by Brian Bergen-Aurand The concept of “obscenity” is tested when we dare to look at something that we desire to see but have forbidden ourselves to look at. When we feel that everything has been revealed, “obscenity” disappears and there is a certain liberation. When that which one had wanted to see isn’t sufficiently revealed, … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Film
Touching On: Eyes, Hands, and Screens
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The mise-en-scène of the blind is always inscribed in a theater or theory of the hands. ~Jacques Derrida, Memoirs of the Blind It is a question of touch, of touching the screen or being touched by what one sees on screen, or both. It is a question of the relation between how … Continue reading
The Filmic Experience
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The Myths of Blind Cinema Imagine film, or more precisely, the filmic experience in relation to three figures: Gyges, Butades, and Medusa (in contrast to Polyphemus). These three figures, or more precisely, the relations among these three figures raise for us the possibility of addressing the flimic experience in terms of a man … Continue reading
Essaying Film
by Brian Bergen-Aurand Essay noun: essay; plural noun: essays ˈɛseɪ/ 1. a short piece of writing on a particular subject. 2. formal an attempt or effort. verb (formal) : essay; 3rd person present: essays; past tense: essayed; past participle: essayed; gerund or present participle: essaying ɛˈseɪ/ 1. attempt or try. Essay Films are notoriously difficult … Continue reading
Five Films for a May Day Weekend
by Brian Bergen-Aurand Here are five films in honor of International Workers Day weekend, in no particular order. Salt of the Earth. 1954. Director, Herbert J. Biberman. Writer, Michael Wilson. Stars, Juan Chacón, Rosaura Revueltas, Will Geer. Born in Flames. 1983. Director, Lizzie Borden. Writers, Lizzie Borden and Ed Bowes. Stars, Honey, Adele Bertei, … Continue reading
Porn Studies in North American and Europe (for now)
by Brian Bergen-Aurand Earlier this week a friend let me know that the first volume of Porn Studies (a new journal from Routledge Open Access) had made its debut. This is an exciting moment for porn scholars, among whom I count myself in my never-ending quest to reconsider the relations among film, ethics, and embodiment. … Continue reading
100 Years of Seeing and Hearing Charlie Chaplin
by Brian Bergen-Aurand It has been 100 years since Charlie Chaplin’s character of the Tramp first appeared on screen in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice (screened 7 February 1914). [Mabel’s Strange Predicament was the first film featuring the Tramp character but was not screened until two days after Kid Auto Races on … Continue reading
Five Films for International Women’s Day
by Brian Bergen-Aurand To help celebrate International Women’s Day, here are five films directed by women. In no particular order: Elaine May. The Heartbreak Kid. 1972. Fanta Regina Nacro. The Night of Truth. 2004. Li Yu. Fish and Elephant. 2001. Maria Luisa Bemberg. Camila. 1984. Susanne Bier. Love is All You Need. 2012. Continue reading
Failure, Futurity, and the Utopia of Film
by Brian Bergen-Aurand I have now read The Utopia of Film by Christopher Pavsek cover to cover twice and the introduction three more times. It is a book well worth returning to repeatedly for its analysis of these films and filmmakers, its rigorous discussion of critical theory (especially Marxism, Modernism/Post-Modernism, and Frankfurt School Theory), and … Continue reading
“Once I’ve devoured your soul, we are neither animal nor human.”
by Brian Bergen-Aurand Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2004 Tropical Malady (Sud pralad) is a film that essays much of what concerns those of us who work at the intersection of Film Studies and Body Studies. In Tropical Malady a young soldier, Keng (Banlop Lomnoi), falls in love with a young man from the country, Tong … Continue reading
Foreign Influence 