Philosophers on Film from Bergson to Badiou: A Critical Reader

368 Pages·2019·2.541 MB·English

by  Christopher Kul-Want (editor)

PHILOSOPHERS ON FILM
FROM BERGSON TO BADIOU

PHILOSOPHERS
ON FILM FROM
BERGSON
TO BADIOU
A Critical Reader
EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER KUL- WANT
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia . edu
Copyright © 2019 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Want, Christopher, editor.
Title: Philosophers on film from Bergson to Badiou : a critical reader /
edited by Christopher Kul- Want.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2019] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019010032 | ISBN 9780231176026 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231176033 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231549363 (ebk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures— Philosophy. | Continental philosophy.
Classification: LCC PN1995 .P4984 2019 | DDC 791.4301— dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2019010032
Columbia University Press books are printed
on permanent and durable acid- free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
For Catherine, Enna Thea, and B

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. Creative Evolution 32
HENRI BERGSON
2. The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility 44
WALTER BENJAMIN
3. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception 80
THEODOR W. ADORNO AND MAX HORKHEIMER
4. The Film and the New Psychology 97
MAURICE MERLEAU- PONTY
5. On Contemporary Alienation or the End of the Pact
with the Devil 113
JEAN BAUDRILLARD
6. The Looking Glass, from the Other Side 123
LUCE IRIGARAY
7. Acinema 137
JEAN- FRANÇOIS LYOTARD
viii Contents
8. Cinema I: The Movement- Image 152
GILLES DELEUZE
9. Cinema II: The Time- Image 177
GILLES DELEUZE
10. The Malady of Grief: Duras 200
JULIA KRISTEVA
11. Notes on Gesture 208
GIORGIO AGAMBEN
12. “In His Bold Gaze My Ruin Is Writ Large” 218
SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK
13. And Life Goes On: Life and Nothing More 241
JEAN- LUC NANCY
14. Contesting Tears: The Hollywood Melodrama of the
Unknown Woman 255
STANLEY CAVELL
15. From One Manhunt to Another: Fritz Lang Between Two Ages 271
JACQUES RANCIÈRE
16. Cinema as Philosophical Experimentation 291
ALAIN BADIOU
17. Cinematic Time and the Question of Malaise 308
BERNARD STIEGLER
18. The Miracle of Analogy: or, The History of Photography, Part 1 328
KAJA SILVERMAN
Selected Bibliography 341
Index 349
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
he contents and ideas of the book draw a great deal upon my
experience of teaching about art, cinema, and philosophy as the
course leader of the MRes Art: Theory and Philosophy course at
Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, and I’m especially grate-
ful to colleagues and students on the course who have contributed to my
thinking and writing about these subjects. I’d like to thank my college for the
investment that it has put into developing this book, awarding me a sabbatical
term of research study as well as grants to cover the copyright purchases and
to curate a program of films and discussions at the Close- Up Film Centre in
London in July 2018 that drew upon the ideas of the book. I’d like to thank
Damien Sanville, the director of Close-U p Film Centre, and Oliver Dickens,
the program and events manager at the center, for this opportunity as well as
for their generosity in allowing me open access to the center’s extensive film
collection. I’m especially thankful to the editorial team at CUP—Wendy Loch-
ner, Susan Pensak, and Lowell Frye—for their advice and help throughout the
production of this book. Additionally, I’m grateful to Hilary Knox for her
assistance in collating the primary texts of the book and Murad Khan for his
help with the final proofing of the manuscript. Most of all, I would like to
thank my partner, Catherine Yass, for her support throughout this project.
✳✳✳
Texts in the following chapters are taken from these sources: