ABSTRACT

In this stimulating collection of theoretical writings on film, photography, and art, Timothy Murray examines relations between artistic practice, sexual and racial politics, theory and cultural studies.
Like a Film investigates how the cinematic apparatus has invaded the theory of culture, suggesting that the many destabilising traumas of our culture remain accessible to us because they are structured so much like film. The book analyses the impact of cinematic perceptions and productions on awide array of cultural practices: from the Renassance works of Shakespeare and Caravaggio to modern sexual and political fantasy; and the theoretical work of Lyotard, Torok, Barthes, Ropars-Wuilleumier, Zizek, Silverman and Laplanche.Like A Film responds to current multicultural debates over the value of theory and the aim of artistic practice.

chapter 1|21 pages

Introduction

Ideological Fantasy in Reverse Projection

part 1|74 pages

Pictures of the Living Dead

chapter 2|40 pages

Like a Film

Reopening the Case of the Missing Penis with Rainer, Silverman and Torok

chapter 3|33 pages

Photo-Medusa

Roland Barthes Incorporated

part 2|73 pages

Dirty Stills

chapter 4|23 pages

Dirty Stills

Arcadian retrospection, cinematic hieroglyphs, and blackness run riot in Olivier's Othello

chapter 5|49 pages

Dirtier Still?

Wistul gazing and homographic hieroglyphs in Jarman's Caravaggio

part 3|66 pages

Lines of Demand

chapter 6|32 pages

What's Happening?

Lyotard writes art

chapter 7|30 pages

Allegorizing ‘Content'

Metaphysical contradictions in the Harrisons' Lagoon Cycle

chapter 8|3 pages

On the Line