Modular Narratives in Contemporary Cinema
This page intentionally left blank
Modular Narratives in Contemporary Cinema Allan Cameron
Allan Cameron 2008 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-0-230-21041-7 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-30303-8 ISBN 978-0-230-59419-7 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230594197 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cameron, Allan, 1973 Modular narratives in contemporary cinema / Allan Cameron. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Motion pictures and literature. 2. Narration (Rhetoric) I. Title. PN1995.3.C36 2008 791.43 6 dc22 2008015892 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
For Bridget and Duncan
This page intentionally left blank
Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements viii ix 1 Modular Narratives in Contemporary Cinema 1 2 The Shape of Narrative Time: Subjective, Schismatic and Modular 20 3 Projecting the Future: Order, Chaos and Modularity 48 4 Navigating Memory: Temporal Anchoring and the Modular Subject 79 5 Articulating History: Archival Aesthetics and the National Narrative 113 6 Deciphering the Present: Simultaneity, Succession and Mediation 140 7 Coda: Playing Games with Cinema 170 Notes 185 Bibliography 196 Index 206 vii
Illustrations Figure 1.1 Run Lola Run. Sony Pictures Classics/The Kobal Collection/Bernd Spauke 11 Figure 3.1 Irreversible. Studio Canal+/The Kobal Collection 55 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 5.1 Figure 6.1 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Focus Features/The Kobal Collection/David Lee 96 Memento. Summit Entertainment/The Kobal Collection 97 Ararat. Alliance Atlantis/TMN/ARP Selection/ The Kobal Collection/J. Eisen 121 Time Code. Red Mullet Prod./The Kobal Collection/Elliott Marks 152 viii
Acknowledgements I would like briefly to express my gratitude to those who have aided me, in whatever way, with the completion of this work. Thanks, first of all, to Angela Ndalianis, my PhD supervisor at the University of Melbourne. Her comments and advice were much appreciated, as was her patience with a project that went through a great deal of shape-shifting in its early stages. I have also appreciated the input (direct or indirect) of other staff and postgraduate students at the University of Melbourne. Particular thanks are due to Richard Misek, whose comments on earlier drafts were invaluable. His keen intellect and passion for cinema have benefited this work a great deal. More recently, Sean Cubitt, Glenn Man, Roberta Pearson and Warren Buckland have all contributed illuminating and useful feedback, for which I am very grateful. I am also grateful to my colleagues in the Screen Studies Department at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School for their responses to the project. Finally, this work would not have been possible without the support of my wife Bridget and son Duncan. I thank them both for their patience, love and understanding. Parts of Chapter 3 originally appeared as Contingency, Order and the Modular Narrative: 21 Grams and Irreversible, in The Velvet Light Trap, no. 58: 65 78. Copyright 2006 by the University of Texas Press. All rights reserved. ix