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From postnational mobility to posthuman fluidity : unfixed identities and social responsibilities in Personal Shopper (Assayas, 2016) and Happy End (Haneke, 2017)
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Harrod, Mary (2020) From postnational mobility to posthuman fluidity : unfixed identities and social responsibilities in Personal Shopper (Assayas, 2016) and Happy End (Haneke, 2017). Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook, 18 (1). pp. 85-101. doi:10.1386/nl_00015_1 ISSN 1601-829X.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/nl_00015_1
Abstract
This article approaches contemporary European cinema as transnational cinema from an angle informed by gender and sexuality studies. It is underpinned by a fluid conception of identity, which it identifies with its objects of study, in terms of production context, market positioning and also form and theme. Specifically, I approach comparatively the embrace of postnational textual identity alongside posthuman ‐ especially post-gender ‐ characterization by two of the most visible recent European auteur films, Olivier Assayas' Personal Shopper (2016) and Michael Haneke's Happy End (2017). I consider the ideological implications of the narratives' explorations of immorality in a contemporary western context marked in both films by the breakdown of communication and a related failure of ethical responsibility, often constellated in relation to technological advancement. The article draws on the Continental theories of Slavoj Žižek and to a lesser extent Jean Baudrillard and Zygmunt Bauman to illuminate the extent to which these films' subtle and conflicted yet tenaciously enduring nostalgia for earlier ideals of European community is discernible via or inseparable from regret at the loss of an imagined 'natural' mode of embodiment, including more traditional gender roles. It finally reflects briefly on the related question of the attitudes towards European cinema itself, as well as cinemas associated with the past more generally, which these films display and invite the audience to share.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures | ||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > French Studies Faculty of Arts > School of Modern Languages and Cultures |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Motion pictures -- Europe , Gender identity -- Europe, Sex role in motion pictures, Assayas, Olivier -- History and Criticism, Haneke, Michael -- History and Criticism | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook | ||||||
Publisher: | Intellect Ltd. | ||||||
ISSN: | 1601-829X | ||||||
Official Date: | 1 January 2020 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 18 | ||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 85-101 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1386/nl_00015_1 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | © Harrod, 2020. The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook, Volume 18, Number 1, January 2020, pp. 85-101 https://doi.org/10.1386/nl_00015_1 | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 9 June 2020 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 1 January 2021 |
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