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I . Title.
I I . Series.
1996
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95-21558
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Acknowledgments
The original places and dates of pu blicat ion of articles I n this anthOlogy are as follows: "'Medi u m
Specifici t y A rguments and the Self-Consciously I nvented Arts," Millennium Film Journal, nos.
14/15 (Fall/Winter 1984-5), pp. 127-53; "The Speci fiCity of Media in the A rt s,"
Journal of
Aesthetic Education, 19, no 4 ( Winter 1985), pp 5-20; "Conce rn ing Un iqueness Claims for
Photographic and C i nematographic Representat i on," Dialectics and Humanism, no. 2 (1987), pp .
29-43; "The Powe r of Movies," Daedalus (Fall 1985), pp. 79-103; "Toward a Theory of Fi lm
Suspe n se," Persistance of Vision, no . 1 ( Summer 1984), pp. 65-89; "As the Dial Tu rns , " Boston
Review, XI I I, no 1 (February 1988), pp 5-6, 20-1; "Toward a The ory of Point-of- View Edi t
Ing , " Poetics Today, 14, no 1 ( Spring 1993), pp . 123-42; "'Notes on Mov ie MUSIC," Studies in the
Literary Imagination, XIX, no. 1 ( Spring 1986), pp. 73-81; "'Notes on the Sight Gag," comedy/
cinema/theory, edi ted by Andrew Horton ( B e rkeley Un ive rsi ty of California Pres s, 1991) , p p .
25-42; " Avant-G arde Film and Fi lm Theory," Millennium Film Journal, nos. 4/5 ( S ummer/Fall
1979), pp . 135-44; "Causat ion, t he AmplIat ion of Movement and Avant-Garde Film," Millen
nium Film Journal, nos . 10/11 ( Fall/Winter 1981-2), pp. 61-82; "Langu age and Cinema," Millen
nium Film Journal, nos . 7/8/9 (Fall/Winter 1980-1) , pp. 186-217; "A Note on Fi lm Me tapho r,"
Journal of Pragmatics forthco m i ng, "'From Real to Reel," Philosophic Exchange, ( 1983), pp . 546; "Re ply to Carol B rownson and Jack C. Wolf, " Philosophic Exchange, (1983), pp. 59-64;
"The I m age of Wom e n in Film," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 48 no . 4 ( Fall 1990), pp .
349-60; "Film, Rhe toric and Ideology," Explanation and Value in the Arts, edited by Salim Ke mal
and I . Gask ell ( Cam bridge Universi ty Press , 1993), pp . 215-37; "Film/Mind A nalogi es," Journal
of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, XLV, no. 4 ( Summer 1988), pp. 489-99; "Hans Richter's Struggle
for Film," Millennium Film Journal, no 19 (Fall/Winter 1987-8), pp . 104-12; "A B rief Com ment
on Frampton's Not ion of Metahlstory," Millennium Film Journal, ( Fall/Winter 1986-7), pp. 20005; "Cognlti vism, Contemporary Film Theo ry and Method," Journal of Dramatic T heory and
Criticism," VI, no . 2 ( Spnng 1992), pp. 199-219; "A Reply to Heat h." October ( Winter 1983),
pp . 81-102; "Film History and Film Theory, " Film Reader, no . 4 ( 1979), pp. 81-96; "A rt, Film
and Ideology," Millennium Film Journal," ( Winter/Fall 1983-4) no. 15, pp. 120-32; "Toward a
Th eo ry of Film Edi ting," Millennium Film Journal, no. 3 (Winter/Spring 1979). pp 79-99 .
Acknol1)/edgments
IV
IX
Introduction
Part I:
XIll
Questioning Media
I Me d i u m Spe cificity Argu m ents and the Self-Co nsci o usl y Inve n t e d
Arts: Fi l m, Vi deo, and Photography
II The Specifici t y of Med ia in the Arts
III Concern ing Uniqu e n ess Clai ms for Photographi c and
Cinem a t ographic Represen tat ion
25
37
49
75
7R
Part II:
94
118
125
139
146
1 59
162
169
187
212
224
253
257
VII
260
275
Essentialism
Questioning Media
50
51
Questioning Media
52
Questioning Media
55
Questioning Media
56
Questioning Media
thi ngs to which they give us visual access such as JFK's assass i nation .
One might say "Not so fast ; what about
the temporal difference between the events
in newsreels and the events themselves?"
But the photographic realist can respond
that this is not really so different theoreti
cally than the case where the images of stars
delivered to us by telescopes through
which we see directly come from the past .
Given this argument , the photographic
realist mainta i ns that photographic and cinematIc Images are transparent we see
through them to the objects , persons , and
events that gave ri se to them . 1 0 It is this
species of transparency, one conj ectures ,
that Bazin had in mind when he talked about
the relation between the photographic image
and its referent in terms of identity. B y
means of transparency, we see through the
photograph to that of which it is a photo
graph . The photograph is a transparent
presentation of something from the past
which we see directly in the sense of coun
terfactual dependence i . e . , had the rele
vant obj ects been different , the photography
would have been different in corresponding
ways as a result of the kinds of physical
processes involved in photography.
Furthermore , traditional picture-making
practices , like painting , are not transparent
in this way. Paintings need not be coun
terfactually dependent upon the visible prop
erties of what they portray. They are depen
dent on the beliefs the painter holds about
those objects . The chain of events from
objects to paintings of obj ects are not
physico-causal chains like those found in
what I have called unaided , "normal" vi
sion . The relation is mediated by the beliefs
and intentions of painters . A green apple in
a painting would have been blue had the
painter intended the apple to be otherwise ;
something other than "natural" physico
causal cha ins of events are involved . This is
why drawings are not accepted as evidence
in court in the way that videotapes are . A
drawing of Rodney King being beaten
58
59
Questioning Media
61
Questioning Media
Questioning Media
Questioning Media
Questioning Media
69
Questioning Media
70
Questioning Media
Notes
Questioning Media
74
83
85
88
6.
7.
Notes
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
93