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Stray aesthetic in the cinema of Andrea Arnold.

Authors :
Paszkiewicz, Katarzyna
Source :
Journal of Aesthetics & Culture; Dec2023, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p1-18, 18p
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the scholarly examination of the nonhuman in the cinema of Andrea Arnold by reading her work through the figure of the "stray", proposed by Julia Kristeva and developed by Barbara Creed in her exploration of "stray ethics" in the Anthropocene. Through a close analysis of Arnold's three films, Dog (2001), Wasp (2003) and Fish Tank (2009), I argue that Arnold's sensory-driven cinema transcends the focus on the human body and its phenomenological rhythms through which it is commonly read by offering instances of what I dub non-anthropocentric "stray visuality", realised through her treatment of the environment (both "built" and "natural") and the nonhuman beings that inhabit it. I assert that Arnold's filmmaking confounds these overlapping binary oppositions in complex ways that are deeply implicated in current philosophical debates about the ecological. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subjects

Subjects :
HUMAN body
AESTHETICS
FILMMAKING

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20004214
Volume :
15
Issue :
1
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Journal of Aesthetics & Culture
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
174443187
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/20004214.2023.2196808