The body, in both film and literature, has been extremely important as the producer of meaning. This is especially clear in a wide variety of films, ranging from David Cronenberg’s ‘body horror’ of Videodrome, Peter Greenaway’s The Pillow Book or even David Fincher’s Fight Club and Se7en. Here the body, its deformities and double meanings are fully explored, even if it is within the genre of thriller or drama. Even specific actors, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, question the limits and meanings of the body, in his case ranging from cybernetic organism to birth-giving male to caring family father.
This investigation of the body also connects to the notion of the voyeur’s gaze; how the filmic spectator is presumed to locate meaning and pleasure in specifically the functions of the body. Here the genres of slasher/splatter films, dance/musical films as well as pornographic films are prime examples. Also, the gaze in cinema is typically seen as a male gaze which subjugates the female body and reduces the female body to an image. This is a discussion which this course will examine in more detail.
The course will focus on the body as the prime vehicle for meaning. This will be done in two ways; one being to examine and discuss how and why the body is used as an important sign in the process of interpretation. The second way will be to see to what extent previous notions of the body are being criticised in contemporary films.
Readings for the course will be placed in a binder on the course shelf, but the eager student may find a more extensive bibliography below.
Note: There will be a guest lecture on 24-2 by Torben Bille Poulsen in relation to the course. The lecture will focus on the body in all the films of David Cronenberg. See abstract here.
1. The Body as Sign and Meaning in Film
An examination of how the body serves as a locus for meaning and as a site of interpretation. We will also discuss why the body is important in film theory, and how it is deemed important by different theories.
Films: A clipshow from: Peter Jackson, Bad Taste. George R. Romero, Night of the Living Dead. Lucio Fulci, Zombie Flesh Eaters. Brad Armstrong, Paradise. Stanley Donen, Singin’ in the Rain. Victor Fleming, Gone With the Wind. Michael Curtiz, Casablanca. Baz Luhrman, Moulin Rouge!
Readings: None.
2. The Suffering Body: Case Study of David Fincher’s Se7en
The body in Se7en serves many different functions, such as spectacle or a form of redemption through suffering. We will examine these different meanings of the body, as well as try to explain why we decode the body differently when we are experiencing the same film.
Film: David Fincher, Se7en.
Readings: None.
3. The Armoured Arnold
Arnold Schwarzenegger constitutes a peculiar role in contemporary cinema. His body is the main reason why he ever became an actor, but the view of this body and what it can represent has changed radically. From being a killer machine to caring father, we will examine Arnold Schwarzenegger’s transgressive body and its (re)presentation.
Films: James Cameron, Terminator 1&2. John Milius, Conan the Barbarian. Andrew Davis, Collateral Damage. Mark L. Lester, Commando.
Readings: J. Hoberman, ‘Nietzsche’s Boy’.
4. Women and Voyerism
The female body is present in many different films. This carries further aspects of voyeurism into the reception of the films. We will examine how this voyerism and scopophilia works, in addition to how this puts the male gaze in a position of power.
Films: Paul Verhoeven, Basic Instinct. Michael Powell, Peeping Tom.
Readings: Laura Mulvey, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’.
5. Transgressive Bodies
The bodies of splatter, slasher, and zombie films are typically seen as being extremely transgressive in nature, being both dead and alive. To what degree is this belief accurate?
Films: George Romero, Night of the Living Dead. Lucio Fulci, Zombie Flesh Eaters. Peter Jackson, Braindead. Dario Argento, Opera.
Readings: ‘Approaching Abjection’, Julie Kristeva, from Powers of Horror.
6. Bodies in Motion
How do the bodies in dance films and musicals express meaning? Are the dance acts part of the narrative or are they simply spectacles meant to indicate a certain genre, as well as a ‘crowd pleaser’? These are the main questions we will be examining in this class.
Films: Stanley Donen, Singin’ in the Rain. Baz Luhrmann, Moulin Rouge!. Lars von Trier, Dancer in the Dark.
Readings: Jane Feuer, ‘The Self-Reflexive Musical and the Myth of Entertainment’.
7. Comic Bodies
A lot of comedies are contingent on the use of the body as being the object of the comic. In this class, we will examine of the most famous recent physical comedians, Jim Carrey. With a specific focus in the carnivalistic aspects of both Carrey’s body and the general narrative of the film, we will be questioning to what extent the films suspend social hierarchies.
Films: Tom Shadyac, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Chuck Russel, The Mask. Peter and Bobby Farrelly, Dumb & Dumber. Steve Oedekerk, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Readings: Mikhail Bakhtin, from Rabelais and His World.
8. Long Live the New Flesh: Case Study of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome
With a focus on Videodrome, we will examine David Cronenberg as a film maker who uses the body as a specific locus for generating meaning, effect, affect and abjection. Questions that will be raised will include the notion of Cronenberg as a ‘body horror’ director, to what degree the body is shown as being horrific and how the film examines notions of the real vs. image.
Film: David Cronenberg, Videodrome. Please note that this film will be shown on 24-3.
Readings: None.
Reading List
These texts are not required readings but may be of interest for students who wish to write projects on the body.
Books
General Theory on the Body in Film
Peter Brooks, Body Work. (non-film)
Norman K. Denzin, The Cinematic Society: The Voyeur’s Gaze.
Steven Shaviro, The Cinematic Body.
Horror (Including Slasher/Splatter/Stalker)
Mikita Brottman, Meat is Murder!.
Carol J. Clover, Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.
Vera Dika, Games of Terror: Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the films of the stalker cycle.
Cynthia A. Freeland, The Naked and the Undead: Evil and the Appeal of Horror.
Julie Kristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection.
Gregory A. Waller, The Living and the Undead : from Stoker’s Dracula to Romero’s Dawn of the dead.
Musicals
Rick Altman, The American Film Musical.
Steven Cohan (ed.), Hollywood Musicals: The Film Reader.
Period Pieces
Pam Cook, Fashioning the Nation: Costume and Identity in British Cinema.
Pornography
David Flint, Babylon Blue : An Illustrated History of Adult Cinema 1960-1998.
Linda Williams, Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the ‘Frenzy of the Visual’.
Science Fiction
Scott Bukatman, Terminal Identity.
Articles and Excerpts
Chisholm, Ann. ‘Missing Persons and Bodies of Evidence’. Camera Obscura, 2000, Volume 15, Issue 1.
Clover, Carol J. ‘Dancin’ in the Rain’. Critical Inquiry, 1995, Isusue 21.
del Rio, Elena. ‘The Body of Voyeurism: Mapping a Discourse of the Sense in Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom‘. Camera Obscura, 2001, Volume 15, Issue 3.
Rushing, Janice Hocker and Thomas S. Frentz (1995). ‘The Terminator: Future-Perfect Tense’ and ‘Terminator 2: Judgemant Day: Effacing the Shadow’, from Projecting the Shadow.
Sobchack, Tom. ‘Bakthin’s ‘Carnivalesque’ in 1950s British comedy’. Journal of Popular Film and Television, Winter 1996, Volume 23, Issue 4.
Telotte, J.P. ‘Terminator, Terminator 2 and the Exposed Body’.
Telotte, J.P. ‘The Tremulous Public Body: Robots, Change, and the Science Fiction Film’.
Links
The New Flesh Directory
eXistenZ.com
Cronenberg at Salon.com
Metaphor Man SPLICEDwire Interview
Official Crash site
Fright Site, Crash Movie Review
Sex Machine interview from Wired.com
Bringing Crash to the screen from Chaos Control
DOOM PATROLS David Cronenberg from Steven Shaviro
davidfincher.net
a.fincher.news.site
Se7en
Se7en Cult
the Se7en Fanlisting
Schwarzenegger.com
