Questions of counter cinema and Sally Potter’s "YES", notes

Notes

1. One of the intersections of these two Western discourses was embodied by the formation of London Film-makers’ Co-op in 1966 which promoted self-reflexivity and formal innovation over narrative in their experimental-theoretical films. The two exemplary productions of this formation are Penthesilea: Queen of the Amazons (1974)and Riddles of the Sphinx (1977)co-created by film theorists Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen. At this intersection, we find the theoretical trajectory of the Frankfurt School, spanning French poststructuralist ideas around femininity and identity, as well as avant-gardist film journal Cahiers Du Cinema whose influence will be mentioned more in detail later within this context. [return to page 1]

2. See for example Angela McRobbie’s expansive exploration of what postmodernism offered for feminism, cultural theory and identity politics in Postmodernism and Popular Culture (1994).

3. See for a few examples since 2000: Catherine Fowler’s book Sally Potter (2008); the chapter “On the Edges of Art Cinema: Sally Potter and the Feminist Response” in Sharon Lin Tay’s book Women on the Edge (2009); Lisa Fischer’s article on the journey of the deconstructivist theories around sexual difference within feminist film theory in relation to Potter’s The Tango Lesson (2004).

4. One of the earliest positionings of Thriller as an “avant-garde theory film” was put forward by E. Ann Kaplan who aligned the film with Sigmund Freud’s Dora (1979) and Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen’s Amy! (1980) in terms of their shared psychoanalytical references. Similar to counter cinema theorists’ shared argument about how political cinema has to reflect back on its own production, Kaplan situates Thriller among the other “avant-garde theory films that draw attention to their own cinematic processes, making us aware of their construction and of the fact that we are watching a film” (143).

5. These well-studied debates involved a variety of dialogues in the 1970s moving into the 1980s, intersecting psychoanalysis, Marxism and feminism, between film scholars in the UK and USA, including Pam Cook, Claire Johnston, Tania Modleski and E. Ann Kaplan among others. For a summary of these discussions, see again Lucy Fischer’s article on The Tango Lesson (44-46). Also Kaplan’s critical response to Cook and Johnston’s shared position on the functionality of Hollywood representation in terms of women’s movement has an overviewing purpose: “Aspects of British feminist film theory: A critical evaluation of texts by Claire Johnston and Pam Cook” published in Jump Cut in 1974: http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/jc12-13folder/britfemtheory.html

6. For a more specific discussion of how the field Film Studies has been affected by the larger cultural theories around postmodernism, especially in light of Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulation and simulacra and Frederic Jameson’s writings on postmodern shifts in consumer society, see Catherine Constable’s 2004 article “Postmodernism in Film” and her later book Postmodernism and Film: Rethinking Hollywood's Aesthetics published in 2015.

7. The definition of “scaffolding” in Oxford Languages: “a temporary structure on the outside of a building, made of wooden planks and metal poles, used by workmen while building, repairing, or cleaning the building.”

8. As Jackie Stacey states: “Like the chorus in Greek tragedy or the fool in Shakespeare, the Cleaner provides an omniscient view on the diegetic world as though from the vantage point of cosmos” (12-13). The traditional role of Greek chorus as the narrativizing agent is arguably replaced by the role of the omniscient narrator in mainstream cinema. In that sense, we find an agent of classical narration in YES albeit the heavily self-reflexive tone of the film which is typically associated with digital era and the concept of hybridity in postmodern texts.

9. The historical context from which the iambic pentameter emerges is beyond the scope of this article. However, it is important to note that Sally Potter’s choice of using this traditional poetics (combined with the Greek chorus) can lead to further studies not limited to counter cinema and can be explored in the context of the adoptions of early forms of English literature in cinema. Another filmmaker that immediately comes to mind being Derek Jarman. [return to page 3]

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Filmography

Anderson, Paul Thomas, director. Magnolia. New Line Cinema. 1999.

Fincher, David, director. Fight Club. Fox 2000 Pictures. 1999.

Ford, John, director. Young Mr Lincoln. Twentieth Century Fox. 1939.

Mendes, Sam, director. American Beauty. Dreamworks Pictures. 1999.

Mulvey, Laura and Peter Wollen, directors. Penthesilea: Queen of the Amazons. 1974.

Mulvey, Laura and Peter Wollen, directors. Riddles of the Sphinx. 1977.

Potter, Sally, director. YES. Adventure Pictures.2004.

Potter, Sally, director. Orlando. Adventure Pictures.1992.

Potter, Sally, director. The Tango Lesson. Adventure Pictures.1997.

Potter, Sally, director. Thriller. Arts Council of Great Britain.1979.

Potter, Sally, director. The Gold Diggers. 1983.

Scott, Ridley, director. Blade Runner. Warner Bros. 1982.