Poetics Of Cinema

Poetics Of Cinema

Chilean filmmaker Raoul Ruiz is the author of some 100 feature-length films, along with numerous plays and multi-media installations. In <I>Poetics of Cinema</I>, Ruiz takes a fresh approach to the major themes haunting our audio-visual civilization: the filmic unconscious, questions of utopia, the inter-contamination of images, the art of the copy, the relations between artistic practices and institutions. Based on a series of lectures given recently at Duke University in North Carolina, <I>Poetics of Cinema</I> develops an acerbically witty critique of the reigning codes of cinematographic narration, principally derived from the dramatic theories set forth by Aristotle's <I>Poetics</I> and characterized by Ruiz as the “central-conflict theory.” Ruiz's impressive knowledge of theology, philosophy, literature and the visual arts never outstrips his powerful imagination. <I>Poetics of Cinema</I> not only offers a singularly pertinent analysis of the seventh art, but also shows us an entirely new way of writing and thinking about images.