The Interval and the Instant: Inscribing Death and Dying
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Embargoed until: 5555-01-01
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Embargoed until: 5555-01-01
Reason: Version Not Permitted
Editors
Elwes, C
Volume
Volume 5
Pagination
26 - 43 (18)
Publisher
Publisher URL
Journal
MIRAJ - Moving image review and art journal
Issue
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Filming death and dying has taboo status in terms of what western society can and cannot sanction - the image of dying is not something we should see, or even want to see. As a consequence, there is very little filmmaking done with the consent and collaboration of the dying person and there are few moving images of natural or good deaths. How have artists and film-makers navigated this complex ethical territory and engendered a space where dying and death can be given images? Drawing upon the writing of Vivian Sobchack, Ernest Becker, Giorgio Agamben, Gilles Deleuze, and Emmanuel Levinas, the article concentrates on art and film that turns to face death and dying. Levinas’ ideas on the face-to-face encounter, alterity, and identity as creative production have much to offer contemporary attitudes towards both palliative care and film-making. Moving through narrative cinema, observational documentary, photography and artists’ film and the work of Stan Brakhage, Sophie Calle, Kirby Dick and Bill Viola, amongst others, I explore the area between ethics and aesthetics, suggesting that in the context of film and death there can be an ethics of aesthetics.
Authors
EASTWOOD, SJCollections
- Film Studies [133]