After Authority

Kalling Heck

Published by Rutgers University Press 2020

After Authority

Global Art Cinema and Political Transition

Kalling Heck

https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978807020

Overview
Contents

About this book

After Authorityexplores the tendency in art cinema to respond to political transition by turning to ambiguity, a system that ideally stems the reemergence of authoritarian logics in art and elsewhere. By comparing films from Italy, Hungary, South Korea, and the United States, this book contends that the aesthetic tradition of ambiguity in art cinema can be traced to post-authoritarian conditions and that it is in the context of a transition away from authoritarianism where art cinema aesthetics become legible. Art cinema, then, can be seen as a mode of cinematic practice that is at its core political, as its constitutive ambiguity finds its roots in the rejection of centralized and hierarchical configurations of authority. Ultimately,After Authorityproposes a history of art cinema predicated on the potentials, possibilities, and politics of ambiguity.

Author information

Kalling Heck is an assistant professor of screen arts and English at Louisiana State University.

Reviews

“Confident, convincing, and timely,After Authorityis a challenging and provocative work. Highly original, itadds significantly to current debates on cinema and politics.”

— Richard Rushton, author of The Politics of Hollywood Cinema: Popular Film and Contemporary Political Theory

"Kalling Heck makes the provocative claim that there is no apolitical art. More to the point, he affirms the possibility of politics and aesthetics without the determining role of authority. And therein lies the power of his magnificent engagements with the films he discusses: the possibility of a theory of political criticism emergent of the experience and affective dynamics of ambiguity."

— Davide Panagia, author of Rancière’s Sentiments

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction. Four Angels Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Authority Year Zero: On Germany Year Zero Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
2. The Image That Waits: On Sátántangó Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
3. The End of Authority, the End of Democracy: On Woman on the Beach Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
4. Force, Hope, and Death: On Medium Cool Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
Coda: Political Modernism and the Possibility for Action Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169

Language: English
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 192
Illustrations
- Other: 28 b-w images
Keywords: art cinema; South Korean cinema; Italian cinema; authority; authoritarian; Political transition; film; cinema; Hungarian cinema; United States cinema; art; post-authoritarian; ambiguity; totalitarianism; democracy; Italy; Hungary; South Korea; United States; politics; cinematic practice

eBook

Published: February 14, 2020
ISBN: 9781978807020