Quentin Tarantino and Film Theory: Aesthetics and Dialectics in Late Postmodernity

by Federico Pagello

Overview

This book examines a set of theoretical perspectives that critically engage with the notion of postmodernism, investigating whether this concept is still useful to approach contemporary cinema. This question is explored through a discussion of the films written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, largely regarded as the epitome of postmodern cinema and considered here as theoretical contributions in their own right. Each chapter first presents key ideas proposed by a specific theorist and then puts them in conversation with Tarantino’s films. Jacques Rancière’s theory of art is used to reject postmodernism’s claims about the ‘death’ of the aesthetic image in contemporary cinema. Fredric Jameson’s and Slavoj Žižek’s dialectical thinking is mobilized to challenge simplistic, ideological readings of postmodern cinema in general, and Tarantino’s films in particular. Finally, the direct influence of Carol Clover’s psychoanalytical approach to the horror genre on Tarantino’s work isdiscussed to prove the director’s specific contribution to a theoretical understanding of contemporary film aesthetics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030438210
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	10/21/2021
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Federico Pagello is Research Fellow in the Department of the Arts at the University of Bologna, Italy. His work on contemporary American film, comics and television, as well as on late 19^th and early 20^th-century European serial narratives has been published in journals and edited collections in Italian, French and English.

Table of Contents

Introduction – From High to Late Postmodernism.- Part One – The Aesthetics of Late Postmodernism.- Chapter 1 – Absolute Style.- Chapter 2: Space as History.- Chapter 3 – Time as Language.- Part Two – The Return of Dialectics.- Chapter 4 – Narrative and Subjectivity.- Chapter 5 – The “Vanishing Point” of Sexual Difference.- Chapter 6 – The Endless End of History.- Conclusion – Godard with Tarantino: Cinema as Enjoyment.