Hi all,
I am very much inclined to agree with Andreas. There
is an ongoing tendency in art criticism to become
mired in a theoretics of theory.
In his recent book, Uncanny Networks: Dialogues with
the Virtual Intelligentsia (MIT Press), Geert Lovink
accurately points out that Slavoj Zizek "seemed to be
criticising film without ever having seen one," in his
introduction to a rather laborious discourse on cinema
and politics in which Zizek goes so far as to compare
David Lynch to Leni Riefenstahl.Zizek's awareness of
the art at hand seems buried in obscure references.
Did Pauline Kael need a 'theory' when confronted with
a Clint Eastwood film, or a broader cultural awareness
of the art form of film?
A broad theory will often miss the specific issues at
hand in a singular work of art.
Ash
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