Perceptual Interface and Painterly Cinema

Abstract

The fifth chapter of Style in Narrative in part parallels the second chapter, but with a shift from literature to cinema. Specifically, it takes genre as its scope, though it considers genre in visual representation, rather than story structure. Moreover, in this case, it focuses on an unusual genre, one that is not widely identified as a genre—painterly films, which is to say, films that draw their visual models from non-cinematic forms of visual art. The chapter presents an account of the kinds and functions of painterly film, ranging from mere allusion through imitation of a period or movement, to the cultivation of broader sensitivities characteristic of painting beyond a specific period. This chapter considers works by Luis Buñuel, Éric Rohmer, Deepa Mehta, and M. F. Husain. It focuses particularly on Robert Rodriguez’s remediation of graphic fiction, in part to prepare the way for the treatment of graphic fiction later in the book.