CharlesMusser
NotesonContributors 
GeneralBibliography 
IndexofNames 
IndexofFilmTitles 
IndexofSubjects 

Acknowledgments
First of all, I wish to thank Tom Gunning and André Gaudreault for their en-
thusiastic response to this commemorative book project, for their confidence
andtheirinspiration,andfortheirwillingnesstoparticipate.Mygratitudealso
goestoThomasElsaesserwithwhom Ihadtheopportunitytoregularlybrain-
storm onfilmhistoriographicalissuesoverthelast four yearsattheUniversity
ofAmsterdamandwhopromptlyacceptedtoaddthisanthologytohisseriesof
“FilmCultureinTransition.”Furthermore,Iamgratefultoallthecontributors,
whosepositivereactionsandoftenintensee-maildiscussionskeptmepersever-
ing in this long venture. One of the real challenges of this project was to bring
togetherscholarsfrombothsidesoftheAtlanticandtobridgethegapbetween
the Anglo-Saxon and Francophone worlds. A special thanks goes to all the
translators and in particular to Joyce Goggin who was kindly enough to help
me with the English translation of Gaudreault and Gunning’s joint paper “Le
cinémadespremierstemps:undéfiàl’histoireducinéma?”(“EarlyCinemaas
aChallengetoFilmHistory”).IalsoexpressmysincerethankstoVivaPacifor
her assistance with the compilation of the general bibliography and to Jaap
Kooijmanforhisvaluablefeedback.TheFédérationInternationaledesArchives
du Film (FIAF) gently authorized the reprint of Donald Crafton’s paper “Pie
andChase,”whichwasoriginallypresentedattheFIAFSlapstickSympo-
sium in New York City. For the other reprints in the dossier of this volume, I
thank the authors for granting their permission. The publication of this book
wouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthefinancialsupportoftheUniversityof
Amsterdam,inparticulartheDepartmentofMediaStudiesandtheAmsterdam
School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), as well as the Groupe de recherche sur
l’avènement et la formation des institutions cinématographique et scénique
(GRAFICS) at Université de Montréal. And, last but not least, I thank Donato
Montanari for his day to day support and for introducing me to the secrets of
Newton’slawofattraction.
WandaStrauven
Amsterdam,August