Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-140) and index.
Contents:
Introduction. Theoretical Aspects and Possible Perspectives in Film Philosophy ; Film Worlds Theory ; Ricœurian Hermeneutics of the Film World ; Some Preliminary Conclusions ; References -- DSM and Philosophy. DSM Through Ricœurian Hermeneutics ; The Process of Interpretation ; Phase 1: Understanding DSM's Film World ; Phase 2: Explaining DSM's Film World ; Phase 3: Critical Understanding of DSM's Film World ; Structure and Schemata ; DSM as Film World; References -- Understanding DSM's Film World. Initial Guess: Pure Visual Perception ; Symbolic Elements of the Film World ; DSM as Poetry of Vision ; The Rhetorical-Stylistic Structure of DSM ; The Rhythmic Structure of DSM ; DSM as Epic Mythology ; The Genesis ; The Conflict ; The Innocence ; The Desire ; The Death ; References -- Explaining DSM's Film World. Origin of the Film World: Deren, Duncan, and Brakhage's Heterodoxy ; History of Interpretations: Camper and Sitney ; Exegesis of Symbolic Meanings: Between Poetry and Myth ; Poetry of Vision ; Epic Mythology ; Conflict of Interpretations: Is an Analytical Approach to DSM Appropriate? ; References -- Critical Understanding of DSM's Film World. Critical Understanding of Interpretation: Further Clues on DSM's Film World ; Critical Understanding of Interpreter: Mythopoesis ; Critical Understanding of Film Philosophy: Rejection of Logocentric Metaphysics ; References -- Conclusion. A Summary of Our Journey into DSM's Film World ; A Last Remark on Ricœurian Film Hermeneutics ; References.
Summary:
This book shows how a masterpiece of experimental cinema can be interpreted through hermeneutics of the film world. As an application of Ricœurian methodology to a non-narrative film, the book calls into question the fundamental concept of the film world. Firmly rooted within the context of experimental cinema, Stan Brakhage's Dog Star Man was not created on the basis of a narrative structure and representation of characters, places and events, but on very different presuppositions. The techniques with which Brakhage worked on celluloid and used frames as canvases, as well as his choice to make the film without dialogue and sound, exhort the interpreter to directly question the philosophical language of moving images.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.