{"product_id":"towards-a-film-theory-from-jiri-anger-9798765107263","title":"Towards a Film Theory from Below: Archival Film and the Aesthetics of the Crack-Up","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOperating between film theory, media philosophy, archival practice, and audiovisual research, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eJiri \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnger focuses on the relationship between figuration and materiality in early films, experimental found footage cinema, and video essays. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWould it be possible to do film theory \u003ci\u003efrom below\u003c\/i\u003e, through the perspective of moving-image objects, of their multifarious details and facets, however marginal, unintentional, or aleatory they might be? Could we treat scratches, stains, and shakes in archival footage as speculatively and aesthetically generative features? Do these material actors have the capacity to create \"weird shapes\" within the figurative image that decenter, distort, and transform the existing conceptual and methodological frameworks? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBuilding on his theoretical as well as practical experience with the recently digitized corpus of the first Czech films, created by Jan Krízenecký between 1898 and 1911, the author demonstrates how technological defects and accidents in archival films shape their aesthetic function and our understanding of the materiality of film in the digital age. The specific clashes between the figurative and material spheres are understood through the concept of a \"crack-up.\" This term, developed by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and theoretically reimagined by Gilles Deleuze, allows us to capture the convoluted relationship between figuration and materiality as inherent to the medium of film, containing negativity and productivity, difference and simultaneity, contingency and fate, at the same time, even within the tiniest cinematic units.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jiri Anger\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 8765107268\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798765107263\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bloomsbury Academic\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/27\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 1.00d","brand":"Jiri Anger","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46250613145855,"sku":"9798765107263","price":120.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4cca5a1f-c535-4ff5-86a3-4fa114fe31c5.jpg?v=1729600871","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/towards-a-film-theory-from-jiri-anger-9798765107263","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}