The Eye of the Cinematograph: Levinas and Realisms of the Body

The book explores the encounter between Emmanuel Levinas' ethical thought and aesthetic realisms of the body, presenting an interdisciplinary approach that brings together film studies, philosophies of ethics, cultural studies, and critical theory. It argues for the hospitality of the cinematic image by investigating its unique visual being as a gift and proposes an affirmative account of the ethics of the cinematograph through discussions of cinematic realism. The author discusses works by various filmmakers to demonstrate alternative encounters with the other that realisms of the body offer.

Format: Hardback
Length: 248 pages
Publication date: 31 January 2023
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

The Eye of the Cinematograph: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Encounter between Emmanuel Levinas' Ethical Thought and Aesthetic Realisms of the Body

In this groundbreaking work, Manafi presents an interdisciplinary approach that brings together film studies, philosophies of ethics, cultural studies, and critical theory to contribute to the fields of film-philosophy and cinematic thinking. By expanding the existing enquiries into the consequences of Emmanuel Levinas' philosophy for aesthetics, the book draws out a new encounter between his ethical thought and film.

The central theme of The Eye of the Cinematograph is the ethical and aesthetic implications of the automatic formation of the body's image by the camera. Drawing on the thought of Emmanuel Levinas, Manafi explores what happens when the other makes their body available to the gaze of the camera to be automatically recorded, and this giving of the body is preserved within the image, juxtaposed with other images to allude to a story that might otherwise remain untold.

To locate the ethical at this intersection of the body and the aesthetic, the book articulates an ethical account of a diverse range of film theories to demonstrate alternative encounters with the other that realisms of the body offer. Manafi discusses works by Chantal Akerman, Bruno Dumont, Pedro Costa, Gus Van Sant, Sohrab Shahid Saless, Abbas Kiarostami, Amir Naderi, Jafar Panahi, Carlos Reygadas, and Andy Warhol to make a case for the ethics and aesthetics of incompleteness and performative failure.

Through this interdisciplinary exploration, The Eye of the Cinematograph offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between ethics and aesthetics, challenging traditional understandings and opening up new avenues for cinematic thinking. It is a must-read for scholars and students interested in the intersection of philosophy, film, and cultural studies.

Weight: 535g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399507240