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 thefamiliar 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:	9780739131435
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	11/29/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	388 KB

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii Introduction: Dreamtense and the Art of Film ix
1 From Formalist Ostranenie to Tarkovsky's "Logic of Dreams" 1
2 Space and Dream: Heidegger's, Tarkovsky's, and Caspar David Friedrich's Landscapes 19
3 On the Blurring of Lines: Alexandr Sokurov 31
4 Ingmar Bergman and Dream after Freud 37
5 A Short Note on Nordic Culture and Dreams 55
6 From "Ethno-Dream" to Hollywood: Schnitzler's Traumnovelle, Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, and the Problem of "Deterritorialization" 59
7 Wong Kar-wai and the Culture of the Kawaii 71
8 Aesthetics and Mysticism: Plotinus, Tarkovsky, and the Question of "Grace" 85
9 Image and Allegory: Tarkovsky and Benjamin 95
10 Ten Keywords Concerning Filmdream 105 Bibliography 147 Index 155 About the Author 163

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.

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

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.

June 2008 Screening The Past