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May 1996, Week 4

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Subject:
From:
Rachel Gabara <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 25 May 1996 17:29:39 -0400
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I would like to align myself on the "ambiguity" side of this argument. It=
=20
seems to be a much richer train of thought - the point is that Deckard=20
can't know if he's human or a replicant. In keeping with the=20
Deckard/Descartes pun - "I think therefore I am" just doesn't work=20
anymore. (Another author to read on this is Zizek, in _Tarrying with the=20
Negative_, though he claims that Deckard is a replicant.) In PKDick's book,=
=20
this fundamental question of what constitutes the human is mirrored in the=
=20
theme of artificial animals, "real" animals are practically extinct in=20
the world of the future, and humans start keeping mechanical animals as pet=
s.=20
The whole concept of what is "natural" is constantly being played with. Ano=
ther=20
interesting film in this regard is Tarkovsky's _Solaris_.=20
 
And re: the following, I have to take exception.
 
> I still find more intriguing a cop falling for a gorgeous
> face than the problems of artificial intelligence and the nature of
> civilization. At least in the cinema ("a girl and a gun", as Godard once
> said). Exaggerating just a bit, a gorgeous face in the cinema *is* the
> cinema, and I=B4m not sure about the rest. But, perhaps, this is a matter=
 of
> taste.
>=20
I originally thought that Teresa de Lauretis was exaggerating the problem=
=20
in _Alice Doesn't_, but it seems like she wasn't. Because it has to be a=20
gorgeous female face here as object of the voyeuristic spectator, right? So=
=20
the only possible spectator for this film (and, in fact, "the cinema" in=20
general, would be male.=20
 
 
Rachel Gabara
Program in Comparative Literature
University of Michigan=20
 
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