May 04 2009

MONTHLY READING + DISCUSSION GROUP EXPLORING CINEMA + CINEMATIC PRACTICE THROUGH WRITTEN WORDS

A monthly reading + discussion group, Thought on Film aims to promote critical thought around film product and practice through community-based discussion. Open to the public, Thought on Film fosters the close reading of texts confronting issues in contemporary, cutting-edge cinematic practice and philosophy.

In conjunction with Cinematic Cartographies, a workshop and screening led by visiting filmmaker and theorist Roger Beebe, May’s meeting will be an exploration of the ideas that have informed his practice.

What is film for? What can it do? What should it do? These seem like odd questions to ask of Fredric Jameson, the father of postmodern theory. However, his celebrated "Postmodernism" essay, after providing us a detailed examination of our contemporary world, leads directly to these questions. The aesthetic, for Jameson, provides the key to understanding our connection to the seemingly dematerialized flows of power under global capitalism, a project he names "cognitive mapping." We will trace the path that Jameson follows through the essay–taking us on a journey through nearly every medium from music [Philip Glass, Terry Riley, punk, New Wave] to fiction and poetry [E.L. Doctorow, Bob Perelman, Rimbaud] to painting [Van Gogh, Munch, Warhol] to architecture [Las Vegas, the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles] and, perhaps most critically, to film [American Graffiti, Body Heat, Chinatown]–and attempt to discover what leads Jameson to his conclusion about the importance of the aesthetic in [re]mapping our world.

Experimenting with the form of reading groups and their discussions, this month’s selection will be read out loud by participants. No pre-reading required!

If you have any questions about Thought on Film, please do not hesitate to contact Programs Manager + Curator cheyanne turions at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Image courtesy of Jorge Furtado's Isle of Flowers.

Thought On Film XVI
reading Fredric Jameson’s “Postmodernism”
Cineworks [1131 Howe, back lane entrance]
04 May 2009, 6pm
Free