Extreme Cinema: Arthouse Ethics, Exoticism and the Desire for the Real

近年来，令人震惊的、明显的暴力和色情的“艺术电影”在大众媒体和文化评论家中引发了激烈的辩论，他们称赞这些作品是“挑战艺术”，或将其斥为“酷刑色情片”。几乎每一季都有关于一部有争议的新艺术电影的新闻，无论是《亚洲极限》DVD系列的下一代，还是迈克尔·哈内克、拉斯·冯·特里尔或加斯帕·诺埃的最新挑衅。这些电影在魅力十足的电影节上首映，在高档电影院放映，在录像带商店和在线DVD和下载服务的“世界电影”或“艺术”区亮相，对暴力、强奸、生殖器切割、乱伦、兽交、恋童癖的图形描绘令人震惊，或者声称要捕捉“真正的”性。这些电影的核心是一个悖论：为什么这些作品获得了“艺术”的地位，尽管(甚至是因为)使用了低俗的工具：色情、色情、色情电影、恐怖电影，以及令人不安的性和暴力--“无端的”或令人不安的性爱和暴力--尽管(甚至是因为)使用了低俗的工具：“无端的”或令人不安的性和暴力，这些作品令人震惊为了文化评论员、父母、审查员和电影爱好者观众的兴趣，我们需要知道极端电影是如何分享艺术电影的制度性话语的，而且--由于暴力、性或其他图形内容--同时引发了批评和流行的争论。这个项目特别探索：1.极端电影制作人使用正式和文体策略的方式，但也有道德主张，将他们的作品定位为“艺术”，并将他们的作品与性和暴力的“常规”表现区分开来；2.国际发行渠道如何为这些作品增加(外来)文化价值，从而改变国内审查者和观众对它们的反应方式；3.纪录片和小说之间模糊的边界如何作为其争议和吸引力的主要组成部分。方法研究方法综合了(1)文本分析，(2)对批评和机构话语的审查，(3)对流行话语和定性观众接受报告的分析，以及(4)用文化理论对上述方法进行批判性分析。具体地说，我不仅将电影视为文本，而且还将其视为营销和接受这些电影的话语。这包括：(1.文本分析)-对《搞笑游戏》、《不可逆转》、《老男孩》和《9首歌》等案例进行近距离叙述和正式分析(2.对批评和机构话语的分析)--仔细审查宣传材料；批评性评论；发表对极端电影制作人的采访；我将采访Christoph Terhechte(EC的柏林电影节节目制片人和发行商)，Hamish McAline(EC的制片人和发行商)和Nick Jones(EC的电视节目制片人)(3.流行话语和接受情况的分析)-仔细审查在线论坛、出席人数和定性的观众接受报告(4.通过文化理论对上述材料进行批判性分析)-这包括吸收：--总体上的品味理论和历史，以及品味在艺术电影发行中的作用--总体上对“异国情调”的描述，以及对“外国”电影制作的接受历史，尤其是电影现实主义和放映性错乱的文化和伦理问题的更广泛的理论概念。这项研究将在三个主要的、重要的和国际会议上以三篇会议论文的形式发表(电影和媒体研究学会；欧洲电影和媒体研究网络(Screen)；它将以学术专著的形式发表。与主要教育机构(英国电影学院、古尔本基安电影院、奥地利文化论坛、法国研究所、韩国文化中心)、媒体(视听、英国广播公司)和英国电影分级委员会(BBFC)的联系将确保其产生影响。

Shocking, explicitly violent and sexual "art films" have in recent years led to heated debate in the popular press and among cultural critics, who praise the works as "challenging art" or dismiss them as "torture porn." Hardly a season goes by when there is no news about a controversial new art film, whether the next incarnation in the "Asia Extreme" DVD series or the latest provocation by Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier, or Gaspar Noé. Premiering at glamorous film festivals among cultural sophisticates, playing at upmarket cinemas, and featuring in the "world cinema" or "arthouse" sections at video stores and online DVD and download services, these productions shock with graphic depictions of violence, rape, genital mutilation, incest, bestiality, paedophilia, or purport to capture "real" sex.At the heart of these films lies a paradox: why do these productions attain the status of "art" despite (or, even, because of) the use of the very tools of the lowbrow: the "gratuitous" or disturbing sex and violence of pornography, snuff films, horror, and action movies?In the interest of cultural commentators, parents, censors, and cinephile audiences, we need to know the means by which Extreme Cinema partakes of the institutional discourses of art cinema, and--on account of violent, sexual, or other graphic content--simultaneously engineers critical and popular controversy.In particular, this project explores:1. the way that Extreme filmmakers use formal and stylistic strategies, but also ethical claims to position their work as "art" and to differentiate their work from "conventional" representations of sex and violence; 2. how international distribution channels add (exotic) cultural value to these productions and thus changes the way that domestic censors and audiences respond to them; 3. how blurred boundaries between documentary and fiction function as major components in their controversy and appeal.METHODSMy research method synthesizes (1) textual analysis, (2) scrutiny of critical and institutional discourse, (3) analysis of popular discourse and qualitative audience reception reports and (4) the critical analysis of the above methods with cultural theory. Specifically, I look not only at the films as texts but also to the discourses in the marketing and reception of these films. This includes:(1. Textual Analysis) - close narrative and formal analysis of case studies such as Funny Games, Irreversible, Oldboy and 9 Songs(2. Analysis of critical and institutional discourse) - scrutiny of publicity material; critical reviews; published interviews with Extreme filmmakers; and interviews I will conduct with Christoph Terhechte (Berlin Film Festival programmer of EC), Hamish McAlpine (producer and distributor of EC) and Nick Jones (television programmer of EC)(3. Analysis of popular discourse and reception) - scrutiny of online forums, attendance figures and qualitative audience reception reports(4. Critical analysis of material above via cultural theory) - this includes assimilation of:--theories and histories of taste, in general, and function of taste in the distribution of art cinema, in particular--accounts of the "exotic," in general, and the history of the reception of "foreign" filmmaking, in particular--broader theoretical conceptions of cinematic realism and of the cultural and ethical problems of screening sex DISSEMINATIONThe research will be presented in THREE CONFERENCE PAPERS at three major, important, and international conferences (Society for Cinema and Media Studies; European Network for Cinema and Media Studies; Screen); it will be written up in a scholarly MONOGRAPH. Linking with key educational institutions (British Film Institute, Gulbenkian Cinema, Austrian Cultural Forum, Institut Francais, Korean Cultural Centre), the media (Sight and Sound, the BBC) and the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will insure its pathway to impact.