Bernd wrote: I am working on the relation between Film and the Telephone ...
and I'm still looking for examples of 'the Phone' featuring prominently
(in fact, as the 'main character') in films throughout the whole history of
film (Sorry, wrong numer; Dial M for Murder; Phone Booth; etc.)
Also, can anyone point out texts (books, essays) on this relation? Both
on 'phones in films,' and on their 'technological' relation ...
An excellent director to study regarding the use of phones as an intrusive
technological device is Kubrick. Several texts on Kubrick (Ciment, for
example) detail the rampant use of the phone in his films, often used as a
tool for power by one over another. The phone is crucial in "The Killing,"
and even more important in "Lolita," where Humbert Humbert uses it
repeatedly to mock and manipulate Quilty. Of course, the phone is
fundamental in "Strangelove." One of the best (comic, dramatic) uses of the
video-phone in the movies is in "2001," most of the moments used to stress
the extreme distance of characters from their family members on Earth, and
also to state key plot turns. The use and malfunction of phones in "The
Shining" is critical to the Torrance family's survival. Two-way radio phones
in "Full Metal Jacket" (that's Kubrick's voice on the other end of the
line!) cleverly dramatize the chain-of-command. And in "Eyes Wide Shut,"
you'll notice that the phone is the medium of Bad News. Kubrick, indeed, was
famous for his marathon phone calls with folks, but in his films, he has an
exceptionally dark view of the device.
A fine example of the use of the phone for terror is in "Wait Until Dark."
I must echo the earlier mention of Greenaway's "Dear Phone"--a brilliant
absurdist expression of the phone.
The most recent movie to "star" the phone is Joel Schumacher's "Phone
Booth."
And no show on TV has put the cell phone to a more intense and filmic
workout than "24," which couldn't possibly work without about 24 cell phones
(or mobiles, as you say across The Pond!) going off all the time...
Robert Koehler
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