Time, Existential Presence, and the Cinematic Image: Ethics and Emergence to being in film

202 Pages·1.3 MB·English

by  Sam B. Girgus

Time, Existential Presence,
and the Cinematic Image
Ethics and Emergence to Being in Film
Sam B. Girgus
To
Judith Ann Elizabeth Scot-Smith Girgus
Our daughters Katya, Meighan, and Jennifer
Jeff and Ali
Our grandchildren Arielle Gianni, Zachary Isaac, Mia, and Max
Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in
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© Sam B. Girgus, 2018
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Contents
List of Figures iv
Acknowledgements v
Introduction – Time, Existential Presence, and the Cinematic
Image: Ethics and Emergence to Being in Film 1
Part I The Otherness of Existence and “Spacious Temporality”:
Delayed Cinema and Freedom
1 Delayed Cinema and “This Space-Time of Freedom”: De Sica’s
Bicycle Thieves (1948) 33
2 La Demora (2012) 56
3 Existence and Ethics in the Dardenne Brothers’ Two Days, One
Night (2015) 78
Part II Western Spaces:
Landscapes of Denial, Death, and Freedom
4 El Viaje: Tommy Lee Jones and the Violent Times of the Mission
to Mexico 101
5 The American Way: Time, Death, and Resurrection in Iñárritu’s
Western Masterpiece 127
Epilogue – Time, Spacing, and the Body in Martin Scorsese’s The
Age of Innocence (1993) 153
Index 188
Figures
I.1 Mr Smith Goes to Washington: Jimmy Stewart as Mr. Smith
carries time and infinite responsibility on his shoulders 18
1.1 Bicycle Thieves: A mysterious maternal gaze as a young boy seeks
paternal guidance and care 51
1.2 Bicycle Thieves: A young girl suddenly changes the ethical and
existential dynamic in a crowded urban setting 52
1.3 Bicycle Thieves: An exchange of looks and the gaze suggests
existential revelation and encounter 53
2.1 La Demora: Struggling with age and infirmity 57
2.2 La Demora: Dutifully bathing her elderly father 58
3.1 Two Days, One Night: Marion Cotillard appeals for support 89
3.2 Two Days, One Night: Cotillard striving for identity, dignity, and
power 97
4.1 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada: Tommy Lee Jones makes
Barry Pepper his prisoner 106
5.1 The Revenant: Leonardo DiCaprio struggles for survival and
regeneration in the wilderness 130
5.2 The Revenant: Searching for meaning and understanding 150
E.1 Michelle Pfeifer in The Age of Innocence 181
Acknowledgements
Ever since I ventured into the area of film and philosophy, Sarah Cooper has
been a source of great support and encouragement. Just as important, she
serves as a model for the best of the scholarship and criticism in this field. I also
would like to thank Kyle Stevens for making it possible to have a special Laura
Mulvey issue of the peer-reviewed New Journal of Film and Television Studies
15:4 (December 2017) in which a briefer version of the introductory chapter
to this book appeared. Since overhearing him more than a dozen years ago
talking about Levinas and phenomenology while working out at a local gym,
philosopher Aaron Simmons has been a deep reservoir and a perpetual energy
force for me with ideas and insights about ethics, religion, and philosophy. His
collegiality represents the best of the ideal of a community scholars. I learn
from him as both a professor and a person. Similarly, J. Douglas Macready has
engaged in a continuous dialogue with me about issues of ethics and political
philosophy for nearly a decade since he wrote to me about my first essay on
Levinas, ethics, and film. I have learned regularly from him and gained from
the extraordinary depth and range of his knowledge and expertise as a true
modernist and humanist. Jerry Christensen also remains at my side in spirit if
not always in physical presence as a best friend and colleague. As Jerry once
said of a colleague, he is always there not only as a source of encouragement
and support but also as an academic and scholarly conscience insisting upon
the highest standards of academic and critical excellence.
Regarding this work, my relationship and association with Laura Mulvey
has been one of the highlights of my career of nearly half a century. I met her
first in London at a scheduled time that was sandwiched in between also seeing
two former students I also would like to thank for their friendship and support,
Charles Walker, a member of Parliament for many years, and April Yanicelli,
a former Vanderbilt student. As a result of that meeting with Laura Mulvey in
London, she visited Vanderbilt, arriving on election day 2016 for a week-long
vi acknowledgements
series of events that were made possible by generous support from Dana
Nelson in the Department of English, Jennifer Fay from Cinema and Media
Arts, and Katherine Crawford of Women’s and Gender Studies. The emotion
of that historic political moment helped to hasten and cement our relation-
ship as we shared our sense of alarm and concern. Her warmth, generosity,
charm, and quiet charisma made her presence a wonderful event for the stu-
dents and faculty who immediately warmed to her qualities of sympatico and
graciousness. Introduced regularly during her visit as a woman who changed
modern consciousness and as the inspiration for what could be called the Age
of Mulvey in film, media, and women’s and gender studies, her openness and
humility made her visit memorable for those who met her and heard her and
saw her various presentations.
Much of what has been attempted and achieved over the past two years
in the form of this book, the Laura Mulvey visit, the special journal issue,
the completion of rigorous research in several inter-connected fields, and the
building of the foundation for a special project on renewing the American
story was made possible to a considerable extent through the graduate assis-
tance of Lara Casey. Her steady professionalism, sharp intelligence, consist-
ent efficiency, and creative imagination were evident and felt in these various
endeavors. I could not have asked for or imagined a better or stronger graduate
assistant. Her sense of responsibility, personal initiative, and commitment to
excellence made her impact upon and contribution to these projects of great
significance. I would like to thank Dana Nelson for the support from the
Department of English for these various projects. Also in the department,
Sandra Bohn has been a source of special assistance along with Janis May,
Jeffrey Cooper, and Jeana Poindexter.
I have been fortunate to be at Vanderbilt when two extraordinary leaders
have served in the position of chancellor. Gordon Gee was a pioneer in intro-
ducing change at the university while Nick Zeppos stands as an influential
force and figure in modern higher education, articulating and executing a phi-
losophy of unbridled intellectual investigation, academic freedom, and civic
discourse in a time of historic change. His work at Vanderbilt with Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham exemplifies such leadership. Meacham
occupies a distinguished place in a great tradition of modern American histo-
rians who have brought the American narrative of tragedy and redemption to
life through the strength of their academic scholarship, their critical and intel-
lectual integrity, and their sharp and effective creativity. He has been similarly
distinguished for his crucial role as a public intellectual at the forefront of the
on-going fight for democracy, equality, and freedom in our challenging times.
I thank them for their encouragement and friendship to me in my own work.
When it comes to technology, computers, and digital operations, the help and
time of Michael McAllister has proven indispensable to the work of this dinosaur
acknowledgements vii
who remembers the days of newspaper city desks with the reverberating sounds
of pounding Royal typewriter keys, telephones ringing alarms, and pinging tel-
etypes. He has proven to be a man of near infinite patience and kindness, quali-
ties that make him an excellent teacher. Ellis Dews, Mark Swain, and Jon Bates
also have been available for consistent help in the area of media and technology.
It has been a delight and pleasure both professionally and personally to
work with the folks at Edinburgh University Press beginning with Gillian
Leslie and Richard Strachan who initially supported and encouraged this
work. I also would like to thank for their work and help Laura Booth, Eddie
Clark, Rebecca Mackenzie and Emma Rees.
Friends, colleagues, current and former students remain crucial all along the
way for their intellectual engagement and their spirited encouragement. These
include Brian and Judy Jones, Martha Matzke, Cynthia Lucia, Colleen Glenn,
Thomas Schatz, Dudley Andrew, John Belton, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht,
Jennifer Smyth, Brian Bergen-Aurand, Kathryn Hearst, Joe Kickasola, Negi
and Jean and family, Danny and Emily and Family, Audrey Shapiro, Cammie
Nichols, Joci Straus, Rochelle Mann, Claire Darling, Peter Bailey, Rebecca
Bell-Metereau, Thadious Davis, Bridget Orr, Jonathan Lamb, Colin Dayan,
John Lachs, Mark Schoenfield, Michael Kreyling, Carol and Keith Hagan,
Carol Burke, Anne Kern, J. Delayne Ryms, Haerin Shin, Alex Dubilet, Kate
Ferguson, Henry Hill Perot, Peter Dale, Katie McCall, Melanie Shepard,
Fabiani Duarte, Shayna Humphrey, Alexa Simon, Trey Harwell, Benjamin
Grimwood, Emma Noyes, Peter Burke, Rachel Young, Isabel Turley, Claire
Hagney, Laiba Fatima, George Miller, Carsen Smith, Caroline Volgman,
Phil Burnham, Catherine Prater, Jane Dorsey Taylor, Mary Dachille, Emily
Mathewson, Ean Pfeiffer, Aviel Ginzburg, Agnieszka Supel, Sedrissa Veal,
Magda Zaborowska, Karen Stenard, Eddie O’Neill, Ginia McPhearson,
“Brittwick” Strottman, Nicole Crane, Colleen Weatherford, Alison Barnes,
Melanie Griffith, Ben Scott, Mandy Dake, Amity Wang, Jacqui Leitzes,
Nancy Cain Marcus, Dawn Ferguson, Kelli Fuery, Tasha Brennan, Benjamin
Grimwood, Jen Graham-O’Brien, Chad Gervich, Cindy Lyle, Nikki Mack,
Robert Mack, Rory McTurk, Emily Blackledge, Cliff Richmond, Brooke Lyle,
Risa Arnold, Ruth Banes, Fred Blankfein, Willie Geist, Marietta Parrish,
Molly Moreau, Eddie Michaels, Ashley Peak, Gurjeet Birdee, Cynthia Allen,
Chad Given, Steve Ladd, Dr “Skip” Daube, Clay Bailey, Ralph Schueller,
Cheryl Dalton, Mary Ellen Pethel, and Robert and Marguerite Jones.
For more than fifty years, Scottie has been there every step of the way at the
center of our family universe with love, understanding, patience, and a good
measure of forgiveness, soon followed by our daughters Katya, Meighan, and
Jennifer, and then Jeff and Ali, and our grandchildren Arielle Gianni, Zachary
Isaac, Mia, and Max. With each passing moment, their brightness and force as
guiding stars grow ever greater and more vibrant.