Glen W Norton | Wilfrid Laurier University (original) (raw)
Papers by Glen W Norton
The Legacies of Jean-Luc Godard, Jan 2014
New Review of Film and Television Studies, Sep 2013
Where film meets philosophy: Godard, Resnais, and experiments in cinematic thinking, by Hunter Va... more Where film meets philosophy: Godard, Resnais, and experiments in cinematic thinking, by Hunter Vaughan, New York, Columbia University Press, 2013, 244 pp., £20.50 (paperback), ISBN 978-0231161336
Open Roads, Closed Borders: The Contemporary French-language Road Movie, 2013
Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema, Vol. II., 2011
s career spans six decades, includes over eighty titles, and focuses on interests as diverse as t... more s career spans six decades, includes over eighty titles, and focuses on interests as diverse as the deconstruction of Hollywood genre in his early nouvelle vague period, Marxist counter-cinema in the late 1960s/early 1970s films of the Dziga Vertov Group, video and television in the mid-to-late 1970s, the consecration of nature in the 1980s, and the intersection between cinema, history and the personal which informs his work from Histoire(s) du cinema to Film Socialisme (2010). Even though debates over the exact periodization of Godard's oeuvre persist, most accounts relegate his concern for faith and spirituality (if any) to his so-called "spiritual" trilogy of the early 1980s. This seems logical, since here we find Je vous salue, Marie (1985), a retelling of the Annunciation and Incarnation set in modern times. The trilogy, which also includes Passion (1982) and Prénom: Carmen (1983), marks a concern to find the metaphysical within the terrestrial, typified by shots of pristine nature set against the utilitarian necessities of modernity. Although this period marks an important development in Godard's attitude toward the sacred, it is not the place to look for the seed of his spiritual concerns. We must instead go back to the nouvelle vague period, and to Vivre sa vie (1962) in particular, for it is here that Godard first puts his faith in cinema's ability to embody the spiritual to the test.
This essay presents a new reading of Eric Rohmer's Ma nuit chez Maud (1969) which challenges the ... more This essay presents a new reading of Eric Rohmer's Ma nuit chez Maud (1969) which challenges the critical consensus that its depiction of religious faith and morality is ultimately ironic. The debate revolves around the protagonist's religious epiphany as to whom he is destined to marry. Critical consensus claims that this epiphany is sustained by lies and deceit, that the protagonist's religious faith is tainted by a self-deluded amour-propre, and that the film's 'happy ending' must therefore be read as ironic. Using Stanley Cavell's notion of 'moral perfectionism' as its guide, this essay reveals that Ma nuit chez Maud in fact takes a paradoxical attitude toward its protagonist's epiphany, one which mirrors the paradoxical nature of religious faith as evidenced in Pascal's wager. This argument is central to the film's moral outlook. This paradoxical attitude extends both to the film's temporal depiction of its protagonist's epiphany and to the so-called 'lies and deceit' with which he maintains his faith. Ultimately, this essay argues that the paradoxical nature of Ma nuit chez Maud allows the viewer to intuit the protagonist's epiphany as a moment lived under the transformative aegis of divine grace.
The Legacies of Jean-Luc Godard, Jan 2014
New Review of Film and Television Studies, Sep 2013
Where film meets philosophy: Godard, Resnais, and experiments in cinematic thinking, by Hunter Va... more Where film meets philosophy: Godard, Resnais, and experiments in cinematic thinking, by Hunter Vaughan, New York, Columbia University Press, 2013, 244 pp., £20.50 (paperback), ISBN 978-0231161336
Open Roads, Closed Borders: The Contemporary French-language Road Movie, 2013
Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema, Vol. II., 2011
s career spans six decades, includes over eighty titles, and focuses on interests as diverse as t... more s career spans six decades, includes over eighty titles, and focuses on interests as diverse as the deconstruction of Hollywood genre in his early nouvelle vague period, Marxist counter-cinema in the late 1960s/early 1970s films of the Dziga Vertov Group, video and television in the mid-to-late 1970s, the consecration of nature in the 1980s, and the intersection between cinema, history and the personal which informs his work from Histoire(s) du cinema to Film Socialisme (2010). Even though debates over the exact periodization of Godard's oeuvre persist, most accounts relegate his concern for faith and spirituality (if any) to his so-called "spiritual" trilogy of the early 1980s. This seems logical, since here we find Je vous salue, Marie (1985), a retelling of the Annunciation and Incarnation set in modern times. The trilogy, which also includes Passion (1982) and Prénom: Carmen (1983), marks a concern to find the metaphysical within the terrestrial, typified by shots of pristine nature set against the utilitarian necessities of modernity. Although this period marks an important development in Godard's attitude toward the sacred, it is not the place to look for the seed of his spiritual concerns. We must instead go back to the nouvelle vague period, and to Vivre sa vie (1962) in particular, for it is here that Godard first puts his faith in cinema's ability to embody the spiritual to the test.
This essay presents a new reading of Eric Rohmer's Ma nuit chez Maud (1969) which challenges the ... more This essay presents a new reading of Eric Rohmer's Ma nuit chez Maud (1969) which challenges the critical consensus that its depiction of religious faith and morality is ultimately ironic. The debate revolves around the protagonist's religious epiphany as to whom he is destined to marry. Critical consensus claims that this epiphany is sustained by lies and deceit, that the protagonist's religious faith is tainted by a self-deluded amour-propre, and that the film's 'happy ending' must therefore be read as ironic. Using Stanley Cavell's notion of 'moral perfectionism' as its guide, this essay reveals that Ma nuit chez Maud in fact takes a paradoxical attitude toward its protagonist's epiphany, one which mirrors the paradoxical nature of religious faith as evidenced in Pascal's wager. This argument is central to the film's moral outlook. This paradoxical attitude extends both to the film's temporal depiction of its protagonist's epiphany and to the so-called 'lies and deceit' with which he maintains his faith. Ultimately, this essay argues that the paradoxical nature of Ma nuit chez Maud allows the viewer to intuit the protagonist's epiphany as a moment lived under the transformative aegis of divine grace.