Tim Jones | Louisiana State University (original) (raw)
Papers by Tim Jones
In 2009, Danish film director Lars Von Trier released Antichrist, a film that contrasts gorgeous,... more In 2009, Danish film director Lars Von Trier released Antichrist, a film that contrasts gorgeous, painterly shot composition with horrific physical and emotional violence between its only two characters, named simply He (Willem Dafoe) and She (Charlotte Gainsbourg). The film follows these two after the accidental death of their child occurs while they are having sex, as He, a clinical therapist, attempts to help She through a grief affecting her much more strongly than He expects. While the film clearly carries several hallmarks of the Gothic in its explicit violence, un-simulated depictions of sexuality (performed by porn actors standing in for Dafoe and Gainsbourg), and presence of hallucinatory supernatural events, Von Trier is fact a kind of negative reflection of Romanticism that is similar to, but distinguished from, the Gothic. "Despite the aura of subversion that still surrounds the genre as a whole, nearly all of the romances which actually called themselves 'Gothic' were unambiguously conservative," writes James Watt:
In the twenty-first century, the dominant image of American independent cinema has turned from th... more In the twenty-first century, the dominant image of American independent cinema has turned from the 1990s Miramax-era current of boundary-pushing, idiosyncratic films from a diverse collection of filmmakers in the wake of Pulp Fiction and Do The Right Thing to the narrowly-defined “indie” concept of aesthetically-focused romantic comedies dependent on “quirk,” a trait given to characters or the narrative that causes it to appear as an unconventional subject for a romantic comedy. This value is a broad interpretation primarily of the aesthetic qualities of the films of Wes Anderson, however, Anderson remains a critical darling whose films are exempted from the concern of box office success. The 2000s big-time indie filmmaker par excellence is Sofia Coppola, whose Lost In Translation represented a pivotal event in the commercial viability of the indie film. LIT made around 30 times its $4 million budget and garnered an Oscar nomination and a win for Coppola for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay respectively. Coppola’s indie sensibilities combined with her filmmaking pedigree (her father is Francis Ford Coppola, whose production company American Zoetrope she now owns) make her the face of “Indiewood,” filmmakers who make films of an independent sensibility that have major studio distribution from companies like Universal subsidiary Focus Features as Coppola’s do. In this paper, I will develop an outline of the way in which countercultural cool has carried qualities which make it, rather than alternative or antithetical to capitalism, quite compatible with and even evangelical for it. Following this is a description of the indie film aesthetic’s use of semiotic systems of popular subcultures, hence the way in which indie has come to be more prevalent as a generic classification than a description of factors of production. On a specific textual level, Sofia Coppola’s films represent Western neoliberal cool as the ideal affective structure, positioning its cultural products as more meaningful and authentic than those of mainstream society in the West or anywhere else.
The Western neoliberal cool of the previous sentence is easily summarized by an enduring descriptive epithet: “hipster.” In the twenty-first century, hipster tends to be a pejorative to describe someone or something who appears unnecessarily concerned with asserting their individual coolness against popular acceptance; one popular joke goes “Why did their hipster burn their mouth? They started eating before it was cool.” For this reason I prefer to describe what is for some “hipster culture” as “indie,” as hipster seems to me to be a bad-faith dismissal of aesthetic pursuit that comes dangerously close to anti-intellectualism. Hipsters are indie, but to be indie is not necessarily to be hipster. Indie is a sort of loose generic term that comes from a by-now vestigial association with indie rock. For example, the platinum selling major label band Fun. is described as an “indie-pop” band by both Allmusic and Wikipedia, likely because their music reflects a melancholy, intellectual sensibility with spare instrumentation while still devoted to primarily to the catchiness of the vocal melody. The melancholy, intellectual sensibility is the pervading aspect of indie-ness, in music as well as the fashion of brands like Urban Outfitters and the fiction of Dave Eggers. This paper deals with the political economy of indie as it is expressed in film, drawing on the semiotic system developed over time that has led to its aesthetic.
The massive success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films has exerted a considerable influence over... more The massive success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films has exerted a considerable influence over blockbuster action movies, specifically their tonal, aesthetic construction as dark/gritty/realistic explorations of the consequences of action heroes in a “real” world. In comic books, the equation of “darkness” with “realism” has existed since the deconstructionist superhero comics of the late 1980s and early 1990s like those of Frank Miller and Alan Moore changed expectations of the superhero comic. In post-Dark Knight action cinema, something similar (not quite the same) is happening, where use of Batman to explicitly and implicitly reference aspects of the United States government’s war on terrorism has defined “realism” in the shape of metaphorical political relevance as a primary tenet of the action blockbuster paradigm. Superhero action films have taken on drones (Iron Man 3), surveillance (Captain America 2), and information warfare (Skyfall) among a host of other issues in the name of “realism;” where only ten years ago, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films took on a comparatively innocent and timeless aspect.
That these films express anxieties about threats to civilization is obvious; but what is truly significant about them is their syllogisms between the bleak, grounded representation of fantasy heroes and the “real,” which in this configuration is necessarily a vision of a world in constant danger that, by the nature of the perpetual-sequel production of these films, can only be granted a temporary reprieve from catastrophe even by superhuman effort. This paper addresses the aesthetics and ethos of comic book realism in The Dark Knight and the genre’s mutations in its spiritual progeny Skyfall and Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier as an expression of a desire both to experience and avoid the post-9/11 decay of American stability.
In 2009, Danish film director Lars Von Trier released Antichrist, a film that contrasts gorgeous,... more In 2009, Danish film director Lars Von Trier released Antichrist, a film that contrasts gorgeous, painterly shot composition with horrific physical and emotional violence between its only two characters, named simply He (Willem Dafoe) and She (Charlotte Gainsbourg). The film follows these two after the accidental death of their child occurs while they are having sex, as He, a clinical therapist, attempts to help She through a grief affecting her much more strongly than He expects. While the film clearly carries several hallmarks of the Gothic in its explicit violence, un-simulated depictions of sexuality (performed by porn actors standing in for Dafoe and Gainsbourg), and presence of hallucinatory supernatural events, Von Trier is fact a kind of negative reflection of Romanticism that is similar to, but distinguished from, the Gothic. "Despite the aura of subversion that still surrounds the genre as a whole, nearly all of the romances which actually called themselves 'Gothic' were unambiguously conservative," writes James Watt:
In the twenty-first century, the dominant image of American independent cinema has turned from th... more In the twenty-first century, the dominant image of American independent cinema has turned from the 1990s Miramax-era current of boundary-pushing, idiosyncratic films from a diverse collection of filmmakers in the wake of Pulp Fiction and Do The Right Thing to the narrowly-defined “indie” concept of aesthetically-focused romantic comedies dependent on “quirk,” a trait given to characters or the narrative that causes it to appear as an unconventional subject for a romantic comedy. This value is a broad interpretation primarily of the aesthetic qualities of the films of Wes Anderson, however, Anderson remains a critical darling whose films are exempted from the concern of box office success. The 2000s big-time indie filmmaker par excellence is Sofia Coppola, whose Lost In Translation represented a pivotal event in the commercial viability of the indie film. LIT made around 30 times its $4 million budget and garnered an Oscar nomination and a win for Coppola for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay respectively. Coppola’s indie sensibilities combined with her filmmaking pedigree (her father is Francis Ford Coppola, whose production company American Zoetrope she now owns) make her the face of “Indiewood,” filmmakers who make films of an independent sensibility that have major studio distribution from companies like Universal subsidiary Focus Features as Coppola’s do. In this paper, I will develop an outline of the way in which countercultural cool has carried qualities which make it, rather than alternative or antithetical to capitalism, quite compatible with and even evangelical for it. Following this is a description of the indie film aesthetic’s use of semiotic systems of popular subcultures, hence the way in which indie has come to be more prevalent as a generic classification than a description of factors of production. On a specific textual level, Sofia Coppola’s films represent Western neoliberal cool as the ideal affective structure, positioning its cultural products as more meaningful and authentic than those of mainstream society in the West or anywhere else.
The Western neoliberal cool of the previous sentence is easily summarized by an enduring descriptive epithet: “hipster.” In the twenty-first century, hipster tends to be a pejorative to describe someone or something who appears unnecessarily concerned with asserting their individual coolness against popular acceptance; one popular joke goes “Why did their hipster burn their mouth? They started eating before it was cool.” For this reason I prefer to describe what is for some “hipster culture” as “indie,” as hipster seems to me to be a bad-faith dismissal of aesthetic pursuit that comes dangerously close to anti-intellectualism. Hipsters are indie, but to be indie is not necessarily to be hipster. Indie is a sort of loose generic term that comes from a by-now vestigial association with indie rock. For example, the platinum selling major label band Fun. is described as an “indie-pop” band by both Allmusic and Wikipedia, likely because their music reflects a melancholy, intellectual sensibility with spare instrumentation while still devoted to primarily to the catchiness of the vocal melody. The melancholy, intellectual sensibility is the pervading aspect of indie-ness, in music as well as the fashion of brands like Urban Outfitters and the fiction of Dave Eggers. This paper deals with the political economy of indie as it is expressed in film, drawing on the semiotic system developed over time that has led to its aesthetic.
The massive success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films has exerted a considerable influence over... more The massive success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films has exerted a considerable influence over blockbuster action movies, specifically their tonal, aesthetic construction as dark/gritty/realistic explorations of the consequences of action heroes in a “real” world. In comic books, the equation of “darkness” with “realism” has existed since the deconstructionist superhero comics of the late 1980s and early 1990s like those of Frank Miller and Alan Moore changed expectations of the superhero comic. In post-Dark Knight action cinema, something similar (not quite the same) is happening, where use of Batman to explicitly and implicitly reference aspects of the United States government’s war on terrorism has defined “realism” in the shape of metaphorical political relevance as a primary tenet of the action blockbuster paradigm. Superhero action films have taken on drones (Iron Man 3), surveillance (Captain America 2), and information warfare (Skyfall) among a host of other issues in the name of “realism;” where only ten years ago, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films took on a comparatively innocent and timeless aspect.
That these films express anxieties about threats to civilization is obvious; but what is truly significant about them is their syllogisms between the bleak, grounded representation of fantasy heroes and the “real,” which in this configuration is necessarily a vision of a world in constant danger that, by the nature of the perpetual-sequel production of these films, can only be granted a temporary reprieve from catastrophe even by superhuman effort. This paper addresses the aesthetics and ethos of comic book realism in The Dark Knight and the genre’s mutations in its spiritual progeny Skyfall and Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier as an expression of a desire both to experience and avoid the post-9/11 decay of American stability.