Films and Dreams: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Sokurov, Kubrick, and Wong Kar-Wai

by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

Overview

Films and Dreams considers the essential link between films and the world of dreams. To discuss dream theory in the context of film studies means moving from the original, clinical context within which dream theory was originally developed to an environment established by primarily aesthetic concerns. Botz-Bornstein deals with dreams as 'self-sufficient' phenomena that are interesting not because of their contents but because of the 'dreamtense' through which they deploy their being. A diverse selection of films are examined in this light: Tarkovsky's anti-realism exploring the domain of the improbable between symbolization, representation and alienation; Sokurov's subversive attacks on the modern image ideology; Arthur Schnitzler's shifting of the familiar to the uncanny and Kubrick's avoidance of this structural model in Eyes Wide Shut; and Wong Kar-Wai's dreamlike panorama of parodied capitalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739121887
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	08/21/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Thorsten Botz-Bornstein is assistant professor of philosophy at Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: Dreamtense and the Art of Film
Chapter 2 Chapter 1. From Formalist 'stranenie to Tarkovsky's 'Logic of Dreams'
Chapter 3 Chapter 2. Space and Dream: Heidegger's, Tarkovsky's, and Caspar David Friedrich's Landscapes
Chapter 4 Chapter 3. On the Blurring of Lines: Alexander Sokurov
Chapter 5 Chapter 4. Ingmar Bergman and Dream After Freud
Chapter 6 Chapter 5. A Short Note on Nordic Culture and Dreams
Chapter 7 Chapter 6. From "Ethno-Dream" to Hollywood: Schnitzler's Traumnovelle, Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, and the Problem of "Deterritorialization"
Chapter 8 Chapter 7. Wong Kar-wai and the Culture of the Kawaii
Chapter 9 Chapter 8. Aesthetics and Mysticism: Plotinus, Tarkovsky and the Questions of 'Grace'
Chapter 10 Chapter 9. Image and Allegory: Tarkovsky and Benjamin
Chapter 11 Chapter 10. Ten Keywords Concerning Filmdream: Surrealism, Expressionism, Superimposition, Daydream, The Uncanny, Dream Transfers, Dream Colors, Dream Realism, Dream Rituals, Dream Certitudes

Editorial Reviews

[Botz-Bornstein] displays a masterful degree of familiarity and understanding, not only of the concept in question but also of the concept's historical relativity....Film and Dreams contains a great deal of vital argument, which for formalist and psychoanalytic scholars of film should provide a great deal of impetus for much needed discussion.

June 2008 Screening The Past

Botz-Bornstein's books display a superior capacity to engage—with rigour, application and insightfulness—in research projects dedicated to customarily neglected philosophical topics. In an English-speaking academic world dominated by over-specialization and institutionalized narrow-mindedness, Thorsten Botz-Bornstein's Films and Dreams brings a breath of fresh air.

June 2009 Parallax Magazine

[Botz-Bornstein] displays a masterful degree of familiarity and understanding, not only of the concept in question but also of the concept's historical relativity....Film and Dreams contains a great deal of vital argument, which for formalist and psychoanalytic scholars of film should provide a great deal of impetus for much needed discussion.

Screening The Past

Botz-Bornstein's books display a superior capacity to engage—with rigour, application and insightfulness—in research projects dedicated to customarily neglected philosophical topics. In an English-speaking academic world dominated by over-specialization and institutionalized narrow-mindedness, Thorsten Botz-Bornstein's Films and Dreams brings a breath of fresh air.

Parallax Magazine