Representation of
violence in film
Lauro Zavala
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
Unidad Xochimilco
Área de Concentración en Semiótica Intertextual
Purpose / Methodology
Purpose
Presenting the evolution of strategies of representation of violence in fiction film
Methodology
a) Pointing at the political dimension of the aesthetic analysis
b) Cartographing the terrain of studies on audiovisual violence
c) Presenting the evolution of the strategies of representation
d) Acknowledging the specificity of violence in Mexican cinema
e) Presenting paradigmatic cases in stylistic amplitude
Tendencies in the theoretical studies
on film language
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Analytic Tradition Continental Tradition
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Didactic Tendency Essayistic Tendency
Humanities Social Sciences
(Hum) Ethics (Violence) (Hum) Semiotics (Narratology)
(Soc) Political Dimension (Soc) Integration of semiotics
of Aesthetics to ideological analysis
(Will Wright) (Pierre Sorlin)
In Latin American countries (other than Brazil) the greatest influence has come from the Contiental tradition, through Spanish translations from France
What is Aesthetics of Violence
in Cinema
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Film Aesthetics may be defined as the set of
audiovisual strategies that provoke a specific
response in the sensibility of spectators
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After this definition, the Aesthetics of Violence (in film)
may be defined as the set of audiovisual strategies
that provoke a specific effect on the sensibility of the spectators
when constructing mechanisms of representation of violence
Paradigmatic Typology
Of the representation of violence in film
Cf. Stephen Prince et al., 2003
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Violence in classic cinema
Before 1960
Poetics of Substitution
Ultraviolence in modern cinema
1960 to 1980
Explicit and morally ambiguous violence
Hiperviolence in postmodern cinema
1980 onwards
Naturalization of violence
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Violence in classic cinema
(before 1960)
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Strategies of narrativization
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-- Narrative functionality
-- Causal justification (violence as punishment)
-- Logics of combat
-- Genologioc rationality (as an element of verisimilitude)
Violence in classic cinema
(before 1960)
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Poetics of Substitution
System of aesthetic strategies
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-- Spatial displacement (offscreen violence)
-- Metonymic displacement (presenting an object instead of showing
the violent action)
-- Emblematics of substitution (violence being received by the
objects instead of being received by the body)
-- Emotional parenthesis (giving the viewer a moment so as to
recover after a harrowing scene)
Violence in classic cinema
(before 1960)
Poetics of Substitution
Systema of aesthetic strategies
Canonic Film Violent sequence
M (Fritz Lang, 1932) Elsie leaves school
Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) Strangling the husband
Kiss of Death (Henry Hathaway, 1947) Woman in wheelchair
Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) Mad woman (killer)
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) Dissapeared wife
Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955) Hot coffee on woman’s face
Violence in classic cinema
(before 1960)
Poetics of Substitution
System of aesthetic strategies
Mexican Melodrama
Canonic Film Canonic sequence
Nosotros los pobres (Ismael Rodríguez) Tragic fire
María Candelaria (Emilio Fernández, 1944) Night mob
Rojo amanecer (Jorge Fons, 1989) Tlatelolco 1968
Ultraviolence in modern cinema
(1960 to 1980)
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Moral ambiguity
(violence as a circle with no solution)
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-- Violence breaks social order
-- Violence is used to re-establishing social order
-- Mythologization of the agents of violence
(slow motion, smooth zoom in, freezing, multicamera,
POV of the agents of violence, musical theme)
-- Moralizing ending, which seems to balance the romantization of marginal heroes
Ultraviolencia in modern cinema
(1960 to 1980)
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Moral ambiguity
(violence as a circle with no solution)
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-- Gratuitiousness
-- Metaphorization of battlefield
-- High stylistic amplitude (Stephen Prince: 2003)
Ultraviolence in modern cinema
(1960 to 1980)
Moral ambiguity
(violence as a circle with no solution)
Canonic film Violent sequence
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) Shower
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961) Dog with stomp on the snout
Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) Ending in slow motion
The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969) Credits: children and ants
Straw Dogs (Sam Peckinpah, 1971) Multiple violation
The Godfather (F. F. Coppola, 1973) Horse head
Hyperviolence in postmodern cinema
(1980 onwards)
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Ironic Hyperbolization
(violence as spectacle)
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-- Absence of emotional parenthesis (for the spectator)
-- Absence of moral code (ethical autarchy)
-- The end justifies the means (in opposition to classic genres)
-- Legitimation through humor
-- Purification through technology
-- Explosion of extreme horror
-- Superheroes with social committment
Hiperviolence in postmodern cinema
(1980 onwards)
a) Hyperviolence as exploitation
Irony as catalysis / High stylistic amplitude
Splatter = Gore, Slasher, Torture, Porn
Moral stability / Variable stylistic amplitude
(Tarantino, De Palma, John Woo, Zhang Yimou)
Ostrannenie / Low stylistic amplitude
No Country for Old Men, Funny Games
Hiperviolence in postmodern cinema
(1980 onwards)
Ironic Hyperbolization
(violence as spectacle)
Canonic film Violent sequence
Dressed to Kill (Brian de Palma, 1980) Elevator
Terminator 2 (James Cameron, 1991) Furnace
Natural Born Killers (Oliver Stone, 1994) Bar fight
Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino, 2004) Head of Chief Tanaka
Amores perros (A. Glz. Iñárritu, 2000) First car crash
Conclusions
2. History. The clear-cut distinction between paradigmatic strategies of representation of violence leads to acknowledge the existence of classic violence, modern ultraviolence, and postmodern hyperviolence
3. Interdiscipline. The nature of violence as a social phenomenon forces us to establish strategies of analysis with an interdisciplinary nature when studying the political dimension of violence aesthetics
Bibliography
Benet, Vicente: El tiempo de la narración clásica: Los films de gangsters de Warner Brothers (1930-1932). Valencia, Filmoteca, 1992
Culler, Jonathan: “Convención y naturalización”, en La poética estructuralista. Barcelona, Anagrama, 1978 (1975), 188-228
Kendrick, James: Film Violence. History, Ideology, Genre. London, Wallflower, 2009
Mongin, Olivier: Violencia y cine contemporáneo. Barcelona, Ppaidós, 1999
Prince, Stephen: Classical film violence: designing and regulating brutality in Hollywood cinema, 1930 – 1968. Rutgers, RSU, 2003
Reyes Castañeda, Antonio: “Los diferentes usos de la hiperviolencia: ética y estética en el cine violento contemporáneo”. Tesis dirigida por L. Zavala, UAM Xochimilco, 2009
Zavala, Lauro: “Ética y estética en el cine posmoderno”, en Elementos del discurso cinematográfico, UAM Xocjhimilco, 2005