Film Research Seminar
07 October 2009
Dr Robert Sinnerbrink on Terrence Malick’s 'The New World'.
Date: Monday 19 October 2009
Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Venue: Dean Walters 006
Dr Robert Sinnerbrink (Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia)
From Mythic History to Cinematic Poetry: Terrence Malick’s The New World Viewed
Terrence Malick’s The New World (2005) is a poetic evocation of one of America’s founding myths, the story of Pocahontas. While the film allegorises—through the theme of marriage—the possibility of successful cultural exchange and of reconciliation with nature, it also fuses mythic history, subjective reflection, and the self-expression of nature. This unstable point of view has led to a critical ambivalence concerning the film’s romantic naivety: its evocation of ideologically suspect myths or historically anachronistic tropes. My discussion defends the film as knowingly romantic; an aesthetic challenge to our historical scepticism towards the experience of new worlds.
Robert Sinnerbrink is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Macquarie University, Sydney. He is the author of Understanding Hegelianism (Acumen, 2007), co-editor of Critique Today (Brill, 2006). He has published numerous articles on contemporary European philosophy, critical theory, and philosophy of film, including essays on the films of David Lynch, Terrence Malick, and Lars von Trier. He was a keynote speaker at the inaugural Film and Philosophy conference, UWE, Bristol, and is currently writing a book on new approaches in film philosophy.
There will be a free screening of the extended cut of Malick's The New World in Room 005 at the Dean Walters Building on Tuesday 13 October 2009 from 5:30pm - 8:30pm.
Please note that the film is 171 minutes - nearly 3 hours long.
Link: http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/LSS/filmstudies/86517.htm
