Unhomely Cinema

Dwayne Avery

Description

A novel reworking of Freud’s idea of the uncanny and its application to the study of cinematic domesticity.

Representations of troubled and inhospitable domestic places are a common feature of many cinematic narratives. “Unhomely Cinema” explores how the unhomely nature of contemporary film narrative provides an insight into what it means to dwell in today’s global societies. Providing analyses of a variety of film genres – from Michel Gondry’s comedy “Be Kind Rewind” to Laurent Cantet’s eerie suspense thriller “Time Out” – “Unhomely Cinema” presents an engaging discussion of some of the most pertinent social and cultural issues involved in the question of “making home” in contemporary societies.

Introduction: Unhomely Cinema; 1. An Unhomely Theory; 2. The Decline of the Family: Home and Nation in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “The Decalogue”; 3. The Future Is behind You: Global Gentrification and the Unhomely Nature of Discarded Places; 4. No Place to Call Home: Work and Home in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch Drunk Love” and Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air”; 5. The Terrible Lightness of Being Mobile: “Cell Phone” and the Dislocation of Home; 6. Unhomely Revolt in Laurent Cantet’s “Time Out”; Conclusion; References; Index

Sujets

• History of film

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783083039
• Langue: English

Extrait

Unhomely Cinema

ANTHEM GLOBAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES

Anthem Global Media and Communication Studiesnaec mia vda ot s
understanding of the continuously changing global media and communication
environment. The series publishes critical scholarly studies and high-quality edited
volumes on key issues and debates in the field (as well as the occasional trade book and
the more practical “how-to” guide) on all aspects of media, culture and communication
studies. We invite work that examines not only recent phenomena in this field but also
studies which theorize the continuities between different technologies, topics, eras and
methodologies. Saliently, building on the interdisciplinary strengths of this field,
we particularly welcome cutting-edge research in and at the intersection of
communication and media studies, anthropology, cultural studies, sociology,
telecommunications, public policy, migration and diasporic studies,
gender studies, transnational politics and international relations.

Series Editors
Shakuntala Banaji – London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK
Terhi Rantanen – London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON WORLD CINEMA

The New Perspectives on World Cinema series publishes engagingly written,
highly accessible and extremely useful books for the educated reader and the student
as well as the scholar. Volumes in this series fall under one of the following categories:
monographs on neglected films and filmmakers; classic as well as contemporary film
scripts; collections of the best previously published criticism (including substantial reviews
and interviews) on single films or filmmakers; translations into English of the best classic
and contemporary film theory; reference works on relatively neglected areas in film
studies, such as production design (including sets, costumes, and make-up), music, editing
and cinematography; and reference works on the relationship between film and the
other performing arts (including theatre, dance, opera, etc.). Many of our titles will be
suitable for use as primary or supplementary course texts at undergraduate and graduate
levels. The goal of the series is thus not only to address subject areas in which adequate
classroom texts are lacking, but also to open up additional avenues for film research,
theoretical speculation and practical criticism.

Series Editors
Wheeler Winston Dixon – University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster – University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA

Unhomely Cinema

Home and Place in
Global Cinema

Dwayne Avery

Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2014
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA

Copyright © 2014 Dwayne Avery

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Avery, Dwayne,
1977Unhomely cinema : home and place in global cinema / Dwayne Avery.
pages cm. – (Anthem global media and communication studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Home in motion pictures. 2. Fmaliies in motion pictures. le. .IT ti
PN1995.9.H54A94 2014
791.43’75–dc23
2014028891

Cover photograph by Clark James, www.clarkjamesdigital.com

ISBN-13: 978 1 78308 302 2 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1 78308 302 6 (Hbk)

This title is also available as an ebook.

C

O

N

TEN

TS

Introduction Unhomely Cinema
Chapter 1 An Unhomely Theory
Chapter 2 The Decline of the Family: Home and
Nation in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s ThDee locae gu

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6
Conclusion

References
Index

The Future Is behind You: Global Gentrification
and the Unhomely Nature of Discarded Places

No Place to Call Home: Work and Home in
Paul Thomas Anderson’s evoL h Drunk Punc
and Jason Reitman’s p U tinri ehA

The Terrible Lightness of Being Mobile:
Cell Phone me and the Dsiolacitnoo foH
Unhomely Revolt in Laurent Cantet’s iTem O tu

51

1
9

29

71

93
111
127

135
139

Introduction

UNHOMELY CINEMA

Going Home: The Problem of
Contemporary Film

Dwelling in

District 9 dcseicn yhcraeg film thae fictionsaeli deaw ter sn llcatilipoa s i
2009. Set in the volatile world of Johannesburg, South Africa, the film tells
the story of a group of insectoid aliens (called Prawns) that get stranded
on Earth when their spacecraft loses an important command module. Like
most space invader films, iDtsirct 9tisoppo sa :noi nlempsivetiraarlizes a uti
a group of inexplicable outsiders, the aliens form an imminent danger that
must be excised immediately by the humans; however, while siDcirt9 tllfos ow
this traditional narrative structure, its low-fi, even quotidian treatment of the
alien invasion distinguishes it from most contemporary science fiction films.
Unlike many high-octane sci-fi films, that all too often portray the aliens as a
formidable military force that is ready and willing to decimate the human race,
in Dic9t istrowers oflistic p yethconm litirarathinllth ene tasnanoina ges d gylo
are permanently sidelined. In short, there are no impressive intergalactic battle
scenes; no explosive displays of military technology and violence. Neither
are there any awe-inspiring scientific breakthroughs that allow the humans
to vanquish the aliens and save humankind. Quite the contrary, instead of
cunning and intelligent creatures, the Prawns are portrayed as pathetic beings
that are barely able to sustain themselves, let alone wage a massive assault on
the human race. When the humans enter the Prawns’ suspended spacecraft
near the beginning of the film, for example, what they discover is not some
futuristic shrine to the might of high technology but a disorganized and
malnourished alien population that is on the brink of death.
As a film free of any threatening aliens, iDtc9 tsirmelid ev :am aesac ftiraar n
how can an alien invasion film function without any invading aliens? If the
shock and awe of an intergalactic war is not the driving force of the narrative,
what kind of extraterrr nsweesrtai locflnci tiwe ov mllorste thrawrof ya ehT ?d
represents perhaps a first for the science fiction genre: instead of emphasizing
humanity’s military and technological prowess, instead of decimation being

2

UNHOMELY CINEMA

the story’s ultimate point of culmination, the film delves into the far from
futuristic matter of population control, namely, the issue of how to manage the
film’s political refugees. As the film’s voice­over narrator proclaims, since the
aliens were unable to mount any kind of resistance against the humans, their
status on Earth became highly precarious. Branded as homeless refugees, the
Prawns were forced to live as outcasts in the city’s most violent urban slums.
Even worse, when the slums were no longer able to contain the aliens, District 9
(an extraterrestrial refugee camp located outside the city) was designed to
permanently house the undesirables. Subsequently, unlike many space invader
films that celebrate the sensationalism of war, in ictr9t Dsi atwhs ilpxedero si
the solemn and all­too­familiar geopolitical reality of forced migration, the
fact that for many exiled peoples, home can be an incredibly alien experience.
Released in 2008, rus roHummeSneres ta ylelomeh nctha amdr F ersia
meditates on a sibling rivalry that ensues when Hélène, a passionate and
culturally sophisticated matriarch, dies and leaves her vast country estate to
her three children. As the viewer quickly learns, for Hélène, the estate is much
more than a home, much more than a family heirloom to be passed down to
future generations; most importantly, the house is a shrine to the cultural and
artistic life of France. Housing the artistic achievements of her late uncle (the
home is littered with his paintings, sculptures and furniture), the home is a
symbol of national pride, a testament to the greatness of French cultural life.
When Hélène dies, however, the fate of the home becomes uncertain. While
Fr