Preface to the Electronic Edition - TCF - The University of Alabama

352 Pages·1999·1.37 MB·English

Preface to the Electronic Edition
Toward a Theory of Cinematic Style: The Remake was written in the days before personal
computers and word processing—that is, 1979-82, the Stone Age of dissertation preparation. The
typewritten version of it languished in a box in my closet for close to twenty years. In the fall of 1999 I
enlisted the help of Wen-Ling Kuo to create an electronic edition. She dutifully scanned all 349
pages—using Adobe Acrobat to create a Portable Document Format (PDF) version. After scanning
them, Acrobat's Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine was run to convert the scanned images
into usable text.
The result is an edition of Toward a Theory of Cinematic Style that features:
1. The capability to search using any word/phrase or fragment thereof.
2. Bookmarks—hypertext links to all chapter headings and figures.
3. The look and pagination of the original document.
4. The ability to print selected pages/chapters.
There are some drawbacks to this electronic version:
1. Acrobat's OCR is good, but not perfect. We have proofed the electronic version, but some
errors are inevitable.
2. The frame enlargements from Imitation of Life are presented in low resolution here—in order to
minimize the size of the PDF file. Better quality reproductions may be found online at:
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/jbutler/diss
If you are currently online, a click on the link above will take you to those images.
Please feel free to contact us with your comments:
Jeremy Butler
P.O. Box 870125
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
[email protected]
Copyright © 1982 Jeremy G. Butler, [email protected] . Permission is granted to print any or all pages
from Towards a Theory of Cinematic Style, but permission is expressly not granted for the
reproduction or distribution of this work for profit. If you are interested in reprinting portions of this
work, please contact Jeremy G. Butler.
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
TOWARD A THEORY OF CINEMATIC STYLE: THE REMAKE
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
for the degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Field of Radio, Television and Film: Film
BY
JEREMY GAYLORD BUTLER
Evanston, Illinois
June 1982
ABSTRACT
Toward a Theory of Cinematic Style: The Remake
Jeremy Gaylord Butler
The history of cinematic stylistic analysis has
been marked by evasions, mysticism, intellectual appre-
hension and other scholarly ills and evils. The influx
of semiotics into cinema studies (ostensibly dealing with
the "how" rather than the "what") has offered some mostly
unrealized potential for remedying this state of affairs.
Still, no one has particularized how style operates in the
process of cinematic signification. This study, therefore,
constructs a model of film style's position within the
semiotic process. (Style as elicitor of emotion or as
"signature" of the auteur does not enter into the
discussion.)
After surveying the writings on style in literary
studies, art history and film analysis, I provisionally
conceptualize a signifier, a signified and a sign for
style in narrative film. Specifically, the stylistic
signifier is the patterning of technique. The stylistic
signified (the "meaning" of style) is produced by this
patterning. The stylistic sign, then, is the correlation
of signifier and signified--in other words, the signified
as apprehended through a specific signifier (as concep-
tualized by Roland Barthes). This stylistic signified may
be grouped into three large categories: (1) style as
abstract graphic, (2) style as narrative expression (either
"echoing" or undercutting the denotation) and (3) style as
thematic expression (signifying an idea or concept).
Working from these premises, the styles of a film
and its remake (Imitation of Life [John Stahl, 1934] and
Imitation of Life [Douglas Sirk, 1959]) are analyzed.
These films share a similar denotation, differing most
significantly in terms of style. Hence, a close comparison
can illustrate the material of style and its functioning.
Absolute conclusions elude this study. One cannot
predict how a particular viewer will interpret the style
of a particular film. One can, however, trace the route
by which he or she arrived at that stylistic interpreta-
tion, a posteriori. This is the purpose of the present
model of stylistic semiosis in the cinema.
PREFACE
In any endeavor such as this, one inevitably
exploits the resources of one's friends and colleagues.
I consider myself particularly fortunate to have been
encouraged by several persons who were both generous with
their time and genuinely concerned with my project (and
at critical times when my own interest flagged), Chuck
Kleinhans (chairperson), Stuart Kaminsky and Paddy Whannel,
my original committee members, provided early guidance by
commenting on a substantive preliminary paper. Jack Ellis
graciously joined the committee after Professor Whannel's
death--a loss we all still feel.
Blaine Allan, Dave Kehr and Patrick Leary also read
early drafts. I owe much of the following's lucidity to
them; the obscurities remain my own.
Financial aid was lent to this study by Northwestern
University and the University of Alabama, School of
Communication, through a Dissertation Year Fellowship and
a Research Grant, respectively. The Society for Education
in Film and Television provided material from an S. E. F. T.
weekend seminar on mise-en-scene.
Final preparation of the manuscript entailed the
work of many, and the proper payment of few. Christine
iv
V
Miller unselfishly lent her typewriter and made numerous
typographical and editorial suggestions, Helen Rogers
performed the odious chore of proofreading. Charles
Groover and William C. Rogers furnished equipment and
expert advice in photographic matters, The difficult task
of transcribing the musical score from the analyzed seg-
ment of Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life was executed by
Andrew Wells; Lori Richards developed the final form of
the transcription--which appears as appendix D.
My support was not all technical or scholastic,
however. The Lyon family (Elliott, Miriam, Michael and
Julie) warmly accepted me, sight unseen, into their home
in Evanston, providing many convivial holiday dinners.
Finally, I must thank Valentin Almendarez for
insisting that I watch Sirk's Imitation of Life on WGN
late one winter's night, He is right: life is melodrama.
For all of the teachers in my life--especially,
Chuck Kleinhans, Michael Silverman, and Penelope and
Jeremy E. Butler --and in memory of Paddy Whannel.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART I. STYLE AND THE RELATED ARTS
Chapter
I. STYLE AND THE VISUAL ARTS . . . . . . . . . . . 6
II. STYLE AND THE STUDY OF LITERATURE . . . . . . . 22
PART II. STYLE AND FILM
III, THE STYLISTIC SIGNIFIER . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Technique in the Cinema
Style and Techniques of the Image
Style and Cinematic Sound Technique
Summary
IV. THE STYLISTIC SIGNIFIED . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Beginings of Film Theory: Russia
in the 1920s
The Formalist Tradition: Rudolf
Arnheim
The Realist Challenge: André Bazin
The Continuing Influence of Bazin:
Auteur Criticism
Contemporary Trends in the Writings
on Cinematic Style
Representation of the Stylistic
Signified
Style as Technology or Technique
Style as Abstract, Non-Representational
System
Style as Narrative or Thematic Metaphor
Summary
V. THE STYLISTIC SIGN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
The Barthesian Model of the Chain of
Signification
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viii
A Model of Signification in Narrative
Film
The Work of Style in the Signification
Model
The Paradigms of Cinematic Style
PART III. APPLICATION
VI. STYLE AND IMITATION OF LIFE . . . . . . . . 186
Imitation of Life: Denotation,
Narrative, Theme
Imitation of Life: A Segmental Analysis,
Introduction
Imitation of Life: Style and Meaning
Imitation of Life: Stylistic Meaning
and Narrative
Imitation of Life: Stylistic Meaning
and Theme
VII. SOME CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
APPENDIX A. "KISS ME DEADLY: EVIDENCE OF A
STYLE" . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
APPENDIX B. IMITATION OF LIFE: SEGMENT
DESCRIPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
APPENDIX C. IMITATION OF LIFE: SUPPLEMENTAL FRAME
ENLARGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
APPENDIX D. IMITATION OF LIFE: SEGMENT MUSICAL
SCORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
APPENDIX E. IMITATION OF LIFE: FANNIE HURST'S
ORIGINAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
APPENDIX F. IMITATION OF LIFE: RACE-DENIAL
PARADIGM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
APPENDIX G. IMITATION OF LIFE: FILMOGRAPHY . . . . 331
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
VITA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. A Basic Model of Communication . . . . . . . . 36
2. Citizen Kane, Frame 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
3. Citizen Kane, Frame 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4. Citizen Kane, Frame 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5. Schematic Representation of Formalism, Bazinian
Realism and Classicism in Terms of Space and
T i m e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6. Three-Point Lighting Scheme . . . . . . . . 121
7. Barthes' Signification Model . . . . . . . . 155
8. A Model of Cinematic Signification . . . . . 162
9. A Man's Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
10. A Model of the Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Axes 178
11. The Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Axes: Revised
Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
12. Paradigms of Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
13. Imitation of Life: Character Name Changes . . . . 194
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