To help guide discussion at our next session on Wednesday, please select one of the theoretical readings up to this date:
Edmund Burke on the Sublime
Tzvetan Todorov on the Fantastic
Rosemary Jackson on Fantasy
Noel Carroll on Horror
and assess the contribution that it makes to the understanding of works of art (literature, film, etc.).
In one paragraph, state its main idea and examine whether and how it gives us a valid, useful principle for understanding the appeal of works that frighten, confuse, or distress us. You may wish to apply your chosen author's idea to a specific work--a film, story, artwork you already know--to see if it deepens your understanding of the selected work.
Rosemary Jackson uses Freud's theories on the Uncanny to frame her own ideas about both the Uncanny and the Fantastic. Jackson believes the uncanny is created through taking the familiar and twisting it, inverting it. This convinces the viewer that there is something else besides our reality but because we know we can't access it, it becomes uncanny. We are frightened because this slight twisting of what we think we know to be true opens up the possibility that our reality is not the only one that exists. It would mean there are forces that are more powerful than we are, ones that are beyond our control, and that would be terrifying to anyone.
ReplyDeleteJackson’s analysis and understanding of fantasy derives from Freud’s interpretations of the uncanny and how it and the fantastic function simultaneously in art, literature and film. Jackson explains that the fantastic introduces absence, occupying the realm residing on the edge of the real that exposes one’s concealed desires. When someone encounters a personified or manifested form of the fantastic such as a “spirit” or “monster”, it is merely a projection of their feelings, wishes and desires that is “expelled from the self and located in another person or thing.” Whether these forms truly exist in our real space or not, they are legitimized by our own mental and psychological distress, suggesting that to understand these projections is to understand oneself and one’s deepest needs.
ReplyDeleteA film that comes to mind when I think of the Sublime in modern filmmaking, is one by the writer/director/composer Alejandro Amenabar, The Others. From the simplicity of its plot, to the tense, eerie and engulfing suspense drawing you in, the film has a way of making you feel as if you are about to experience something beyond your confused and uncertain self. The straightforward plot allows the characters’ many layers to be revealed at a pace that the viewer becomes and remains in suspended disbelief, inciting feelings of intense emotion. This is anchored by the eerie and grand atmosphere created by the large victorian mansion and the ever-present fog. In the Sublime, as Burke’s puts it, “whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime.” And according to the forms used by Amenabar, in this case somber colors, tormented characters, candle lit rooms and eerie sounds, are beyond judgement of taste, they create a rhythm of sympathy, fear and awe, a perfect description of what the Sublime represents and how it moves us.
ReplyDeleteRosemary Jackson uses classic stories and incorporates Freud's theory to analyze the psychology of fantasy narrative telling in art, books, and film. I think it's interesting that she defines the "uncanny" as something disturbing and vacuous...I think both terms illustrate it exactly as I would. She sees fantasy as a vessel for unconscious drives from sexuality to the idea of metamorphosis. These desires that are often repressed by society, and thus it allows us to see that society fears and so has decreed to be "unacceptable".
ReplyDeleteIn relation to Burke’s beliefs of the sublime there is a multimedia artist that comes to mind, Peter Coffin. If it is understood that Burke’s idea of the sublime are, a moment of terror accompanied by one’s lack of ability to reason and provide meaningful answers when pitted against insurmountable odds or a place of infinity and the moment where one finds himself minute against the the antagonist, then Coffin’s, Here and There is a fine example. When one enter the main room of his exhibit, the viewer is overwhelmed by indistinguishable sounds, videos, painting, lights and patterns. The eye doesn’t know where to look and the ear strains to pick out what is being said by voices of men and women. Lights enhance and darken parts of painting that recreate new ways of viewing and light shows blend paintings into other parts of the wall. In a gallery setting this almost becomes frightening because all general notions of how to act in such a place becomes lost, one must walk around different parts of the room trying to soak it all in. For awhile a control and meaning is lost. Though the viewer does not feel fear for life or safety within the realm of an art gallery exhibit a sort of “Burke” sublime is encountered. As you leave the room and are brought back to a tranquility and eventually an indifference within the common art gallery an excitement arises and pull comes back to revisit the room.
ReplyDeleteThe sublime and beautiful by Burke is described as,"...delightful when we have an idea of pain and danger, without being actually in such circumstances;". This immediately reminds me of the 2004 film "Crash" produced, directed, and co-written b uh Paul Haggis. The film was a collective of uncanny events that somehow were all connected to each other. The film can be recognized personally and on a universal level. The music played through out the film ever time these was an uncanny moment worked remarkably for the dis-ease and hunting feeling one reflected from viewing the film. It was painful Yet satisfying to the viewer as well as the characters because of specific uncanny events such as when a father placed an invisible protection necklace around his daughter for comfort, turned out to act as the savior for her life when a gun was shot directly at her. The terror was so beautiful and poetic that it acts as satisfaction for the viewers. That feeling of witnessing the worst but never having to go thorough is quite a theme in film making. Why are people so obsessed and satisfied with the uncanny which accents the sublime so beautifully?
ReplyDeleteSome art tries its hardest to frighten, shock, or disturb us, perhaps using overt gore or imagery of beasts. Rosemary Jackson’s “Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion,” instead describes the uncanny as that which is more subtle, relating to confusion of the alien or unknown. She explores this idea through many lenses, at one point referencing Freud’s notion that the uncanny relates to repression, then projection, of the self. This speaks most clearly to me, for I have always felt that an uncanny work is not about the shock of seeing something bloody, for example, but instead about a creeping sense of eeriness that lingers the more time one spends with a piece. It is the act of “uncovering the hidden” which is already present in oneself, locating it somewhere externally, that can be disturbing. The uncanny is something that is hard for me to pin down with a singular definition, and Jackson’s many-faceted article, full of different explanations and anecdotes, was satisfying for me.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of the sublime stems from one of the most powerful emotions the mind can experience, that of fear. An irrational emotion that cannot be reasoned with at the moment of the sensation. The sublime, like the uncanny and fantastic, is an experience that is unexplainable to the human mind, the reaction one has with an environment or experience cannot be explained by logical reasoning, Todorov even underlines that “fear is often linked to the fantastic”. In The fall of the house of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe we see the main characters experience with the unexplainable feeling of fear when arriving at Roderick Ushers home. It is unstated as to why exactly the place he is visiting leaves an impression on his mind, “ there are combination of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among consideration beyond our depths.” suggesting that we may have no control over these experiences but that if the balance of the setting was changed, our experience of the sublime, uncanny or fantastic would change. Freud describes the uncanny as a form of anxiety which derives from something that is repressed, following that logic, when experiencing anxiety which leads to fear, could be due to our preconceived notion of what danger and power should be depicted as. Which brings to mind my favorite movie of all times, L’Année Derniére à Marienbad, a film that deals with combining both the uncanny, which derives from the editing and character depiction, the fantastic, due to the setting and the sublime, which stems from the overall experience of all 5 senses in that film. This combination of the unexplainable and the impossible keeps the viewer on his toes and uncomfortable through the film but also in completely awe to its beauty.
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated by the idea that we as humans crave the kind of pleasure that can only come from that which also terrifies us. I have no qualms with Burkes ideas, in fact I agree with all of them. It's like poking at a tooth that's causing you great pain, or slowing down to get a good look at a horrific accident. We love these things. The thing I find most fascinating however, is that we have the ability to not lose our minds when looking at the sublime. By all accounts we should not be able to look into the infinite night sky and be "okay" with it, think about death and be "okay" with it, think about the concept of time and be "okay" with it. We should be paralyzed, or babbling to ourselves incoherently, or walking the streets in a frenzied panic. Many of the great artists, philosophers, musicians who have lost their minds, did so because they started viewing the sublime without the filters most of us have. It's a chemical in our brain that softens the impact of concepts too great to comprehend and make them "interesting" rather than simply terrifying. To those who have lost these chemicals or removed these filters, there is no sublime.
ReplyDeleteIn reading Tzvetan Todorov “The Fantastic” he starts out by listing three conditions that make up the illusion of the fantastic. First the reader must “Consider the world… but hesitate between the natural and supernatural”. Second the “readers role” as if the readers themselves are experiencing the same as the character, and third “rejecting allegorically as well as "poetic" interpretations”. Reading through Todorov's "The Fantastic" an episode from the Twilight Zone came to mind. In this episode all of these conditions are met. The first episode of the series tells a story of a man lost in an empty town, he doesn’t remember his name or who he is and there is not a soul around. He continues to run around this town looking for anyone as there are many traces of people left, for example a lit cigarette in an ash tray and brewing coffee. He can’t seem to figure out what is going on and leaving the viewer to questions it as well.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main themes in “The Fantastic” is doubt. As a reader/ viewer they cannot completely explain what is happening giving way to doubt. Todorov explains that one of the ways to achieve this is by never fully telling the reader everything. He states that by “changing the meaning of the sentence, modify the relation between the speaker and his utterance” leaves the reader to question. An example of this is given as; “It is raining outside” and “Perhaps it is raining outside" refer to the same fact; but the second also indicates the speaker's uncertainty as to the truth of the sentence.” This also goes back to the conditions listed earlier by giving the reader hesitation. Going back to the Twilight Zone the viewer experiences modified information. In the episode the viewer knows that there were people there based on the examples of human activity, but since there is now no one around it creates doubt and questions. In the end we are told the reasoning behind the story, but even once it starts to be revealed it is dragged onto the last minutes, holding out doubt as long as possible and giving way to the fantastic.
When Burke's sublime talks about passion and its societies i think of the movie 4 Rooms. There is a part where the bell boy is asked to have sex with one of the members of a coven of witches. These witches are to bring another witch alive but need certain ingredients. The bell boy thinks this witch is beautiful which goes along with the society of sex. Beauty of women is the object of this society. When requested to have sex the bell boy is pulled in two directions. On one hand he wants to because the witch is so beautiful but on the other hand this is something that could get him fired and its quite a strange situation. The witch puts a spell on him to make him do what she wants making her the winner.
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ReplyDeleteBurke discusses the idea of terror as a facet of the sublime. Burke uses terror as a way to further contextualize the relationship between fear and pain."For fear being an apprehension of pain or death, it operates in a manner that resembles actual pain." The idea of death as an object of apprehension and its relationship to physical pain is undeniable, and is proven by just about any slasher movie dealing out scares at the local cinema. People are scared to die. More specifically and less sarcastically Burke argues that pain ala terror is the ruling principle of the sublime. I think less of about Burkes comments on its relationship to physical pain in the context of terror and more to particular objects of terror. I cant help but think of Adam Fuss's work, perhaps because of Burke's example of the serpent. Specifically the study in which Fuss released snakes into an aquarium in which he has fit with photographic paper, at the moment of impact Fuss pops the flash creating a contact print. Fuss creates this fantastic yet simultaneously terrifying microcosm of fear, life and death. Of course we are drawn to, as visual purveyors, images that shock or kind of invade our comfort zone,although these are not limited to objects that are undeniably terrifying snakes, demons, ect but it is definitely a common way to go about it.
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