Documentary Fictions
Jacques Rancière and the Problem of Indexical Media
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21720262 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Konstantinos Koutras (0000-0003-3922-9251, NSCAD University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 262-281 |
| Publication date | 2023-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Film-Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1466-4615 • E-ISSN: 1466-4615 |
| Publisher | Edinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3366/film.2023.0229 |
| OpenAlex | W4376155116 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 12 |
The indexicality of film and sound recordings remains an unresolved problem in contemporary documentary theory. The prevailing conceptualisation of the documentary assigns it the status of a sober discourse, a framing in which history is modelled as absent cause and the unqualified distinction between fiction and non-fiction is considered sacrosanct. The denotative literalism characteristic of indexical media, however, confounds this conceptualisation, which in turn encourages the devaluing of documentary aesthetics; the documentary is not a medium of art, it is said, but of argument. In this article, I examine how philosopher Jacques Rancière offers an alternative account of the documentary grounded on aesthetics rather than sobriety. I show how, in rethinking the absent cause model of history as well as the relationship between fiction and nonfiction, Rancière's aesthetic approach resolves the conceptual problem posed by indexicality and brings clarity to the value and function of indexical media with respect to the documentary
Aesthetics · CLARITY · Epistemology · Indexicality · Sociology · Artistic and Creative Research · Cinema and Media Studies · Critical Theory and Political Philosophy · History · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |