Skepticism Films: Knowing and Doubting the World in Contemporary Cinema

353 Pages·2016·3.202 MB·English

by  Philipp Schmerheim

Skepticism Films
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thinking|media
Series Editors:
Bernd Herzogenrath
Patricia Pisters
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Skepticism Films:
Knowing and Doubting the
World in Contemporary Cinema
Philipp Schmerheim
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
NEW YORK • LONDON • OXFORD • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY
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Bloomsbury Academic
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BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury
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First published 2016
© Philipp Schmerheim, 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
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refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be
accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN : HB : 978-1-5013-1097-3
ePub: 978-1-5013-1098-0
e PDF : 978-1-5013-1099-7
Series: thinking|media
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I dedicate this book
to the memory of my mother, Marion Christa Schmerheim,
to the memory of my grandparents, Hildegard Schmerheim and Hermann
Schmerheim,
to my godmother, Sigrid Schmerheim
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Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments xii
1 Introduction: Skepticism Films. A Certain Tendency in
Contemporary Cinema 1
Part 1 Th inking Th rough Cinema
2 Films as Confi gurations of Philosophical Th ought 17
3 Remediating Philosophy, or: Th e Media of
Philosophical Th ought 61
Part 2 Skepticism in Film Philosophy
4 Varieties of Philosophical Skepticism: Knowledge,
Acknowledgment, and Trust 77
5 A Moving Image of Skepticism? Philosophy’s
Acknowledgment of Film 97
6 A Cinema for Believers. Trust, Belief, and the Expulsion from
the Paradise of Childhood 131
Part 3 Skepticism Films
7 Varieties of Skepticism Films 167
8 Tools for Philosophical Film Analysis 209
9 (Not) Knowing My World: External World Skepticism Films.
A Comparative Analysis of Th e Matrix , Th e Th irteenth Floor ,
and Th e Truman Show 219
10 Not Knowing My Self: Self-Knowledge Skepticism Films 263
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viii Contents
11 Coda. From Doubt to Acknowledgment, or:
Th e Philosophical Signifi cance of Skepticism
Films Revisited 295
Bibliography and Filmography 301
Index 327
Figures
2.1 Cinematic time- lapses in K oyaanisqatsi 29
2.2 Super slow motion in F ilm ist , parts 1–6 29
2.3 Illustration from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ,
by John Tenniel (1865) 37
2.4 Four basic types of texts according to Branigan 1992 47
4.1 Davidson’s model of triangulation 89
5.1 Chronophotographic study of man pole vaulting
(Étienne-Jules Marey, 1890–1891) 118
5.2 Th e Horse in Motion (Eadweard Muybridge, 1878) 118
5.3 A human- rabbit car ride in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 125
6.1 Th e child- seer in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 132
6.2 A world of fi lm strips in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 133
6.3 Th e face of youth in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 135
6.4 Th e face of age in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 135
6.5 A growling lion in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 139
6.6 Dusty remnants in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 139
6.7 Real beauty in Nuovo Cinema Paradiso 140
6.8 Erotic transgressions in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 140
6.9 Peeping Totò in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 141
6.10 Magic turned to dust in N uovo Cinema Paradiso 141
7.1 Neo discovers the real world in Th e Matrix 169
7.2 Varieties of skepticism fi lms 181
7.3 Th e world as vectors in Th e Th irteenth Floor 183
7.4 Santa Monica beach in Th e Th irteenth Floor 184
7.5 Reality switched off in Th e Th irteenth Floor 184
7.6 A satellite image of Truman Burbank’s world in
Th e Truman Show 186
8.1 Dimensions of fi lm analysis 215
9.1 A Vertigo -esque title sequence in Th e Matrix 223
9.2 A mouthful of cyberpunk references in Th e Matrix 224
9.3 Biblical references in Th e Matrix 224
9.4 A white rabbit in Th e Matrix 225
9.5 Diegetic structure of Th e Matrix 229
9.6 Diegetic structure of Th e Th irteenth Floor 231
9.7 Diegetic structure of Th e Truman Show 233
9.8 No blue pill, no red pill in Th e Truman Show 236
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