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

近年来，令人震惊的、明显带有暴力和性色彩的“艺术电影”在大众媒体和文化评论家中引发了激烈的争论，有人称赞这些作品是“具有挑战性的艺术”，也有人认为它们是“折磨人的色情片”。几乎每一季都有关于有争议的新艺术电影的新闻，无论是“亚洲极限”DVD系列的下一个版本，还是迈克尔·哈内克、拉斯·冯·提尔或加斯帕·诺伊尔的最新挑衅。这些电影在文化界精英的电影节上首映，在高档影院上映，在音像店和在线DVD和下载服务的“世界影院”或“艺术电影”区放映，这些作品以暴力、强奸、切割生殖器、乱伦、兽交、恋童癖的生动描绘震惊了人们，或者声称捕捉“真实”的性。这些电影的核心存在着一个悖论：为什么这些作品获得了“艺术”的地位，尽管（甚至，因为）使用了低俗的工具：色情片、鼻烟片、恐怖片和动作片的“无偿”或令人不安的性和暴力？为了文化评论家、家长、审查员和电影爱好者的利益，我们需要知道极端电影是如何参与艺术电影的制度性话语的，并且——由于暴力、性或其他图像内容——同时制造批评和大众争议的。具体而言，本项目探讨：1。极端电影人使用形式和风格策略的方式，以及道德主张，将他们的作品定位为“艺术”，并将他们的作品与性和暴力的“传统”表现区分开来；2. 国际发行渠道如何为这些作品增加（异国情调的）文化价值，从而改变国内审查机构和观众对它们的反应；3. 纪录片和虚构之间模糊的界限如何成为它们的争议和吸引力的主要组成部分。我的研究方法综合了(1)文本分析，(2)批判性话语和制度话语的审视，(3)大众话语和定性受众接受报告的分析，以及(4)用文化理论对上述方法进行批判性分析。具体而言，我不仅将电影视为文本，而且还关注这些电影在营销和接受中的话语。这包括:1。文本分析——对《搞笑游戏》、《不可逆》、《老男孩》和《九首歌》等案例进行严密的叙述和形式分析。批判性和制度性话语的分析)-对宣传材料的审查；关键的评论;发表对《极限》电影制作人的采访；我将与Christoph Terhechte（柏林电影节EC制片人），Hamish McAlpine （EC制片人和发行商）和Nick Jones （EC电视节目制片人）进行访谈。流行话语和接受分析)-审查在线论坛，出席人数和定性观众接受报告(4)。通过文化理论对上述材料进行批判性分析)-这包括同化：-一般来说，品味的理论和历史，以及艺术电影分布中的品味功能，特别是-对“异国情调”的描述，总体而言，以及接受“外国”电影制作的历史，特别是电影现实主义和放映性传播的文化和伦理问题的更广泛的理论概念。该研究将在三个主要的，重要的国际会议（电影和媒体研究学会，欧洲电影和媒体研究网络，屏幕）上发表三篇会议论文；它将被写进学术专著。与主要教育机构（英国电影学院、古尔班基安电影学院、奥地利文化论坛、法国学院、韩国文化中心）、媒体（视觉与声音、英国广播公司）和英国电影分级委员会（BBFC）的联系将确保其影响力。

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.