The Orpheus complex: Understanding cinema through Maurice Blanchot

Blanksma, Amber (2024) The Orpheus complex: Understanding cinema through Maurice Blanchot. MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This dissertation conceptualises the Orpheus complex as a way to understand the nature of the cinematic image and the pleasure of spectatorship. It uncovers the potential of Blanchot’s philosophy of literature to elucidate cinema, taking his exegesis of the myth of Orpheus as its point of departure. Blanchot’s philosophy of literature and his deconstruction of narcissism were unpacked to elucidate his notion of the Orphic gaze. This was, then, put into dialogue with two differing theories of the gaze in cinema, namely Mulvey’s theory of an identificatory male gaze and Derrida’s theory of the visor effect. This revealed that a misidentification lies at the heart of the theory of specular recognition, in cinema, and that a sense of haunting permeates the cinematic experience. This notion was then applied to the case study, Paris, Texas (1984), which contemplates identity and loss, through a storyline resembling the orphic myth. This offered a new way of understanding the film as a symptom and rumination on the Orpheus complex. Moreover, the film was shown to be a self-reflexive study of the cinematic image, which opened up for a consideration of the Orpheus complex within the cinematic image, at large. This led to the conclusion that spectatorship is characterised by a dissociated gaze and the desire to look at images is reflective of a compulsion toward fascination, which come together to form the Orpheus complex.

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: N Fine Arts > N Visual arts (General) For photography, see TR; P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics; P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > French
• Supervisor's Name: Fotiade, Dr. Ramona
• Date of Award: 2024
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2024-84697
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Nov 2024 16:16
• Last Modified: 14 Nov 2024 16:16
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.84697
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/84697