Peter Brunette and David Wills extend the work of Jacques Derrida into a
new realm--with rewarding consequences. Although Derrida has never
addressed film theory directly in his writings, Brunette and Wills argue
that the ideas he has developed in his critique of the logocentric
foundations of Western thought, especially his notion of "Writing," can
be usefully applied to film theory and analysis. They maintain that such
an application might even begin to shift film from its traditional
position within the visual arts to a new place in the media and
information sciences. This book also supplies a fascinating introduction
to Derrida for the general reader. The authors begin by explaining, in
political terms, why film theorists have neglected Derrida's work. Next
they offer a Derridean critique of the assumptions of contemporary film
studies. Then, drawing on his recently translated The Truth in Painting
as well as on other, relatively unknown texts such as Droit de regards,
they discuss his ideas in relation to the cinema and present two film
analyses--of Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black and of Lynch's Blue
Velvet--that attempt to demonstrate the notion of an "anagrammatical,"
radical reading practice. Finally, they focus on Derrida's neglected
book, The Post Card, and situate cinema in terms of a new definition of
the technological.
Originally published in 1989.
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