Philosophy and Cinema

1] Edward Yang (in Chinese 楊德昌, 1947-2007) is one of the most renowned Taiwanese directors, whose works raise criticisms of modernity. Since the New Culture Movement in the 1910s and 1920s, Chinese literati have queried the place of traditional Chinese culture, especially Confucianism, on the road to modernization. This paper gives an account of Yang’s understanding of modernization and the Confucian tradition as illustrated in his work, A Confucian Confusion (1994). We argue that, though he despised politically endorsed Confucianism as ideology, without sufficient justification Yang nonetheless reserves the possibility of taking Confucianism as a supplement to modernity.

El presente artículo argumenta que Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011) puede constituir una ocasión privilegiada para pensar seriamente en la muerte en los términos que Søren Kierkegaard propone en "Junto a una tumba", generando en el espectador el mismo efecto que el discurso pretende producir en el lector.

This article argues that "Melancholia" (Lars von Trier, 2011) can be a special occasion to think seriously about death in the terms proposed by Søren Kierkegaard in "At a Graveside", generating in the viewer the same effect that the discourse intends to produce to the reader, which is help us to live our lives more properly.

This paper defends that "Melancholia" has a philosophical and artistic value which is founded on the use of cinematographic language to communicate, in an apocalyptic context, the experience of anxiety. And because of that, can help us to understand our ambivalent attitude towards death, which not only does it terrify us but it also attracts us. In other words, I believe that "Melancholia" not only makes us experience the fear that would be provoked by the certainty of imminent annihilation, but at the same time awakens our desire to look into the abyss.

"RESUME

"Le relief de la vision. Mouvement, profondeur et cinéma dans “Le monde sensible et le monde de l’expression”

Est-il possible d’établir une connexion entre “Le monde sensible et le monde de l’expression” et la pensée du dernier Merleau-Ponty? De quelle manière une formulation germinale de la réflexion ontologique serait-elle présente dans le cours de 1953? Et quels sont les éléments de contact et de convergence qui permettent de retracer un tel lien? Je vais proposer cette hypothèse à partir d’une considération du thème de la vision dans son rapport au mouvement, en esquissant les points dans lesquels ce lien émerge et se montre, tant de manière latente que de manière manifeste. Je voudrais montrer comment, dans le développement de ce cours, d’un côté, le mouvement est défini dans sa valeur ontologique et en vient à exprimer la relation même qui lie le corps percevant et le monde perçu et, de l’autre côté, comme le thème de l’expérience scopique arrive à éclairer le rapport entre perception et expression pour en dévoiler le caractère chiasmatique.

Si les recherches menées par Merleau-Ponty dans la Phénoménologie de la perception avaient délimité le rapport d’inhérence et de co-implication entre le percevant et le perçu, les notes de cours du Monde sensible et monde de l’expression en viennent à désigner un «double mouvement» entre le sens et le sensible, ou bien un mouvement d’expression et d’empiètement de l’un dans l’autre, «réciproque» et «à double sens», dans lequel nous pouvons entrevoir une préfi guration du rapport chiasmatique et réversible qui lie le voyant et le visible dans l’ontologie merleau-pontienne de la chair.

Il existe une trame qui relie le cours de 1953 avec la réflexion du dernier Merleau- Ponty, particulièrement avec « L’œil et l’esprit ». J’ai parcouru à nouveau les trois modes, ou plutôt les trois mouvements de la vision qui émergent à l’état germinal dans les notes du cours.

- Le thème de la vision en profondeur comme découverte du rapport actif-passif entre le voyant et le visible, lié à la dimension scopique comme ouverture au lien entre vision et désir.
- La notion d’œil spirituel que Merleau-Ponty emprunte à Paul Schilder, comme concept clé pour la conception de la vision dans « L’œil et l’esprit », qui représente en outre un lien fondamental entre l’expérience scopique et la conception libidinale du corps propre, en syntonie profonde avec le rôle de la pulsion scopique chez Lacan.
- Le thème du mouvement dans le cinéma comme point culminant de ces references à la vision, à la profondeur, au relief, et qui émergera à quelques années de distance, avec la peinture, dans « L’œil et l’esprit » et dans le cours sur « L’ontologie cartésienne et l’ontologie d’aujourd’hui ».


ABSTRACT

The Depth of Vision: Movement, Depth, and Cinema in “The Sensible World and the World of Expression”

Is it possible to establish a connection between “The Sensible World and the World of Expression” and Merleau-Ponty’s last thought? In what manner would a germinal formulation of ontological reflection be present in the 1953 course? And what are the elements of contact and convergence that allow us to tracing out such a link? I intend to put forward this hypothesis from a consideration of the theme of vision in its relation to movement, sketching the points in which this link emerges and shows itself, both in a latent and a manifest way. I would like to show, in the development of this course, on the one hand, how movement is defined in its ontological value and comes to express the very relation which links the perceiving body and the perceived world, and, on the other hand, how, as the theme of optical experience comes to bring to light the relation between perception and expression in order to unveil its chiasmatic character.

If the research conducted by Merleau-Ponty in the “Phenomenology of Perception” had delimited the relation of inherence and co-implication between the perceiving and the perceived, the course notes of “The Sensible World and the World of Expression” come to designate a “double movement” between sense and the sensible, or, a “reciprocal” or “bi-directional” movement of expression and encroachment one another, in which we can catch a glimpse of a prefiguration of the chiasmatic and reversible relation which links the seer and the visible in the Merleau-Ponty’s ontology of the flesh.

There is a web which links the 1953 course with the reflection of the final Merleau- Ponty, particularly with “Eye and Mind”. I have again gone through the three modes, or rather the three movements of vision which emerge in a germinal state in the course notes.

- The theme of vision in depth as the discovery of an active-passive relation between the seer and the visible, linked to the optical dimension as the opening to the link between vision and desire.
- The notion of the “spiritual eye” that Merleau-Ponty takes from Paul Schilder, as the key concept for the conception of vision in “Eye and Mind”, which in addition represents a fundamental link between optical experience and the libidinal conception of one’s own body, which is profoundly in sync with the role of scopic impulse in Lacan.
- The theme of movement in film as the culminating point of these references to vision, to the depth, to the being in relief or depth perception, which will emerge in some distant years, with painting, in “Eye and Mind” and in the course on “Cartesian Ontology and Ontology Today”.
"

Esta investigación parte de la convicción de que Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011) tiene un destacado valor filosófico, artístico y cognitivo que proviene de una utilización del lenguaje cinematográfico que permite transmitir, repensar y sentir la experiencia de la angustia. Dicho de otro modo, como espectador creo que la película del director danés nos incita a repensarnos de tal modo que nos saca de la cotidianidad y nos enfrenta a nuestro ser-para-la-muerte, casi como si ella misma actuara como detonante de la angustia.

El presente trabajo pretende explorar la posible traducción cinematográfica del término heideggeriano Temporalidad (Zeitlichkeit) tal y cómo queda reflejada en la película Fresas Salvajes (Smultronstället, Ingmar Bergman, 1957). Para ello, se propondrá en primer lugar una aproximación a la problemática estética de Heidegger en su aplicación cinematográfica. Posteriormente, se estudiarán algunos de los diferentes recursos audiovisuales usados por Bergman para encarar la mostración de la temporalidad desde tres perspectivas narrativas diferentes: la presentación del personaje principal, la escritura sim-bólica de elementos relacionados con el tiempo y su vivencia, y finalmente, la problemática relacionada con el encuentro ante los otros.

When cinema deals with bioethical issues, science  fiction is inevitably involved, being a genre that intrinsically can be considered a thinking laboratory, as evidenced by an extensive number of titles – including novels and movies – which are now widely used by bioethicists, sociologists and philosophers even more than  film scholars themselves (Fahrenheit 451, Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, So- laris and Blade Runner). At the turn of the twentieth and twenty- first century, science  fiction movies had been able to perfectly embody the fears and anxieties of a society that was radically changing in many respects, as evidenced by movies like The Truman Show, Dark City, eXistenZ, The Matrix, A.I. - Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Children of Men, Wall-E and Never Let Me Go, which are all focused on the theme of identity and destiny of mankind. The advent of molecular biology and the extensive use of technology in medicine brought about the materialization of nightmares about eugenics, which had been anticipated in the theoretical discussion during the previous decades. Gattaca was rightly included in the philosophical and religious debate when it was  first released, and after many years it still proves to be an inexhaustible resource of ideas. For its dramatic structure, it can act as a critical counterpart – a frontier sentinel – to the scientific progress and the social, political and anthropological changes disclosed in the movie. In the essay, after a few considerations on how Gattaca belongs to the sci-fi genre and how it still has something to say within the bioethical debate, we analyse the script from a dramatic point of view. With special attention to the theme, characters and dialogue, we will show how the movie arguments can truly contribute to the scientific debate because, as regards the nature of the debate itself, they say something about the condition and nature of the human being of all ages, which is both new and pertinent to the historical and sociological context.

¿Será verdad que, como dice Ortega, el hombre no tiene naturaleza, sino historia, pues carece de un ser “fijo, estático, invariable y dado”? ¿Será verdad que hemos dejado de creer en la naturaleza y que esta se nos aparece como una “interpretación transitoria” de lo que ahí nos encontramos? ¿Qué significa entonces para nosotros la palabra “hombre” si nos tomamos en serio que el hombre no tiene naturaleza? ¿Significan algo las expresiones “género humano” e “historia universal”, que tanto gusta de usar Kant? ¿Será verdad que no puedo entenderme como un hombre, porque de hecho como hombres es como nunca hemos conseguido entendernos? Lo que encontramos sugerido en los textos orteguianos podríamos quizá enunciarlo de este modo: nosotros, quienes nos llamamos humanos, quienes nos creemos con cierta mezcla de ilusión y de desilusión unos tales personajes, nos encontramos en la situación del técnico: no tenemos más remedio que estar continuamente haciendo algo para ser y no podemos dejar de inventar el personaje que queremos ser, nos lo creamos mucho o poco, porque de otro modo no somos nada. La nuestra es, pues, la condición técnica.

Este artículo examina el comportamiento la protagonista de "Melancholia" (Lars von Trier, 2011) durante la primera parte de la película a partir de las teorías sobre la angustia que Søren Kierkegaard y Martin Heidegger formularon en "El concepto de la angustia" y en "Ser y tiempo". El objetivo es enriquecer el análisis de la película interpretándola desde un marco teórico que, sin excluir la melancolía, explica el conflicto de Justine desde la reflexión sobre la existencia. Y con ello, como la otra cara de la misma moneda, se pretende presentar a Melancholia como una representación cinematográfica de la angustia.

This paper argues with P. Ricoeur´s hermeneutical notion of text, that asserts that writing is the textuality criterion. This paper proposes a conception of text that establishes the semantic coherence as the minimum criterion of textuality. This is the prevailing position in M. Bajtín ´s  philosophy of language, M. Scherner ´s the textual understanding phenomenology, or J. Petöfi´s semiotics. However, as argumentative strategy to justify this textual theory, these authors thinking is not exposed; instead, a text is analyzed, but a text  with a material support different from writing, a film that thinks about its textual condition, i.e. W. Allen´s  Hollywood Ending film.

Edward Yang (in Chinese 楊德昌, 1947-2007) is one of the most renowned Taiwanese directors, whose works raise criticisms of modernity. Since the New Culture Movement in the 1910s and 1920s, Chinese literati have queried the place of traditional Chinese culture, especially Confucianism, on the road to modernization. This paper gives an account of Yang’s understanding of modernization and the Confucian tradition as illustrated in his work, A Confucian Confusion (1994). We argue that, though he despised politically endorsed Confucianism as ideology, without sufficient justification Yang nonetheless reserves the possibility of taking Confucianism as a supplement to modernity.

La filmografia di David Cronenberg, dagli esordi fino ai primi anni Novanta, è passata alla storia del cinema perché dà sistematicamente in pasto agli spettatori una variopinta categoria di personaggi che hanno tutti un rapporto piuttosto problematico con il loro corpo.
Due dei "grandi testi" di questa prima fase autoriale ("Videodrome" - 1982 e "La mosca" 1986) fungono da paradigma cristallino di una strategia narrativa che problematizza alcune delle questioni filosofiche fondamentali relative ai nessi "mente-corpo-mondo-realtà-percezione" attraverso i canoni e le figure tipiche del "body horror" di cui il regista canadese è stato uno degli indiscussi maestri.

Matrix Okumaları dizisinin başlangıcını Matrix serisinin az bilinen Platon göndermelerini analiz ederek yapmak yerinde olur diye düşündük. Bu ilk incelemede, Kahin karakterinin Sokrates’i temsil ettiği tezini ortaya atıp, bunu kanıtlayan detayları ele alacağız.