Rethinking Brechtian Film Theory and Cinema

by Angelos Koutsourakis

Overview

Making a compelling argument for the continuing relevance of Brechtian film theory and cinema, this book offers new research and analysis of Brecht the film and media theorist, placing his scattered writings on the subject within the lively film theory debates that took place in Europe between the 1920s‐1960s. Furthermore, Angelos Koutsourakis identifies key points of convergence between Brecht’s ‘unfinished project’ and contemporary film and media theory. With case studies of films ranging from Robert Roberto Rossellini’s Paisà to Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing amongst others, this study challenges many existing preconceptions about Brecht’s theoretical position and invites readers to discover new ways of apprehending and making use of Brecht in film studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474418904
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Angelos Koutsourakis is Professor in Film and Cultural Studies at the Centre for World Cinemas and Digital Cultures, University of Leeds. He is the author of Rethinking Brechtian Film Theory and Cinema (2018), Politics as Form in Lars von Trier (2013) and the co-editor of Cinema of Crisis: Film and Contemporary Europe (2020), and The Cinema of Theo Angelopoulos (2015).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part 1: Brechtian Film Theory

Chapter 1: Key Concepts

The Dialectic

The Individual as a Nexus

The Gestic Principle: Between Brecht, Eisenstein, and Deleuze

Gestus and Cultural Techniques

‘Humour is a Sense of Distance’

Chapter 2: Photography and Film

The Photographic Image

The Apparatus and the Agency of the Machine

Chapter 3: Modernism as Realism

Brecht, Bazin, and Lukács

On Sound/Music

Some Thoughts on Brecht and Genre

Chapter 4: Brecht in Film Theory

From Close Up to the Grand Theory

Noël Burch

The Cognitivist Critique

Rancière and the post-Brechtian

Part 2: Brechtian Cinema

The Revisionist History Film

Chapter 5: Re-visioning History

Defining the Revisionist History Film

Totality is history: Szegénylegények (The Round-Up, 1966) and Allonsanfàn (1974)

Chapter 6: Revisiting National Traumas

Dealing with Fascism: Professor Mamlock (1961), Das schreckliche Mädchen (The Nasty Girl, 1990)

Epic Cinema: Ο Θίασος (The Travelling Players, 1975), 1900 (1976)

The Essay Film

Chapter 7: Beyond Auteurism: the Dialectics of the Essay Film

The Disappearance of the Subject in Writing

Representation as Unfinished Material: Thomas Heise’s Material (2009)

Chapter 8: Pedagogical Essay Films

Agitprop and the Crisis: Brecht die Macht der Manipulateure (Break the Power of the Manipulators, 1967), Fascism Inc. (2014)

The Lehrstück on Film: La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000), The Act of Killing (2012)

Cinemas of Cruelty

Chapter 9: Brecht and Artaud

The Politics of Cruelty: Brecht and Artaud

From Theatre to Film: The Brig (1964), Marat/Sade (1967)

Chapter 10: Cruelty as Anti‐commodity

Everyday Fascism: Import/Export (2007), The Rebellion of Red Maria (2011)

The Postdramatic on Screen: Katzelmacher (1969), Die linkshändige Frau (The Left‐handed Woman, 1978)

Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Rethinking Brechtian Film Theory and Cinema is an important study both for Brecht scholarship and film criticism. It not only demonstrates the continuing relevance of Brecht for cinema, it also returns to and literally "rethinks" established approaches. The theoretical work, in particular, is nothing short of formidable in its scope and depth.

The Brecht Yearbook 45 - Olivia Landry

Brecht's experiences with film were not always happy, but the Brechtian influence on film and its theory is colossal. Koutsourakis’ book masterfully sets out the wide scope of Brecht's aesthetics, from his 1923 venture with slapstick to the Brechtian footprints in the essay film, Realist and post-Deleuzian cinema theory and contemporary media archaeology.

Prof Esther Leslie