Panting in the Dark
The Ambivalence of Air in Cinema
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11660372 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kevin L Ferguson (0009-0005-2136-4203, Queens University of Charlotte, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 33-63 |
| Publication date | 2011-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Camera Obscura Feminism Culture and Media Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0270-5346 • E-ISSN: 1529-1510 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/02705346-1301530 |
| OpenAlex | W2320254764 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
Connecting the two unlikely figures of Marilyn Monroe and Darth Vader, this article argues that air might offer a previously ignored alternative to the chthonic narratives of sexual reproduction that are especially popular in the psychoanalytic imagination. Borrowing from Luce Irigaray's argument that Heidegger has “forgotten” the pre-Socratic element air in a philosophy that privileges materiality and vision, I examine popular films that feature air, and in particular breathing, as a central trope. Because of an emphasis on the more obviously material aspects of visual images, the invisible, ubiquitous element of air has been wholly ignored as a medium for ideas. Yet despite being challenging to read, air gains power because of its relative invisibility, and after being transmuted by breathing into a legible cinematic sign, it marks sites where otherwise imperceptible ideas become liminal. Through close readings of The Seven Year Itch, Blue Velvet, Three Little Pigs, and The Empire Strikes Back, I track the range of meaning found in cinematic breathing, from the figurative presence of erotic breath in pornography to the literal associations of air and environment in animation
Ambivalence · Art · Art history · Movie theater · Psychoanalysis · Cinema and Media Studies · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2024 (8) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |